Things that happened this week and a Feb. 28 gig

Things that happened this week and a Feb. 28 gig

Some things happened this week.

I learned that THREE MUSES is a finalist for the Gotham Book Prize:

“awarded annually to the best book published that calendar year — either fiction or nonfiction — that either is about New York City or takes place in New York City.”

I am really overjoyed about this, and awestruck by the company. I’ve read three of the finalists and can recommend them. OLGA DIES DREAMING was one of my favorite books from 2022. I thought TRUST was wickedly clever and that BIG GIRL had a lot to say. I look forward to reading the others.

In you’re in the DC metro area, please join me in conversation with the inspiring Ericka Taylor at Chevy Chase Library in MD (8005 Connecticut Avenue) at 6:30 PM on February 28.

Last Saturday I read at Charlottesville’s New Dominion Bookshop. It’s a beautiful store, and I loved being in conversation with Jody Hobbs Hesler, who has a collection of short stories and a novel coming out next year.

It is hard to overstate how much I love being in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I had hoped to complete a first draft of a new novel before I leave this weekend, but that seems unlikely. The time and space are a gift, but things are going more slowly than I had hoped. That’s to be expected. You can’t speed up something that doesn’t want to go faster.

VCCA’s iconic gazebo at night.

A couple of days ago, an artist friend and I visited the local antique shop. I was intrigued by the number of items that were in our home growing up. Can’t help sharing—

Corning Ware casseroles were a mainstay, thanks to Auntie Lee. (Uncle Al had a close friend in Corning).

We had a few stray pieces of Blue Willow china. My mother brought these into the marriage, but I don’t where she got them.

Remember when we navigated with paper maps? Our family took a lot of car trips with those things. And got lost a lot.

My parents owned this teapot in cobalt blue. Aunt Elaine might have given it them. At the time it was ultra modern.

My father oversaw the (then) contemporary wood paneling of his study and the basement.

Princess phone in beige. Yep.

We had a lot of these things around, in viola and cello size too.

May your week be wonderful.

Love, Martha