Grace Reading Series

Hey everybody. I'm in Seattle being a bridesmaid at the most organized wedding ever and it is a ridiculous amount of fun. First of all, my friends' friends are very cool, and one of my favorite NYC writer dudes is one of the groom's posse. Second, we went out to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian meat restaurant and I actually got high from the meat. They serve it straight off the spear to your plate. Tongs are involved. An actual meat high has never happened to me before--it was like sugar, except without the crash and the stuffed feeling. MEATPHORIA. I said yes to everything that was wrapped in bacon and also to many things that involved cheese. I think a meat fest is a great tradition to tie to bridesmaiding. The saturated fat is very good for the skin after all. Glow. Third, tonight there is something involving a red limousine and a bachelorette party and that is a gorgeous thing if you're with a crew you enjoy.

And fourth, I am blogging from my very favorite bookstore, Elliot Bay Books. It's exquisitely curated, pure pleasure. Plus all the chocolate goodies in the cafe are healthy and made with maple syrup and whole wheat flour, plus free wifi, plus hot Seattle guys who check you out in a way that has less of an internet porn/freelancer desperation vibe to it than the same thing in a cafe in New York.

And fifth: the Seattle ladies refuse to let the 1995 chunky heel die.

I must say: I just did a little phone interview for This Is Not Chick Lit which is coming out in August, and I just love that I was able to do that in the middle of my lavender chiffon weekend. Weddings are fun, but having every book in the front of the bookstore grimly march us towards one while namedropping brands and drenching us in cliche--not so fun.

And also--it's really amazing to me to be in a place where I haven't seen a superobvious pair of fake tits yet and I've been here 2 days already. I think New York really becomes weird after awhile, we just get so used to our little bubble of starved, fashionable, surgerized people.

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 05:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Maybe it's the rain.

According to the Bay Area local news, out of 29 days in the month of March we have had 24 days of rain. Trees are sliding off hillsides and the grass is green like Ireland green. I have been reading like a fiend while the world gets doused.

And you know who's so great? Lily Tuck. Martha McPhee. Hiilary Mantel. And have you ever read Barbara Pym?

These are all cheap paperbacks I picked up last week (except for the Barbara Pym - a re-read) and I can unequivocably recommend all of them. When I read like this I feel like a sullen teenager, like happy while I'm reading and then I don't. want. to. talk. about. it. I'm so nose-forward in a book, leave-me-alone, and word-hungry these days. I just need salty snacks and the occasional pitter-patter of conversation while I turn the pages of a book, and look up and out the window at the rain.

Some great reviews coming on Grace next month, let me tell ya...

Posted by Emberly Nesbitt at 11:42 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hey everybody. Usually my classes go for ten weeks, but I thought I'd offer a little one-night booster shot. This coming Monday, in Soho, come out and join us--we'll be doing writing exercises to generate lots of new work--you should walk away with about ten pages of new stuff and a good sense of what to be working on for the next month or so. And it's only $30.

Full information available at ElizabethsWorkshops.com, but here's one student comment to give you a sense of what goes on:

“Elizabeth Merrick's writing workshops will reveal gifts you didn't know you had. Her exercises, attention, and clear methods provide the fodder to sharpen your voice, create new material, and refine existing work. If you are looking for an environment in which to nurture your talent, take this class."

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 10:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Alternet points out that that bastion of liberal thinking the New York Times isn't giving women much of a say on abortion:

Indeed, what's most striking about today's op-ed page is the absence of women of any sort writing on the subject of abortion. Of the 124 mentions of abortion on the page over the two-year period, only 21 of those instances were female authored. In total, there were 67 authors who wrote about abortion for the Times -- only seven of which were female. (Many authors wrote multiple columns mentioning the topic.) That's seven women over two years, compared with 60 men.

Sorry, but I'm not surprised. Once you look at the numbers over a period of years you just understand this is the status quo. I just talked to my shrink on the phone for the first time in years, for a little check in and to say hi, and she noticed that my phase of "feminist rage" (she's so cute and 70s) is over. It's so status quo. I do what I can. I make blogs and reading series and books and I write the introduction to THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT which is rocking out--so major, I am so thrilled by the writers in this book and the ability to voice some support for something beyond a fascist cinderella story told ad infinitum in our media. You think we're not already living in something well on the way to being a fascist state? Women's stories, women's control of their own bodies, women getting airtime--all of this is the only form of resistance I can think of. And then sometimes you get really tired, you go on antibiotics, you need to take a nap. And then you wake up and blog.

(Thank you to everybody who sent me that link) xxooElizabeth

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 02:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Big thanks to Felicia Sullivan and Karen Schoemer for a fabulous job last night. I was tragically home sick with bronchitis so Anne Ishii hostessted and was witty and genius, of course. Don't miss their amazing creations--Felicia's Small Spiral Notebook and Karen's Great Pretenders. Delicious.

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 12:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Grace is thrilled to present readers Karen Schoemer and Felicia Sullivan

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 7pm
FREE @ Mo Pitkins
( Ave A between East 2nd and 3rd Streets)

Karen Schoemer has written for Newsweek, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Blender, and other publications. Her new book just out from Free Press is GREAT PRETENDERS : MY STRANGE LOVE AFFAIR WITH '50s POP MUSIC

A New-York based writer, Felicia Sullivan's work has been published in Swink, Post Road, Mississippi Review, Pindeldyboz, Publisher's Weekly, and the anthologies HOMEWRECKER AN ATLAS OF ILLICIT LOVES (Soft Skull) & MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING (Doubleday). Algonquin Books will publish her memoir in 2007.

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 08:36 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

well, now, happy international women's day and all that. ack, i am a baaaad blogger. i get bogged down by all the blogs. i try...i do...i play my hand at the elventh hour. so probably you already know about the Orange Prize longlist? well, hot dog! print this out and staple it to something because this is your new reading list.

Why is the Orange Prize for Fiction only open to women?

Because, at the time it was set up, statistically the considerable achievements of women novelists were often passed over by the major literary prizes. The founders of the Orange Prize for Fiction wanted to do something about that. Which they did, very successfully. Now in its ninth year - as well as making a massive, practical difference to the winners - the Orange Prize for Fiction has made a major impact on the literary landscape.

let's support this, bad bloggers, good bloggers, those who don't blog t'all. let's do make life "practical" for these writers; let's give these women some of our time and money and attention.

Posted by Emberly Nesbitt at 11:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The Grace Book Club picks for March are in.

Every month we choose 3 books by amazing women writers. It's so hard to find the real gems among the piles of commercial fiction, we decided to pick out some books we guarantee to inspire you.

This month we've selected:

Yannick Murphy's HERE THEY COME

Ayelet Waldman's LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS

Daphne Kalotay's CALAMITY AND OTHER STORIES

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 02:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hey everybody--if you can take the Oscars or leave them, I've got some fabulous alternative entertainment for you, right around the corner in Park Slope. I'm reading at Cheryl B's fabulous series this weekend:

Atomic Reading Series
Sunday, March 5th – 7 p.m.
Lucky 13 Saloon

Join Nancy Agabian (author of Princess Freak), Ellis Avery (author of The Teahouse Fire), Jen Dziura
(Williamsburg Spelling Bee) and Elizabeth Merrick (author of Girly) for a spectacular night of literary entertainment.

The Atomic Reading Series is curated and hosted by writer Cheryl B.

FREE

Lucky 13 Saloon
273 13th St. (5th Ave.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Posted by Elizabeth Merrick at 09:58 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)