Stephen King and the End of Watch Tour

Thursday evening, I had the pleasure of attending the Stephen King End of Watch tour, which was sponsored by Bookworks. End of Watch is the final book in the Bill Hodges trilogy; the first two books are Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers.

Instead of doing a reading followed by a question and answer session, the event was more of a conversation between Stephen King and George R.R. Martin, who acted as a moderator. Martin did ask King a few questions, but mainly, they just talked back and forth about a few things, including King's writing process. As a writer, this was the most interesting part of the evening for me.

King talked about how he got his start in writing, but when asked where he finds inspiration, particularly for Mr. Mercedes, King mentioned a story he heard in the news that inspired Mr. Mercedes. The story he heard was about a woman who planned on running down someone who was in line at a McDonald's for a sort of job fair; she wanted to run the person down because her husband was cheating on her with that person. That news story led to Mr. Mercedes, in which a man runs down eight people at a job fair and kills them. I'm not surprised that King finds inspiration in every day things and real life events; these things lend themselves perfectly to the types of stories King writes.

One of the questions that seemed to be a fan-favorite came at the end of the night, when Martin asked King how he is able to write so many books. King's response was that he spends three to four hours every day writing six pages, and he makes sure the pages are as clean (proofread) as possible. I loved this, because the advice so many writers hear is to have a routine and write every day, and King actually practices that.

It was great to gain a little insight on King's writing process and where he gets his ideas. A great book for reading more about that is his book On Writing.

Did you attend the event last night? If so, what was your favorite part of the evening? If you didn't make it or want a refresher, George R. R. Martin is hoping to have a video of the event up on his website soon.

A Word with Writers

Bookworks and the Albuquerque Public Library Foundation are collaborating on a new lecture series, A Word with Writers, which will feature writers in conversation with one another. The inaugural lecture, featuring sci-fi/fantasy authors George R.R. Martin and Diana Gabaldon, is May 10th at 7pm, at the KiMo Theater. Martin and Gabaldon, in addition to being the the highly successful authors of their own series (Song of Ice and Fire and Outlander), also collaborated on the anthology Dangerous Women, along with other authors such as Melinda Snodgrass, Sherilynn Kenyon, and Joe R. Lansdale.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Albuquerque Public Library Foundation. The Foundation, a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization, is dedicated to the vitality of the Albuquerque Public Library System by raising funds to enrich programs and services essential to literacy and learning.

To buy tickers for this event, visit the KiMo Theater website.  To read more about the event, check out the event listing on the Bookworks website.

Margaret Atwood & Graeme Gibson

Thanks to Bookworks, the UNM Creative Writing Program, & the Forest Guardians I (& quite a few others) were able to attend a reading & book-signing by authors Margaret Atwood & Graeme Gibson.

Ms. Atwood spoke first, primarily about her new novel The Year of the Flood, which is, she explained, not a sequel or a prequel to Oryx & Crake but occurs simultaneously--in a Victorian novel, The Year of the Flood would be the "Meanwhile..." chapter, discussing events happening to characters in the book which seem to have nothing to do with the primary story until, later, the stories converge. Ms. Atwood read excerpts from her new book in the voices of each of her three narrators, Toby, Ren, & Adam One. She also played recordings that had been made of the some of the hymns from the book which had been set to music, including Oh Sing We Now the Holy Weeds.

Ms. Atwood also spoke about creating the character Jimmy in Oryx & Crake as a response to people who said she only wrote about female characters & explained that she did research to create Jimmy by having young men of the same age read the manuscript & comment.

Mr. Gibson then read from his new book, The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany, with an accompanying slideshow. A review says of his book, "A fascinating exploration of the chain of life, of survival and mortality. In The Bedside Book of Beasts, Graeme Gibson gathers breathtaking works of art and literature that capture the power, grace, and inventiveness of both predators and their natural prey. The Bedside Book of Beasts evokes a profound sense of the eternal connection between humans and the creatures they endeavor to tame."

After the readings, Ms. Atwood & Mr. Gibson took a number of questions, including suggestions for those suffering from writer's block--Ms. Atwood has had to throw away 2 books due to writer's block, & Mr. Gibson 3, but generally Ms. Atwood suggested trying to change the person (e.g. first person narration to omniscient narrator) or change the tense (e.g. past to present) before throwing away your work. One questioner asked how Ms. Atwood felt to be a 'focal point for students', citing a paper the questioner had written in high school, to which Ms. Atwood had a spirited reply, reminding us that when we read her works, she's not there.

Ms. Atwood & Mr. Gibson, who are a long-standing couple, also fielded numerous questions about their relationship's longevity & possible collaborations. Both were easygoing & very humorous on these rather intimate topics. They don't collaborate, but Ms. Atwood sees Mr. Gibson's work in manuscript form, she joked, because she is the only one who knows how to use punctuation. Ms. Atwood's relationship advice included having a sense of humor & tolerance, which, Mr. Gibson quipped, he had.

Margaret Atwood books
Graeme Gibson books

Hear interviews with Ms. Atwood & Mr. Gibson!

Sarah Vowell Live!

Hi folks! Greetings from L.A., where I'm currently on vacation. In the midst of my museum-hopping, I made a little time to stop by a local book store called Book Soup, where Sarah Vowell was doing a reading & signing.

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of an author groupie. In addition to Sarah, I've checked out bookish events featuring Sandra Cisneros, Bruce Campbell, Anne Rice, David Sedaris, & most recently Elizabeth Gilbert. It's hard to top David Sedaris live, but Sarah Vowell did not disappoint.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sarah's work, she writes about historical events from a personal (& often snarky) perspective. The first book I read of hers, Assassination Vacation, is about her tour of the U.S. seeking out places & facts about the first 3 presidential assassinations. In the book she was reading & signing last night, The Wordy Shipmates, she's writing about the Massachusetts Bay Colony, specifically her two main 'characters', John Winthrop (of the 'city on a hill' sermon) & Roger Williams. Don't call it her book about the pilgrims! She is specific that the Pilgrims were a different bunch of folks. She is writing about the Massachusetts Bay Colony, after the pilgrims' landing & before the Salem Witch Trials.

Sarah is careful to call herself a reporter rather than a historian. Don't expect to find a lengthy bibliography in her works. She reads first-person accounts & interprets for herself. You are more likely to find interviews with park rangers & asides about friends & family (particularly her nephew Owen) she has brought with her to collect information than more dense scholarly sources.

Last night, Sarah read from her book & fielded a lot of questions. She's a very entertaining speaker, her wit as dry in person as in her books. Anyone who can make folks want to read about assassination & Puritanism has got to be something special! Look for her next book, which apparently will be about Hawaii & missionaries. Owen has discovered video games now, but he's still traveling around with his aunt & knows more about King Kamehameha than most ten-year-olds.