Making Spirits Bright, Childhood Pursuits, and Poems for Your Phone

"Did You Always Know...?" 
Here's What's Weird About That Childhood Question

I get asked some version of this question a lot: "Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer, even when you were a little girl?"

When I wrote a book about plants or bugs, it would be: "Did you love bugs or flowers or gardening when you were a child?"

"Have you always loved to read?" 

"Did you draw and paint when you were little?"

I've always thought this was a strange question. What does it matter whether a person did a thing when they were a child or not? The world would be a very strange place if we all pursued our childhood interests. We'd have a lot of ballerinas and astronauts, but who would do our taxes?

And anyway, what's wrong with picking up an interest in something when you're thirty, or fifty, or eighty?

We like to hear that people who make art must have been born that way. We want a story about how those seeds were planted early.

But I'm delighted to say that it doesn't work that way at all! Whatever your interest, whatever your pursuit, you can start at any time.

I was at an event recently in which every author was asked to speak about how they got started. Everyone's talk started with "When I was five..." or "My earliest memory..." 

I looked out at the audience, mostly women, all adults, many retired, and thought, "Well, this would be dispiriting for anyone who has a longing to start writing."

So I said something different. You can watch it here:

Here Are Some Beautiful Movies About Art

You know what I think you ought to do this month? Blow off work, ignore your family obligations, and go see a movie. Like, actually leave the house and go to the theater and buy some popcorn and a beer (your movie theater does serve beer, doesn't it?) and watch a big glorious beautiful sexy movie about art.

These are still in circulation, and I loved them:

Colette, a gorgeous film about the writer and her ne'er-do-well husband. It's Paris, it's pretty, and Keira Knightley is fiesty. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is Melissa McCarthy's bitingly brilliant biopic of Lee Israel, an author down on her luck who started forging letters from literary giants and selling them to pay the bills. I might try it myself someday.

At Eternity's Gate: Willem Dafoe does a darn good Vincent Van Gogh. We all know how this one ends, but it's a tender and touching look at a painter's life. 

Read a Poem Every Day

Do you have a vague feeling that your life would be better if you could slow down and read a poem every day? Maybe you're thinking that less Twitter and more poetry would do your ragged old heart some good?

The Academy of American Poets will send you a poem every single day. During the week you'll get new, unpublished poems by actual living, breathing poets. On the weekends you'll read what they call "classic" poets, which is to say "dead poets."

You can read them on your phone! On the subway. In line for coffee. Instead of scrolling through the madness. 

I sure do enjoy it. Maybe you will, too.

Hey, remember that time I wrote a book about booze?

I can hardly recall it myself. Anyway, my nice publisher, Algonquin Books, is running a series of giveaways this week as a way of reminding people that The Drunken Botanist makes the perfect holiday gift for anyone who cares about plants, booze, or both.

You have to answer a trivia question to enter. There's a different question for every day of the week, but because you're nice enough to read my emails, I'm going to make it easy on you and put all of them here. You can go ahead and enter them all now if you like. We pick a winner at the end of every day.






 

Will I See You in 2019?

I'm firming up a lot of dates for 2019, so stay tuned! And if you're part of a literary series, a library event, or some other bookish gathering, please feel free to reach out to publicity@amystewart.com to see about setting up an event.

Bainbridge Island, WA: Feb 28 Eagle Harbor Book Co
Portland, OR: Mar 28: Ristretto Roasters (Details TBA)

More tour dates can always be found on my website. Please confirm details with the venue before you head out.

Enter to Win Lady Cop Makes Trouble

Are you on Goodreads? Then please head over there and enter to win a copy of the second Kopp novel, Lady Cop Makes Trouble. 

What Are You Reading?

How is it possible that I've never heard of Nina Stibbe? 

She's a sharp, funny, weird British novelist (my favorite kind) and I've only just discovered her, so I started with her first book, Love, Nina, a collection of letters she wrote to her sister when she was a nanny in London. Sound boring? Did I mention that she was working for the editor of the London Review of Books and that Alan Bennett lived across the street? It's so good!

But her new one has a holiday theme! I haven't started it yet because of my weird urge to begin with her first book and go in order, but you can skip ahead! An Almost Perfect Christmas is getting great reviews, and I'm sure I'll love everything she writes.

What are you reading? Find me on Goodreads or Litsy and let me know.