Janet Q. Glaser, the Wordwright
The Writer's Life of Frivolity and Philosophy

I was so excited and thrilled to get a ticket to hear Anne Lamott, a national celebrity author,  speak in our little county in West Michigan. The small rural town of Grant built a magnificent Performing Arts Center that seats over a 1000 people. Miss Lamott spoke in this cavernous hall, just her standing behind a “pulpit” talking to about 800 eager listeners.

I watched her slump on stage, not exactly full of energy and spunk as I had imagined her. She sighed a few times into the microphone as she pulled off her backpack, found her papers, and laid them on the podium. She then explained that she had to get up at 3:30 a.m. in California to make it to this speaking engagement. I thought, oh yeah, but look at other entertainers/speakers who run on adrenalin all the time. They always act perky and happy. She looked exhausted and all of her 56 years.

Then a funny thing happened….she became energized as she spoke. The more she talked about her own quirks and oddities, the funnier she got and the more I got into her stories. She has certainly had life experiences that I know nothing about with alcohol and drugs. She has searched for faith in her life and is now a born again Christian with a deep spiritual life.

She is in love with her 9 month old grandson and has throughout her books talked about Sam, her 21 year old son. All that love poured forth and surrounded us as we listened. She painted word pictures of places she has been so vividly with a litany of description and excitement. Lamott also flirted with politics saying it like she feels it. It evoked laughter from this very conservative area.

 Her newest book, Imperfect Birds,  deals with the drugs used by addicted teenagers–prescription drugs that are accessed from parent’s cabinets. When the kids leave for college, they are on their own to use the drugs, so they sub cheap heroine for the script drugs. The drugs of today are so much more potent and powerful than those of the ’60′s that teens become addicted on the first try.

By the end of the evening, I appreciated this woman who can make fun of herself, but actually make fun of all of us. Her stories are our stories in the universal sense. Maybe we have not dealt with drug addiction, but we have all dealt with some addiction or big problems in our lives. Now we can take a look at ourselves from the inside out, thanks to Anne Lamott.

We rented the movie, Julie and Julia, to pass a rainy afternoon/evening today not realizing that the topic wasn’t about cooking, but instead the writing life and well, life in general. Julia Child was a famous cook on tv before there ever was a Food Network. She wrote the cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, back in the ’50′s published by Knopf, still in print and selling.  

Julie is Julie Powell, a frustrated writer, who loves cooking. She decides to blog about her goal to prepare all 524 recipes in Julia’s book in 365 days. The stories parallel with Julia Child working on her cook book and trying to find a publisher and Julie preparing the recipes and then blogging about the results, as well as letting readers in on her life. (I loved the comparisons of writing a book in the ’50′s to blogging in the 21st century–typewriter vs laptop, those dreadful sheets put between paper to make a copy as you type on the typewriter vs copy machines, sending off the manuscript in a huge box through the mail vs. emailing files to the publisher) Ah, the good ole days.

The women’s lives were similar in many ways even though separated by 40 years of time. They both went through the trials and tribulations of  the writing life.  Julia with her cookbook and Julie with her blog.

The movie was cleverly presented allowing smooth transitions from one woman’s story to the other. I giggled at the simple sight gags. Meryl Streep’s acting was right on and made me believe she truly was Julia, not Meryl. It was fun to watch and a great reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. (I know that is another cliche, but really people how can you say it any better than that?)

Are you thinking about self-pubbing or have your book already finished? Then you may be interested in this Free self-publishers online conference to be held May 12-14.  Their website states–” learn about a wide range of book writing, publishing, and promotion topics from recognized experts in the publishing industry. Our speakers will inspire and motivate you, while helping you get the most out of your book publishing experience.”

From the information I read on the site, the conference was a huge success last year with glowing testimonials. I will attend this year and give you a report or hop on their site and check it out for yourself.

If you are near Santa Rosa, New Mexico and want an opportunity to write for a newspaper, the owner/editor/publisher is looking for you.

Out of work after the Rocky Mountain News closed down their newspaper operation, M. E. Sprengelmeyer spent his savings on a dream. He purchased a weekly newspaper, The Guadaloupe County Communicator. He has plenty of writing experience as a journalist covering big stories in Washington and the Iraqi war. Now he and two other people are operating this journalistic endeavor to grow this seed of a paper into a force in the community and region.

In an email Sprengelmeyer explained, “What we’re really doing is trying to prove to people that newspapers are alive and well — or could be if people invested more, and not less, in what they give the readers.”

It is an exhausting existence, but M.E. (Michael) is continuing this drive to excellence. You can join him. It would be a fantastic learning experience getting in from the ground up.

Hmmmm…maybe I should move to New Mexico?

Read this article about M. E. Sprengelmeyer for more information.