Friday, June 6, 2008

More fun then I expected...


Today: the stock market is crashing, the price of oil is way up, and despite the bad economic news, I am having a great day! I survived my book reading last night and contrary to my fears, I really enjoyed the experience. Thankfully a few loyal friends showed up-- however there were many unfamiliar faces in the audience. In future presentations, I think I will flesh out the slide show/reading (one always learns from a new experience) but the Q+A went swimmingly. I found myself feeling a bit like an authority on being dumped (which is not neccessarily the role I want to embody forever). None-the-less makes me feel good if I can offer the example of someone who made lemonaide out of lemons. Everyone loves a good rebound.

Big thanks to Christina my publicist at Chronicle books who "rescued" me (with a well timed question) from the interrogation I was fending off from the man I'll call "Safari Guy". He launched the Q+A with questions such as, "Are you still single? Where did you meet your ex-husband? How old were you when you got married?" Fortunately the other folks in the audience were quite thoughtful and asked me questions about the book, general questions about marriage and separation, but not my personal life.

I'm grateful to Laura Catena, who donated several bottles of Alamos, a beautiful Argentine chardonnay (Catena wines) and Adina who provided the healthy and tasty 'miracle' juice.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Fear of Flubbing, Speaking in Public


I think this cartoon from the New Yorker is rather appropriate, even though I didn't write a diet cookbook. Perhaps I'll include recipes in future posts....

Tonight I'll be speaking at Books Inc., my first ever author-event other then the launch party. Since the publication of the book, so many people have come to me and described what I did (putting all that personal stuff out in the public eye) as "brave". That part really didn't feel brave to me. What's really brave is having to speak in public. I'm rather nervous!

The book was a challenge in that I wasn't sure if I could tell a good, compelling story. It felt brave to be trying to accomplish something new, for I had only been an illustrator, never a writer. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off, and would therefore have to return the advance with my tail between my legs. The material I present in the book, my story, became somewhat depersonalized as I crafted the actual events into a narration. I don't feel much emotion as I look at the pages other then the artist's cringe at the details that are not "quite right"! My biggest fear in doing the book, was a backlash from "X", but since he isn't nice to me anyway, I decided it was worth the risk that he'd go postal. Part of me, weirdly enough, hoped he'd like it-- because he always appreciated my creative side! (The answer, by the way, is no-- I don't believe he enjoyed the book).

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Gilda Radner

Throughout my book I have illustrations of strong women whose words inspired me. I found that there were so many quotes that felt meaningful to me at various periods during "The Heartbreak Diet". This is one of them.


The quote reads:
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next.

Monday, June 2, 2008

I'll be at Books Inc. this Thursday!


I'll be talking about how to make a graphic novel and what it was like illustrating and writing about something so personal. And of course there will be free wine! Hope to see you there.