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.

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).

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.

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.

Journal-O-Pain

"The Heartbreak Diet" began it's first incarnation as, what I like to call, the "Journal-O-Pain". After I found out about my husband's betrayal, I began to compulsively write, write, write. At that time, still ignorant of California's no-fault system, I imagined that the journals would be useful fodder in a divorce agreement! I planned to document his deceptions, and "prove" how he had destroyed our marriage with concrete dates (!) and evidence (!).

I can't really look at the Journal-O-Pain anymore. It's a repetitve and boring testimony to my denial and hurt that has neither legal, nor entertainment value! Which brings me to the topic of blogging. My publicist and editor encouraged me a couple of months ago to start blogging. Sure I thought... why not? But I have been dragging my heels. What will make this blog any more interesting then the Journal-O-Pain? I'm sceptical about blogging as a valid use of my time. Maybe it's my age, my demographic, that I'm too busy to read other people's blogs. How anyone has the time to do so is a mystery to me. I can barely get through my weekly New Yorker.... Besides, I am not that interesting! My personal life revolves around my kids. Perhaps if I was living in Madacascar, or Rome, I would have something interesting to report about. A friend at the coffee shop suggested that I simply make up stuff-- oh such as how Brad and Angelina were over for dinner, and we chatted about how we would campaign for Barack this fall. Hmmmm. Making stuff up isn't me. I'm too sincere and well-meaning. Ugh. Plus I am not simply not imaginative enough to make stuff up. It's no wonder that I wrote a memoir. And one that, again and again, my friends validated as being "so honest". I think I will have to go back and discuss this art form-- a graphic memoir-- as a topic for the Hearbreak Diet blog. Perhaps it won't be silly or dull to work through how a book gets made from disparate elements. How one chooses details to write and illustrate about, and why one elimiates others. What choices go into revealing details about one's life, and how (as opposed to blogging) these details are crafted into a story.

Sound like a plan?

The Heartbreak Diet Launch Party

The launch party was a whirlwind akin to being a bride--or if you got to dress up to give birth, perhaps that would be a more appropriate major-life-event to refer to. The restaurant Café du Soleil sits on the corner of Fillmore and Waller streets, and as it was an exceptionally beautiful and windless San Francisco evening, friends were spilling out onto the sidewalk. I felt greatful and overwhlemed by the number of people who rallied to support me and the publication of this book. I really tried to sign something personal to everyone, because almost everyone there was a friend or acquaintance. My kids were running around with their gang all evening. Thankfully my brother had come for the event and was able to take them home. When I returned at 1 AM (from dinner at Zuni!) the apartment looked like it was hit by a tornado, the boys were asleep on the living room carpet in front of the (still yabbering) telly, and my brother was snoring in his bed, lights blazing overhead. Ah, the bachelor life. My boys love their uncle!

The first picture is with Steve, my adorably kindhearted and everlastingly patient editor; second is the melee at the book-selling table and finally a view of Café du Soleil.