"Long Way Down" at Olney Theatre

Content notes: On stage death by implied gunshot, grief, frequent use of prop gun, including pointing at the audience.

I listened to a podcast about resilience after natural disasters where they interviewed mental health specialists who had gone to Puerto Rico and talked about meeting folks for whom this was like the third or fourth life disaster they had faced. 

It was an accidental choice on my part, I just picked next episode on my way to the theater, but in many ways it was apt. 

I listened to the audiobook of Jason Reynolds "Long Way Down" years ago. 

It was turned into a one man play that I never managed to get to. But the story of Will who hops in an elevator with a gun after his brother is murdered, intent on evening the score, only to encounter ghosts of his past - well a one man play made sense. 

The book is short, making use of prose and wordplay in creative ways. 

A musical did not seem as obvious a choice. But we all know I love a musical. 

For the musical, we get to spend more time with some of the characters. We get to know Sean, Will's brother, and his mom, quickly in the first song. So that when Sean is killed in the third song, it's heartbreaking, even though you knew it was coming. 

The set design was fantastic, using a whirling, twirling elevator cage that fills up with ghosts. 

There are lovely little details. During one flashback moment, when Will remembers talking about grief with his mom and his brother, his mom sings about not pushing grief away, while Sean dances and teases Will behind her. 

And Will's uncle wears a Washington Bullets hat. 

The songs cover a range of styles. 

This was a really fascinating show, that adapted the source material in an interesting way. 

For those who haven't engaged with the material before, the book, and this musical version fall into what I often call conversation plays. Which is to say, it's about the questions raised, not the answers. It's a great story, but the ending is intentionally open ended. (Two theater-goers at my showing spotted an actor leaving and tried to get him to give them the answer. The actor wisely, but kindly, refused.)

So, you may want to go with a friend so you can all talk about it after. 

Covid note: Olney Theatre does not have a mask requirement, but they do have MERV air filtration that runs prior to and during the show, per their website. 

Behind an Iconic Country Song

As a long time "Song Exploder" fan, it's not a surprise that this deeper dive about "Take Me Home Country Roads" was of interest to me.  

But first a story.  Growing up I lived in DC but went to school in Maryland.  By high school my two closest friends lived in Mitchellville and Damascus, Maryland.  Mitchellville is in PG County and houses an amusement park.  Damascus at the time was quite literally a one stoplight town in upper Montgomery County.  (I believe they have more stoplights now.)  We often teased the Damascus friend that we had to pass cows to get to her.  (There were actual cows.)  

So all of this is to say that learning the road the songwriters were driving down was Clopper Road in Gaithersburg as they charted out this song is both fascinating and hilarious to me.  I am well aware that good writers are chasing a feeling, not a specific road.  But nonetheless.  Also that this song debuted at the Cellar Door in Georgetown, is honestly just the cherry on top for me. The next time I'm on Clopper Road, I know what to sing now.  And you best believe I will be bringing this up all the time.    

"Miss You Like Hell" at Olney Theater

Content warning: suicidal ideation, car wreck

"Miss You Like Hell" is a road trip story, which can be tough to pull off in the theater. It us, of course, more than that. A mother, Beatriz, shows up unexpectedly at her daughter Olivia's, suggesting a road trip. Olivia hasn't seen her mother in several years and  has some abandonment issues. When Beatriz reveals she hit the road after seeing a tumblr post indicating Olivia was considering suicide, Olivia agrees to the trip. Along the way they talk, meet other travelers, and even a tumblr commenter. And Olivia learns that Beatriz's immigration status is in danger, that perhaps a plea ftom her daughter would help.

The show has some rough spots. While Olivia's suicidal ideation was the catalyst, most of the suggestions for addressing that are to be handled later, which is realistic but does have the sense of kind of brushing her mental health to the side. 

Certainly the trip allows Olivia to understand her mom better, and therefore realize that some of the choices her mom had made concerning her were not how she interpreted them. 

The songs similarly ranged from intense and haunting, to simplistic. I did get home and download the original cast album.

It is particularly interesting to see a show where the teen character is played by a teen. I had the pleasure of sitting near some of the actresses friends. (She attends school across the street from the theater, per the program.)

The rest of the cast was fun. The set made use of projection for parts of the road trip. The sound was a little wonky at my showing, but nothing that detracted from the enjoyment of the show.

Rain and Sheep and Wool

It rained on Sunday. It rained so much that the front half of the top of my pants was soaked before we even left DC. Boots and raincoat did their jobs, but walking requires moving. 

It did mean there were less people there. It did mean, that, plus the retirement of of of my favorite dyers meant I had less booths on my must visit list. It did mean the main barn was popping, since covers plus more vendors. 

But we came, we ran into most of the people I knew were there. Some I didn't. And then came back home and got dry clothes and snacks. It's interesting how the combination of social media, the DC area now having more yarn stores owned by a wider range of people, and the Internet has made such festivals both fun but also less necessary. Can you touch more yarn in one place there still? Oh of course. Can you eat fair food and see actual sheep and other animals? Yep. Will you normally see more people in their hand knits than other places? Yep. (Rain gear often covers hand knits. So some impact there.)

So it may have been a speedier trip, but still fun. 

WRW Retreat 2019

The WRW Retreat, aka In the Company of Writers, was this past weekend. Alexis Daria gave the Friday Keynote, talking about writing and also working for and with a writing organization, and moving it to serve everyone. And how slowing down, instead of being reactive can help us focus better on the big goals. 

We had two tracks so I missed some great stuff. (Best of problems to have, right?) I did a critique exchange with folks. Alexis Daria talked building a brand. I went to Cheryl Etchison's workshop on connected series. We had an awards luncheon. Cheryl Etchison also talked pacing. I tried to keep time with the agent/editor pitch sessions (people were very chatty). American Author was fun. Alisha Rai talked about how watching her mother face racism as a doctor helped make her more determined to speak up and speak out. We had our first ever costume contest which was super fun. There was dancing. 

And Angelina Lopez talked highs and lows, and how having been a long term member of WRW meant she knew the bumps in the writing career were par for the course, which didn't make it easier but helped her know to keep looking ahead. 

And we ended with the raffle which was fun. Whether calendars or wine, it's always fun to see what ends up beeping the hot item. 

I raced away from the retreat to head to my book club since we had a special guest, Mia Sosa, who I had also seen Thursday at East City Books with Tracey Livesay and Sally Thorne which was also an amazing (and well attended) event. It is a great problem to have when all the cool things stack up. 

Writers and Knitters and Sheep

My writers chapter had a meeting on Saturday, and while some of it was chapter business stuff, some of it was story structure and marketing with Kimberly Kincaid, and both that, and the chance to hang with writer peeps and discuss writer things was wonderful. And then Sunday I went up to Maryland Sheep and Wool with some writer friends and it is always fun to go with someone new to it all, who has never seen all the things and to make sure they get to see our faves but also have space to discover their own. I had not realized that Brooks Farm was packing it in after this show (likely just as well, I usually hit them first and it's not good if I just bust my pretend budget fast). I talked later with a friend about some other yarn folk that have come and gone since we've been festivaling. It is the festival circuit, but it's nice and fun to spend all this time with folks that like crafts of various types.

In The Heights Two Times

Olney Theater and Roundhouse Theater did a joint production of "In the Heights" and I went to see it.  Yes, I had seen it in April at Gala Theater when they did the Spanish version.  And since I apparently didn't write about that let's talk about both. Gala Theater's version was in Spanish, which is to say for the most part they flipped the Spanish and English in the play and had subtitles on stage.  Olney/Roundhouse did the traditional English, with a lot of Spanish mixed in. 

Gala's theater is smaller and let to a very intimate feel.  For "Alabanza" they had actors carrying candles down the aisles which led to a feeling of intimacy. The Olney Theater is larger, and they had piped in city noises - sirens and subways - something a theater in Columbia Heights did not need to do.  Also, it's not part of the performance, but I went to Gala on a rainy Friday and everyone seemed happy and in the mood to party.  While I went to Olney on a Wednesday, and the audience response was interested, but comparatively more sedate. 

In both cases the casts were great.  In both cases, a number of the actors were making their debut at that theater, but had performed in "In the Heights" before. Olney's cast had Rayanne Gonzalez playing Abuela Claudia, and I have now seen her in three local productions ("Destiny of Desire", "Oliver!") and she's been great in each.  

"In The Heights" takes place over three days in July in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City and while covering lottery wins, and romantic drama, also manages to touch on themes of immigration, gentrification, and defining success. It was a Tony award winner for music and lyrics writer Lin-Manuel Miranda among others. 

I had listened to the cast album for years, but had not managed to catch a live version until this year, so I hadn't known, until I saw a video on Twitter about the use of cell phones in the "Blackout" number.  I confess, along with a birthday month present to myself, part of my excuse for seeing it again was to see what the Olney production would do for "Blackout".  The Gala production has used flashlights, which is certainly a choice.  (I had also chatted via Facebook with someone who went to the Annapolis version, who said they used low stage lights.) Olney did use cell phones.  Very modern looking cell phones.  

The play, like many is very recent (about 10 years old, which compared to say Dickens is just a spring chicken of a play) and yet, it's already a bit dated.  The neighborhood in question is already gentrified.  Rosario's Car Service would be fighting off competition from ride sharing services.  Going to visit the Dominican Republic is fraught with additional tension these days.  Although I confess the Trump joke is actually funnier now.  

Also, after the production, the cast announced they are fundraising disaster relief for hurricane and earthquake affected folks. They were at 40,000 something.  They are hoping to get to 96,000. 

A transportation note for local folks.  There is a bus that gets you to the Olney theater, but it stops running around sixish, so you will need an alternate plan for your return trip, or to carpool out there.  

Gaithersburg Book Festival

The weather here has been weird of late.  Or typical for these transitional periods.  So, after three straight days of 90 degree weather, we had been promised that Saturday would emerge a little overcast, a little cooler, but really very nice.  And well, I expected that to mean a dress and a scarf weather, and discovered that the day was breezy and cool. I met a friend who was already there for lunch.  She headed home, I went to a panel with Brigid Kemmerer and Michelle Knudson talking about their YA books, and then the next panel slot was jam-packed but in the end I went with Jack Viertel in conversation with Jason Loewith of the Olney Theater Center about Viertel's book on American musicals. They discussed some of the main structure points of musicals, along with some notable exceptions.  

I confess, after this panel, despite my interest in the next two slots, I reached a point where I could no longer take the cold and hoped back on the shuttle to get back to metro.  Despite my briefer than usual visit, it was still great fun and for every panel I did get two, there were several I wished time or scheduling would have allowed for. And even though I'm whining about the weather a little, it rained all day last year, so this was much better. 

An Evening with the "Serial" creators

Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, the team behind a little podcast called "Serial" you might have heard of were at Strathmore for a talk about the making of the podcast.  Given the case that the first season focused on took place in Maryland it was fun to watch them talk about how Maryland's information laws gave them access to files they might not otherwise have been able to access since ultimately the police officers involved decided not to speak to Koenig.  

Koenig and Snyder had worked together for many years at "This American Life" and felt the culture of hey, if you like this thing, try it, see where it goes really created the special blend that people have come to expect from "This American Life" and now several other shows, given the number of former "This American Life" folks across the radio and podcast landscape now.  They had once worked together on an episode of "This American Life" called "The Week" where they focused on stories from the week leading up to the show, from the splashy big news, to the small.  They had enjoyed that so much they pitched to the team the idea of making a show that was just that.  They said the reception to this idea was not great.  No one said no, but no one said super cool idea, go for it either.  They were not deterred and kept talking about it and kicking it around, and Ira Glass talked to Koenig and said hey, if this is the thing that speaks to you, then you guys should go for it, but do you have any other ideas?  And Koenig said, well, the opposite would be fun too, like a longform, multi-episode look at a single story.  And, well, since the show is called "Serial", I think the direction they ultimately chose is clear.  

They touched on the amazing momentum the first season had, and how they ended up having to try to manage (as much as one can) the internet and the news media.  They had made specific journalistic choices about things to include and exclude, had made certain deals with people that agreed to speak with them on condition of some form of anonymity, and to leave out certain things that they simply didn't have enough verification to include.  Not everyone on the internet played by the same rules. 

An audience member asked about the comparative lack of success for the second season which he had enjoyed.  Koenig and Snyder said they felt that the second season had been less buzzy.  It wasn't a murder mystery, and so people seemed to spend less time discussing it in between episodes in visible places (think pieces, podcasts, etc) but that the numbers did not support that it was less successful, and they also found that there were a lot of places they went where people were so glad they had done that story.  In fact another audience member stood up and said that he had been in Afghanistan for USAID and when the show started, people he couldn't get to talk to him about the case, all of the sudden began discussing it.  So he was grateful that it gave them that conversational starting point.

Ultimately, they felt certain that they would continue to follow the stories that spoke to them and seemed suited to this format, and work that way, rather than worrying about audience reaction. They did acknowledge that this was not a leeway all journalists worked with.  

It was a lot of fun to listen to them, and hang out in a theater full of podcast nerds.  (And that one dude who raised his hand when they asked if anyone hadn't listened to "Serial" yet.)

Brigid Kemmerer at Bethesda Library

Brigid Kemmerer was at the Bethesda library last night.  Hannah McBride (I assume I'm spelling that right) interviewed her about both her new release, Letters to the Lost which is straight contemporary YA and there were also quite a few mentions of the Elementals series and those Merricks.  

Kemmerer said Letters to the Lost was loosely inspired by "You've Got Mail".  She was rewatching it one day and wondered how she could do a YA version, and then because her writing is not usually straight funny, but funny in the face of darkness, shifted to what if one of them was writing letters to someone who was dead.  And here we are. There is a companion book planned featuring the best friend of Declan (male protagonist in Letters).  

There was a lot of love for the Merricks, and discussion of when any future stories would be.  For those who haven't read the series, I can tell you the story wraps up, but of course, there is always more, another big bad lurking somewhere.  Kemmerer had planned to write more in the world, and has the next story started, but the publisher that has the series rights is not so much doing YA at the moment, so she is prioritizing the books that are under contract.  (So, less publishy nitty gritty version - maybe someday.) 

Letters is her first straight contemporary - I will say having finished Thicker Than Water recently, it reminded me of More Happy Than Not in that it seems like a contemporary for a good part of it, until you realize, oh, okay.  But Letters is contemporary and dual first person which Kemmerer enjoyed writing.  She also has another contemporary planned for 2019. 

She was asked about writing male POV's and said she drove her husband crazy asking what does it feel like to do this, and that, and the other when she was first writing the Elementals.  And finally her husband said it doesn't matter about what all guys think or feel, just this character.  

Kemmerer said the final (so far) story in the Elementals, Michael's was the hardest partly because she had to wrap up so many things, and by that point the series had fans and people would email her that they just couldn't wait for Michael's story and she was struggling, and pregnant, and sent 50 pages to her editor who said, hmm, maybe not quite that*, and so went back and wrote new pages that she hated. She was put on bed rest, so emailed her editor and said, I'm on bed rest for two weeks before the C-section, so I'll do nothing but write and everything will be fine.  And she (modified bed rest) went to Starbucks to meet her mom and the barista had the name that she and her husband had planned for their kid, and she told her mom, this is a sign, the baby's coming today.  Her mom told her don't be silly, but you know where this was going, so, yeah, she had to tell her editor new plan.  Anyway, the book does exist now, so it all worked out.  And Kemmerer said she's in that Starbucks all the time and never saw that barista before or after that.  

*I'm sure she was paraphrasing and encapsulating for the sake of the story.

20 Years On: "Rent"

My story of how I came to "Rent" is one of those stories that of course involved things that no longer work like that.  Anyway, I was in Borders (remember Borders) and wandering the listening stations (remember when store listening stations was the only way to try music without buying it or listening to it on the radio) and I just was blown away.  Since it was a double CD (remember CD's, okay I'll stop now) I think I had to wait and buy it on another trip but I did.  I listened, I read the liner notes, I sang along, I cut out a quote and stuck it on my wall, and so on.  So when there was finally a touring cast, I went to see it with some friends, some who were also familiar with it, and one who had no idea was just willing to come along for a show.  My recollection is that the program contained a map explaining to the uninitiated the various (well most of them) connections between the characters. 

It was amazing.  As is often the case, no matter how thorough the liner notes and cast album are, there are nuances that are clearer seeing it live.  Plus the enjoyment of seeing it live.  I went again a few years later when the touring cast came back through and brought a friend who had never been to see it.  She was blown away.  She bought us tickets for a performance a few months later in Philadelphia (near where she lived) so we could see it again. It was so great to watch someone else fall in love with the experience and be ready to talk through all their favorite bits. 

I saw the movie when it came out. I went to BroadwayCon and saw the reunion panel.  Let's just say, I'm a bit of a fan. 

So I tried to set realistic expectations for myself when I saw the reunion cast was coming to Baltimore. (They later added a DC stop, after I already had tickets.) 

"Rent" is fascinating in that it was incredibly groundbreaking when it debuted, and there are ways that it is both more and less unusual this many years later.  I find I still have the following conversation with people, well, why don't they just pay their rent, haha.  (The show explains the answer. And well, either you accept that or you don't.) 

We have better HIV drugs.  The Alphabet City gentrification referenced is pretty much complete now.  But it also seems even more likely that Mark's footage of a riot would lead to job opportunities.  And some things, like seeking a community that accepts you, finding the balance between maintaining the ideals you have and paying the bills, are timeless. 

So, the 20th anniversary tour.  Overall it was fun.  The woman next to me was a longtime fan who had never seen it live, and she had the time of her life.  It was actually clear there were both longtime fans, who chuckled more at things that were funny about the performances, and newbies (one person let out a cheer at the end of "Contact" while the longtime fans knew it ends with sadness.

The staging had the full cast on stage a bit more often than I recall from other versions allowing for quick transitions, and occasional cuts meant to jar.  A reunion tour always has the challenge of trying to both satisfy old fans and still be relevant to current audiences. The direction to the actors seemed to be to prioritize emotion over word clarity, meaning there were moments of anger or sadness, where conveying that was more important than clarity in the lyrics.

In costuming, Benny still had a blue puffy coat, but now it had neon accents, Mark's plaid had sheepskin trim making him look a little lumbersexual, and Joanne had a coat I am lusting after. Reading the bio's in the Playbill, it was sort of amusing to realize many of these actors were perhaps toddlers when the original "Rent" opened, but of course, the original cast had a lot of people for whom this was their first big job, and that's how it should be for a piece about twenty somethings trying to make their dreams come true.  

The choreography in "Today 4 U" leaned a little more towards panty (or legging crotch) flashing than drumming. Tom Collins is in some ways a gimme role for an actor with any bit of talent, since he's a loving friend and partner pretty much every moment he's on stage, and but Aaron Harrington's deep voice more than lived up to expectations.  

It was great to see, and fun to see how my views of each character have shifted over the years, although I still love and hate all of them a little. But mostly love. 

A Bookish Weekend

Friday night I managed to locate a banned book hidden in the city.  (If by hidden we understand we mean placed face out on a bookshelf in the Reading Room at the Petworth Citizen.) So I felt that was a good omen for the bookish weekend ahead.  

Saturday was the National Book Festival.  Kwame Alexander brought musical accompaniment that he used while talking abut wanted to write a story about a kid who didn't like words until he met a cool librarian. 

Meg Medina talked about her memories of growing up during the Son of Sam summer, and how she realized that pervasive worry would be applicable to today's kids who deal with shooter drills.  Shannon Hale talked about her inspiration for the Princess in Black series, the idea of an unlikely superhero.  She also brought kids on stage to create their own unlikely superheroes.  And kids, I would read the tales of Ultimate Fishie.  Call me.  

Gene Luen Yang spoke with NPR Books' Petra Mayer about getting the call about the genius grant (in his car, about to go to Panera) and that with the New Superman series, he wanted to mimic early Clark Kent's journey from being a bully who misused his superstrength, to the stand up guy we think of today.  

Representative John Lewis talked about raising chickens, and how he felt a little bad now about swapping out the eggs the hens were sitting on.  He may also have commented on chickens being better listeners and more productive than some Congress people. Andrew Aydin talked about going from having Hill staffers make fun of his love of comics, to being a co-author of a graphic novel with Lewis.  He also said his mother had always advised him to stay clean shaven, but given the growing anti-Muslim sentiment, he had grown a beard to try and make use of his position of privilege as a known safe person. 

The Books to Movies panel had the Washington Post's Monica Hesse interviewing Patrick Ness, Katherine Paterson, and David L. Paterson.  Ness wrote A Monster Calls on spec (ie, with no other funding and such in place).  He and David talked about the process of encapsulating a book into a movie, that the script is going to be much shorter, so you have to figure out where to cut, and where you can have the visuals do a lot of the work.  we saw clips of each, and rumors that I teared up are just that, rumors. 

Then I went to the Poetry Slam.  They had brought six teens from across the country to compete and we weren't given their team affiliations until the end, but those Indiana teens brought it. They were asked to use a books or reading theme. Some went very specific, some went very personal, and the crowd was great too.  They covered things street harassment, teacher expectations, parents who didn't understand their educational drive, LGBTQ rights, heartbreak, and we had been advised that snapping while a poet was on was a method we could use that shouldn't break their flow, and my snapping fingers were sore at the end.  

Sunday, I went to the final day of the Baltimore Book Festival.  

I hung out primarily at the Maryland Romance Writers tent and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers tent.  I confess my ability to track names and such had deteriorated a bit, but I caught some discussions about historical romance, paranormal romance, sci-fi heroines, and romance tropes. The Baltimore Book Fest is right along the Harbor and there's a variety of food, so it was a great end to the weekend.  

WRW Retreat 2016

It was the WRW In the Company of Writers Retreat again this weekend. It was a great time and I got to hang with old writer buds and meet new writer buds, and see who won a Marlene. Sarah Maclean talked about writing the dragon, since it was the feast of Saint George, known for his dragon, er, taming. Sarah Morgan talked about how writing books that touch people was just as important as being a healthcare worker (and that writers could make sure their fictional doctors always said the right thing to patients). There were workshops and panels about writing, conflict, panic, and more. There was romance jeopardy, which is not fair. And secrets were revealed about final speaker Angele Mcquade who encouraged us to dream bigger. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful local chapter and every time I whine about them making me get up early on weekends, know that while I do hate waking up early, they are worth it.

Reunion

My high school reunion was this past weekend and I had intended to show up for one school event and one off site event, and then, things changed.  First, they added a screening of a documentary put together by a fellow alumna that I had been wanting to see.  And then, knowing some of us might change our plans, they had tipped us off to the recipient of one of the alumna awards, and it was my senior year English teacher, who I adore to this day.  (I had a lot of great English teachers, but her especially.) 

So, suddenly I was being really participatory.  And I ran into some folks from my class meeting up to take a school tour and had a chance to chat with them, and also see the changes that they had made to the school (robotics lab!) and the things that were the same (paper mailboxes!). 
In a case of small word-itis, one of the alumnae board members was my carpool buddy in elementary school, so I got to see her.  And I made sure to hug said teacher Friday night in case she was too mobbed on Saturday.  (She told me I looked great, she was glad to see me, and she didn't think think she'd ever seen my with lipstick, which is likely true, I was even more low maintenance in high school.)

Saturday I was a teensy bit fashionable late to brunch, but got there for the important bits.  Amusingly, there was a video message from an alumna who, you know, works over at Facebook now, announcing her adoration of said teacher, that they had not tested the volume on, but the core message was clear.  And the teacher was appreciative, the other award winners (which were not surprises, but no less lovely) were great.  And then post-brunch several of my classmates got asked if our class had a height requirement.  (Full disclosure, I am 5' 6" but my mother is taller, so I feel, not short, but not tall.  But someone else asked me if I got taller, and so, I have no idea.  I was not wearing heels either time so it was interesting that in this environment I was tall now.)

We wandered around the parts of the school the tour had not gotten too, and the robotics team was there (on a Saturday, guys) and we got to come in and say hi to them.

And then, we got to see the lovely Eli Kimaro, who had not been in my year but due to school size and multi-grade things like chorus, was known to me. Her documentary "A Lot Like You" is amazing.  It covers her journey with her husband to her father's home country of Tanzania, where her parents now both live, and what she discovered as she tried to delve deeper into what it meant to be Tanzanian, to be Chagga, to be of this place, and how to pass this legacy to the next generation.  That sounds like a lot, and it is.  The film manages to raise a number of things and be an interesting yet somewhat open ended exploration of heritage and culture. 

And that night there was the off site party which was well attended and provided the chance to catch up with folks, both those I see on social media and those I don't. I really do adore the folks I went to school with pretty much without exception (and well, those people were in other classes so, no need to dwell on old slights) and I love the chance to hang out with them even if nowadays I need a nap after two days of that.

Baltimore Book Fest

I spent Saturday at the Baltimore Book Fest and well, I should have taken notes because I got hit with a sinus infection Sunday and I feel it has emptied out my brains a bit.  It was a busy weekend in Baltimore, I rode up on the train with some friends who were hitting the Baltimore Comic-Con.  I arrived before the book fest kicked off which gave me a chance to chat with some of the folks at the Maryland Romance Writers (MRW) tent.  They kicked things off with a panel on New Adult books that talked a lot of the differences between adult, new adult, and young adult voices and stories. Quite a few of the authors talked about how new adult men are likely to be a little less experienced, a little more vulnerable, because, just like the young females, they come to a relationship with a little less baggage. 

The next panel was on tropes and they talked about how using tropes can be a useful skeleton to help you build a character and/or plot, and that it can also help you find readers who like such things.  (Like me.  With amnesia.)

Then I hopped over to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America tent to stalk, ahem, I mean listen to the YA writers and bloggers there.  They talked about the freedom that writing YA offered, that it really let you put a dash of this, a pinch of that, and just go.  Adult readers tend to be more worried about how you broke the rules on something.  They also mentioned the tight pacing on YA really gets you to the plot fast, there is no five pages discussing the layout of the space hatch.  A librarian in the crowd asked about diverse YA fantasy selections and the panel gave some great resources for lists (including We Need Diverse Books and Disability in Kidlit) and a quick discussion that sadly sometimes the covers (whitewashed or fontified) make it hard to spot them as you flip through School Library Journal or Publisher's Weekly. 

Then I hopped back to MRW for their YA discussion.  They also talked about YA, particularly with a smoochie bent.  I confess I snuck out a little early because Bryan Voltaggio was cooking meatloaf over at the aquarium tent.  And then I went down to the Literary Salon tent to listen to Greg Proops talk about his book.  He talked a lot about the things that most people don't know these days, whether because mainstream news is so slanted, because we don't curate the things we read on the internet, or because our history classes leave out so much. 

I went back to MRW for the suspense panel.  They discussed making use of the ticking clocking suspense, that you aren't so much going to have a suspense where the bomb will go off in six months or so, and how sometimes that creates challenges for making a believable romance because these people are really not in a position to go on a date night. 

Then at the Pratt Free Library Children's Stage the members of two Youth Poetry teams performed and I have to tell you, if you have a chance to see these kids, they are amazing.  They were touching, funny, heartbreaking, and weird, sometimes all in one piece.  (If I had been better prepared for the awesome, I would have tried to get video.  Find them on the You Tubes.)

And then I grabbed dinner and sat in on part of MRW's final panel, wherein the steamier authors proved some of their dedication for inspiration by spotted a leather jacketed dude, prompting an audience member to go grab him and bring him back for a quick chat. (Names redacted to protect teh guilty, although I think they have outed themselves on other parts of the net.)

Then it was time to head home.  I really am lucky to live so close to such fun. 

Gaithersburg Book Festival

I made my first trek to the Gaithersburg Book Festival this weekend and had a great time.  I got a later start than hoped, although the free shuttle they ran from the metro was nice and easy, so I missed most of the We Need Diverse Books crew.  But I buried my sadness in a delicious food truck veggie rice bowl. (Also, as a side note, I read the first few chapters of Aisha Saeed's Written in the Stars, and O M G.)

But I got to hear Gene Luen Yang speak.  He talked about many of the things he had at the National Book Fest, but really, the man has great thoughts about the cross cultural implications of comics, how it appeals to people who feel like outsiders, whether children of immigrants, or others.  He also talked about the rise of the nerd, how now you see "jocks" wearing Avengers t-shirts.  And, I happened to get a signed copy of The Shadow Hero (which made a wonderful read for the metro ride home). While in line I had a great chat with an enthusiastic middle school librarian.

I then listened to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor talk about wrapping up the Alice series.  She also talked about how her writing process has changed over the years. Then Ally Carter was introduced by two teen writers* who were both Gallagher Girls fans.  Ally talked about writing the Embassy Row series, and her journey to being a young adult writer.  She said her fans usually have lots of questions, and one in particular asked if she would do more crossovers.  (There is a novella containing a character from the Gallagher Girls and a character from Heist Society.) She said she enjoyed doing it, but it makes legal things like film rights tricky so she would have to be careful about that.

Kwame Alexander spoke about the process of setting up a book festival from scratch and how he had done that, and then, after not winning a fellowship, deciding to create his own, which led to a published picture book.  Then, at a children's book panel, a librarian asked him if he had ever thought about writing for older kids after he read some love poetry he had self-published earlier in his career.  He said yes (this was a theme, saying yes) and ended up writing The Crossover, which went through about eight different versions and was rejected 20 times, before finally being accepted for publication.  He read parts of it.  So great. 

And about then, the sky started to dim and it seemed like a good time to head back home.  (Wonderfully, I came out of the metro station in DC to text messages from friends letting me know that there was a storm warning.) 

Also, Montgomery Community Media put together a Storify of tweets from the festival (and yes, I am in there) which has tweets from the panels I missed, so you can experience it through tweets.

*They were likely doing this all along, I just happened to miss all the other intros and I made my way back and forth.

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2015

A group of us headed up to Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday. I have thoughts about Saturday visits to the Festival. (The crazy people go on Saturday.  Sunday is so much more calm.  But one of our group had to head out of town Sunday, so Saturday it was.)  We arrived about lunchish and did not go straight for food, figuring everyone else would do that and, well, I can't imagine ever going Saturday again but I need to eat sooner or pack more snacks if I'm going to do that. Everything took longer on Saturday (seriously, in the same amount of time were were there Saturday I can usually, hit all my favorite booths, and check in on some others we wander past, get food, and find a nice spot on the grass to enjoy the weather and knit.)  It was mostly just the numbers game, because more people come on Saturday, you have to park in the overflow (If you are not there as it opens, which no) and so it took longer to get to the festival, and then there are more people milling about and while we missed most of the really crazy lines there were simply more people to navigate past and around everywhere we went.

Now don't get me wrong, it was still totally worth it and a lovely visit, and since we got there in the pm side, none of the lines were outrageous.  I came home with a wee bit more than I had planned, but I regret nothing.  It is all squishy and lovely and I want to knit it all now.  Also, saw quite a few new vendors this year, including Buffalo Wool (who I am used to visiting at the Holiday Market, so seeing them here in May was fun). 

And it was a day spent with people who understood the squishing and the petting of things sheepy (or buffalo, or cotton, or yak). 

In the Company of Writers 2015

This past weekend was the Washington Romance Writers retreat, aka, In the Company of Writers in Westminster. Friday we gathered up and Bella Andre kicked us off with a great speech at dinner about doing your research and not being afraid to ask. The next morning I was up very early, so I could go into a critique workshop with a group of my fellow WRWers. It was a great session, led by Kerri Buckley and everyone had really great feedback. At lunch, Rita Clay Estrada, who founded RWA (and whom the Rita award is named after) talked about the founding of RWA and how it had been started in part after nasty comments from an attendee at a writer's conference who wanted the romance writers to take their silly books somewhere else. (Be careful what you wish for.) And then of course, the journey led to RWA which was able to provide numbers and information specific to romance writers. At one point, RWA was offered a million dollars for their published author list. (They turned it down.) Chapter awards were given to those that had been of particular help to the chapter. The Marlene winners were also announced and quite a number of winners and finalists were there, which was great. Gwen and Sara Reyes from Fresh Fiction talked a lot about website content and newsletters. American Author gave us another wonderful snapshot into writers brains. I had read a few more of the entries than usual (thanks to contests and such) and so it was particularly interesting to hear the reaction. Mary Kay Andrews gave a wonderful speech about her journey from unpublished to mystery writer and then the agent who said to her, I know what you've been doing, tell me what you to do now? And so she transitioned to be a women's fiction writer. Romance Jeopardy had an Elvis theme, leading to a lot of blue suede shoes. I am kicking myself for not picking up on the opportunity to go Hawaiian themed. The game was as usual, not fair. Some of the questions were really hard this year. I am going to blame Elvis for that. It was still a great time. And then, there was much general writer chill time. I confess, I made a decision that I could not go to bed before Rita Clay Estrada, who was great fun to talk to. Outlasting her did mean I had a bit of a slower start the next morning, but I did make it to Cathy Maxwell's farewell, which this year was introduced by the wonderful and funny Mary Strand who promised she would reveal the real truth about Max. (Um, I could tell you what she told us, but I hear that Max is mean.) Cathy Maxwell talked about the writer tribe we had bonded with and how to remember that storytelling is something that's in your soul, and that's why you do it. It was, as always, so much fun, and the weekend I leave sadder that I only got to chat with half the people there and not everyone.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

It was the annual yarn convention.  Or something.  Fine it was Maryland Sheep and Wool, since there were other yarn events this weekend to say nothing of the others throughout the year. So, we went forth (or fourth given the date) and ate silly fair food and looked at yarn and sheep and other knitting accessories.  We lunched in front of a sheep shearing demonstration, shopped and browsed a lot and enjoyed the warmish, if a bit breezy at times, weather. It's always fun to be at a con of any kind, since you know this is the place where fondling a stranger's shawl might be normal behavior.  (You should probably still ask.)  And the onset of lemonade and half and half season (even though I might drink half and hal pretty much all the time) is always a good thing. 

 

How Fast?

I have heard tales of the inaccuracies of speed cameras, including the story of the tree that was clocked going 80. But imagine you were on your bicycle. Now certainly, bicycles making use of the street are bound by the traffic laws (all of them, people) but one generally imagines without the aid of serious downhill momentum, speed is not something your average cyclist has to worry to much about exceeding.
So, now imagine your town has installed speed cameras. People grumbled, as they do. People complained that they were sure they had not been going that fast, as they do. Now imagine the speed camera clocked a cyclist going 57. (Cheverly has stopped the program now. As the article helpfully points out, that speed is over the current land speed record for cycling on a flat surface.)

h/t to DCist for the link