Month: November 2009

That question has a double meaning, it turns out. I was asking because I just got back from running errands, and I was wondering what I was working on when I left.

Then I uploaded this picture and I don’t remember where I was when I took it. Somewhere on the east side on Manhattan in the 30’s I think. Pretty, no?

I wish I could curl up on the couch with the cats and read O Pioneers!, which I am really loving. But my money is going to run out soon and I must figure out something!! ACK.

Mary Horenkamp, an alto, designs all our programs and postcards, and I think this is my favorite one yet. The inner postcard is from 1906.

Our holiday concert is only a month away! A reminder: our prices have
gone up. If you buy tickets from me it’s now $20, and $25 at the door.
IMPORTANT: we are frequently sold out. It’s not only cost-effective to
buy tickets from me, it may be the only way you can get them.

Time and place:

Grace Church, Broadway & 10th.
Friday, December 4, 8pm, or …
Saturday, December 5, 3pm.

Our program: Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, with works by Stanford, Mendelssohn and others. I googled the Chichester Psalms and according to Wikipedia they are “noted among performers for their musical difficulty, with the opening section of the first movement often considered one of the hardest passages for choral tenors ever written …” It is a bit of a challenge, but also very exciting. And festive. The orchestration is really sparkling and alive and celebratory.

It was very empty at the polls. I bought myself a brownie afterwards.

The radio station called me a little after 6am, I thought they were calling at 7am. I was terrible. Overly-defensive, overly skeptical, when in fact I actually accept more about parapsychology than I think I presented. Christ. So now I am filled with self-loathing, YET AGAIN. I am tired of feeling like this. Like life isn’t hard enough, I have to hate myself for being human?? Enough already.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. What do I have pictures of to post … that might fit my mood. Nothing really. My pictures are all happy. Oh wait, here’s another dead person sign. These things are everywhere. Note to people who erect these signs: give us more to go on about the departed.

It’s going to be a bit busy. I’ve got Echo work to do, an interview with an Australian radio station tomorrow morning, and I’ve got a public-speaking type event which always fills me with dread (and then I get past it). Actually, I think that’s it, that’s what’s scaring me. It’s going to throw off my whole week. I wish I could just not do things that throw off my whole week.

But lately all I hear about it platform, platform, platform. All writers are expected to have a platform. I had to google what that even means. As far as I can tell it means:

– having a big email list of fans.
– and a lot of speaking engagements.
– conducting workshops.
– having lots of media contacts.
– having a blog.
– maybe even a regular column somewhere that keeps your name out in front of the reading public.
– guest blogging on other people’s blogs.

I have to get to work on my platform. (For the love of god.) The 2nd and 3rd items are dread-inducing items. The 3rd a little less. I’ve taught before and it’s public speaking and does involve some dread, but it goes away more quickly because you’re sharing that dread with your students who also have to be on stage with you through-out. Ha. I sound like a horrible teacher.

I’m sure I can think of other things I could do to enhance my “platform.” Maybe I will have regular posts about “Building My Platform.” I’ve already started working on my email list. I had several going and I’ve been consolidating them into one.

Meanwhile, I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. I swear it feels like every week I’m walking through one movie set or another.