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Letter from Joyce Archives
Look for the February 2004 release of The Usual Rules in paperback!
November 1, 2006
Dear Friends,
For me, the celebration of my birthday, November 5, tends to be all wrapped up with the election (every other year, anyway. On the off-years, I'm having flashbacks...).
While I never take it for granted that just because someone likes my work, she or he necessarily agrees with my politics, I don't mind telling you that this year, I'm feeling enormous excitement and hopefulness that the mid-term elections may finally give voice to the sadness and dismay many of us have been feeling (and I am one) about the policies of our current administration, both in Iraq and here at home. Unfortunately, because of my book tour, I didn't have the chance to take out my rolling pin again this season and offer up pie lessons by way of raising funds for my favorite candidates. But I'll defnitely be voting, and following closely what's going on November 7. And of course, I hope all of you who share my belief in the profound need for a change in direction are doing the same.
(On my book tour two weeks ago, a brilliant fall day, I found myself driving a familiar stretch of highway -- Route 93 North from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire. Along the way, I drove under an overpass on which makeshift banners were hung, naming a soldier, just killed -- younger than either of my sons. And thought, as I did so, that I support our troops too. Only for me, doing that means saying, bring them home.
November 8 -- the day after the elections -- I'll be taking off on the final leg of my Internal Combustion book tour, with stops in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Austin, Texas (where we have a particularly unique night planned, at my friend Joshua Bingaman's cafe, Progress Coffee), Boca Raton, Miami, and finally, a town I love a lot, Portland, Maine.
For those of you who enjoyed my novel The Usual Rules, but haven't gotten around to checking out The Cloud Chamber, I want to let you know that as of this week, you can find the paperback of that book in your local bookstore, or at Amazon.com. In the same way that Usual Rules was published for an adult readership -- but found an audience, too, among younger readers -- I want to say that while Cloud Chamber was originally presented as a Young Adult novel, I believe it's a story for readers of any age. In particular, I love to see those books shared by parents and their kids.
A few words about sharing books with children: Often, I think, parents suppose that once their children can read, themselves, the old ritual of nightly reading time is likely to phase down. But for me, reading out loud -- to an older child, or a partner or friend, or a parent -- is something we should continue to enjoy at any stage of life. I know I still love to read aloud to my kids, and to anyone else who'll listen, actually. (This is one reason I love to give readings, of course. It's a way of sharing the otherwise-solitary act of taking in a story, and adding to it, with the sound of a human voice. I still remember my parents reading and reciting poetry to me, and it is that memory that inspires me, when I read.)
All of this is a long way around towards urging you to pick up The Cloud Chamber, if you haven't read it yet, and if there's a young person in your household, I hope you'll consider reading this one out loud to him or her. Meanwhile, I am adding a link, here, to a page about reading out loud to a child, taken from my novel The Usual Rules.
Now for a few odds and ends: I wanted to let you know that I've decided to consolidate the two Guatemala Writing Workshops into a singe week -- February 10 -17. I do this in much the spirit of a hostess, putting together a really great party -- because that's a little bit how I see those weeks I host at Lake Atitlan, my favorite spot in the world, and so I wanted to have a really strong group of participants, with lots of diverse voices heard from. And that's how the week is shaping up -- though we do still have room for a few more participants. If you're leaning on the fence about this, let me know. I'll do my darnedest to convince you to join us, and if that's not enough, I'll put you in touch with some former members of past Lake Atitlan writing groups, who will tell you what an amazing time we all had there and urge you not to miss it.
While we're talking about writing workshops, I also want to point out to you that due to the strong response to my one-day memoir workshop, to be held at my Mill Valley home December 10, I've decided to add another session, December 9. Let me know if you're interested in attending, and I'll send you details.
With a certain hesitation, I'm also adding, a link to a story that ran about me and my new book this past week in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Truthfully, I didn't think much of this story, and feel a lot of frustration that the writer seemed more interested in revisiting old stories than in new ones, or in looking at my work. One thing that made me very happy about this piece, however, is that it was accompanied by a photograph of me in which the artwork of my treasured friend Francisco Sainz, who died a number of years back, can be seen on the wall behind me. I love it that eight years after his death, Paco's work remains such a moving and vital part of the place where I live and write (and teach). Those masks of his are very precious to me. In a funny way, I always think of them as the readers I write for, and when I look up at my wall (as I do many times a day) they always inspire me.
So there you have it: my last words to you as a fifty two year old woman, whose only birthday wish is a democratic congress and a message to our president to end the war in Iraq.
I hope you'll come
see me on the road, if I'm passing through your city. And if not, maybe
you'll hop on a plane next February, and join us at Lake Atitlan.
With friendship,
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