Duly Noted

• Surprise: So I'm sitting there, waiting for Heidi Julavits to appear and stun us with her brilliance. I sit. I wait. To pass the time, I delve into the current issue of Poets & Writers (which is not to say that I've finished the previous three issues, as you will note below). No matter. So I'm there. I'm reading, I'm flipping. And what to my wondering eyes do appear? Under Literary MagNet (p.17), I see that Gargoyle has an anniversary issue out and the cover was illustrated by one Patricia Storms aka Ms. Booklust.  So lovely to be sitting among bookish strangers and be reading about a bookish not-complete-stranger! What a nice surprise & congrats!
• File Under I Have a Problem: If you have to wait for a writer to appear, the bookstore is by far my preferred waiting location (although if you could add a proper bar within the bookstore, that would certainly be ideal.)  Why? Because you can buy books while you wait for a writer to read and possibly recommend even more books.  I have been a very bad girl as of late, with book orders soon to arrive by mail from Powell's, Amazon, Amazon.uk, eBay and Alibris. I know. Awful, right? So what do I do while waiting at Skylight Books? Buy more books of course. I used to be so good about checking things out from the library, reading and returning. Free! All free! So why this sudden shift? This inability to wait for books to come in? This need to possess them for future reference? I'm killing trees, I know. My bookshelves are already stuffed, spilling over. But sometimes, sometimes, a girl just needs a proper book fix.
• A Very Big Problem: Which is why it pained me to realize upon returning home last night that it is not just my TBR pile that is swelling to staggering heights. My regular magazine/journal/periodical reading has divided and multiplied from neglect, like mold spores spreading wildly when unchecked for months at  a time. What remains to be read of these magazine-y things is almost equal to the amount of reading in the book TBR pile. What remains: 5 New Yorkers, 3 Believers, 2 Dwells, 3 Vogues (3! Vogue!), 2 Glimmer Trains (not monthly! only quarterly! what is wrong with me?), 3 Wireds, 2 Vanity Fairs (no laughing - the articles are very good! seriously!), 1 A Public Space, 2 Atlantic Monthlys and 2 I.Ds.  There is a unique urgency to the "regular" publications that does not exist with the books. The books will always be there. But these regular magazines, they just keep coming and coming, mocking me every time I open the mailbox. "I'm here, I'm new, I'm full of great stuff that you will only truly understand and appreciate if you've already read my previous installations!  Wait. You didn't read the last three months of me did you? I knew it! Slacker. Unworthy slacker." I don't feel comfortable reading the current issue when back-issues loom just beyond my field of vision. What is the solution? Recycle them all and start fresh? Hunker down and power through? I'm at a loss.
• Conundrum: How does a writer find time to write with all the reading required to keep said writer informed of world events and the important work of other writers?
• The obvious: I have a lot of reading and writing to get done this weekend.
• The less obvious: I have holiday guests arriving that don't give two nits about my reading/writing dilemma and will be expecting excellent food and drink in a few day's time. I've not done a lick of planning.  Slapdash plan: get them all drunk so they won't notice the lack of food and overall lack of preparedness. I can then sneak away and continue to read and write.
• Finally: A few very unsettling incidents in Los Angeles over recent days (but how long has this really been going on? forever? ad infinitum?) has brought the city to a moment of crisis and public outcry...or lack thereof when that should be the case. Not the first time in LA's sordid history. Between multiple recent videos released of police brutality (campus & LAPD) and hospitals dumping patients at the end of my street because they'd rather not deal with them - I'm sickened by this city I live-in/love/loathe. I think it is finally time to create my Lost Angeles stories section (hat tip to Quillhill for the name) to cover these ongoing events.  Look for this soon. Don't worry, I won't make this development contingent upon the behemoth pile of reading/writing that will always remain.
• What Next: A commentary on the Julavits reading will follow next week, although Ed doth placeth too much pressure with promises of epicness. I will humbly do my best.