THE STORY SPOT

What’s up over at the LA Litscape.com calendar? The thing’s been dwindling steadily in past months and now there’s nary a single event in sight. Are our intrepid editors too busy to update the salivating masses or (gasp!) is there a dearth in real, live literary events on the horizon?

Waaay back in Feb/07, why, you couldn’t catch your breath for the bookworminess in our fair burg. Now? Eep!

Today’s LA Times featured a great cover piece by staff writer, Pauline O’Connor, about Antioch’s very own Wendy Ortiz and David Ulin. It’s true, dammit. People do read in LA…books, I mean…novels, I mean.

They do. Just not in their cars where we can see them.

And, in case you missed my thousand-and-one plugs attempting to draw you out, people also read aloud in LA. Our little 826LA inauguration got a mention too. Yep, it’s a small literary town but a good one.

Nice one ladies (and David, of course). Happy anniversary.

Hi all. Just a note to let you know that I’ve been invited to read at the inaugural event for 826LA’s new Echo Park location. It’ll be low-key affair with a few cocktails beforehand. For those of you know aren’t familiar with 826LA, it’s the non-profit group founded by Dave Eggers (of McSweeney’s publishing and “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” fame) that helps kids with their reading and writing skills. More at the link below.

You might call this an invitation but I’m not one to invite my friends to a couple of hours of potentially painful readings so, if you enjoy that sort of thing or if you’re really desperate to hear what I’ve been working on for two years, stop on by. I’ll be reading the opening from The Novel.

Here’s the info:

Thursday, October 4.
Merrymaking at 7:30pm.
Readings at 8:00pm.
826LA East
1714 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
310.305.8418
info@826la.org
www.826la.org

No idea about parking.

Got an hour per week to save this country? Help a kid with their reading and writing skills.

Here’s an appeal from our friends over at 826LA (and soon to be, 826LA East):

Hi there, friend of 826LA!

The fall season is, ahem, falling upon us, and as fall seasons go, this one is bringing in an abundant number of eager young faces to our space in Venice. We have students coming in to drop-in tutoring, students attending exciting new workshops, like Spotlight On FEAR, and If I Were King or Queen, and classes coming in for the ever-heart-pounding Storytelling and Bookmaking field trips, as well as in-school projects.

Old friend or new, we have many many opportunities for volunteers to help us out! We especially need people to come in to tutor at drop-in, Monday through Thursday, 2:30-5:30 pm. We’re extremely flexible: come in any day, any week, for any amount of time. It’s an exciting time for our drop-in program; newly painted walls, a new table, some new chairs, a new calendar for our in-house student writing publications, Dogtown Books, and most of all, plenty of kids–old and new–who could use your help in writing that wild story about rainbows or annoying siblings or monsters. Or ice cream. Or monsters made out of ice cream. You get the idea.

Send us an email at info@826la.com!

Your friend,
826LA

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**About 826LA**

826LA
685 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90291
310.305.8418
info@826la.org
www.826la.org

826LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

So I took a jaunt up to WeHo the other day for a change of writing venue. You see, I’m a bit of a library whore (no, not that kind, the kind who visits libraries as one of her top sightseeing stops when in a new city). I was looking for a new spot to spur on the novel’s muse.

Here’s what I found:

Behold, the West Hollywood literary core, the nerve-centre of culture, the thinking person’s refuge. The place looked like a grade school forgotten since 1976. Dirty windows. Sloppy signs taped to walls. Bruised furniture and fixtures.

Beyond sad.

The upside is that the tiny place was busy. People filled the archaic PC stations (even the ones marked “out of order”), others trolled the stacks, and there appeared to be ample staff for all.

I can’t help but notice the utter lack of upkeep for what should be a community centre and bank of knowledge. West Hollywood spends on cultural events, transportation infrastructure, and city beautification. I hope, like my beloved City of Santa Monica, there are plans for restoration and expansion of this classic structure so the West Hollywood will have a library to match its formidable cultural presence.