I looooove Bela. Blurb from him will be of the good. Also going to see John Renbourne in a couple of weeks (idol of mine), and will give him Matty and maybe one of my precious galleys of Cruel Sister. He already has FFoSM.

_t, which email addy for essay? I'll probably send it to the editor at the same I send it out; this is purely as a favour and I'm not going to sweat bullets over it. Nice straightforward little thing.

Gmail, should be in my profile. Anything inparticular I should read for?

Just cohesiveness. Does it read without bumps, and does it hold together? The problem is, the editor was fairly unclear about what she wanted this to point to, other than the broad general "psychic experience happening to writers" thing.

This just in:

Transitions between sections are hard.

That is all.

Transitions between sections are hard.

Huh. How so?

Just popping in between wilderness camp and music festival, but damn, deb!

Also, Bela Fleck! That boy got chops.

Huh. How so?

Don't mind me. I was just writing my column and being whiny because I couldn't get one idea to transition to the next without feeling forced. I finally -- three cigarettes and some storming around the apartment later -- got it figured out.

Oh, non-fiction? Yep, I totally understand the tricky in those transitions. My own usual method of handling is to go write some fiction as a palate-clearer.

Deb, essay feedback just sent -- late, as always.

Heh. Amy, got it and backflung. Your question about the hard word limit, the answer is, yep: right around 1500 words. Editor likes it as is, and I'm not heavily invested in this one, since it's really a favour to my friend Victoria Zackheim, who asked on behalf of this editor. Since Victoria got me the Seal Press spot, I owe her. Personally, I think this particular essay could have used another two pages, but hopefully, this will do.