Nilly, angela mia, received and read and noted and intensely useful, as always.

BTW, I'm doing the Jewish Writers literary festival in December, by invite, with Ayelet Waldman and Ellen Sussman. Since I'm a multifaith upbringing sort of baby, it ought to be interesting.

Jewish Writers literary festival

Now I'm curious - how is the focus on the Judaism (or whichever faith) being expressed?

Well, this is being sponsored and held by the Foster City Jewish Community Centre; Foster City is actually closer to Betsy than to me, but an easy drive.

I think they want us to talk about faith in our lives (in my case, it would be while growing up, the half of my family that was Jewish), how it affects our work (none of us are writing about Jewish themes, so I have no idea how this pans out), what we've run into because of it one way or another. I'll probably be on a panel or two with Ayelet and Ellen; Ayelet, I think, will be the most interesting of us on the subject.

Maybe she'll bring her husband. Le swoooooon...

It's kind of neat to see how much it grew since then isn't it? I find creative process fascinating.

Brynn, it's really neat. I have always had difficulty "growing" a story to fit a certain length, but you did a really good job of it. And thank you for the compliment. I enjoy editing.

I think they want us to talk about faith in our lives (in my case, it would be while growing up, the half of my family that was Jewish), how it affects our work (none of us are writing about Jewish themes, so I have no idea how this pans out), what we've run into because of it one way or another.

Thanks, deb - that reads really interesting.

Deena, now I'm curious to see Brynn's original short piece. I only saw the longer one, which worked perfectly - a very organic feel to the progression.

Deena, now I'm curious to see Brynn's original short piece. I only saw the longer one, which worked perfectly - a very organic feel to the progression.

edit: Nilly, it's in early December, and they're projecting 2,000 people showing up; it's the opening of the new Centre, which has a huge list of moneyed donors, all of whom read. I'm expecting major fun, and the timing is perfect, because Famous Flower of Serving Men will have been out for about five weeks.

Thanks sj. I received your email as well. Deb, if you're really interested I probably have a copy of it kicking around my computer somewhere. Actually, going over the story today I noticed a logic flaw. The store's been rearranged yet the character seems to know where everything is. Whoops. Easily fixed with a quick reference though.

Oh, I assumed it had been recently rearranged, but not so recently that she hadn't picked up where things were. I worked as a checker in a grocery store. Once you got the logic, it didn't seem that hard to figure out where things had gone.

I never keep stuff after I beta it. I don't want to make the mistake of thinking it's mine 5 years down the road. I hope you do have a copy, Brynn. It would be a good thing to keep, imo.

Deb, that reading sounds more and more intriguing all the time. That's a lot of people in attendance.

Oh, I assumed it had been recently rearranged, but not so recently that she hadn't picked up where things were.

So had I; it's the sort of thing the staff always does seem to know.