p.s. Hey. Hope you had good weekends. I went to that American Writers Festival I mentioned, intending to hit a lot of the events. But I went to see the Peter Sotos (interviewed by Bruce Benderson) event and wound up just hanging out with them and Laurence Viallet of Editions Desordres and crew, which was great. Bruce is an old friend, but I'd never spent time with Peter before, and he's a really nice guy. I also got to meet and talk to Gaspar Noe, who knows Peter, which was a thrill because, as you know, I'm a huge admirer of his films. So it was all good. I see there are 100+ comments today, yikes, so I'd best get to them, and I'll do the best I can. ** Math tinder, Yeah, Rob was pretty amazing, drool worthy, etc. I was a lucky guy. A few times I thought about how cool it would be to do a book of my polaroids. I used to take zillions of them. But I don't think my cool idea means much to the publishers who have to fork out the money to do a book of them. Not that I've made serious queries about. I'd like to. Maybe one of the hordes of lurkers here will be in a position to want to do it. Thanks. ** Lost child, Sure, following gut feelings is usually the best policy. The trick is separating your gut feeling from your fears and hopes. That's the tough part. And, yeah, I love polaroid color, even fading polaroid color. Bring back the polaroid camera. ** Tosh, Yeah, it was a nice cover, yeah? Thanks. It's the American edition from The SeaHorse Press. Actually, that book only ever came out in the States, though the actual novella later got crammed into the book 'Wrong.' Listen, on Americans' stupidity, it's so incredibly weird to live over here in the land of relatively high intelligence and decent powers of reasoning and watch Americans very, very, very, very, very slowly begin to maybe accept truths that are already obscured by cobwebs over here. Jesus Christ, it's weird. ** Jax, Oh, like I said, what I actually saw of the Festival was excellent. Huge attendance, apparently. Funny you mention assembling things. We're about to make the trek to IKEA for some bookshelves and stuff for this increasingly stuffed looking room of ours. I like becoming an assembly machine too. Very relaxing. ** Atheist, Sure, the sadness in The Beloveds posts is there, surely because I have no or very little contact with the Beloveds I've done tributes to so far. Being so intensely close to someone and then losing them is hard. Sure, you can interview me for your project, of course. It seems like you went through one of your dark nights of soul here this weekend, though you seem fairly sorted by the end. All I'll say/add is: (1) I honestly don't get the correlation between the JT Leroy thing and you/yours at all. Just seems like a total wrong detour. (2) Ethics: Trust yourself. (3) Write about what you know: Says who? I've thought that standard writing class rule was total bullshit since I was a kid. Write about what you want to know, period. (4) Otherwise, you seem like you're having a real ongoing war with yourself as to whether you want to write fiction. You've gotten and no doubt will continue to get nothing but support and praise here -- and I'm almost finished reading the novel finally -- but the battle is yours alone to win or lose. In my experience, the world is far more full of talented writers who quit writing than talented writers who continue. If you decide not to write fiction, if you lose the war, you'll be one of many, many people who had the talent but not the confidence, patience, fire, and belief. Shit happens. The world won't miss what it never knew existed. But maybe the challenge of being one of the rare people who win is a good reason to try? Or maybe not. It's your call. ** Cautivos, Your post made me sad and concerned. I wish there was something I could do to help. Is there? What happened to your writing project having to do with Ian Curtis? ** Statictick, Hey, cool, I'll go check my email. Thanks. You doing better, I hope? ** David ehrenstein, Gaddis/Compton-Burnett, a funny and very apt comparison. Maybe she's like an insanely anal retentive Gaddis. Yeah, the Foley thing is everywhere, at least in the media over here. And fallout on Hastert, o.a. Bring it on. ** Adjoun, Thanks for the kind mystery post-mortem. Has that guy cleaned your place yet? ** Sypha_69, No problem on your not wanting to read. I dig. If transport becomes available, it'd be great if you just want to come to an event and hang out, not that you're expected to do that either. What's the latest on your book? ** Maximum etc., Thanks. NYC, for sure. The support is actually growing for a Portland event, so that may well happen, especially if you're willing to read there. But, if not, a later dual event for your book and this one is a good idea. So, one way or another. I'll let you know the scoop. ** Perspects, I'll come to Detroit. 'Userlands' is the gun to my head or Spanish fly in my coffee or something, as it were. ** Nicholas, Check, thanks. ** T.pkendall, Thanks for agreeing to read in London. More importantly, awesome about your friend's success with the short film based on your short story. Can he put it on youtube so we can see it? And serious good news and good luck about the grant. A big toast to you. ** Bett, LA, maybe SF, cool, thanks. ** Michael karo, Wow, the button's cool. Thanks. Oh, err, his name is spelled 'Yury.' I want to see one of those buttons on the lapel of every university student in American by, oh, let's say Thursday. Get on it. There are a few more Beloveds in the pipe. ** C., Does cautivos respond to you? Is he okay? I'm a little worried. It's super good of you to talk to him. ** Antonio, That's a much better translation of that Genet poem than the one I read. It is a good poem, huh. Uh, oh, from what I glean, the amount of readers of this blog who don't post would curl your hair and maybe even button your lip. Mine too, so I try not to think about it. Maybe a 'lurkers, show yourselves' day would be interesting, though I don't think they would go for it anymore than aliens go for the 'Let's talk' morse code or whatever messages we send out into the universe. Maybe I'm wrong. Ace every test, man. I loved your Kurt poem. It was yours, right? It wasn't some lost Breton poem or anything? That wasn't the lost, newly rediscovered Robert Frost poem I just read on the aol news? Loved the kindergarten stanza the most maybe. Kudos. The guy in a picture with Yury a while back? At a museum? My guess: Jarrod Anderson, friend, artist, illustrator of Void's 'The Weaklings,' and, yes, hot. Am I right? ** Killer luka, Cadaverene? I'm there. ** Gregoryedwin, No Dennis dream that I've remembered. Would I know? We're nowhere near setting actual dates for the Userlanda events yet. Just gathering up the yeses and nos from potential readers. I'll let you know. Yeah, you gotta come to one of the events. Or else! ** Jose, Cool, NYC reading, right? Or Detroit? Abe Day: anticipatory yum. ** Vomitingghosts, I'm sure Bookworm would have had me on for 'God Jr.' had I been in the States, but it's too late now. You know, he might very well be into doing a 'Userlands' show. Hm. ** Robert-nyc, New poem, cool. I'll check it. Hoboken's not so bad, is it? It didn't used to be back when indie rock was like the air we breathed. ** Paradigm, There's no word limit on curated Days. Anything goes. Dividing your Day into two consecutive Days is absolutely fine too. Can't wait. ** Teenagekicks, Cool, re the NYC reading. Lovely Robert Musil quote. Now there's a day I should do: RMD? Any intererst, Mr. Ehrenstein? You're the dream candidate for that job. ** Joe mills, You're returning to us. I can feel it. Your eye porn was hot. Nice about the handwritten note from the BBC, but, like you said, their logic leaves a ton to be desired. You gonna send them 30 pages? ** Rigby101, Math already gave you the 101 answer. Her answer squares completely with mine. No thoughts whatsoever on a London venue. If you have any ideas, they'd be more than welcome. I've been half-thinking about Horse Hospital. Is that a good idea? Or an art gallery maybe? Thoughts? ** Tigersare, No prob on your boyfriend's shyness. I swear I'd probably do the same thing. I can be horribly shy. I don't know Until Death Comes, but I will. Re. Rob: Listen, I'm even jealous of my younger self, so I understand. Two things I'd dream to do: A Userlands-like art show featuring the artists here (in the works), and a Uselands-like compilation CD of the music artists here (in the brain pan). My devil face? First I heard of it. Uh, I think it's just a defense mechnamism. It's not something I practice or even realize I'm doing. In the Rob picture, who knows? ** Note: I just looked at the clock, and I'm going to have to speed up wildly. Apologies in advance to the later commenters. ** Josh feola, Excellent to see you. Okay, I'll hope our schedules will coincide so you can read in NYC. How was your LA/LACE experience overall? ** Samuelkidd, Hey. Yeah, Rob, hot he was. I'd like to think the answers to your questions are yes. My answers to your questions would be yes. Thanks for Hainley piece alert. He has a book of poems coming out that's incredible which I hope to be showcasing a bit of here in the near future. ** D., Sure, I've had that unsettling experience of realizing I wasn't the good guy in a break up with an ex- like I'd thought. Those are good moments, don't you think? ** Brooklyn serpico, Yeah, everyone's clinched their divisions now. We'll see. I'm sad about Detroit. Thanks, man. ** David c., I'll have LA tips tomorrow or Wednesday. Hope that's not too late. ** Okay, so sorry to rush towards the end. See you tomorrow.