God Is Nowhere/God Is Now Here

Its been a while since I last wrote and loads of things have been happening but I've been meaning to publish this post for a while now so I'll just go for it and leave my friends exhibition, instrumental gigs and bumper sticker songs till next time.

I finished the Rebecca Miller novel in a day and I'm struggling to put into words what I felt about it because it was one of those books that kind of floated into my brain and then out again. The beginning was interesting; the main character Pippa moves to an old folks village, called something like Marigold, with her 80 year old husband and starts undergoing an existential crisis of sorts when she realizes she's not 80, a realization that is facilitated by the waster son of the elderly couple across the road, who has a giant Jesus tattoo on his back and turned religious after receiving a massive electric shock in his early 20's. It floats back and forth between the past and present kind of clumsily compared to Cats Eye, and quite a lot of the past, set in New York in the 70's, is cliched.

I live in fear of cliches in writing, in others and my own, because I feel like it can drain the life out of a good story.

I suppose my summary would be: sweet, sometimes interesting, not on the top 5 list but would give it to someone who needs a break from reality.

I'm now reading Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland and it is very good. It reminds me of Chuck Palahniuk with softer edges. Its basically about a high school shooting and the repercussions it has on 4 peoples lives, one being Cheryl a pregnant and secretly married student who writes 'God is Nowhere/God is Now Here' in her copy book minutes before she is killed. Her surviving classmates pen it all over her coffin, an action her boyfriend/husband sees as meaningless and her dad sees as a waste of the nice pearly coffin he picked out. Its a good example of the dark humour of the book, the way it uses that to show the effects of death on life as opposed to just the general aftermath. It's a complicated novel but what I like about it is that I'm pretty sure everyone could find a bit of themselves in at least one of the characters.
And the cover is cool too.

The Frances McManus shortlist was anounced today and sadly I didn't get shortlisted, nor did any of my other writerly friends. Maybe next year!

Thank you and good night.

It doesn't feel like Saturday.

This is weird, and I am not sure how to fix it.

That just reminded me of Yeah Yeah Yeah's 'Date With The Night'

Don't tell me to fix her, don't tell me to fix her

After dancing to that for a while, I now feel more saturday-ish. Thanks Karen-O.

Publishing Day at the Writers Centre today was good, all this 'there is no market for fiction' from literary agent Jonothan Williams just made me want to do it more, and Dermot Bolgers funny and inspirational talk made me want to go home, lock the door, put pens in my hair to create an artistic vibe and write the best novel EVER.

'Take a deep breath, suck the water in my chest...'

Being huddled under a duvet with a cold/flu is a good chance to catch up on everything thats been going on...

The filming of 'Play It Cool', my friends masterpiece based on some Xtravision fun times, resulted in us taking over Laser in Ranelagh for a few hours one day last week, disturbing customers with our professionalism/comic genius and generally creating some box office gem moments. Playing myself was hard, but someone had to do it. 

I finally got my Rogue stripe. All I need is a southern accent an' some super powers please.

I finished reading Margaret Atwood's 'Cats Eye' and I'm still letting it sink in. The writing was amazing, the switching between past and present flawless, and the cruelty of girls terrifying. But we all knew that. And if you didn't, lucky you. Next on the list are Douglas Coupland 'Hey Nostradamus' and Rebecca Miller 'The Private Lives of Pippa Lee'. I've had my eye on it for a while (and had it hidden in my 'possibly buy ' pile whilst working in Reads) so when I saw it in my Favourite Charity Shop of All Time (which deserves a post all of its own some day) for a euro I decided now was the time. It has a cover which vaguely suggests chick lit but the daughter of Arthur Miller must have something slightly more to offer. 

It must be hard to live up to that kind of legacy. Also, weird to know your father went out with Marylin Monroe before your mother.

I'll leave you with the song thats been playing in my head almost all the time lately (also where the title quote comes from), and an amazing video; Flo crackling and roaring at her fiery best :)

I think I'm developing an unhealthy addiction to Fishermans Friends.