When I was a little girl, I used to walk around with scarves draped around me, pretending i was a movie star. Other times, I pretended I was Queen Elizabeth. This my mothers suggestion, which she found eminently practical as my name was Elizabeth. I believe I made myself a tin foil crown for that. Illusions of grandeur come often and easily to dramatic and imaginative kids; but I carried on a bit longer with such things, though as I grew older the illusions carried with them a great deal of irony. Did my agent call? I might ask my then-husband, this when I had published nothing and was working as a nurse. Have you sorted through my fan mail? But then, lo and behold, I got an agent and the agent DID call. And I have in my publishing life received so many beautiful letters from people expressing appreciation for my work. I dont like to call them fan letters. Theyre better than that. It is not an exaggeration to say that I am grateful for all the letters I get, even the occasional ...um...strange ones. Ones blatantly asking for large sums of money. The time I got a mangled tape of TALK BEFORE SLEEP because someone hated the fact that there was a lesbian character in there. I am grateful for the bad ones because they remind me of the necessary vicissitudes of life and also do a great job of keeping me from getting too high on myself. (I feel compelled to add: Please do not consider this an open invitation to send me hate mail, as it takes a pretty big toll on a girls psyche before she can get around to appreciating any spiritual value.) The other day, my publisher sent me five wonderful letters, all really nice ones, I am happy to report, and I want to thank Donna M. from Charles City, Iowa; Vicki R. from Eurkea Springs, Arkansas; Janice R. from Chapel HIll, N.C., Tara M., from Andover, MA; and Dede R., from Owosso, MI. Your words were so heartening, and I loved all the different kinds of stationery: polka dots, flowers, elegant type, a beautiful watercolor. I got a note accompanied by a CD of a writing retreat that the woman said I helped inspire. You writers out there, take note: you can do this, too! Get a like-minded group, go off on a retreat together, and magical things happen. Really. A big thanks, too, to the people who recently bought tickets to the Betsy Woodman event. Five more tickets were sold! l got so excited I called a friend and said, I sold more tickets to Betsys event! GOOD! he said, speaking loudly, from the belly, I could tell. And then it was one of those things where neither of us really had any more to to say (we had, after all, just talked to each other) but we felt obliged to keep talking, as we had dropped the metaphorical dime. So we chatted a little more and hung up and then I am embarrassed to tell you that I sat in my office all alone and clapped with joy. (I guess Im not THAT embarrassed to tell you, as I suspect more than one person will read this. Also, probably more than one person does weird stuff like this. A writer once told me that when she wrote some lines she thought were particularly fine, she got up and danced. And good Lord, the way we look at ourselves in the mirror when were alone!! Okay. Stop) Anyway: Yes. A day of gratitude. Thank you. Now Im off to buy a belt, an odious task when ones waist is not, you know, willowy. Oh. If YOU want to make me clap with joy, go to: elizabeth-berg.net/ Click on fun things, then on writing matters. Betsy Woodmans event, which features Betsy herself, of course, would be enough. But! We now have all this, too: -Indian food (samoasa and chicken tikka from Khyber Pass, and the wonderful River Forest Whole Foods is DONATING nan and spreads) and Indian music -A 12-year old half-Indian girl reading an essay on why she loves reading -a fortune teller, inspired by the character in Betsys marvelous books -a (not live, alas) parrot, also inspired by a character in Betsys books -beautiful flowers -me as mc -wonderful like-minded people in the audience. Even if you come alone, youll be with friends. -a 15% discount for Khyber Pass if you present your program, and I think it lasts for a month!
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 16:21:15 +0000
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