Countdown of the days in the FINAL MONTH before the publication of ABOVE THE
SALT (Flatiron/Macmillan)! Lots of wonderful preliminary news:
starred review in Kirkus (especially hard to get)
great Booklist review
nice blurbs from many writers I admire
a Literary Hub excerpt set for 3 November 2023
on the “Most Anticipated Books for Fall” list with Goodreads & also on “Zibby’s Magazine”
I just received word that the Portuguese translation will be out in Portugal (Leya
Books/ASA imprint) in June, 2024, and that will segue with my return to leading the
“Writing the Luso Experience Workshop” in the Disquiet International Literary Program.
(Hope to see some of you there!)
I’ve been on the road a little…a vacation with Christopher in London in Spring,
2023…gorgeous roses in Hyde Park, pal Danny Rubin’s Groundhog Day: the Musical,
and meeting Sandy Welch, attached by Harrison Productions to write the screenplay for
MARIANA…nice photo of us meeting at the Dickens House. (Sandy has done the best
literary adaptations of so many classics: Jane Eyre (with Ruth Wilson), Emma (Romola
Garai, Jonny Lee Miller), Our Mutual Friend, etc. (MARIANA will be reissued in Portugal
at the start of 2024.)
Really fun two-day gig as an extra for the TV hit Succession…I attended Logan Roy’s
funeral! I was visible for maybe two seconds, picking my coat up in the pew, which Chris
isolated as my Emmy-worthy action shot.
I also attended screenwriter/director Robin Swicord’s amazing twelve-women, ten-day
intensive script-writing workshop in Munich. (I’m working on an adaptation of my short
story “Our Lady of the Artichokes.” I arrived during Oktoberfest and it might have been
nice to have seen it in action, but unfortunately I broke a toe my first night in the hotel.
(Note to self: Always turn on the light if you get up in darkness in a strange room!) But I
discovered that German medicine is quite fine, cabs were easy to take to the University
of Film & Television, and my colleagues were fantastic and lots of fun.
A more personal note: I lost my mother, who met her death with humor and grace, her
mind fully strong even at age 95. It has been ten years since my father’s death, and how
I wish they were here to celebrate with me as my book over fifteen years in the making
sees the light of day.
