People I know who are writers

My wonderful friend Jessica Prentice, whose book "13 Moons" has just been accepted for publication, is a kitchen genius in addition to being a great writer. She has two cooking classes open in August. Even if you can't go, or can't cook, sign up for her monthly newsletter and get a feel for her writing.

I went this evening to A Clean Well Lighted Place, San Francisco's best and most impressive independent bookstore, to hear Stacey D'Erasmo read from her new novel A Seahorse Year, which she described as a domestic drama centering on a schizophrenic teenager and his extended family of gay parents and their significant others. I knew about the reading two weeks ago and should have mentioned it here, because it wasn't well-enough attended. (But it'll be broadcast, along with some silly audience questions from me, on Writers Voice Radio, a new local show. I seem to be the master of silly audience questions. When I saw Kim Addonizio at the same store a couple months ago, I flummoxed her by asking her if she wanted someday to be poet laureate of the U.S.)

Then at the reception afterwards, I got into a conversation with Ellen Ullman, author of the recent novel The Bug. She told me it was based on her time at Sybase, the large database company she worked for in very early years and I worked for in its middle years. Eventually the party devolved into a joking conversation about politics, of course.

That was a lot of fun. I was feeling in the dumps earlier in the day, and talking to other writers was very energizing.