Say what?

My hearing is starting to recover from Monday evening's Litquake benefit at RNM Restaurant, where the room was jam-packed with writers and the people who love them. I glimpsed Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein, author Kate Braverman, all elegance and gold eye shadow, and a bunch of other people whose name tags I wasn't even able to see. Author Tamim Ansary chatted up Katia Noyes and I -- he was very friendly and nice -- and we also spent a good amount of time talking with Ann Cummins. And I got a chance to introduce Katia to Elise Proulx, who is on the Litquake board.

But boy, the room was packed and it was one of those situations where people were all shouting to be heard. My hearing is never great in noisy rooms, so the event was a little hellish for me until Katia and I got into a corner so that the sound was coming from only one direction at least. Still, my ears were ringing when I left, as if I'd been to a noisy basketball game.

So that's what an author's life is like. Oh, I should say, the food served, all from the RNM restaurant's kitchen, was really good. I'm plugging it because they donated all the food and liquor to the event. So give them a shot.