June 2016

So here I am just a few months after leaving the homewomb and I’ve already joined Circus Bella. Not that I had much choice. I mean, most kids have to run away to make this happen but I was born right into it. My whole family is circus. The Gentiles, sure, that’s us and my brothers and sisters, mom and dad they’re all part of the act, but so are all these other kids and when they’re not doing amazing stuff they take care of me like in that first picture where I’m just hanging out backstage with a few of my brothers. My name’s Giuseppina, but I’m OK with Baby G. That’s what most people call me.

These rehearsal days are tough; everyone’s moving so fast, flying around the room. I need a nap. When I wake up, they’re still at it and then they start throwing stuff like clubs, balls, hoops, and ropes. Of course sometimes they drop stuff but it’s only rehearsal and I notice they’re better when the band’s here, which makes sense because it’s all about timing. I learned that from my parents who also juggle stuff like tables, chairs, planters, and my brothers and sisters, only they do it with their feet. Of course, they also told me we’re all descended from Pickles but I’m not sure what that means.

Anyway, here’s Gianluca learning to fly. Pretty cool.

These people are amazing. I can’t keep my eyes open but they never stop moving. When they’re not juggling they’re doing something else. Look at Dwoira over there. Can you believe it’s possible for a human body to move like that? I saw her warming up and her cat-cow would make most yoga teachers kale green with envy.

I’m a little afraid of heights but Abigail isn’t. The way she flies around up there I think she must be part bird and some kind of magic makes her wings invisible. It’s possible you know, there’s lots of magic in the circus.

My sister, Giulia, told me Natasha has 416 hula-hoops and she can get them all going at once. I can’t count that high yet, and I bet my sister can’t either, so I asked Natasha and she said it’s not nearly that many: “Only 327, but I’m working on it.”

Anyway, I love all this stuff, especially the clowns who really make me laugh and it’s really exciting when they all come together at the end and there’s stuff flying all over the place. There must be a juggle traffic controller somewhere, but I’ve never seen her. Either that, or it’s magic.

David Hunt, Co-Founder and Juggling Ensemble

Oops. There’s my cue. I gotta go. Ciao.

Writers talking about writing: sometimes it’s interesting, sometimes it ain’t.

When you come across a writer who thinks clearly and speaks well, it can be a rewarding, sometimes inspiring time. So I spent an enjoyable hour with Dana Spiotta and Jonathan Lethem, inspired to read their books, which was exactly the point of it all, but also feeling optimistic about my own work. Maybe it’s just the projection fantasy – seeing myself on that stage – but it’s enough to get me back to work on the next novel.

But sometimes things run off the rails – as they did with a panel of European writers – and often it’s because writers in the audience are looking for THE ANSWER. “Who are your major influences? Do you outline or fly by the seat of your pants? Is it necessary to have an MFA? Do you? Here’s where the moderator needs to step in and limit the scope of the conversation.

Talking about the ideas in a novel, OK. Talking about the craft of writing, not so much. Because, like most creative endeavors, writing is about 10% inspiration and the rest is hard work. So there’s really not much to talk about: you’re inspired to write, or you’re not, either you sit down and do the work, or you don’t.

Now publishing is something altogether different and that took me to a seminar entitled the Lifecycle of a Book, featuring an agent, a small publisher, a publicist, a social media guru, and a marketing specialist. Andy Ross, the agent, found humor in the enormous odds against getting anything published in the traditional way. I didn’t.

Brooke Warner, the publisher, responded by presenting a new hybrid publishing model in which the author pays production costs and receives a larger royalty, as well as editorial, distribution, and marketing services. This is middle ground between self-publishing, where the author pays for everything then has to figure out how to get readers to find the book, and traditional publishing, where the author trades most of the income for these services, although the amount of promotion and publicity publishers do seems to be diminishing and is now seen as a shared obligation. The other speakers filled us in on how much authors will have to do for themselves and how much it’s still going to cost.

If I had left this a little earlier, I might not have been shut out of Adam Hochshild’s sold out talk about his new book on the Spanish Civil War. I might have learned something useful there.

Month: June 2016

Circus Bella!

Bay Area Book Festival