Readings, Plus New Job!!!

I am reading at APRIL's Lit Crawl this Friday, March 30th!!!  The venue is Bluebird Creamery/Brewery on Pike ST, starting at 7:30PM. The lovely-and-talented Stacey Levine, Doug Nufer and Richard Chiem will also read, in an order not-yet-established. We won't have a merch table, but I'll have a few copies of The Ledge Magazine & Storylandia: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction on me for cash sale, just ask me after the reading!

Am also reading at Elliott Bay Books on Saturday, April 7th, with my EDGE cohort, it's our "Graduation" Reading!!! Two months ago, all 16 of us had to each perform a 7-minute reading for our first EDGE meeting, and I was completely blown away. My only coherent thought afterward was: Why aren't all of these people famous?!? So rest assured that the Elliott Bay reading is going to be fantastic, and it will have a merch table, so my mags will definitely be available there. The 16-performer reading is listed as lasting from 1PM-4PM: There is a Meet-N-Mingle from 1PM to 1:30PM, then the reading actually starts. There will be a 10-min intermission, then the reading will wrap-up by 3:30PM, leaving the last 30 minutes to Mingle-N-Maybe-Purchase-Merch.

I am super-excited about these readings! But the even bigger news today is that after 12 happy years at Rudy's Barbershop, on Monday, April 9th, I am starting a new job at Raven: Cuts, Color & Conversation!!! (http://www.ravenonpine.com/)   I am thrilled to once again work with my close friend (& super-sexy stylist) Raven Myrick at his incredibly cute salon in Capitol Hill's "Melrose Triangle," nestled between Machiavelli's Italian Restaurant and the Baltic Room on Pine ST & Melrose AVE E. I'm trying to stay as close to my current work schedule as possible to accomodate my current clients, but please friend me on FB, email me, or check this blog to find out more re: work hours.

Hope to see you at a reading, or for a haircut!!!
--P

Readings!!!

I will be reading at Bluebird Creamery/Brewery on Pike ST on Friday, March 30th at 7:30PM!
***I'll have copies of The Ledge Magazine (with my reading's story "Celebrity Sperm Bank") and copies of Storylandia (with my story "See You There") available for sale/signing: $10 to buy both, or $8 for Ledge/ $4 for Storylandia individually. Local authors Stacey Levine and Doug Nufer will also be reading at this event, they totally rock!

I will read with my EDGE cohort at Elliott Bay Books on Saturday, April 7th from 1-4PM!!! This is a FANTASTIC group of readers, seriously--you will be as awestruck as I was when I first heard them. It is totally worth your time, please come out if you can!!!

I am awaiting my new camera in the mail, a Nikkon Cool Pix!!! We'll see how it flies....

More soon, thanks for checking in!!!
xoxo--P

My Camera Died!!!

Hello, Faithful Readers: I apologize for the lag between posts! I'd wanted to provide new & current photos for this next post, but my digital camera ist tot, as the Germans might say. So, here is a picture of me on my Krewe of Selene Mardi Gras float last year, 'round about this time in 2011. I am no longer blonde, or surrounded by sparkly beads, but I still have that tiny hat and bunny ears. I missed riding in the Selene parade for the first time in five years, and was v. sad about that for several weeks. I rented the first season of HBO's Treme from the library and loved it, but in hindsight it was perhaps not the best thing to watch right before a Mardi Gras you're not going to get to go to.

I couldn't leave Kiki. She's doing much better, consistently, but that's only been over the past three weeks. Even now, with her medical issues, she's going to have to be boarded at the vet's if I ever do get the chance to go on vacation. But I'm so glad she's doing better that I can't think of anything else right now, am only glad that she's purring and breathing and sneezing in my face, as usual.

In addition to my camera being broken, the past few weeks have been busy! I've had two short stories published: "Break-Up Sex" in Clean Sheets: http://www.cleansheets.com/fiction/gaudet_02.22.12.shtml and "See You There" in Storylandia: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction: http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/

I'm also in the midway-throes of the Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program for Writers, an 8-week boot-camp for the business-side of the writing life. This has been a fantastic experience so far, my cohort are incredibly talented and it's just such an honor to be a part of this program. It's like what I imagine the first couple seasons of Mtv's "The Real World" were like, the ones BEFORE the internet, where a group of people really bonded over a common goal and were actually friends.

More good news: I was invited (by PageBoy) to read at the APRIL LitCrawl at Bluebird Creamery/Brewery on Pike ST on Friday, March 30th at 7:30PM.
 LitCrawl info is here: http://seattlelit.com/events/seattle-litcrawl-april-festival/
APRIL info is here: http://aprilfestival.wordpress.com/about/

I'll have discounted issues of The Ledge and Storylandia available for sale/signing at the event! Hope to see you there!!
--P

Another Biloxi Photo, For A Post About "Downton Abbey"

Here is another picture of Biloxi's Beau Rivage Casino Hotel (i.e.the Belle Carnivale); in recent years this gorgeous wood-slatted walkway has sprung into existence, and is a truly delightful means of walking over the Gulf water to the beach, where you can choose to either continue travelling up the beach on a concrete walkway, or drop down onto the soft white sand. I will have to research when, exactly, this wondrous walkway came into being, because I don't believe it was there when my novel takes place; I might let it go, since I want Margot and Pieter's walk from the beach to the hotel to be unobstructed by even this miracle of convenience and beauty.

I am just about delirious and beside myself with the revisions I want to make to the Biloxi book (spurred by the amazingly astute and helpful feedback of my wonderful writing group!), but must complete its current draft first, and also attend to work issues in my own life. I am thrilled to report that I have been accepted into Artist Trust's EDGE Professional Development Program, which I am so very honored and excited to be a part of! This new chapter of my professional development will require a little re-shuffling of my current work schedule, which I hope will go well. I am also hoping to discover how to move my creative writing from an unpaid hobby to a self-sustaining career, and believe I will learn how to do this through the EDGE program.

So yes, I am very happy about my inclusion in the EDGE program, and can't wait for class to start on Feb. 24th. I am also thrilled to be currently caught up with "Downton Abbey" on PBS.

It was through a Facebook post of my friend Kirsten Rue (thank you!), months ago, that I came to learn of Downton Abbey, Season One. It was available On Streaming, via Netflix; I was available On a Sunday, via a Hangover, and thus watched all seven episodes of this inexplicably addictive BBC show.

I am an Anglophile, to be sure; if I could choose one moment to live over and over again it would probably be the scene in Merchant Ivory's film "Room With A View," when George Emerson (Julian Sands) bounds through an Italian field of brightly colored flowers to grasp Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) in his arms and kiss her passionately. Basically, I am all about corsets and long chesnut hair, and the thwarting of one's own desires to maintain societal order. However, I think that "Downton Abbey" has a crossover appeal that sucks in even those who wouldn't normally sit through a Merchant Ivory film, and that is thrilling--what is it about this television show that  is so addicting?!?

I can tell you one thing--I don't believe that this week's burn victim Patrick Gordon is Patrick Crawley, supposed fatal victim of the Titanic. He seems fishy, he does--and, I'm surprised that Lady Edith seemed to fall so quickly under his spell; you'd think a con could spy a con.

I am guiltily liking Sir Richard (Lady Mary's newspaper fiance) more and more, with his catch-phrase of: "Should I be worried??" emitted as various characters (Matthew, Patrick) shuffle through Downton Abbey.

I have to admit that I can't remember what, in Season One, drove Lady Mary and Matthew apart in the first place; money, I'm sure, but I can't remember the exact circumstance.

Regardless--I am completely enthralled by this series, and think everyone should watch it! I don't think many episodes are left, and I don't know what I shall do until Season Three airs on our shores; I am sending out a call for floppy-haired gents to come running at me in a field of flowers, that is the only thing that will get me through until then...

The Biloxi Book

The book is going; if it's going well...I couldn't say. The past couple months of cat-stress have greatly slowed progress, as well as the recent surprise people-deaths of close family members and friends. It's really been a difficult few months; the first truly "adult" winter of my life, I suppose, where terrible things can't be reset with a quick joke or laugh. In any event, I am still working on The Biloxi Book, and it looks like Storylandia 5 (containing my short story, "See You There") will be published any day now.

(http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/)

I am going to miss Mardi Gras this year--after five straight rides with Slidell's Krewe of Selene, I will be at home in Seattle with Kiki when our parade rolls on Friday, February 17th. I couldn't afford it this year even before Kiki's crazy nerve mass, but I am truly, truly sorry to miss out on what has become a yearly family ritual, from my dad helping load bags of beads onto my float, to catching up on a year's worth of news with my aunt Denise while we throw beads to the screaming masses of Slidell, LA, during our three-hour parade ride. I would have swung it this year if there was any possible way, but it just didn't work out. Hopefully I will be able to reclaim my spot next year.

The picture above (taken by me in Spring 2011) is the pool area of the Beau Rivage Casino Hotel in Biloxi, MS, the inspiration for the Belle Carnivale Casino Hotel's pool area in my novel, Biloxi Suite Trapeze. It isn't exactly like this in the book, but this photo might give you an idea of the mood the book has, all sun-splashed & stylish.You can imagine the lead trapezist, Travina, swimming here, right? And the Sagarat! jugglers tossing ashtrays into the pool after a night of drinking. And, of course, Pieter and Margot sipping mimosas under a poolside umbrella, after a tumbling lesson....

So I guess this picture is a teaser for the novel!

Check back for more news, I am watching my life closely and will report anything interesting on this blog.
--P

My Mom, The Style Icon (Although My Submission Didn't Make It Onto That Blog)

My mother, Esther Gaudet, and me, her daughter Paullette Gaudet

Toledo, Spain

1977

“My native Puerto-Rican mom was a nurse in the Air Force before meeting my father, also an Air Force officer. Stationed near Madrid, Spain, in the mid-Seventies, our family went on several day trips like this one in 1977 Toledo, where Mom displayed her uncanny knack for fashion even on this dusty, sweltering afternoon spent climbing ruins after a long day’s drive in a cramped Renault 5. Here, her lilac-rimmed sunglasses alone raise the fashion stakes to an all-time high! All throughout my youth, my mother was consistently and appropriately chic during every moment of any given day;  she dressed me accordingly as a girl, and even now I always view an outfit through her eyes before putting my own spin on it. My mom remains my style icon, for still being beautiful, exotic, stylish and tasteful. I love you, Mom!"

Intellectual Refuge, With Still-Alive Cat

I am still trying to figure out a raison-d'etre for this blog, thank you very much--I go between the impossibly limiting (posting a new mini-essay of a poignant memory each week, with a related picture), to the way-too-all-encompassing (Recipes on Tuesdays! Movie Reviews on Wednesdays! Hair-Related Questions on Thursdays!). I suppose if I have a resolution this 2012, it's to find a voice for my blog and stick to it; however, I hope that whatever that voice turns out to be, it will also take time out to shamelessly self-promote, like now:

The lovely and talented online literary journal, Intellectual Refuge http://www.intellectualrefuge.com/ will apparently soon feature my lyric essay, "Academic Barbie," on an upcoming Friday in 2012!!! One of the wonderful things about Intellectual Refuge is that it is free, so all y'all who have avoided purchasing the latest issue of The Ledge Magazine http://www.theledgemagazine.com/current%20issue.html, featuring my short story "Celebrity Sperm Bank," will have no fiduciary excuse whatsoever not to read my work.

Also upcoming are my story appearances in the next two issues of Storylandia: The Wapshott Journal of Fiction http://www.storylandia.wapshottpress.com/ These are not free, but they will be available for purchase as a PDF for your Kindle (or other electronic reading device), and in good old-fashioned print, for all you Steampunks out there.

Kiki (seen above with her copy of Storm of Swords) is doing better, and still has four legs. An inflamed sciatic nerve has apparently been the cause of all her trouble over the past six weeks; we're managing it with medication, which seems to be working okay. As for the G.R.R. Martin book--I can't talk about it without a slew of Spoiler Alerts, so will wait on that--but it's SOOOO good!!! The best of the series so far. Have started Feast For Crows, and am inexplicably sorry that only about 2,000 pages of this saga remain to be read. Whatever will I do, after?? Work on my own book, I suppose...