TM2READ

When I was a kid at 4H camp, the counselors used to sing a song at lunch in the lodge: "Announcements, announcements, announcements! A terrible way to die, a terrible way to die..." Then it just repeated itself. It was kind of terrible. But I'm grown up now so I like to think I announce better things than trash pick-up at the tether ball court.

A blood drive for Children's Hospital Los Angeles is taking place conveniently here in Pasadena from 7:30am to 1:30pm today. You can find the CHLA Blood Mobile at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green Street, right behind the Paseo. CHLA needs 1,000 units of blood every month. Take lunch early and be a hero!

And,

A short story of mine, called Portraits, will be published in April of 2013 in a collection called Literary Pasadena: The Fiction Edition. I'm honored to be part of this Prospect Park Books collection, along with local star authors like Michelle Huneven, Victoria Patterson and Jervey Tervalon. Michelle will contribute the introduction, Victoria was a guest author here on PDP, and I met Jervey once at a party! I'm in excellent company.

And!

My very short story, Belinda's Birthday, is now an audiobook (voiced by me), available on Amazon for 89 cents. Because it's an MP3 download it's listed under Music. You can click on my little ad at the upper left or just click the link right here. I'll be interested in your honest feedback and, if you're so inclined, your Amazon reviews.

We have two entries awaiting your judgement in the Camelot Where You Are photo contest. I'm holding onto them until I get a couple more, for competition's sake. It's your turn! (Details are here).

Have a great weekend!

Guest Author: Victoria Patterson and "This Vacant Paradise"

Today I'm honored to host guest author Victoria Patterson, the South Pasadena writer whose novel, This Vacant Paradise, was published March 4th. Victoria will be appearing at Vroman's this Thursday, March 24th at 7pm.

 

For the most part, my fiction takes place in Newport Beach, but I live and write in South Pasadena. A tour of the places in South Pasadena (and surrounding areas) where I’ve written, and where my story collection, Drift, and my novel, This Vacant Paradise, came to life, would take quite some time, especially considering the seventeen years we’ve lived in South Pasadena. 

           
For years I worked at the South Pasadena Library (and I still do at times).  I’ve staked out every quiet and isolated work area at S. Pasadena Library, my favorite being the upstairs conference room, although that didn’t last long, considering there was just solitary me. The downstairs partitioned workspace desks near the teen section are great—while said teens are at school—except during “Storytime”(which I used to take my kids to), when the massive avalanche of toddlers’ feet boom from overhead.

Buster’s Coffee on the corner of Meridian and Mission was a mainstay, though ultimately I knew too many people, and would end up visiting and talking rather than working.

For close to three years, I worked at the coffee shop at Vroman’s, and I actually wrote an essay about it.

Pasadena Library, check. Starbucks, check.

For a long time, I worked at Caltech library, on one of the upper floors, with its spectacular view of the mountains. But then it was discovered that a Hummer-graffiti-terrorist civilian was also taking advantage of the library, and Caltech became understandably more restrictive.

This is a small sampling—I could go on and on, because South Pasadena (and Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Sierra Madre) is home to my writing, even if the writing takes place elsewhere.