One ofthese days

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Yesterday, I attended a day long workshop on writing through Mediabistro.com at their SoHo office. The workshop was for writers trying to get their first book published, and it pulled my mind from, "One of these days..." to "It's one of THOSE days..."

I've been fine tuning a memoir that surrounds my efforts to gain my father's love in the years following my blindness, and leading up to his death in Mexico City. It takes on a larger scope of Latin American violence, the turned up racial ground in Atlanta following MLK's death, issues facing the disabled, and a bunch of other stuff that probably needs to get edited out or tuned up.

The workshop was helpful, though a little stressful. Lisa (my Seeing Eye Dog) and I got caught in a heavy downpour going into the City. Then, in the middle of the workshop, Lisa started making those low stomach noises, the kind that send fear into any dog owner. It followed with me scurring to find a blast shield, grabbing my black H&M bag and muzzling her with it as she began upchucking. Didn't help that my Mac Book & agent letter were in the bag. I got up to quietly excuse myself to clean things up, and then got locked out of the building when taking her for a walk.

Is this some kind of sign?

This post isn't so much what to do when your dog begins to puke as you prepare to meet face to face with a leading industry agent and editor. Rather, it's how writers can continue to inspire you even when the dog days of summer weigh heavy on your spirit, literally...

I was moved by the number of aspiring authors who had a message they wanted to tell, and it was a message that needed to be heard. The room was full of pitches as diverse as New York. Latino issues, eating disorders, learning disabled issues, race issues, addiction, and so on. They stories were fused in memoirs, fiction, essays, and other spirited texts. What will be nice is to keep my years open onver the next year or two, to hear if one of them actually makes it onto the shelf. If anything, there will be a minimum of twenty copies sold.