When I set out to learn about my mother's bridge club, the Jewish octogenarians behind the matching outfits and accessories, I never expected to fall in love with them. This is the story of the ladies, their game, their gen, and the ragged path that led me back to my mother.
This Monday night, January 17, I’ll be at McNally Jackson Bookstore, 52 Prince Street at 7pm. I’ll be “in conversation”with Glenn Kurtz about what’s wrong with writers. There will be a Q&A, I’ll be hawking my book, and with any luck Hawaiian Punch. I was thinking if anyone in the New York area can come that we should have a secret handshake or signal. Or not. Hope you can make it. Betsy
p.s. rumor has it August is coming.
p.s.s. rumor has it I started the rumor.
Filed under: Fame! Celebrity! Riches!, Self-promotion |
Betsy Lerner 
dang that cupcake just made me hungry. lol
wish I could come–used to work in the office of an inflatable bathing suit factory (Gelfo) on Prince St. Many strange memories from that. I’ve written some of them down.
Glenn Kurtz
Wait, are there going to be cupcakes like the one in the picture? I’ve gotten on airplanes for less.
can’t wait…I’ll try to sit in the 3rd row and give you the Victory sign!
And Betsy shall know us by our Sign, the 13th Zodiac Sign, that of the Cupcake. And verily, upon the first utterance of the magic word (I don’t think Betsy can go the distance without one little, itty bitty “fuck”) we shall taketh our Hostess from yon cellophane and waveth it in the air, as unto the angels, and so shall she knoweth us by our sign, and our snacks.
And that’s what’s wrong with writers.
I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more wrong than that. Have a great day on Sunday…by the way, the Cap waitress Vivian switched nights and I don’t have to work with her anymore!
Let’s see . .. that’s only a sixteen hour drive, supposing I can manage with a single potty break around Cleveland.
Skype, please.
please!
Awww, Betsy. August is my catnip. Don’t tease …
Sorry I’ll miss the cupcake!
Would love to be there. Enjoy. And hope the “hawking” is successful.
I can’t be there — wrong coast — but I might have to buy a box of Ding Dongs. Or Little Debbies.
What’s wrong with writers is we’re narcissistic wankers. But we all already knew that.
Hawaiian Punch? Shouldn’t it be…
champagne that tastes just like coca cola…or cherry cola?
Love,
Lola
Oh I wish. Surely you can come to Paris? I’m a short train ride away and you can be sure the sweets are magnifique…
B
What about Wednesday? Where will you be Wednesday? I’m coming to NYC! But I won’t be in the bar at the Algonquin Hotel until Wednesday night at 7 o’clock. Will you be there then?
(Do they serve cupcakes? No matter, I always travel with a whole box of my own. And share.)
That’s a very down-to-earth and slightly porny snackcake.
Have fun, cupcakes!
You rang my chimes with the Hawaiian Punch. I haven’t drunk it since it was still sold in cans that you had to punch a hole in the top to pour the punch out. I hope you’re still doing appearances when I get back in March.
Had health-nut parents so we didn’t have Hawaiian Punch at home. When I went to my friend Rachel’s her mother Betty gave us something called Sunshine Orange. This sounded magical to me. Took me awhile to figure out it was a flavor of Hawaiian Punch… Now I am remembering Dixie cups and all kinds of trashy candy–esp candy necklaces, lemonheads, bubblegum shaped like baseballs, pixie stix and whatever that liquid sugar-crack in waxy tubes was called.
Porny snackcakes ? Like in Little Debbie does Dallas ? The Hawaiian Punch thing reminds me of a test product P+G was developing years ago – Hawaiian Punch flavoured Crest. Yum
Little Debbie Does Dallas? Hilarious! Give that man a cupcake.
Little Debbie Does Dallas, exactly.
Wish I could be there. I hope you are very scary–scary as a chocolate cupcake. EEEEEKKKKK!
Betsy,
Thank you for an engaging, informative night! I’m so glad I went!
Two comments from tonight stuck out: the Spike Lee quote and Betsy’s comment that ‘Is it a book?’ reverberates in her head. The first confirmed my urgency to just finish this novel already so I can be in the game wearing whatever ill-fitting polyester uniform happens to be thrown my way. The second comment, after the moderator pressed Betsy on the question, was still too subjective for my taste.
I think this would be a great follow up to The Forest…
I smell a book there. I would read that.
So. Tonight was great. I left with one question unanswered. I was standing in the back waiting to get it in, and almost got my shot before being passed over for the woman in the front row. What question did I want to ask (knowing full well that Q/A sessions are the biggest echo chamber around)?
“It seems like you appreciate craft over platform, but can you really pitch craft?” To me, the point of tonight is understanding an agent’s perspective of ‘Hey, I’ve gotta sell this thing. How am I gonna do it?’
And, to me, it seems impossible for an agent to pitch craft without citing previous accolades or appealing to the authority of an Iowa MFA. Your take?