Tuesday 19 Sept...amazing how much noise can seep through two-foot-thick stone walls...useless to try to sleep with Materan partiers wandering the streets. The place quieted down at around midnight. I read until then, and slept well, awakening at about 6 a.m. Best night's sleep in days.
I doze for awhile. By 7 a.m. the sun has dramatically backlit la chiesa Madonna d'Idris.
7 p.m.: The rain that has been threatening for the last few hours started, and I mean torrential, Rome-style rain. With most of my clothes being laundered by the nice lady at Il Vicinato, I haven't many choices. I haven't the slightest idea how I'm going to go out to tonight's cocktail party except uncomfortably...I wish I hadn't been so stubborn about not buying a €3 umbrella from one of the many fellows selling them outside the Vatican, except, dammit, I already have three brollies in Europe. Unfortunately all of them are in my auntie Roberta's flat.
On top of that I haven't seen anywhere to buy one in Matera...I can't find the superemme I shopped at last time. Plus the UPIM department store has closed. Damn. However, this is a great place to work, i.e., write. No English language TV at Il Vicibato. Raining cats and dogs...am I lonely? A little, I guess. Am I discouraged? A little...when I left SacTown, the weather had been perfect for weeks, and here in Italy it's been rain rain rain for an effing week. Intellectually I know this is freaky--the last time I was here it was HOT--but I'm feeling down all the same and wondering if I have made a monumental error with my life.
11 p.m....A rainy night so the streets and walkways of Matera are quiet. Actually, it hasnàt rained for awhile but it's quiet anyhow. Went to the Women's Fiction Festival cocktail party, ate, drank renewed friendships (Liz, the Dottore her husband, David her son, Fredericka and Deanna, other writers) and made new ones (Barb, Jan, Shannon). Met Hilary, an editor, again...can't quite believe that she's 52, older than me, GORGEOUS and way cool. Snared an entire bottle of champagne for a small group of us. Lovely wench.
Tomorrow I plan to get my clean clothes (YAY!), find a store, work til noon, nay then take a course on suspense writing.Then PARTAY! which is of course the main point of all writer's conferences.
Tuesday: Learned from Jean that there's a supermercato near the Piazza Lanfranchi, near where the conference is...wonder if it's the same one I couldn?t find yesterday? Last nite learned from David that while there isn't ice hockey here in Matera, there is roller hockey at a rink near his home. There's also a health club there.
I have formulated a workplan: finish current edit for Liquid Silver Books, then finish WIP (need two more scenes, should be able to knock them out shortly), do some promo for the books coming out in October. Then assess which book I want to write next. I have to finish the edit of Fashion Victim, and then...I have a wealth of proposals sitting around, and I think the one set in New Orleans attracts me the most. It's hot, has a great plot and characters I love, which is really the most important factor, since in essence I will be living with them inside my head for some months.
I doze for awhile. By 7 a.m. the sun has dramatically backlit la chiesa Madonna d'Idris.
7 p.m.: The rain that has been threatening for the last few hours started, and I mean torrential, Rome-style rain. With most of my clothes being laundered by the nice lady at Il Vicinato, I haven't many choices. I haven't the slightest idea how I'm going to go out to tonight's cocktail party except uncomfortably...I wish I hadn't been so stubborn about not buying a €3 umbrella from one of the many fellows selling them outside the Vatican, except, dammit, I already have three brollies in Europe. Unfortunately all of them are in my auntie Roberta's flat.
On top of that I haven't seen anywhere to buy one in Matera...I can't find the superemme I shopped at last time. Plus the UPIM department store has closed. Damn. However, this is a great place to work, i.e., write. No English language TV at Il Vicibato. Raining cats and dogs...am I lonely? A little, I guess. Am I discouraged? A little...when I left SacTown, the weather had been perfect for weeks, and here in Italy it's been rain rain rain for an effing week. Intellectually I know this is freaky--the last time I was here it was HOT--but I'm feeling down all the same and wondering if I have made a monumental error with my life.
11 p.m....A rainy night so the streets and walkways of Matera are quiet. Actually, it hasnàt rained for awhile but it's quiet anyhow. Went to the Women's Fiction Festival cocktail party, ate, drank renewed friendships (Liz, the Dottore her husband, David her son, Fredericka and Deanna, other writers) and made new ones (Barb, Jan, Shannon). Met Hilary, an editor, again...can't quite believe that she's 52, older than me, GORGEOUS and way cool. Snared an entire bottle of champagne for a small group of us. Lovely wench.
Tomorrow I plan to get my clean clothes (YAY!), find a store, work til noon, nay then take a course on suspense writing.Then PARTAY! which is of course the main point of all writer's conferences.
Tuesday: Learned from Jean that there's a supermercato near the Piazza Lanfranchi, near where the conference is...wonder if it's the same one I couldn?t find yesterday? Last nite learned from David that while there isn't ice hockey here in Matera, there is roller hockey at a rink near his home. There's also a health club there.
I have formulated a workplan: finish current edit for Liquid Silver Books, then finish WIP (need two more scenes, should be able to knock them out shortly), do some promo for the books coming out in October. Then assess which book I want to write next. I have to finish the edit of Fashion Victim, and then...I have a wealth of proposals sitting around, and I think the one set in New Orleans attracts me the most. It's hot, has a great plot and characters I love, which is really the most important factor, since in essence I will be living with them inside my head for some months.
posted by Sue @ 7:59 AM
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