North Conway, NH

Tuesday, April 29, 5:00pm
Author talk and knitting circle with ANN HOOD, author of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, co-sponsored with Close Knit Sisters and Kearsarge Inn

Bring in your knitting or simply join us for a cozy circle and author talk with Ann Hood who will share how the power of knitting, stitch-by-stitch, can teach us to live in the moment and let go.

- See more at: http://www.whitebirchbooks.com/events.html#sthash.n6oWI456.dpuf

Exciting news#2

At 6:00 tonight I'll be in conversation. With Andre Dubus lll to kick off the Newburyport Literary Festival! Come if you can!

Exciting news #1

my fourth novel, Something Blue, has been selected for Amazon's “Kindle Big Deal” promotion. FromApril 25 – May 11, it will have a promotional price of $1.99, and it will receive featured placement on the Big Deal page!

Rainy Day

As you know, I love a rainy day. Even when I've left my raincoat in NYC. ☔☔

And today I have to Skype this morning (can't say why) and then it's off to lunch and a movie with Annabelle, Cousin GJ, and my niece's little one. Perfect rainy day!

Yesterday I stared at the stale French bread from Saturday night's lamb dinner and had one thought: bread pudding (of course). Now I love the recipe in the Silver Palate. But Annabelle hates raisins. I considered leaving them out, but then all I'd have is bread and sugar and milk...luckily, I remembered the bread pudding I had years ago at Mother's in New Orleans. It didn't have raisins. It had fruit cocktail instead! Thanks to the Internet, I found the recipe in a flash and am making it today. 

And here's some rainy day good news: I found out yesterday that my essay on Laurie Colwin and tomato pie won a Best American Food Writing Award! It's here:

http://www.tinhouse.com/magazine/subscription-back-issues/memory-issue-59b.html

I made it

That's the best I can do. It's rare that Grace's anniversary falls on Easter weekend. But this year it did. And I got through it, somehow even managing to host a big dinner party Easter Eve (made 4 hour braised lamb a la Barefoot Contessa--try it!). 

But by yesterday afternoon, I hit a wall and burrowed under a blanket with two books--Dani Shapiro's STILL WRITING and Abigail Thomas' THINKING ABOUT MEMOIR--to re read. Then it was on to watch Philomena (loved!) and Mad Men and sleep. 

Today had to take a deep breath to plunge into the week. Still feeling the shadow of grief lingering. 

But there's a lot of great events coming up before I leave for Bermuda on May 9!

The details for my readings in Easton, MA (with some KNITTING YARNS contributors) and North Conway, NH are up on my website. 

And so are the details for this weekend's Newburyport Literary Festival, where I'll be in conversation with Andre Dubus lll on Friday night and reading at Jabberwocky on Saturday afternoon. 

And next weekend finds me doing all things Grub at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace in Boston. These are ticketed events, but for the whole schedule please go to www.grubstreet.org 

But here are the details for the wonderful fundraising event in Newport on May 5:

Until then, I'm knitting and reading and visiting book clubs. A trip to NYC to hear my friend Laura Lippman in conversation with Gillian Gone Girl Flynn. Another to have dinner with my buddy Jane Hamilton, and to cheer Sam on in a musical at NYU. 

Looking forward to the pink sands and turquoise sea in Bermuda...

Library Journal chooses AN ITALIAN WIFE as a fiction pick this month!

Holding the gorgeous Advanced Reading Copy in my hand. And heading home after 5 days in NYC, my spiritual home. Saw plays, met with students, met with editors, saw Sam, had dinner with old friends, shopped, and walked and walked and walked despite the rain and snow and hail and deep freeze. 

Eager to get home now, after missing my train. Ugh. Annabelle is so excited to turn 10 tomorrow, and reach double digits. 

And as most of you know, tomorrow is also 12 years since that horrible day that my Gracie died. It will be tough to get through it, while hosting family to celebrate Annabelle. This year it falls on Easter weekend. I'm hoping the distraction of coloring eggs and cooking and being with my marvelous extended family helps me through. 

Thanks to everyone who has already sent me such loving messages. 

April

Woke up at 4 with that awful feeling in my gut. Grief. Every year around the anniversary of Grace's death, this week or even the month of April itself, brings fresh waves of grief. 

This year, I'm in NYC all week and have surrounded myself with family and friends and work--all of which have been helpful in keeping me busy and feeling positive. But today marked the anniversary of losing my dad, and I carried that around all day. No wonder grief snuck up on me while I slept. 

Most of you reading this know that this week is also joyful: both Sam and Annabelle's birthday. So glad to celebrate these amazing kids of mine, which began on Sunday and continues in various ways through the week. 

No doubt I will lie here until the sun comes up, letting this sadness fill me. Then the world will wake up (I already hear deliveries to the D'Agostino's across the street), I will drink my coffee and knit until it's time to step out into that world. For any of you feeling grief, fresh or familiar, we can do this today. I'm with you, and I feel all of your arms with me, holding each other up.