Conquering Venus, Poetry & More

I finished proofing the first galley of Conquering Venus this morning at 2 a.m. I was exhausted, but happy to have it done and back to Vanilla Heart.  There were 29 pages of corrections, mostly formatting. I haven't given the novel this close a reading in years. Reading it line for line, word for word helped me get back in touch more deeply with the characters. I'm hoping this will help as I continue to evolve and flesh them out in the second book. 

The brilliant musician/songwriter/poet Vanessa Daou mentioned Conquering Venus in a new interview that just posted on the Elixir Productions blog, where she talks about her career, inspirations and new album Joe Sent Me. The Mercer Dance Ensemble has created an original show around the music from the album, cleverly titled Joe Sent M.D.E. Vanessa and I are simpatico when it comes to music, poets and art, and I'm honored that she's allowed me to use lyrics from her song "Near The Black Forest" in a crucial scene in the novel. I've been listening to all Vanessa's albums, lots of classical and 90s-era trip-hop to put myself into that space while I'm writing. And it goes without saying that if you haven't purchased a copy of Joe Sent Me, you are missing out on a masterpiece. Get it here!

I've been a total slack ass in promoting my next radio appearance. Tomorrow night -- technically Saturday morning -- at midnight (that's central time, so 1 a.m. on the east coast). I'll be a guest on the Virgogray Press Radio show, which airs on BlogTalk Radio. The wonderful poet and musician Michael Aaron Casares will be interviewing me and I'll be reading from After the Poison and other work. You'll be able to listen live and even call in to share your work or harass me. It will be archived shortly thereafter if you can't stay up that late. 

I'm sure you've probably heard that super-plant Joanna Pacitti was booted off American Idol after one of the tabloids revealed Joanna had a close relationship with two executives from 19 Management, one of the companies behind the show. Joanna was shown last night making it to the Top 36, but why the producers chose to continue the charade is beyond me. My guess is that if the tabloid hadn't exposed the relationship, Joanna would still be on the show. They are replacing her with Felicia Barton. I have no idea who that is.