photo by Laurie Grassi of Raincoast Books
Every year after Christmas and again after my birthday my mother would sit me down to write thank you notes to the relatives who’d ponied up cards and presents.
It was some of the hardest writing I ever did. There was no editorial guidance on offer beyond Write a goddamned thank you letter, though to be fair I was not a great taker of advice at the age of six, having pretty much determined that I was super smart and knew everything, and so may have spurned and forgotten any such offers made.
They always started with: “Dear Grandma. How are you? I am fine.” Then the sweating of blood began.
Would that I could send my tiny self a quick note explaining how you can always get a paragraph out of the weather, and another out of the book you’re reading, and for pity’s sake just tell them what you bought with the American $5 and how much you liked it. Hey, you’re practically done! Plus also nothing fills out a thank-you card like the word apprisheeyate when you’re writing in 36 point font with red crayola. Don’t bother with grateful; that won’t get the job done.
At some point, though, I did tumble onto the concept of: I’m sorry I haven’t written in awhile, but…
And so: Dear Grandma Joan: How are you? Never mind, I know the answer. I know I haven’t blogged in awhile, quite a long one, because I set myself up with a really incredibly interesting pile of work and figured that March would be the busiest but also the coolest month in my life to date.
And it was! But then, right as I was coming off down that mountain–which was beribboned in new teaching challenges and my first editorial gig and going to Chicago to celebrate Kelly’s fabulous success as a Nebula Nominee!–I stumbled over another supercool project, glittering with possibilities, and I opted to be even busier for May and June.
Yes, I’m still a lunatic apparently.
Anyway, I am going to bash at it for awhile longer, because I tumbled over another cool possibility a couple weeks ago. (OMG, so cool!) But it’s your birthday today and I’m thinking of you, and how you would have been ninety five. And that is tied in my mind to this “I should let people know I haven’t given up the WordPress thing forever,” idea I’ve gotten, and the memory of those old blood-sweating thank you letters.
Happy birthday. I miss you. Our regular blogging service will resume shortly. And by the way, the weather has been very fine.
Love Alyx
