Here we are again! I’m starting out my 35th year today. Woo hoo!

• Finished The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone recently. Yes, the actress from clueless! The focus of this book is to be kind to yourself by also being kind with what you eat. There are tips on flirting with a vegetarian lifestyle, vegan recipes and macrobiotic/superhero recipes and tips. It is a pretty engaging book that is easier to digest (ah puns!) then perhaps Fast Food Nation but I wish there had been more on quicker/convenience foods. I am going to trade my copy in to a used bookstore unless anyone really wants it and will pay shipping. I’m gonna say it is at least $5 if not a bit more to ship because it is a heavy hardback. Email me at jessie.carty(at)gmail.com if you are interested in the book.
• Tuesday at 7pm. Charlotte Writer’s Club is hosting novelist Mignon Ballard for a reading and talk. Not sure if I will make it out to this meeting, but should be very informative.
• Look I’m a guest blogger at one of my favorite blogs. Little House on the Southern Prairie
• Thursday you are invited to a poetry reading at the Bethlehem Branch of the Public Library. This is in the Taylorsville area of western NC.  7pm. Local poets Bud Caywood, Scott Owens, Ann Chaddonet and Tim Peeler will be reading. Not sure if I will make this event but I love that smaller libraries are starting to host events. I’d love to be involved in that kind of thing.
• I finished two other books over the weekend. The first Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell is one I’ve been reading off and on for weeks if not a month. It covers a lot of interesting ground about the history of the iconic images that make up most religions but I think, since it is an older text (70′s), I’ve read newer material that is written in a more conversational tone that this one. I know the newer material is probably based on Campbell but I found myself just dragging through the book. I, however, will be keeping it for a resource. The other one I finished is a tiny little book called Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas that one of my good friends sent to me. It is a quick read and is another book I think I’ll be able to go back to given the volume of writing prompts in it that you could easily apply to any genre.

Hope everyone gets out there and gets some writing done this week. Some things on tap for this week are Video, Tuesday, discussion of a book I was sent to review and what it says about the self-publishing debate, poem share, friday wrap-up and think I’ll try to get into some discussions about editing this weekend and perhaps a discussion of the I vs eye. Always looking for topics you guys want to see covered so feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Have a great week everyone!