Lucy Jane Bledsoe Coming to the NW

Get excited bibliophiles! Lucy Jane Bledsoe is coming to Portland, Seattle and Bellingham soon. If you're a lesbian and don't know Lucy Jane Bledsoe, you've been living under a rock or your idea of reading is scanning your friend's Facebook updates.

Lucy is a prophetic writer who's written some real jewels, including Biting the Apple (which is sitting to the left of where I'm typing right now).

If you live in or near these fabulous NW towns, go check out Lucy and her new book: The Big Bang Symphony.

Wednesday, June 16, 7 pm
THIRD PLACE BOOKS -- Ravenna store
6504 20th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-525-2347

Thursday, June 17, 7:30 pm
POWELL'S BOOKS -- Hawthorne store
3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR
503-228-4651I love Powell's and I love Portland, my hometown. Come on out and say hi.

Tuesday, June 22, 7:00 pmVILLAGE BOOKS
1200 Eleventh Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-671-2626
This reading with Carol Guess and Elizabeth Colen! Please come.

Kate McKinnon in "Best Actress" Tomorrow Night

Hello New York!

Have you seen Kate McKinnon on the Big Gay Sketch Show? If not, you must have your gay head in the sand (that or you don't have cable).

Well, lucky New Yorkers, Kate is doing a one woman show tomorrow night called "Best Actress" at the Uptight Citizens Brigade Theater and it's sure to be fantabulous! I wish I didn't live 3000 miles away.

DETAILS
Wednesday December 23, 2009
9:30 pm
Uptight Citizens Brigade Theater
307 W. 26th Street
New York, NY 10001 (212) 366-9176
$5 (how can you beat that price?!)
Make a reservation

If you're in New York City, go support our friend Kate! It's sure to be one hellova show.



If you're not familiar with Kate, watch the video below from Season 1 of The Big Gay Sketch Show on Logo.

Stocking Stuffer Alert :: How to Sew a Button

Are you girls starting to scramble around looking for gifts? Making lists and checking them twice? Can't find anything for Aunt Alice, your cousin who just graduated from college or your best friend from work? I've got a great idea for you: Erin Bried's book How to Sew a Button comes out this week and it's a must have! On December 15th, people will be lining up all over America to pick up a hot copy. Get yours pre-ordered today or head out later this week to your local bookstore to score a copy.

To read more about the book, click here.

Also, check out all the great "How To" videos she has online on her channel "Nifty Button." Today, she'll teach you how to make a Manhattan! Cheers~

Another one of my favorite's is (of course): How to Wear Red Lipstick

How to Sew a Button by Erin Bried

Girls, you've got to pick up Erin Bried's new book "How to Sew a Button" out next month from Random House!

It makes for an AMAZING stocking stuffer!

About the author: Erin Bried is not only a fellow queer sister, but is also a senior staff writer at Self Magazine, where she's penned nearly 200 stories, including 60 cover stories. Part of her job (poor Erin) is interviewing and profiling celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston and Sheryl Crow.

Pre-order it today!

As an offshoot of the forthcoming book, Erin is also doing an online series or "How To's" called Nifty Button. I embedded one--in honor of Thanksgiving--below:




More about the Book:

“Waste not, want not” with this guide to saving money, taking heart, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

Nowadays, many of us “outsource” basic tasks. Food is instant, ready-made, and processed with unhealthy additives. Dry cleaners press shirts, delivery guys bring pizza, gardeners tend flowers, and, yes, tailors sew on those pesky buttons. But life can be much simpler, sweeter, and richer–and a lot more fun, too! As your grandmother might say, now is not the time to be careless with your money, and it actually pays to learn how to do things yourself!

Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button collects the treasured wisdom of nanas, bubbies, and grandmas from all across the country–as well as modern-day experts–and shares more than one hundred step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining, including how to

• polish your image by shining your own shoes
• grow your own vegetables (and stash your bounty for the winter)
• sweeten your day by making your own jam
• use baking soda and vinegar to clean your house without toxic chemicals
• feel beautiful by perfecting your posture
• roll your own piecrust and find a slice of heaven
• fold a fitted sheet to crisp perfection
• waltz without stepping on any toes

Complete with helpful illustrations and brimming with nostalgic charm, How to Sew a Button provides calm and comfort in uncertain times. By doing things yourself, with care and attention, you and your loved ones will feel the pleasing rewards of a job well done.

Sarah Waters

The Vancouver International Writer's & Readers Festival was in town last week and I was lucky enough to get to sit in on a conversation with Sarah Waters. If you don't know Sarah Waters by name, you've surely seen or heard of her lezzie novels--Tipping the Velvet (her debut) and Fingersmith--which were beautifully adapted to the screen by the BBC.

The British period fiction master was in town for the festival and she spoke to Bill Richardson in front of a crowd of about 300, most of whom like tipping the velvet themselves. The event was called "Still Waters," but, Waters joked to the crowd, has been to many of these and they've always got creative titles: Troubled Waters, Steamy Water, Muddy Waters.

After Waters was done talking about her new novel, The Little Stranger--a story full of ghosts, gothic horror, poltergeists, female hysteria--they opened it up to the crowd. I stood and asked Waters a question about something I'm personally struggling with as a writer. I'm beginning my second novel (more on my first novel soon), so I asked her: How do you decide on POV (point of view)?

It was an amazing answer which pretty much boiled down to: it's an organic process and you must follow your intuition. Waters said she just begins a story and it becomes obvious to her who needs to be telling it.

There was no videoing allowed so I was only able to capture still shots. I did find a video online of an interview she did at the Brighton Festival below. She was a great inspiration and very gracious and sweet. Go buy her books! Support our fellow sisters!

Wordstock 2009

Wordstock is nerdy Portland's homage to books, writers and readers. I love to go each year, just to be around other fans of written word. But then, there's the other perks. Like meeting your favorite writers. Granted, you have to wait in long lines, but it just adds to the festiveness of the whole affair.

Last year Wordstock was a blast for me because I got to meet Alison Bechdel. This year I got to meet another of my favorite authors, Sherman Alexie. And although he didn't recognize me, I did get him to laugh. A grand day.

Dyke Tees

I was just working on our most recent column--which is Curve's fashion issue for later this summer--and was wracking my brain to come up with my top five fashions or accessories. Dipstick's were about as Dipstick as they come: a peace necklace, an army hat, a vintage boy vest. No surprises, right?

Mine are still coming to shape (there are just too many to choose from!), but one thing that was definitely on my list were Dyke Tees. I love this uber cool line of shirts and it's not only because my dear friend, creative storm Stacy Bias, started it, but also because I think they're so cuttingly clever. And it's kind of hard to make me smile when it comes to stuff like this.

As I was cruising their new and improved site this morning, I realized I'd never written about it so I thought I'd share it with ya'll this morning. I posted pics of a few that gave me an extra tickle. (Mom and Nana, the "My Humps" below as for you.)

PS: She just started her own web hosting company, too, which is 100% green web hosting. They do web design, too! Check it out here: www.taproothosting.com


*photos by Kina Williams, Rebecca Bateman, and Lydia Daniller.

A Conversation with Two Writers

A number of months back, one of my favorite writers/friends, Shanna Germain, and I met at a downtown Portland recording studio like we have been meeting for years in coffee shops around town. But this time was different; there were microphones, headsets and padded walls.

Jeff Selin, founder of Portland's Writers' Dojo, asked us to sit down and talk about the writing life, and here it is.

It's a conversation (an on-going one) we've had dozens of times. A constant exploration of the written word, its process and -- of course -- sex, death and lesbians.

If you'd like to hear the 20 minute interview, go HERE.

Tristan Taormino Coming to Portland This Week!

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Pick Up Your Pens!

Today starts National Novel Writing Month. For all of you who have ever dreamed of writing a novel, but just didn't think you had the time, National Novel Writing Month is for you. In just 30 days, you can write a 50,000 word novel.  That's 1666 words a day. And according to Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month, you don't even need a plot or characters to get started. All you need is to do is turn on a computer and start typing. 

Sure, you might not write a Pulitzer Prize winning manuscript, but you just might churn out a crappy first draft. And that's someplace to start. 

ThrilLITERATE

I've been spending some time up here in Vancouver and Patty and I went to a fundraiser on Saturday night. It was an evening of poetry, storytelling and of recognizing literacy as a basic human right. At the event, seven celebrated queer women authors read to raise funds for the women's literacy program in the Downtown Eastside. They inlcuded: Mette Bach, Cathleen With, Afuwa Granger, Michelle Miller, Shana Myara, Amber Dawn and Mimi Mahovlich.

We went with some new friends Jill and Jess (pictured here). They're super fun and they met at Curve Magazine (they were both working there) ten years ago. Our publisher, Frances Stevens, introduced us and now we're super happy they're in our lives. Two other friends joined us, Jenny and Cara, and we love them, too. It was so nice just kicking it in a cozy booth with friends and wine and not having to get up and read. The cafe--Rhizome--is lesbian-owned and served some good grub. If you're ever in Vancouver and looking for the local scene, this place is a great stop.

Chi-town Dykes Listen Up : Queer Porn-ucopia!

This is steaming hot! If you're into porn and you live in Chicago...

Sex writer Amy Andre and Early To Bed present Queer Porn-ucopia, a red-hot evening of the sexiest scenes of queer lust ever caught on film. They’ll be screening clips from independent dyke/queer made porn and having a blast at the Leather Archives! It should be a great event, so go check it out if you're in the Chicago area.

DETAILS
July 24th at 7pm (doors open)
Leather Archives & Museum
6418 N. Greenview Ave
Chicago, IL

Tickets are available at the door, or in advance at Early To Bed, 5232 N. Sheridan, for a suggested donation of $8 - $10, (no one turned away for lack of funds).

This event open to all adults 21 years & older.

Proceeds benefit the Leather Archives & Museum.