The Best Note I've Ever Gotten

The one you carry with you.

Hi friends.

Portland is great. The weather is cool, and the air feels clean on my skin. I’ve had lots of pleasant little rambles around town. I’ve had lunch with Chelsea, I’ve had dinner with Genevieve, I took a nice walk with Cheryl. Today I’ll have coffee with Grace. On Saturday, I’ll give a reading.

I’m taking care of a sweet cat, the beloved Emma. I haven’t been drinking. I’ve been sleeping great.

Also I’ve had ice cream practically every day. And I went to a nude beach.

I feel older most days but it’s nice to know what I know and be able to work on refining that for the rest of my life.

Yesterday I was talking to a writer friend who just had a baby and is up at all hours now and is exhausted but still thinking brightly about things. He’s on the east coast and I’m on the west and we keep intersecting at interesting moments on text. His brain seems pretty alive.

He knows I’ve been revising this week, and he said, “What was the best note you’ve ever gotten?” I knew instantly what mine was. It was from my long-time editor Helen Atsma. And it involved a character eating.