A book, or a memoir?

Talk about splitting hairs! A family has settled a lawsuit against Augusten Burroughs ("Running with Scissors") and his publisher. The family claims defamation and invasion of privacy resulted from the book's publication. So Burroughs and the publisher agreed to call it a "book," not a "memoir." WTF? What's the difference? So now a "book" implies that it's not true? In future editions, Burroughs has to say that the family's recollection of events is different from his own. Well, I know for a fact that my recollection of events of my childhood is different than my sister's or brother's. Can't everyone say this? No one remembers an event in the exact same way. A memoir should stay true to the emotional truth, and the writer should write about events as he/she remembers them. If Burroughs did that, then there's nothing to apologize for.

Ants in my coffee!

This is too funny! This is a machine in a hallway at MSU. It was a wonderfully funny moment that brightened my first day of school:

If you can't read it, it says, "Notice. This machine is full of ants. Do not use!! Yuk :("

Kind of makes me want to try it out anyway.

Literary crushes

A friend and I were talking the other day about our "literary crushes." These are people to whom we are attracted solely because of their writing. We desire nothing more than to be in his/her presence, drink coffee and talk writing. That's it, end of date. It goes no further than the coffeeshop. But yet we swoon with pleasure. Our heart skips a beat when we see them. And oh, if they actually talk to us, how magnificent! We want them to take us under their wings, to whisper sweet nothings about how we're the best, most talented writer they've ever discovered. They will show us the way. They will show us the light. They will make us see stars between the covers. Between book covers, that is.

I can't reveal my literary crush on this forum because what if he would see this!? But I can give a hint: He's a man, and he's in Blueroad.

Can anyone reveal theirs?

My first media mention!

Holy crap! My name is in this week's Minneapolis City Pages, the metro alternative weekly. There's a little preview/review of Blueroad in the A-List, the extended calendar of weekly events. We had a nice little reading today in St. Paul, and the preview/review appeared to support it. It's a good review, and my name is one of three contributors mentioned by name within the short piece. It says something like "it doesn't take much digging to find gems... The narrator in Rachael Hanel's 'The First Glimpse' meditates on the deaths of members of her family."

So, that's it, but whatever, it's a mention! It feels pretty cool.

And they spelled my name wrong. I'm used to it. I corrected it above, for obvious reasons.

On a side note, I'm typing this from the Holiday Inn Rivercentre in St. Paul. I have to report to jury duty at 8 a.m. at the St. Paul courthouse for U.S. District Court. Should be interesting.

R.I.P.

New bike!

Check out my new road bike!

The very lovely Charlie at University Cycle in Mankato built it for me. The bike rides so smoothly--it's like silk floating through the air. I had been riding a trail/road hybrid for more than a year. That was a fine bike, but I wanted something faster and smoother. I got it! So instead of writing a lot this summer, I've been riding instead. Good for my body, not so good for my memoir!

My new mantra

I'm going to start subscribing to this philosophy:

"Standing in the sun with a popsicle/Anything is possible"

Courtesy of this fine gentleman: