I was hoping to be a less neglectful blogger this month, but life keeps getting in the way. My new deadline for my novel is July 1. I have a lot of work to pack into the next month, but it feels do-able; I feel like I'm finally on the right track with the book. I am having daily epiphanies about the story and the characters; I wake up thinking about them and they stay alive inside me all day--they push me to get their story down. All of this energy was lacking in the first draft, and I missed it--I missed that deep pull to write, that deep connection with the characters. Now it's there, and I'm so relieved. I just hope I can do the story justice.

I was tickled to come upon these Self Storage reader comments over at BookReporter.com. I knew they had given away several copies of the book, but I didn't realize they were going to post reader responses--it's lovely to know that people who hadn't read my work before say they'd like to read more of it! Now I have to get this novel in order so they'll be able to do just that...

A lovely review of Self Storage is up at Feminist Review.

Some pictures from our beautiful Mother's Day Peace Festival (thank you to Michael Dunn for being our photographer!) What a gorgeous, inspiring, community-building day.

Writers know that when we write, we feel the world move; it is flexible, crammed with possibilities. It certainly isn’t frozen. Wherever human existence permeates, there is no freezing and no paralysis, and actually, there is no status quo. Even if we sometimes err to think that there is a status quo; even if some are very keen to have us believe that a status quo exists. When I write, even now, the world is not closing in on me, and it does not grow ever so narrow: it also makes gestures of opening up toward a future prospect.

I write. I imagine. The act of imagining in itself enlivens me. I am not frozen and paralyzed before the predator. I invent characters. At times I feel as if I am digging up people from the ice in which reality enshrouded them, but maybe, more than anything else, it is myself that I am now digging up.

From a beautiful essay--both wrenching and inspiring--written by David Grossman, an Israeli author who lost his son last year in the Israel-Lebanon war.

As you may know, Mother's Day started out in 1870 as a call for women to rise up and demand an end to war. Many groups, including CODEPINK, are working to reclaim this original purpose. You can check out our latest alert (which includes links to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi and to sign our Mother's Day Appeal to Congress) here.

I am co-organizing a Mother's Day Peace Festival this Saturday, May 12th from 11am-5pm, in front of the Riverside Public Library, 3581 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501

Family-friendly activities will include crafts, performances, storytelling, and labyrinth walking for peace. To promote the idea that peace begins in the home, families will be able to sign a Family Pledge of Nonviolence. Children of all ages can create peace flags and peace-related cards to give to their mothers for Mother's Day. The film Women Say NO to War: Iraqi & American Women Speak Out will be shown concurrently throughout the day in the library auditorium.

The event is co-sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, the Women Creating Peace Collective, the Inland Communities Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Inland Yoga, and Citizen's Actions for Peace.

Hope to see you there!

Today, you can find me over at Large Hearted Boy, where I've put together an imaginary soundtrack for an even more imaginary Self Storage movie...

In lieu of a new post (I'll try to be up and running again soon), you can read my guest blog, In Praise of the LA Times Book Review, over at Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle board of directors.