more sad publishing news

This seems to be a bad week for publishing news. Miss Snark is retiring.

Clueguns and nonfiction fantasy novels have become common household terms in our family. What will we do without her?

German block parties

I have written zippo in the past several days. Between relatives and friends in town, holidays, and neighborhood get-togethers, this week was a time to do things and not reflect. Besides, tomorrow I have to give a talk in German. On patience. No, I didn't pick the topic. Since patience has to be my worst trait ever, I feel a bit hypcritical standing up in front of people to tell them how to do it. It's probably one of those things where I need to learn more about the topic than the people I'm talking to. Still, I think I'd be a better speaker on the topic of procrastination. It's 9:23 pm and I have a draft that sounds about as good as my two-year-old speaks.

Besides, we had our neighborhood party today. Do they have these in the US? I don't think they're unheard of, but I've never been to one outside of a student dorm/all-student apartment. Our building and the one we share a parking lot with blocked off said parking lot and had a barbecue. Kids rode bikes and drew on the parking lot with chalk, adults met each other (everyone in our stairwell has more than the usual two kids, and all are happy that no one minds a little noise). The people in charge--German--have various American ties, and were eager to speak English with us. Another woman asked me, very puzzled, where I was from. She said she could hear the English in my accent, but that it didn't sound American. I promise, I've never even BEEN to another English-speaking country! But the people in Chile told me the same thing about my Spanish. I guess I just talk funny. Anyway, it was fun, albeit a little exhausting (small talk with people who are nice but where you have to dig to find things in common with other than your address--and all in a foreign language). It sounds like they are finally turning off the music (a mix of 80s American music, German pop/Eurovision-style songs, and American country music, probably chosen by the guy whose life dream is to motorbike across the US. He's not the only German to have this dream, BTW.)

Okay, time to go back to the patience thing. Sigh. Last time I did this I had a great visual aid (it was about setting New Year's goals, and it involved breaking an egg open). I don't have anything particularly cool this time. I hope nobody is expecting anything. Unless I could somehow work in wearing a paper bag over my head while I talk...