Rob William's Home
(Swanktrendz sends its congratulations and best wishes for a long, healthy and prosperous lifetime together to Rob and Ted! The ‘big day' occurred on July 30th which also happens to coincide with one of our editors parent’s anniversary, so they can count on at least 50 years together.)
So, yes. I'm married now. Ted and I, in our J. Crew seersucker suits and bow ties (all on sale!) tied the knot last Saturday, July 30, at Galapagos in Brooklyn.
See info about it on our wedding blog
. It was wonderful - a celebration of friends and family and love and commitment and good food and good drink and beautiful minds
(shout out to Lola). but more on that on our blog.
BTW - Feel free to email the Times to complain about its decision not to include us in their "Weddings and Celebrations" section. The section was four pages long on July 31, 2005, and the paper did not include any gay or lesbian couples. We sent our announcment six weeks in advance, and sent our photograph 12 days in advance--well within their published guidelines. The Society desk is society@nytimes.com. The Times Public Editor (their ombudsman) is public@nytimes.com. Letters to the Editor should be sent to letters@nytimes.com. Or all three!
Speaking of beautiful minds - I'm just about going out of my mind about my book. Just kidding. It's actually not been too bad, working on it. (Just a reminder - I am taking my interconnected story collection and turning it into a novel). I only wish I had more time to do it. During the week of my marriage I think I only was able to put in a couple of hours of writing. (Sorry, was busy pulling my hair out - buying streamers, helium, a cake, etc. ).
But really, I feel as if I think about my book all the time now. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a thought or idea (which I run into my office and write down). I have been filling up a notebook with ideas and corrections and edits and thoughts and character sketches and plot points for the novel.
Yesterday I went to the Brooklyn Library and wrote (I've been trying to do so every day) a whole new chapter (not a re-write of previous stuff). I've also added a sister to the novel (the character didn't have a sister in his previous stories) who I'm beginning to adore (she's a totally angry clove cigarette smoking sixteen-year-old bee-atch).
One of the more difficult things I've had to do, though, is to rearrange stories and cut and splice from them to make the novel work (in chronological order) and make sense. It's all been very exciting and challenging. I love it when my work challenges me.
Since Ted and I are leaving NYC in a little less than two weeks (if all goes well) I'm supposed to give whatever I have written (most likely close to 100 pages) to my agent so she can take a look at it while she has her baby (she's 8 1/2 months pregnant!). Of course I don't expect her to be looking at it while she actually gives birth (though she's a great agent - dedicated - so she just might do it...). I expect that while Ted and I are getting settled in San Diego she'll be looking at it - sometime in September - while I’m hopefully working on the second half. I have to say - giving myself deadlines is the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m not so good with regimen, but if someone is expecting something from me - if they give me a deadline - I am so afraid of letting people down that I'll fulfill it, for the most part.
***
Oh, and so I finished "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime", which I really enjoyed. I love how the character, a 15 year-old autistic boy, would just tune out of what's going on around him and would do something like explain a math formula, or read all of the signs in the train station, or explain his feelings about God. These interruptions were in the form of a new chapter - brilliant!
[Actually, I've been experimenting with voice in my novel, because my character often makes pronouncements or spouts out strange trivia about movies, fashion, and boys - so it was interesting to see how this author, Mark Haddon, transitioned into the parts where his character tunes out - by stopping the chapter where it was and interrupting it with a chapter of the boy's coping mechanisms.
Started reading Allison Smith's "Name All The Animals"
- so far very good, very touching and, she grew up around the same time I did (70s-80s), so it's interesting to see her take. ALTHOUGH iIm torn between continuing to read it, and reading Lisa Shea's novel "Hula"
- which is a wrenching, beautiful coming of age tale taking place in the 60s (I've read the first two chapters). The reason I'm torn is because Shea sets her novel in the present tense "We are sitting on the front steps watching the storm come. The sky is getting dark and the air smells sharp and wet.". My novel is also written in the present tense. I've struggled with this decision, but ultimately it's what feels right to me. It's immediate, I know, but that's what I want for the book. For me the book is like looking at a series of snapshots in a photo album and when you look at a picture you don't say - oh, there "Rob was walking the dog." instead, when you look at it you say "I love this picture where Rob is walking the dog" or you say "there I am walking the dog" - right? well, that's what I think anyway. And it's my book!
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