On Tuesday, some of my students and I went to a reading at the fantastic Odyssey bookstore in South Hadley, MA. Elinor Lipman, who is wit and charm and ease personified, read from her very funny, poignant new book, The Family Man. Which was great. It was even greater that we went out afterwards to Johnny's Bar and Grille (it sounds like a dive, but it's not, it's actually fancy for a place that calls itself a guy's name bar and grille). We had a fine time yacking about books and bookish event possibilities -- we like our field trips, we are party girls. We also tossed around some interesting ideas. Karen (working on a mystery novel) told us about her son's band's new video, for which they all wore cameras on their heads and filmed each other onstage. Missy (historical novel circa the nineteen teens) said we should do the same. We could film ourselves at writerly events, and even working at the computer in our pajamas. I said we could call it Our Amazing Writing Life. I really want to do it. I wonder how much cameras you put on your head cost?
This weekend, think of what people would see if you had a camera on your head, filming your amazing life. How exotic and wonderful your life would seem to someone living in a comnpletely different society. What would be striking to them? What would they be amazed by? Try to see your life through the eyes of a Botswana grandmother, or a Bolivian potter. If you don't happen to have an actual camera on your head, write or draw the amazing bits of your life.
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