Kristin Bair O'Keeffe: Writer. Mom. Teacher. Traveler.

Cool Links, Einstein's Brain, Travel Stuff, Wrap-Ups, And More

With a major trip looming, I'm wrapping up loose ends in Shanghai.

• Zai Jian -- The hardest part about being an expatriate? Transience. Friends come; friends go. With much greater intensity and frequency than in most other sub-bubbles of humanity. We expats leap into life in a foreign country, and in order to handle the changes, most of us work like crazy to "find our tribe." Earlier this week, one of my bestest ever friends left Shanghai for good. We met way back in 2006 when we were both newbies to China; we've been hanging out ever since. Now she's back in the United States, no longer a quick 5:00 phone call away.

• The Last Page -- Yesterday I taught the final class of my writing workshop here in Shanghai. It rocked. All the things that happen in a successful workshop happened. Throughout the six weeks, the students learned to trust their own voices and stories; they learned to trust their fellow writers; their writing got stronger; they got more confident; they learned a lot about reading as writers; they wrote good stuff; and we all had a great time...and a lot of laughs. Bravo to my students for showing up and doing the work.

• I'm Leaving On A Jetplane... -- Tomorrow (Friday) me, my hubs, and our 2-year-old Tulliver will board a plane bound for the United States. While I love and look forward to our annual visit to the States, I'm no longer surprised by the amount of work it takes to get ready for said trip. Holy schmoly. Why is it so hard to get 2 big people and 1 small person ready for an around-the-world journey? Beats me, but it is. I just keep chanting, "Don't forget your U.S. drivers licenses" cause you know, that would suck. (Last time we got all the way to the Shanghai airport before we realized we had left the stroller behind at our apartment. Um, bad, bad, bad.)

• Book Promotion -- In my ongoing exploration into cool, creative ways to promote books, I came across this story about novelist Jennifer Belle who has hired actresses to read her newest novel (The Seven Year Bitch) in public and laugh while reading. Clever, unique, and probably a little expensive. I like it. (Read the full story here.)

• Thirsty -- Which brings me to my novel, THIRSTY. Have you read it? What? You haven't? Oh, my friend, it's time you did. Click here to learn more about it. Click here to buy it from Amazon.

• 13 Fabulous Overlooked Books by Famous Authors -- The Huffington Post listed 13 books by famous authors that many readers haven't read. How many have you read? Some cool finds here. (I can't believe Marquez's Of Love & Other Demons is an overlooked book! It's one of my favorites. Bartleby the Scrivener, too.)

• Einstein's Brain -- Did YOU know that someone stole Einstein's brain (after he was dead, of course)? I didn't, but now that I do know, I'm kinda intrigued. Who the heck runs off with a brain? NPR ran the story earlier this week. (Click here to read.)

Now...off to pack.

___

Hot Air Balloon Photo Credit: J Frasse / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Project Kindle, Post #6 (The FINAL Episode)

This...is...it. 

Do I love my Kindle? Can I read books on my Kindle?

Watch and see.

Travel Tuesday: Writing the Far-Flung Life (Me + New Place = ?)

Okay, all you far-flung writers, need a jumping off point for a new essay? Here goes:

When you:

• are transplanted in a new country
• are launched out of your comfort zone
• are separated from those you love by expansive oceans and thousands of miles
• are incapable of communicating with those around you because you don't speak the language
• spend minutes/hours/days pantomiming even the simplest nouns (and feel like a cross between an intrepid explorer and a complete ass every time you do it)
• struggle to interpret new cultural cues

you inevitably ask the question...

Me + (New Place) = ?

You can't help it. It's human nature. We're driven to define ourselves in relation to our surroundings. Especially those of us who are writers.

The first time I asked myself this question was back in October 2006, about six months after I'd moved from the United States to Shanghai, China. I was back in the U.S. on my first trip home and was feeling completely overwhelmed by the number of choices I faced in the cereal aisle at the grocery store and a number of other things. I wrote about it here (at my old blog).

Since then, I've mulled over this very question again and again...verbally and in my head...but I haven't yet (re-)tackled it on the page. It's time...I feel it coming. The distillation of who I am in China.

And you? Have you tackled this question in your writing?

Me + (New Place) = ?

If not, give it a shot. It has all the makings of a great essay.

If so, what was your answer?

Libraries: A Love Story

All you readers and writers out there know what I'm talking about, right? That affection you carry around with you for the hometown library where you spent your formative reading years...

Thanks to an invitation to guest blog at "Write for a Reader," I had the opportunity to think deeply about the Bethel Park Public Library...my own hometown library.

Read all about it here: Write for a Reader

Washington Post Names John Thorndike's "The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's" as a "Best Book of 2009"!

So happy to share this news!

John Thorndike is a fellow Swallow Press author whose beautiful memoir The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's was just named one of the "Best Books of 2009" by The Washington Post. How cool is that?

What is The Last of His Mind about?

John says it much better than I. Here's how he describes it on his website:

My father, Joe Thorndike, was an independent New Englander, once the managing editor of Life and the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines. At 91, his one great desire was to remain in his own house, even as memory and language deserted him. He had once told me, after a visit to an old friend in a nursing home, “Don’t ever put me in a place like that.” So at the start of 2005, to allow him to stay at home, I left Ohio and moved into his house on Cape Cod. Slowly, in the months that followed, he lost the ability to carry on a conversation, to read a clock, to remember that his pants went on over his underwear.

In this book, John takes you on a profound journey...a private journey. It's a privilege to share it.

Whoo-hoo! Headlining at "The Compulsive Reader"!

The blog tour continues! This time I'm talking about China, domestic violence, and my path to publishing at a terrific blog called The Compulsive Reader.

Tully, Tully, Tully...

Realized today that I haven't posted photos of Tully in a long time. And gosh, she just gets cuter every day. (Both photos were taken in the U.S. during our book tour.)

See?

Where In The World Is Kristin (today)?

Good question.

• Physically? In Shanghai. (Just got back to my apartment after taking Tully to her first Christmas party of the season. She danced to carols, ate too many cookies, and yep, sat on Santa's lap. Photos to come.)

• Virtually? At Mom-E-Centric. (Talking today about 5 of my favorite books...can you guess what they are?)

• And in print? In the December issue of Woman's Day Magazine (whoo-hoo!). Going to the grocery store? Pick up a copy. Turn to page 24. Smile because you've read this...by me. Then stop at your local bookstore on the way home and buy a copy of THIRSTY. If your bookstore doesn't have THIRSTY in stock, as the clerk to order it.

My (Renewed) Blogging Commitment: Every Single Day

On December 1, I made a silent promise that I'd once again blog...every single day.

Why?

I realized that since returning to China from the fabulous, spectacular, absolutely exhausting THIRSTY book tour in the U.S., I had, well, stopped blogging very often. I was cranking posts about as often as I sleep an entire night without being woken at least once by my 22-month-old daughter (translation = not very often). Yes, yes, I know, I know, I'm on a terrific blog tour with THIRSTY now and I'm crazy busy writing posts...but those are for other blogs...not my own.

So...

It's time to make that commitment again.

Every day, at least one blog entry.

Yes, some will be short (even just a cool, kick-ass photo of some aspect of my wacky, wonderful life in Shanghai, China).

Others will be long, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Well, I'll think so and I'll choose to believe that you agree with me.

There you go.

My commitment.

To you.

To me.

To the great glorious blogosphere.

See ya tomorrow.

The Eagle (a.k.a. Kristin Bair O'Keeffe) Has Landed (and barely slept...)

Yee ha!

We're back in the U.S.A!

But first...

This was us in Shanghai on Friday, September 18 (yep, that's a printout of the cover of THIRSTY...I carried it for good luck):

And this was Tully in Shanghai's Pudong Airport BEFORE traveling halfway around the world. Way more chipper than she was at the end of the journey:

And finally, after thirty-six or so hours of traveling, Andrew, Tulliver, and I made it to the U.S. (One very important question: Why aren't there any luggage carts at the Newark airport? Some kind of traveler torture? Designed just for families with kids under two? A lesson in not traveling with too much crap?)

Now we're hunkered down in Maine under a bright blue sky, frolicking (yep, that's right, frolicking) in the first crunchy fallen leaves and twirling under the sun.

I'm drinking water from the tap, eating loads of fresh blueberries, and loving the freedom I have on the Internet.

Of course, there is the J E T L A G (which, by the way, someone needs to find a cure for...or a preventative treatment that actually works...somebody?...anybody?...). Tully slept well for a while last night. Then the I'm-asleep-but-my-body-is-so-confused crying began. Andrew and I took turns rubbing her back. She'd stop crying and fall asleep for an hour or so, then the I'm-asleep-but-my-body-is-so-confused crying would begin again. Wish I could do more to help her through it, but the good news is that every day it will get a little better. Soon (in a week or two) we'll all be properly sorted.

Now...where's the coffee?