Muse

I can’t ignore Edgar Allan Poe on Halloween on a literary blog.  He’s certainly been an inspiration to me as a writer.  Living so close to Baltimore has given me opportunities to visit his grave site, former home, and attend numerous Poe related functions.  And though I’m not a fan, I do love that our football team is named after Poe’s famous poem. 

One site I have not yet visited is the hospital where Poe died, Church Hosptial, formerly know as Washington College Hospital.  Bizarre stories of grave robbing, corpse dissecting, and even kidnapping kept locals walking quickly around the building.  Check out more info. on the creepy old hospital at http://www.eapoe.org/balt/poechh.htm.  A story is waiting to be written there!

For Poe fans, I have to recommend The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.  http://www.matthewpearl.com/poe/poe.html  It’s a fascinating literary mystery about the suspicious events surrounding Poe’s death and the web of questionable characters associated with it.  It reads like a “Dupin” story, and helps restore the author’s good name in spite of the popular rumors of drug and alcohol abuse surrounding his death. 

Finally, it’s fun to see when life imitates art–and by life I mean tacky Halloween decorations. Check out The Ghoul with the Pearl Earring.

Happy Halloween!

Monday night I attended a meeting of the Baltimore Writer’s Association at the Baltimore Chop Bookshop.  The speakers, Dave Rosenthal from the Baltimore Sun (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/) and Heather Johnson (http://www.age30books.blogspot.com/) spoke on book blogging, book review, and the changing face of news media.  It was a fascinating presentation, and sparked some great literary conversation on how authors can generate a buzz for their books on the web.  It also emphasized the steady decline of print media with the increase in cybermedia as a primary news source. 

It was great to sit and have coffee with a group so passionate about books.  I got some great leads on literary blogs and researching media outlets, and was able get more information about blogging, focus my blogging objectives, and so on. 

Thanks to all who put on the meeting.  It was extremely relevant to the changing face of publishing, and helpful to me, as a writer.

Well, here it is.  My blog baby is born.  It was clean and easy.

Pictured above is my happy place.   Note the warm, hazelnut coffee, research and notes strewn about the desk, words on the screen–lots of them. 

I am a writer, so it only makes sense that I write.  I’ve started this blog as a way to chronicle my literary pursuits and musings, review books I’ve read, and explore all things literary in which I am involved.  It will be a snapshot of my daily immersion in both the art and business of writing, and I welcome your feedback. 

But for now, it’s back to my happy place.