Author: Dan White

Please read this story and do what you can to preserve one of my favorite bookstores anywhere. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Wow!!! Thanks everyone. Our place-writing class could very well sell out. Really looking forward to this. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I just heard from a reader who said she purchased a hard-copy version of The Cactus Eaters that begins on page 361.  I am assuming that one of two things took place. 1. Your book contains a printing error, which means it is a rarity, which means you can try to sell it online for $$$$, or 2. HarperCollins has printed a scrambled-up, surreal, non-linear version of the book to attract a more experimental demographic. I’m making inquiries and will try to get to the bottom of this soon. And keep those cards and letters coming. (by the way, I’m not making this up.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here are a couple of recent blurb/announcements for the upcoming writing class on May 11 at the Capitola Book Cafe, one in SantaCruzWrites.org and another in SF Station.com. And here is the feature story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.  I’ve fiddled with the list of authors just a little bit, and I’ve created some activities that should be fun for you, while creating food for thought for your place writings in progress. The Book Cafe has been sending out free mini-anthologies of place/travel writings and a couple of preliminary exercises for everyone who signs up. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I now, officially, have the most hideous front lawn in America. Basically, the owner chopped down the shady pretty tree in front of our house and replaced it with a huge pile of jagged stones — hundreds and hundreds of them lying beside my driveway like a midden of broken teeth. Personally, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with all these (expletive) rocks. Unless Goliath attacks our house.  In that case, I’ll be well-prepared. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

A Cactus Eaters reader in Carmel Valley sent in this alarming photo of gefilte fish in reference to my  comparison between the mountains along the Southern California section of the Pacific Crest Trail and a certain cold and slimy soul food, purchased in jars and consumed at Passover with mountains of horseradish to cover up the nasty taste. Quite a photo. You can see the gelatinous brine shining on every little dumpling. Thank you, and keep those cards and letters coming. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Read this engaging story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about my writing friend Elizabeth McKenzie and her new book in progress. If you’re one of my two blog readers out there, and this name sounds familiar to you, she’s the one who wrote a funny, edgy fiction story for the Atlantic Monthly some months back. Also I want to congratulate my colleague Carolyn Lagatutta, a talented photographer who just got written up for her Flickr work. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

So far Amy has received 313 comments on the article in the Huffington Post not including Facebook messages and emails. I guess she hit a nerve. And I’m not kidding when I say the comments continue to pile in, every other second, on the web. If you’d like to read more, here is another great one: Memoir Horror: Can You Break Up With Your Life’s Narrative? which tells you all you need to know about being married to someone who is obsessively writing a warts-and-all memoir concerning a previous phase in his life. Writers and writer’s spouses, you may wish to clip and save her essay. Also, here is her cautionary tale, which appeared in the New York Times, concerning those lovely but lead-infested Victorians of San Francisco. If you’ve got a little kid and you’re living in one of those beautiful Princess Anne confections, take our advice and get…

… will get a mini-anthology consisting of three travel essays (actually, two essays and an excerpt) that I would like you to read before May 11. You will get these things in an email along with a brief place writing assignment that should not take too long … Looking forward to meeting everyone. Anyhow, that message will be sent out on or before April 28th. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Congratulations to my wife, Amy Ettinger, for this beautifully written story about learning from our initially shy daughter (who, I am glad to say, is becoming less shy by the minute) This is Amy’s first story for the Huffington Post. Enjoy. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default