Maud Newton's "When The Flock Changed"

One day during the spring of 2005, I was in the car listening to WAMC, the NPR affiliate in Albany, NY. The Albany-NYC telephone discussion was about literary bloggers. One of the bloggers was Maud Newton. I honestly can't remember the names of the other three bloggers. I read all of their blogs for a time after I jotted their url's down from my dubious memory bank later when I reached home. I do not own all those gizmo-gadgets that would have enabled me to bookmark those sites as they spoke. Did they exist then? I'm sure they did, but what did I know. Some literary blogs can be very boring. Just like any other blog. Some were and I quickly jumped ship. There was no stylish sense of humor and ironic self-deprecation. There was simply book talk, which is ok as long as it is infused with an engaging conversational tone that makes you return. Blogging literature as improvisational jazz, let's say. There is a person typing those blog entries who can make you laugh, wonder, ponder, empathize, say yeah, say right, say a lot of things that you want to say, but maybe couldn't articulate in quite the same way. I still read Maud's blog mostly everyday. A friend of hers, Lux Lotus starlite, Lauren Cerand, encouraged me to start a blog. You can blame her.

Let me get to the point before wandering away. Maud Newton is working on a novel. Narrative Magazine has published the full excerpt from her book here. Please read it slowly. It's not that long. You will remember her name.

Comments

[Lauren Cerand]

That's right, I DID and its BRILLIANT.

[Marco]

Thanks Lauren, but I don't know about the brilliant part.

[Maud]

Aw, Marco, you're the best.

[Marco]

Thanks, Maud. I can't wait until your novel is in my hands.