Tuesday extra: Me 'n' Chuck

Photo taken by awesome author Jennifer 8. Lee

(who incidentally went to my high school)

This was the second signature I got from Chuck Palahniuk at the Muse & the Marketplace literary conference, after the lunchtime keynote speech and Q&A session. To read about the first signature, see my May 3 blog post here: A minute of perfection was worth the effort.

The video of Chuck's keynote speech is now available at the Grub Street website, or courtesy of Grub St. on Vimeo, or embedded below (if my html works). Watch it. Make your friends watch it. I promise that, unlike his notorious short story Guts, it will not make you pass out. I would be surprised, however, to hear that it didn't move you.

There's about half an hour of speech, then the Q&A. At 33:00, you can hear him talk about being denied representation for his first novel (an 800-900 page "reeking waste of trees"). My question shows up at 40:58, and his answer lasts for nearly three minutes.

(You can also see me in the audience at the very beginning when the camera pans around the audience. Yep. About 42 seconds in, at the second table from the podium, dead center, blue sweater and a ponytail. That's me.)

So, it's long. It's also worth it. You don't even have to have read his books. Bookmark it, come back later to watch when you have time. At least the speech itself, if not the Q&A after.

Please. You won't regret it.