HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
Okay. This isn’t a snap from Hollywood, but it is Geoff and me accepting the 2021 Chelsea Film Festival Audience Feature Award for Surviving on LES for director Tony Amatullo who cast the two of us in small parts.
Hi, Chatterbox Here!
It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for “Barbara is Chatterbox” Issue #2. It’s also March 4. That means it’s only 11 days until March 15 when I will be reading and signing books at I AM Books in Boston, MA. It’s 14 days until March 18th, when Chatterbox: Stories from a Noisy Life launches! It’s also only 25 days before I’ll be at Hudson Valley Books for Humanity in Ossining, NY in Conversation with Rochelle Udell on March 29. And it’s also 16 days before the astronomical start of spring in The Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of the end of BRRRRRR, double-up on the mittens freezing temperatures and snow. Time to dig out the trunks and tankinis? Maybe I’m rushing things a bit.
Common Ground
March 2 was Hollywood’s Biggest Night. Did you watch “The Oscars” on Sunday? I did, like most years. I love movies, admire all the brilliant artists and crafts people who make them and believe in the power of movies and the stories they tell to change lives. (And I do love to gasp and shake my head at who is wearing what on the Red Carpet.) This year, I wasn’t cheering for one film over the others. Some years I do. In 1999, I was all in for Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. I saw that film on a sunny Saturday in Cape May. That film left me searching for answers I knew my father could provide, and on the following Monday, I called him, and that call changed so much in my life. Get the full story at: https://adventuresofthebakersdaughter.com/as-of-now/common-ground-steven-spielberg-gets-barbara-talking-with-her-father
A Five-Minute Egg?
Armand Schwerner (1927-1999) was an avant-garde poet and, in the early 1970s, my poetry professor. Easy-going he wasn’t, but generous with his wisdom and time, he was, even when he was shredding the poetry I thought was the best I’d ever written. He always kept an egg-timer on his desk. He ranted about Rod McKuen, one of America’s most beloved poets at the time, and what he called his drivel. Poetry, Armand preached, should be raw, visceral, graphic, emotive, immediate, not over-worked pap. I and all the other aspiring poet laureates in his class learned to write to Armand’s egg timer. We opened our notebooks, picked up our pens and as Armand flipped over the timer, we started writing. First words in our heads went down on the paper and our hands kept scribbling as though possessed by demons, no editing, until the sand ran out. You might be familiar with automatic writing. You might have read The Artist’s Way. I’ve used the technique, now the habit of a lifetime, to get to the core of “what is it I’m trying to say” every time I write. It has helped me battle writer’s block , fall asleep and flee from anxiety—like on the night Geoff and I were stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel. We were right at the New York/New Jersey line—hundreds of cars in front of us, hundreds behind, hood to trunk, spewing carbon monoxide and other toxic gases, no way out. Any minute now, the traffic would move, I kept telling myself. Twenty minutes later, we still sat, car idling, my head and heart pounding. Thankfully I had a notebook and pen in my handbag. Here’s what I wrote: “An Ongoing Dilemma.”
Armand Schwerner
Thank you Armand, for teaching me a skill that has benefited me greatly all my writing life.
What The Heck Is Barbara Talking About?
“Five cows rang my doorbell last night, about 9:00 p.m. I know it was cows, five of them because when the bell rang, I looked in the peephole before opening the door, and there they were, all big and bovine.” That’s the opening paragraph of “Orlando” from my book Bedtime Stories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter—a collection of stories all borne by writing with the first words that come into my head, and not stopping until I’ve written three pages. Want to try it yourself? Open a dictionary and pick a word. Or lift a headline from a newspaper, ad, article, etc. Or lift a favorite quote or line from a book or movie. Or read The Artist’s Way and do the program. Or read Writing Down The Bones. Or breathe in and listen to your own thoughts. AND start writing.
“I Thought I Was The Only One”
Painting by Rochelle Udell for “I Thought I Was the Only One.”
Follow me on Instagram @barbaraischatterbox and email me at barbara@barbaraworton.com to let me know, and I’ll get back to you with a PDF of “Orlando.”
My Fabulous Book Club
Some of the wonderful women in my book club. A few couldn’t make last week’s session. I am so happy they are reading Chatterbox! And I’m a little nervous. What if they don’t like it? (Imagine me biting my fingernails). Two things I love about this bunch: Most of us read a book or more a week. All of us love the cover and design of Chatterbox. Thank you, Steve Turner and Doug Turshen.
And One More Chatterbox Fan Says
“Chatterbox is tender and tough, smooth and coarse, quiet and loud…with a pen that is both delicate and fierce, Barbara Worton illustrates life’s beautiful contrasts: sharp and funny observations from both the past and the present. This is a volume of recollections and musings that invite the heart and head to wonder, remember and hope.” —Kathy Curto, Author of Not for Nothing: Glimpses Into A Jersey Girlhood. https://www.kathycurto.com
Mark Your Calendars, Please!
Watch out reading public, here I come. Here are events I’ve booked for March and April.
March 15:
I AM BOOKS, Boston, MA | 6:00–8:00 p.m.
With the Italian American Writers Association, including an open mic.March 19:
Morphmom, Instagram Live | 10:00 a.m.March 25:
Cyrus Webb, Amazon Live | 3:00 p.m.March 29:
Hudson Valley Books for Humanity, Ossining, NY | 7:00 p.m.
"In Conversation with Rochelle Udell."April 5:
Garibaldi Meucci Museum, Staten Island, NY | 2:00–4:00 p.m.
Reading and book signing featuring live music by Geoff Worton and Dee Meyer.April 8:
North Haledon Free Public Library, North Haledon, NJ | 1:30 p.m.
Author Talk.April 24:
Dublin Public Library, Dublin, NH, | 5:00pm-7:00pm
Reading and book signing with Linda Dini Jenkins, author of Becoming Italian: Chapter & Verse from an Italian American Girl.April 25:
The Toadstool Bookstore, Keene, NH | 6:00 p.m.
Reading and book signing with Linda Dini Jenkins, author of Becoming Italian: Chapter & Verse from an Italian American Girl.April 26:
The Bookery, Manchester, NH | 2:00–4:00 p.m.
Reading and book signing with Linda Dini Jenkins, author of Becoming Italian: Chapter & Verse from an Italian American Girl.
Want To Bring Chatterbox To A Bookstore, Library, Italian Restaurant, Coffee Shop, School, Book Club, Etc., Near You? Please get in touch. Email me at barbara@barbaraworton.com. And let’s talk date, time, and place. Thanks!
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Chatterbox: Stories From a Noisy Life
Chatterbox: Stories from a Noisy Life by Barbara Worton is a heartwarming, laugh-out-loud collection of mini-memoirs celebrating life's joyful chaos. From a lively Italian American childhood to the adventures of adulthood, Worton shares vivid stories filled with humor, nostalgia, and relatable moments. Perfect for anyone who loves heartfelt storytelling and finds magic in everyday life. Releasing soon, in just under a month, on March 18th, 2025.
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