gravedigger’s daughter « ann rosenquist fee

It’s official! With this week’s arrival of my copy of Christopher Fisher’s A History of Stone and Steel, I am the most-acknowledged person in my writing world. Chris acknowledged me among his critique buddies. It’s a very macho book.

The University of Minnesota Press recently released We’ll Be The Last Ones to Let You Down, in which I’m acknowledged by author Rachael Hanel who is a hot boundless thing right now. So by association, what she said here makes me feel kind of boundless as well. Not as on-fire as the display font at the top, but like the rule underneath it. Well-spaced and ready.

Last fall saw the release of Amy Stockwell Mercer’s second book, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Eating Right with Diabetes: What Will Work, in which I’m delighted to be acknowledged among Amy’s personal-and-private storytellers.

And proud to have written the foreword, which the publisher let me sign like this:

I don’t know if any writing programs name this as a goal, “get acknowledged,” but I think they should. It feels great. I think it would make a good category at the Minnesota Book Awards. “Most Acknowledged.” I would win the inaugural award, of course, and would strive to wear something appropriate.

Something “taut and luminous” per the blurb on Christopher’s back cover, “macabre and lyrical” as the Star Tribune said about Rachael, down-to-earth yet bold yet low-carb for Amy, which is what she is and how she writes. I would accessorize with a few harsh but hopeful pieces for my writing friends who are just one bleeding red edit away* from a gorgeous published page.

*Call me.

It’s the opposite of shopping season, today, for you. It’s your time to purge.

The regular Tarot Death card signals a loss or an ending that makes room for something new. The kind of ending that’s like, hey, I just can’t do this anymore. Because I think I want to do something else but you’re in the way.

The Fashion Tarot Death card commands you to go get some Steelsacs and spend a couple hours in your closet, and take a harsh look at everything and be real about what’s dead to you. If you haven’t worn it in a while, or you have but it failed to make you happy, or it doesn’t fit so it’s just hanging around taunting you, it goes. Put it in the bag. Get that bag to Goodwill or Salvation Army or your sister’s house or whatever as soon as possible.

This is not an easy card for a lot of reasons. You might not know where to start. You might get rid of something you’ll miss. Death is a tough one but it’s the only way to make space for what comes next. And what comes next is going to look amazing on you.