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Flavorwire looked at some famous authors' hobbies. Emily Dickinson loved to bake, and Zadie Smith took tap for 10 years.


Read more here.

It's not September 13 yet where I am, but my email already has September 13th's Writers Almanac.

And look! metteharrison is in it. (Make sure you're looking at the one for Sept. 13 and it's on the bottom.)

That would be a dream come true.

A guy I know from the writer community was driving his second grader to school today and saw me out on a run.

He said, "There's my friend, the writer April Henry."

Kid's reply: "Wow! At last I've seen someone famous."

Every year, America’s most literate cities are ranked (according to newspapers, bookstores, magazines, education, libraries and the Internet). Portland is always in the top 10 (or 10ish). This year, Flavorwire looked at the top 10 and what books each resident should read.

For Pittsburgh, it would be Mysteries of Pittsburgh: A Novel (P.S.). I met Michael Chabon 20 years ago (how time flies!) back when I was just impressed to even be in the same room with someone who was published. (This event looms large in my life - not so large in his.)

And for Portland it would be Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love: A Novel. I met her at Wordstock in 2009. She said she was an admirer of mine. I have no idea what that meant - it could even have referred to my newspaper reviews - but the for the next two weeks I walked around on a cloud.

See all 10 cities and books here.

There was a new lady in kung fu class last night. We each looked vaguely familiar to the other, so we started running down places where we might have met. I had introduced myself as April. She asked my last name.

"You're not the author, are you?"

"That's me."

"Really! I'm in a class with a famous author!" She looked around at our classmates. [They all know I write, but for various reasons, it's not important to them at all. They feel the way I would if I were in a class with a "famous" hacky-sack player.] "She's famous!"

That and $3.75 will get you a latte.

I seldom get recognized. Once at a furniture store the salesman waived the delivery fee when he heard my name. [Full disclosure: If I had been Janet Evanovich, I probably could have gotten the furniture for free.] And once a well-known restaurant owner recognized me in the grocery store. He talked to me for a few minutes and then said that he didn't want to keep interrupting my privacy. As if I were followed by adoring crowds every day.