Joe M. O'Connell: Writers League of Texas

Friday, August 17, 2007

Writers League of Texas

A great night Thursday speaking to the Writers League of Texas about Evacuation Plan. Despite a pouring rain, about 40 people showed up to hear me read from the book. David Zuniga of Hospice Austin again spoke briefly about hospice and the evening ended with some lively discussion. Because of a mixup about getting the book in stock at Barnes and Noble, I was allowed to sell the books directly myself, which allowed me to give a portion of the proceeds directly to Hospice Austin. I was able to hand David a check on the spot. I, of course, forgot to take photos of the event despite having a camera in my pocket. So you get a pic of Nick and book instead.

A couple of interesting developments in the evening:

-- I was asked to speak to the San Gabriel Writers in January.
-- Diane, the president of the Writers League of Texas, suggested that the book would be a perfect choice for the Austin mayor's book club. Anyone want to email him and push that idea? Anyone know, ahem, Oprah?
-- The eveming was filmed for the Writers League access television show that runs on Time Waner Cable. Look for it soon.

Also this week, the first book club signed me up to speak to them. Bring on those requests!

2 comments:

Lorie said...: Hey there. Have you heard of The Loft up in Minneapolis? They're a writers organization -- check out their website, you should be able to Google it. I just signed up for a 12-week class on essay-writing b/c I got so fired up from cruising their website! They have all sorts of writer events; maybe they'd be interested in an event related to your book? I'll keep my antenna up when I get up there at the end of September.

And, hey, don't y'all ever put shirts on Nick? -- all your recent pics seem to feature him shirtless! Ha ha. Who knows, though? Perhaps he's going to grow up to be the next Fabio and grace cover after cover of romance novels...?; August 18, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Joe M. O'Connell said...: Hey, I'll have to check out The Loft! Send me info when you get up yonder. Thanks, Lorie!

Nick is a hot-blooded boy who doesn't seem to like the clothes too much other than his sleepers for nap time. The boy will surely start yanking his diapers off once he figures out how!; August 19, 2007 at 12:57 AM

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What they're saying about EVACUATION PLAN

"Tales alternately gentle, dramatic, surrealistic, that collectively affirm the beauty of being alive, even as they acknowledge that all of us face the necessity of making our own 'evacuation plan.' "
-- Brad Buchholz, Austin American-Statesman

" The chapters about Matt and the short stories demonstrate O’Connell’s ability to develop sympathetic, true-to-life characters using intriguing details and compelling dialogue. The stories remind us of those times when a brief encounter with a stranger left us wondering about that person’s past. In Evacuation Plan, O’Connell satisfies that curiosity. "
-- The Texas Observer

"It was very hard for me to put this book down. It carries us through the deepest meaning in life and most painful, most hopeful memories for a wide range of fascinating characters. Based in a hospice, this book could have easily resorted to cheap sensationalism, or whacked us upside the head with stereotypic melodrama, but instead it was respectful, honest, and tender. The characters will stay with you - you may even recognize some of them within your own life. "
-- Award-winning author Carmen Tafolla

"An excellent, thought-provoking diversion from our own inevitable plummet toward the grave, and we highly recommend it to you, the living."
-- Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle

"O’Connell has drawn some colourful and believable characters. The material relating to the hospice and terminal care rings true, all the way to reconciliation and forgiving."
-- Dr. Roger Woodruff, International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care

"The tales are nicely written, and some are quite compelling; “The Male Nurse,” for one, is a dreamlike reverie."
-- Texas Monthly

“Evacuation Plan: A Novel From The Hospice by Joe M. O'Connell is nothing short of remarkable … a novel that walks hand-in-hand with death and yet, somehow, the reader finishes the book feeling inspired to live.”
– The Paisano

"A wonderful blend of lives ordinary but with sometimes extraordinary elements. We all share these stories of life in some way, despite moments of harshness or unforgiving pain. There is always a common thread of humanity and ultimately forgiveness to be found, even if it's in the last moment of life."
-- Elaine Williams, author of A Journey Well Taken

"Reading Evacuation Plan is akin to unwrapping a series of small perfectly-chosen presents. Both human and humane, The book resembles a modern Spoon River Anthology with its vivid, touching glimpses into the lives of those in and around a hospice."
-- Tim McCanlies, screenwriter The Iron Giant, writer/director Secondhand Lions

"In Evacuation Plan Joe O'Connell does for the process of dying what Sherwood Anderson did for middle America in Winesburg, Ohio--he shows us in brief flashes the aching beauty of the grotesque, and shows us how extraordinary small lives and quiet deaths can be."
--John Blair, Drue Heinz Literature Prize winning author of American Standard

"Here's a book so rich with stories of the living, so filled with people's bountiful problems, as well as incidents of wry forgiveness, one realizes over and over the circling forces of life's completeness. It's not a sad tale nor a needless feel-good account but a balanced, sometimes comic, affirmation of what is here and what we all know is waiting."
-- Carolyn Osborn, award-winning short story writer

"The broken, the hopeful, the frustrated, the clueless, and the forgiving touch one another with words, remembrances, and hands. Inevitably, readers will quietly wonder about their own evacuation plan."
-- Will's Texana Monthly

O'Connell's protagonist skillfully navigates under the guise of a writer seeking raw materials for his craft in the stories of the dying, but mines and refines instead the stuff we're all made of. In this finely crafted novel, we come away with much more than the astute observation that many of the best stories begin at the end. But, then again, that notion is also worth a lot.
--Jesse Sublett, cancer survivor, rocker and author of Never the Same Again

"Joe O'Connell's Evacuation Plan--this Decameron of the hospice--encompasses a paradox. Death comes for everyone, but death is the only human universal because everyone dies, and witnesses dying, with private, unspeakable shame. Yet there are a few minutes left to speak. As people die, they tell stories which spawn new stories, which remind us that death is agony, a violent struggle, but so is living."
-- Debra Monroe, Flannery O'Connor Award winning author of Newfangled and Shambles

Joe M. O'Connell

Friday, August 17, 2007

Writers League of Texas

2 comments:

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