New & Noteworthy: Dublin Invasion!

Right, so. A weekend trip to a place I frequent at least once a year hardly counts as an "invasion," but the news sounds much more salacious that way, don't you think?

There is news, readers, which is that the bane of my existence  the source of my drinking problem  my unpublished novel has been selected as one of the winners in the inaugural first novel contest sponsored by the Irish Writers' Centre. The centre received over 570 entries and I was honored to learn that my novel, Dear Dirty Dublin, was one of 20 selected for the honor. A full list of winners can be found here, as well as 15 writers selected for honorable mention. I'm flying myself out to Dublin next month to attend the Novel Fair, which will give me the opportunity to share my work with Irish publishers and agents. Whether or not I get any nibbles or offers remains to be seen, but I'm going into the weekend with great enthusiasm and curiosity. The novel's heart is in Dublin, and it feels fitting to return there. I would be very happy to find it a nice home.

To any of my Dublin friends, I hope you'll join me at Sweny's pharmacy the afternoon of Sunday, March 11, where I'll be reading from the novel and providing tea and goodies to celebrate the occasion. I realize it's unusual to give a reading in a pharmacy, but Sweny's (which prides itself on being "quite possibly Dublin's worst pharmacy") is a wonderful combination of used bookstore, historical diorama, soap mongers, and pilgrimage for James Joyce fans: Sweny's is where Leopold Bloom goes to buy Molly a cake of lemon soap in Ulysses. It's currently staffed by ridiculously friendly volunteers and kept alive by their generous spirit and shared love of literature. I can't think of a place I'd rather share my work.

The trip will be a swift one, but I'll be sure to fetch a few numbers while I'm over there -- and to raise a Guinness or two in sheer relief. Toiling in obscurity has its charm, but I'm ready to see what it's like to seek and find some fresh new readers. And naturally, should it find its way into glorious, pulpy, inky print, you'll be among the first to know. Till then, I think this sign says it all:

If this clock is broken, may it never be fixed.

#1: The Big Red One

Galway, Ireland

Ah, nothing like a few of my favorite things to close out 2011: an Irish setting, some nice hand-painted handiwork, an eye-popping color contrast, scenic bits of flaking rust, and an unexpected location (front of a Galway Dumpster, anyone?). Oh yes, and in the title, a reference to an old war movie, which I'm amazed I don't manage to work in more often considering how much time I spend watching them. I might have to spend all of next year tracking down pictures of Steve McQueen and writing about the typography in the credits of The Great Escape to get my fix. But then, I wouldn't dream of doing that to you, loyal readers...

So here we are: the end of the number line. Another year, another 365 numbers. Though sometimes the constant deadlines drove me mental, it's been so much fun picking through my collection and sharing the best and the brightest of the bunch. I've enjoyed having so many readers drop by and visit, whether you comment or just have a look over your morning coffee. I knew #1 was going to have to be special in a year filled with so many of them scattered about -- it was totally worth paying that bill late just so I could have an excuse to write 11/11/11 on that check -- and I hope this one does the year justice.

Those of you who followed along in 2009 know that even after reaching a big milestone such as this, I'm not terribly good at remaining quiet. There were the Helvetica postcards, the homages to Dublin dereliction, and the "hey-look-at-me-I'm-posting-unthematic-things-and-it's-making-me-uneasy" apologias. You can expect -- if not more of the same -- more meanderings and stabs in the dark in the new year as I continue to make disturbances in the blogosphere. But in the meantime, I want to wish you all a very happy new year and to say thank you for making Ampersand Seven one of my favorite shared obsessions ever.

#2: Two Cheers

Downtown Brooklyn

I found this weird and wonderful crew in a window display in the back roads behind Fulton Mall. The little fella with the #2 on his shirt is a charmer, and I'm guessing I'll be feeling something of his jubilation in two days when I make it to the end of the countdown. Scenes like this remind me of why I started this project in the first place -- because there's nothing quite like the covert thrill of discovering a cool number buried in the bustle and visual clutter of a busy street scene. This little guy is bringing the party. Now where's that bottle of champagne?

#3: Three Point

Flatiron District, NYC

#4: Four-Leaf Clover

Upper East Side, NYC

Mosaics in Galway, terra cotta from Radda in Chianti, that ruined Brooklyn beauty on 4 Verandah Place -- It's getting harder to pick them now that we're down to the final four, but the fact that this 4 looks like some sort of sinister pterodactyl head gives it the edge.

#5: High Five

Reykjavik, Iceland

#6: Black Sand Six

Vík í Mýrdal, Iceland

Six days left to the countdown and if I wasn't so busy sitting in front of this Christmas tree, re-watching ridiculous hockey videos and polishing off this bottle of Pinot Noir and carton of Candy Cane gelato, I'd swear I'd be recapping the year by now.

'Tis the season for top-ten lists, best-ofs, and the urge to summarize on a project like this is hard to resist. While I love fresh beginnings, I'm allergic to endings, which is maybe a convincing argument against the whole "counting down" format. But I've devoted the whole year to it, so there'll be no turning back now.

This summer, I spent six days in Iceland, and at the time, I remember placing each pale stone on the black sand beach into the shape of a number six, thinking how far away the end of the year sounded -- that day in December when this "6" would find its place in the countdown. The thought of even a not-so-distant future was a stray thought, easily blown away by an Arctic gust. It was better -- easier -- to return to where I was and take in the details of that cold August evening as they unfolded: the soft roll of the ocean waves lapping up to the pitch black sand, the eerie walk at dusk back to the hotel with the faint lights of the tiny village twinkling through the haze, the young barman in round spectacles slowly wiping the cognac glass clean from its leftover coating of volcanic ash.

So while that inevitable year-end desire to summarize is here, when I sit down to write, strange, disconnected details are all that come out: black sand, twinkling village lights, the scrape of blades on ice. And though it pains my inner Witness Protection Program to reveal my whereabouts, maybe that's the place I've been hiding out for much of this year: the present. Spending less time tinkering with the collection and more time doing the collecting. Giving projects room to breathe. And when deadlines -- both real and imaginary -- loom, remembering that writing requires five senses and not just one.

As the year draws to a close, it's not a bad thing to look back. So long as it doesn't turn into a no-holds-barred, contact lens-drying staring contest. A glance will do.

#7: Seahorse Seven

Albuquerque, New Mexico

#8: Crazy Eight

Galway, Ireland

#9: Number Nine... Number Nine...

Thomas Street, Dublin