February 02, 2007

12:29 p.m.

Onward Ho

I've noticed lately that people in America are using fewer and fewer compound words. I always thought a website was a website, until I started seeing everyone spelling it "web site." I'm in favor of compound words. Of course, a back yard is just a back yard, unless it's turned into an adjective like backyard, as in backyard barbeque. So why is website more a noun than web site? Has anyone ever had a website barbeque? I'd like to invite you all to the very first one, hosted by me, Bornearly, here on the Diaryland web site. Please let me know what virtual dishes you'll be bringing. I'll bring the potatosalad.

I always enjoy corresponding with European friends, especially German and Nordic folks, whose languages commonly compound everything. From my emails with a friend from Norway: footstonetherapy. Studioartist. Writingprossess. Morningcoffee. Fascinatingsounding. I'm sure these are just translations of terms that, in Norwegian, are single words.

We had an energizing, 1-1/4 hour conversation with our new UK agent yesterday. Chris has never been overseas, and he's not used to talking with Brits, so when she threw out things like "inverted commas" (ha ha, I put that in inverted commas) and said "boot" instead of "trunk," I wondered if he was a little lost. She's very funny and her accent is darling. AND, best of all, she's crazy about us and seems to really know her business, having been a touring artist for 20 years. I told her some of the venues to which I'd made inquiries, and she knew almost all of them and who ran them and what they paid and when they booked. She's already gotten back to us this morning with two more possibilities.

So we're trying to organize a few fundraisers for ourselves. This trip is going to be monumentally expensive, and because we're booking late, we might not be able to cover the cost with what we'll be able to get. We're calling it the "No Visible Means of Support" fundraising tour. Yum. Of course we feel all kinds of invisible support.

That's it; we're going to see Dar in a show this afternoon, so must eat lunch and get ready.