April 2007
Dear Reader,
Welcome to memoirsofa.com, the official (not that there's an unofficial one) website of me, Gabrielle Zevin.
At this very moment, you may be asking yourself why I am called memoirsofa.com and not the obvious, if easily locatable, gabriellezevin.com. Well, I would prefer to be called the obvious gabriellezevin.com, but someone has already purchased that domain name and put extremely pertinent links to automotive information on it. Apparently, I could either sue or participate in an auction for my own name, but if you knew me you would probably know that neither is a good option for me: I am not litigious by nature and the only auctions I like are on ebay. (Usually for pug-themed merchandise or vintage dresses.) And besides, I get to be called Gabrielle Zevin all the time, so it's fine to be called something else here, no?
But Gabrielle, you say, why memoirsofa.com? Well, my next book is called Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. But of course “Memoirs of a” can also be read as “Memoir Sofa.” I like the idea of a memoir sofa very much. It sounds sort of magic realism-y, and I really am very fond of couches. They are my favorite piece of furniture (aside from, maybe, trunks) and furthermore, I spend a great deal of time on my couch. Mainly, this is because I don't have a writing desk - I do all my work from the sofa.
You may also be wondering why I've gone so long without having a website. (Or you may not be - this may be a query unique to my publisher and agent.) I suppose it's because I thought it might lead to other things... like blogging... which is something I can certainly enjoy when other people are doing it, but is equally something I cannot really imagine doing myself. Much like gymnastics. Or corporate taxes. Or going braless. In any case, I worry that should I begin blogging, I would end up fifty years old (I'm 29 now) without ever having written another novel and with a blog the length of Proust. Furthermore, I am not a person who knows instantly what she thinks about every matter. I'm a brooder, I guess, a ruminator, which makes me a poor internet personality (henceforth, PIP). Other qualities which make me a PIP are 1) lack of time management skills and 2) extreme, but usually passing, episodes of diffidence.
And being a PIP, I didn't especially think there was a demand for a personal website from me. There are so many other people with lovely internet personalities to choose from after all. But lately, you have been writing me quite often. And despite best intentions, I have fallen a bit behind in writing you back. And if I wasn't going to reply, it was starting to seem rude to not have somewhere you could find me. And so, here I am, lovely to meet you. While we're all here, I want to thank all of you for writing me such nice letters. They hearten me and puff me up and make me remember why I became a writer in the first place.
So, my plan is this: I will write a letter to you every month or so, telling you what I'm up to and the like, and answering questions as they arise. You can e-mail me (askgab(a)memoirsofa.com)
if there's something you'd particularly like to know.
Yours,
gz
