Elizabeth Benedict on Books, Money, Hair, Mothers, Gifts & What Not

Mentors, Muses & Monsters writers John Casey and Maud Casey will join me and author Alice Randall ( The Wind Done Gone, Rebel Yell ) on Thursday, March 18, at 8pm, for a panel on writers and their influences, on the opening night of this wonderful book festival held every year at UVa, in Charlottesville. John Casey is a professor in the graduate creative writing program and Maud Casey grew up in Charlottesville. Here's information on our event (tickets required) at the Festival.

Narrative Magazine has just published my first short story in quite some time - "If I Could Speak Chinese." I'm honored to be in this wonderful publication, with so many terrific writers and editors Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian. Thank you.

Write a story - fiction or nonfiction - set around Christmas time, though it doesn't have to be pro-Xmas, or even involving anyone who is Christian. For details, see my latest Huff Po piece, "Don't Get an MFA-Write a Story, Win a Prize. "

I've finally gotten a chance to write more fully about Michael Downing's remarkable memoir on Huffington Post .

The world is full of memoirs and many of them are wonderful. One that's just out and needs your attention is Michael Downing's brilliant, harrowing Life with Sudden Death: A Tale of Moral Hazard and Medical Misadventure. Downing was the last of 9 children in a happy family in Western, MA, where everything changed when he was 3 and his father died suddenly. Part I is about Downing's childhood; Part II is about what happens when the same thing befalls one of his brothers: sudden death in the midst of a very full life. Turns out Downing has the same gene lying in wait for him too, which is where the "medical misadventure" comes in. If A Year of Magical Thinking is more your taste than Running with Scissors , I'll go out on the limb and say you'd like Life with Sudden Death , maybe as much as I did.

The book is available Oct. 27. The reviews are coming in from Oprah Magazine, Elle, AARP Magazine, Booklist, and many far-flung blogs: They like us, they really like us. Check the blog for updates: www.mentorsmusesmonsters.blogspot.com . And thanks for your interest.

ABC is the NPR-like national radio in Australia. Somehow they caught wind of T he Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers in August 2009. Take a look, take a listen:  www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2646676.htm