I'll be appearing at an exciting storytelling event this Friday evening at Bar Matchless on 577 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, starting at 8 pm. We've been asked to come up with stories upon the theme "gift", and I'm puzzling over this right now (I bet the other storytellers -- Tao Lin, Justin Taylor, Starlee Kine, DJ Dolack and Mac Montandon -- are too). There will also be music by Prince Ruperts Drops, The Joints and (this should be cool) Alana Amram and the Rough Gems, self-described as "Patsy Cline fronting the Stones". The "Vol. 1" event is a benefit for 826NYC and Books Through Bars, and is sponsored by Hexedjournal.com and WORD bookstore.

Live storytelling events (like the popular Moth series) are a nice twist on the traditional literary reading tradition. Because there is a theme, writers are forced to come up with something fresh (unless they happen to be O. Henry and have a great story about gifts lying around), and this adds to the spontaneity of the evening. The notion of "storytelling" also has a homespun feeling to it, which helps to alleviate the existential artistic tension that often hangs overhead at these literary events. Party atmosphere and music also help to improve most live readings, and could probably have saved a few dreadful ones I've been to.

Speaking of storytelling, I'm working on a different kind of writing project that I plan to launch here on LitKicks in January, 2009. Regular readers of this site know that I have been working on a non-fiction book proposal, which is currently in my agent's capable hands. This proposal represents what I have described as my secret "M" idea, one of four great non-fiction book ideas that have been obsessing and possessing me, all of which I hope to eventually publish.

The "M" idea remains the most commercially viable of my four, which is important since I have no track record as a non-fiction author and must prove myself with a truly winning proposal. Being a popular litblogger doesn't get me very far (it gets me in the front door, basically), and the few literary bloggers (Ron Hogan, Mark Sarvas, Lizzie Skurnick) who manage to get significant book deals do so entirely on the strength of the work, not the blog. So I'm sticking with my "M" idea, which is on a wildly popular topic and has an excellent chance of selling a hundred thousand copies. I am an eternal optimist, so I will keep awaiting an email from my agent telling me he's found a smart publisher who sees it the same way.

However, I am aware that publishing companies are now in cost-cutting mode, and that this is a bad time to try to sell a risky concept. So, I keep waiting for that happy email from my agent, but I'm not holding my breath.

So what do I do with my non-fiction ideas? I did a bunch of writing for other venues last year, and I would like to do more. But the competition at these publications is now tighter than ever, so this is not a great outlet either for my desire to stretch my writing skills.

So I've made my decision: while I wait to hear from my agent on the "M" book, I am going to begin writing one of my other three big ideas, and I will do it right here on LitKicks. I will compose the book in blog-post-sized sections, and I will try (no promises, till I find my rhythm) to post one new entry each week. I don't know how long I'll keep doing this, but by the end of the experiment we will have hopefully witnessed the creation of ... something. And we'll take it from there.

You know I love doing projects here on LitKicks, and this may turn out to be my most ambitious project yet.

So, which idea? I've got my "I" idea, "P" idea and "Q" idea to work with. "P" is my most ambitious concept, but I don't think I'm ready to write it yet, and I couldn't even write a summary that would make sense.

The "Q" book is the one I could write most easily, because it's material I know so well. I could narrate this entire book start to finish in a week. However it has a regional audience, and I don't think it'll be my breakthrough book. I'd like to keep the "Q" idea in my back pocket for now, and I'll have fun writing it someday.

So that leaves the "I" idea, and so the "I" idea it is. This is the most personal of the four, the topic most rooted in my own life experiences. I will begin the first installment in the first week of the new year. And, as a special preview, please tune in next week to find out what the book is about, and what the "I" stands for.

That's all I can say right now. More to come, very soon.

And in the meantime, I better get busy thinking up a good story to tell for Friday night. Hmmm, gift, gift, gift ...