I started using Twitter a few weeks back (find me @LivingOrlando) and immediately started to search for other Orlandoans using the service. Not surprisingly, I quickly found Orlando’s premier performance artist, @BrianFeldman, who was tweeting away about his current and upcoming performances.

A few days later, I indirectly found @MADAboutWords when someone “retweeted” her post:

“Only two spots left for Saturday’s workshop with Kerouac House writer-in-residence Brian Turner. It’s gonna be great!”

I sent the included link to my wife and she immediately became interested in the writing workshops and events that Mary Ann de Stefano (the woman behind @MADAboutWords) was organizing.

So here we are today, sitting at a table in the Dandelion Communitea Cafe, writing about whatever. There are a couple dozen people here, some with laptops, others with little notebooks. A few are in conversation about non-writing topics. Others are just here for dinner.

My wife and I just finished “Eve’s Revenge”, a salad combining apples, walnuts, raisins, feta cheese and red onion on a bed of mixed greens with a well-named “Balsamic Razzmania” vinaigrette on the side. Served with chips and hummus, my wife and I shared it as a quick bite to eat while writing.

The sketch artist Thomas Thorspecken is here, too. Or at least I think that’s him. We’ll have to wait and see if this sketch makes it up on his blog, “Analog Artist Digital World”.

The room we’re in is decorated with bright colors. Yellow walls. A yellow and orange fabric hangs from the ceiling, with a disco-ball-like chandelier in the center. A few teas are available, including Tropical Ice Black and Buttercup something something on the back table.

Little pieces of art hang on the wall, all of them with an outdoorsy theme … birds, trees, rabbits and a fox eating a book. A sign is leaning up against the wall with the words “a tonic a day!” and lists some various “tonics”. One that catches my eye is “Liquid Yoga” … sounds like the perfect drink right before bed.

Well, time to go. Our first MAD About Words event is in the books.

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