By the time you read this, I will be in New York.
I'm going out there privately to see my agent and publishers, and to say hello to a lot of people I know and miss.
The excitement will be the opening of Deborah Warner's MEDEA with Fiona Shaw, and if you can manage to get a ticket at all for the show - you should. The show then tours to Boston Washington, Berkeley, and details can be got from the BAM theatre in Brooklyn. (call Brooklyn Academy of Music -001 718 636 4100)
While I'm there, I'll be helping to arrange THE POWERBOOK show in New York for next year.
Last month's column pulled in a lot of cross emails from Americans, many of whom seemed to feel that if I had ANY criticisms of America at all, I should give up publishing there, sack, my agent etc. Others said they were so disappointed with my views that they would never read me again.
On that basis, we had all better give up reading books now; if the criteria for reading a book is to be in complete harmony with the writer and all their views, world literature has had it.
Does it also apply to film makers, musicians, painters? Should we stuff as much personal information as possible in the front of our books, just in case someone has a good time under false pretences?
I will say it again. I do not think it is right for America to invade Iraq.
If, reading this, you decide I am a bad person and my work is worthless (plenty of those emails), don't read any further - switch off now.
Now that's said and done, we can think about the issues.
Nelson Mandela has said that America is a threat to world peace. This is serious stuff, and it has to be taken seriously. We don't have to accept the statement, but we do have to think about it. George Bush is not good at thinking - that's what makes him so scary.
After Iraq, then what? Palestine? Pakistan?
It will be easy to blow up half the world, and easy to say we had no choice. Unfortunately we don't have another planet.
I live in a country where most people do not want war with Iraq. I am part of a continent where most people do not want to bomb Iraq. And I love America - but you can love someone and disagree very strongly with them.
And of course, half of America doesn't want war either...
I have been to a few Quaker meetings - not because I want born-again- that's exactly what I don't want - but because I appreciate the hour of silence and meditation. Quakers are pacifists and I suppose that if we do go to war, I will join them. I don't want to sit on the sidelines, but I don't want to be part of the harm.
Whatever your persuasion about this war - whether you support it or you don't, think powerfully over this next month, and think peace. I really believe that our mental, psychic, spiritual attitude can make a huge difference. If somewhere we want war, we'll get it. If our hearts and minds are against war, except as the absolute last resort, then war can be avoided - at least to give us all enough time to move away from the this moment of crisis.
On a completely different note - we have had a lot of emails asking about my column in the Guardian newspaper here - it's true, I don't do it anymore. I stopped at the end of August - pages re-vamp and a different approach that wouldn't suit me, so it looked like the right time to go.
I will of course go on writing pieces for The Guardian - there are two on the site this month - and for the Times.
It is possible too that I will start a new column elsewhere in the new year - but we'll see how the book goes. Sometimes you can only do one thing at a time.
To everyone reading this - energy and hope. Be positive whatever you do. We need as much positive energy as possible right now. The visibles and invisibles mesh together in a way we don't really understand - but who we are and what we do can make a difference. Think of those butterflies' wings setting off the chain of the earthquake.
Think well.
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