MoCo CoHo. Solo? No, No!

Tonight's the night to watch local cable, at least at my house. With colleague Patricia Elam, I will be a guest on Coffee House TV, promoting the first annual Washington Write-a-Story-Day, which will happen this fall.

Elam's novel Breathing Room was published by Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster in 2002, and she has written extensively about Buddhism, family, and life in D.C. She's also the advice columnist for Seeing Black.com.

Washington Write-A-Story Day (scheduled for two days, actually, October 8 and 9) promises to be a phenomenal affair involving more than 30 writers who will conduct workshops at as many sites all over Washington, appealing to D.C. residents who don't consider themselves writers. In a day, these "nonwriters" will turn out fiction or nonfiction concerning life in our nation's capital, and some of the results will be broadcast Sunday night on National Public Radio.

The busy mind behind all this? Novelist and activist Joyce Hackett.

Count me in, if only for the pleasure of meeting writers like the Mss. Elam and Hackett.

(Note to self: remind aspiring writers that the perc of meeting cool people is, basically, the only really rich payoff in the writing life).

As for Coffee House TV, I'm hooked. To wildly paraphrase Wallis Simpson, you can't have too much caffeine or too much culture. CHTV's claim is far from modest: "It's what public TV is supposed to be." But they do live up to it. A glance at CHTV's program guide will remind those of you over 40 of what public TV used to be in the 60s and 70s.

(Pop trivia quiz: Virtual hugs and kisses to anyone who can tell me who the mastermind behind The American Dream Machine was. And who can forget the famous _____________ Family of An American Family, hmm? Hmm?)

(And for those over 50, bonus question: Whisper sweet nothings to me about Ernie Kovacs.)

(Hey! No fair Googling! Answers tomorrow.)

So, if you want to check out CHTV on your computer, go to this link and scroll to the CHTV section for a broadband connection. If you want to look for us, we're supposed to be on at about 8 p.m. EST tonight.