Read

Lessons from Tin House:

1- I am illiterate. Trying to solve this one, stocking up on books before the move to Baku. $250 in the hole already, but feels good to buy books.

2- Writers may be ultracool and kind, but they drink better than they dance.

3- Writers like sex.

4- Steve Almond is hilarious: Almond on Toto

Vivisection

"Then there's the prospect of the workshop itself: eleven strangers vivisecting a newborn." (Dirk Eshleman in The Tin House Organ)

How right Dirk is. Eviscerated. Wondering how long it will take for my sturdy defense mechanisms to squash all the criticism received this morning. Though I should not squander the feedback. It was appropriate, carried out humanely, productive. But ugly, oh so ugly.

Bastille Day, now Leibel Day

Well, it took Pierre to remind me...enjoy my wine, it's Bastille Day.

Then some silly, but lovely, men reminded me: this was no French Revolution. This day belongs to Ulysses Jimenez.

And Matt Leibel took his rightful place among writers. He lifted Jimenez up to heights that only male stalkers could scale behind him. "Jimenez!" they yelled, clawing, wrestling, interrupting until they could fulfill that coveted slot: wriphian.

For a moment they were proud, they embraced their masculinity, their deepest archetypical drives. They shouted, "More, Matt. Bring us Jimenez, and bring us him strapped, fulfilled, ready for more."

And Matt said, "Mary Shelley, did you feel this way? We command the language and the men follow, holding serenading lighters instead of pitchforks, screaming: 'Give us our dignity, our manhood, our prowess. Keep going until our egos have inflated to impervious buoyancy and we can imagine we were Jimenez for a moment. A physical moment that would mark us forever as Word Renowned Men. Men.'"

Or something like that. Something that didn't involve grapes or ambivalence or anything resembling a second-guess.

And the women said, "Bring us more unnamed-narrator-of-frustratingly-emotionally-avoidant story," because they thought Steve Almond hit the spot exactly.

And the men and the women drank beer, and this allowed them their separate catcalls.

Tin House

First day at the Tin House Writing Workshop. Portland & Reed Campus are gorgeous. Trees everyway and a gentle rain. So far the faculty are both charming and kind.

Lan Samantha Chang kicked off the faculty readings with the start of a new novel she's working on about a group of young poets and their evil poetry professor. The opening builds and builds, as Chang frightens you with the snobbery of the lead poetess. An apt kickoff for the week of critiques, and a clear warning on how (not) to behave.

Kevin Young showed us how to write the contemporary poem, with his Odes to Chicken, Greens, and Grits. Clear, easy images laced with humor and depth.

Then Steve Almond blew me completely away with a reading of "The Problem of Human Consumption" (from his collection, The Evil BB Chow). I was stunned, absolutely transfixed. Truly, you should rush out and read this story.

Haven't been to a reading in a long time, now I want MORE!

Bears and Rafts

I've not been writing due to an unanticipated increase in Alaskan sunshine. Spent one weekend watching Grizzly bears at McNeil River and another rafting down the Tokositna and Chulitna rivers.

I hauled Aimee Bender and Oliver Sacks along with me, stuffed deep into ultra-protective Freezer Baggies. They got along well and enjoyed both trips.

Somehow several of my short-short stories went up despite my absence. So many lovely mags out there.

Recent Rejections

Cortney...

~is liked, but not quite enough to buy

~doesn't fail to amuse

~is a bit too graphic for the workplace

~has cute ideas!

~is too rooted stylistically in the short story

~sapped the drama

~isn't right

~has a nice vitality to her language!

~has been considered carefully

~is wished loads of luck

~is free to try again in the future


I share these with the greatest of love for the slushpile-braving editors. Any editor who takes the time to send me a personal rejection is clearly awesome. That doesn't mean the rejections 'don't fail to amuse,' though.

Meta-Pubbing

So what role does publishing flash and short fiction have in the creative process?

Some obvious benefits of publishing:
~ Sharing your stories
~ Validation
~ Establishing your name
~ Money (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha)

But lately I've come to understand an entirely different role. First, here's my writing process:

1) Image hits me (thrilling)
2) Image germinates into story (euphoria)
3) Write the story, rewriting as I go (magical)
4) Finish story (excruciating. brain often bleeds)
5) Read completed story (excitement mixed with disappointment)
6) Workshop story (disappointment mixed with excitement)
7) Coming down (story never measures up to image)
8) Rejections (ugh, ugh, ugh)
9) ACCEPTANCE (some excitement and validation)
10) Publication (someone might read & enjoy story!)

So, that's the bones of the deal. An emotional trampoline for me. But then publication comes in and keeps the experience from fizzling away. Publication is like a tombstone, marking the birth and death of an idea. A fixed object memorializing the sometimes excruciating experience of writing a story.