Word Flood

Read

2009-07-22T15:25:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

"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

2009-07-15T01:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

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.

PANK!

2009-04-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Michigan acceptances are the sweetest, and Pank has just picked up "Sweet, Juicy Pepper"! What a fun day. And it's sunny and dry and the snow is almost all gone.

Pank requested an audio version of the story, so I decided to give it a try. For a minute I thought I'd manage to get stage fright alone in my basement, sitting at the computer. But it went okay. A fun process, actually. Creepy to listen to myself, though.

Storyglossia & Mud Luscious

2009-04-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Storyglossia has picked up my short, 'Toy Box'. And Mud Luscious has picked up 'Obese with Armor'.

These are two of my favorite web journals.

Over the moon here. Two fat, bursting drops of rain in a drought.

The Big Table

2009-04-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've started a new web journal for family-type stories. The conflicted kind, not the cute kind. A place for honest, gritty tales of family life. But always with love in them.

Here's the site: The Big Table.

...and the Submission Guidelines - if you're interested in sending me a story, poem, or essay. Also looking for digital photography or artwork.

Short Stories

2009-03-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

Feeling passionate about short stories lately. From 200 words and up. All of them. I love a story you can hold in your mind, explore in a chunk, reread twice before bed.

Don't like shorts? Try just reading one at a time. Give the story a couple days to echo and morph and retell itself while you're stuck in traffic, when you can't fall asleep, when you're clinging to sanity in a run-on meeting.

Love shorts? Go here for support: Save the Short Story.

Also, look to the left for links to great shorts.

My Pops is Funny

2009-03-15T20:45:00.001-07:00

...and not only funny, but willing to sacrifice himself for literature.

"If you want to go on Oprah you can write something about how I picked up a hundred pound table and whacked you in the forehead with it."

I have it in writing. He can never, ever sue me.

(although it's possible he just wants me tell the ladies he can lift 100 pounds)

This post may be inaccurate.

Flash Your Shorts

2009-03-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

The wonderful Tuesday Shorts is currently shopping an anthology for publication. When the good day comes, a bunch of shorts from the great flashers on Zoetrope FF, and one of mine, will be included in the anthology.

The call for submissions for this anthology has closed. However, Tuesday Shorts is accepting submissions for their online journal. See link on left.

Magic

2009-03-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

I've been swallowed into the insatiable world of pubbing. More and more I'm spending thoughts on submitting pieces instead of on writing stories.

But today I started on a new short. All day I've been in that world, playing with characters, setting, action. Pushing my protag off a canoe, scooping her up with an oar. No, a hand. No, a dipnet - yes, that's right. The fun of playing things over and over, tweaking and hacking and setting new courses. And then that flow, that magic of finally spewing out the first few pages of the new story. Nothing can beat that feeling, not even an acceptance.

Okay, maybe a McSweeney acceptance. But none other. Well, maybe Tin House...

1st Reading

2009-02-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

The last time I read my work in public I was 21, scared as hell, and completely unprepared. My professor wouldn't budge on the reading requirement, despite my pleading. I still cringe when I see her name in print. Why she couldn't accept that I just wasn't ready, I don't know. But this was also the lady who would merely skim your work before discussing it with you.

A small triumph: I read an essay for a small group last night. I trembled and read too fast. But overall it was a fine experience. I was able to (mostly) keep my focus on the story, and this particular story was important to me.

My reward: I was able to talk with the editor of Alaska Quarterly Review, Ronald Spatz, afterward. He was kind & funny. (I also got $50 from Alaska Writers Guild, as the essay won their bimonthly contest).

So a great week so far, despite the fact that I'm back in the cold north.

Appriciate the Rejection

2009-02-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Other than an acceptance, is there anything better than a rejection with an error? I received a form rejection today, to which someone amended "appriciate the submission." I want to find that girl and hug her. I bet she misspells on purpose, so us rejects can feel a kernel of superiority within our dejection.

One-Sentence Bios

2009-02-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

A fun, free writing contest: write a one-sentence semi-bio & submit it to: Mark Budman's Site. Funny bios are encouraged. The site has more info on the contest.

Mark Budman has a "novel-in-flashes" out from Counterpoint Press.

Mine (not a winner, I'm sure, but dead-on): "I wish you’d leave, but then I’d be so lonely."

Ancient Burial Airport

2009-02-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

Here in Maui, visiting one of those Ancient Burial Airports.

2nd Acceptance

2009-02-01T01:11:00.001-08:00

An essay of mine, "Madonna and Child", has been accepted for publication in the Spring edition of cream city review. This is a great review out of the University of Wisconsin.

This essay haunted me until I finally sat down and wrote it. All in one go. The first full piece I wrote after my very-long hiatus from writing. It's on taking care of incarcerated new moms, and their newborns.

Even better was that the essay was runner-up in cream city review's 'David B. Saunders Award for Creative Nonfiction.'

I am just unbelievably excited.

1st Acceptance!

2009-01-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

Those lovely Michiganders over at DOGZPLOT have accepted a flash of mine, 'The Burn'! Fitting that someone from that great paw-of-a-state would publish my first story. It will be up on the web at some unknown point in the future - will definitely post when I know.

Go visit those awesome folks...link on the right.

Obama

2009-01-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

What an incredible day.
Man's got a tough job, but I couldn't be happier over who has it.

21st Century Writers

2009-01-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

There was a question posted recently on an online workshop I use: Who are the 21st Century writers?

Good question.

I found I couldn't answer this without first exploring: What is the 21st Century?

An apocalyptic muddle that will soon prove de Tocqueville right?

An era of new hope? In which we realize we can't just sit around playing with our toys all day? (Not to say I have something against playing.)

I have no idea. I'd love for someone to help me define this.

Online Mags

2009-01-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

On the left is a list of my favorite online magazines. Go and visit!