For those in the Akron/Cleveland/PGH area, I’m going to be reading in Akron at Nick Sturm’s Big Big Mess reading series on January 14th. Tyler is one of my favorite dudes, so I’m stoked to get to read with him there, Nate Slawson does good word, and our pal Layne loves to bring the yum yum*. This should be a good reading, and what else do you have to do on a Saturday in January in Akron?
Thanks to Nick for asking us out to read.
*Inside joke.
I woke up this morning to an email from PANK Magazine letting me know they nominated my story, “The Last Time,” for a Pushcart Prize.
I mean, some perspective:
I’m not getting delusions of grandeur thinking I’m going to win, or do the classic faux pas of putting it in my cover letter, but it is a pretty great feeling knowing that of all the 100s of stories/poems/etc. that PANK publishes over the course of the year, they thought so highly of mine.
Thanks so much for the support and encouragement, PANK!
I was just thinking, with more and more editors reading electronic submissions, does it make more sense to format manuscripts in fonts that are optimized for on-screen viewing (e.g. Verdana or Georgia)?
Discuss.
This started as a joke on Twitter a couple nights ago, and now, it’s happening.
In April, Tyler Gobble and I will be embarking on a 1300 mile trip to read in Tuscaloosa, Atlanta, and Nashville, joined by the illustrious Brian Oliu.
This is gonna be good. This is gonna be so good.
Looks like I’m going to be doing a NaNoWriMo inspired word count challenge with my pals Robert Stapleton and Bryan Furuness next month. That should get me moving. Loser buys tacos.
Go.
It seems like everyone and their brother is excerpting this quote from Matt Bell’s Innovators in Literature interview at Ploughshares today, and for good reason. It’s a great quote, and Matt Bell is a god among men. He’s like a vegetarian Ron Swanson.
I think the big mistake most writers make is thinking that becoming involved in your community is something you do after your book is published. Instead, I urge writers to become involved as early as possible, in a genuine, non-book-related way. It’s always a little off-putting when a person suddenly becomes interested in book review venues only once they have their own book. In a similar way, it seems false to only be interested in independent bookstores when you’re trying to get your own book stocked. The better solution is, as a part of your daily work as a writer, support the communities you wish to be a part of, by reading books, writing reviews, promoting other writers or bookstores or whatever in your social networking. It’s a small but old truth, but the more you give, the more you will receive. And this isn’t any kind of slimy networking. This is every writer’s responsibility, and the writers who create the most buzz for the good work of others will find that same energy waiting for them, when their own excellent book finally comes out.
Read the whole interview at Ploughshares. Matt says a bunch of other great stuff for you to read there.
And if you’re interested, Laura van den Burg also interviewed me for her Innovators in Literature series a couple months ago.
You may have already read my prose poem in Stoked Volume II, and if so, thank you, and I hope you liked it. People seem to really dig that poem.
Sidenote: This poem actually appeared as “At Bat,” and in a slightly different form, read by me for the first Tulip audio zine, so you can listen to that if you want, along with another prose poem of mine in that issue: “Speech Therapy.”
At any rate, Tyler Gobble of Stoked Press did an Awful Interview with me for the Volume II Bonus Materials feature at the Stoked blog. It was super fun getting a taste of my own medicine. We talk about bears, driving in cars without radios, and speech impediments. Enjoy!
Last week, I staycated. That word kind of annoys me, but I understand its value and so okay. It’s what I did.
I went camping with some dude friends and did dude things like smoked and drank bourbon and ate copious amounts of meat and built big fires, big like up to my chest big.
We went to the zoo, and that was cool and fun and I took some photos with my new camera, but I don’t have Photoshop on my laptop yet, so I am not posting any in this post.
We went on a 10.5 mile backwoods hike in southern Indiana. I didn’t take pictures there, but there was plenty to take pictures of had I had my camera. Nature is pretty. Nature can be ugly, too. But mostly, nature is pretty, and I like it.
I read some books, too. I am reading through the Harry Potter series finally. I wish I hadn’t been such a douche when they were first coming out, because now that I’ve gotten most of that lit snobbery out of my system, I can read these and see how good they are, and appreciate why they became such a huge sensation. And all hell, they got so many children and so many adults and so many people in general to love reading again.
I also am half-finished with the first draft of a children’s book I’ve been mentally composting for the past few years, and finally got to hammering it out late last Tuesday night. I’m hoping to have a first draft done maybe by the end of the month. That’s a good goal.
I should get back to work now. My lunch is over, but I wanted to say hi. I have other things to say, and maybe I’ll say them soon.
Until then, take care, take care, take care.
You don’t have to wait until you have a book out to take part in literary citizenship.
I mentioned this interview yesterday, and it is up now at PANK, and I’m really excited about it.
It was a fun interview, and sometimes I get the feeling that authors who respond to these Ask the Author interviews don’t really take them seriously, but I tried to treat Bradley’s questions with respect, and I hope that shows.
