i've wandered yonder

if you (mostly my dad) have noticed, i am no longer writing on this blog, mainly because i simply have too much on my plate, but i will leave it up because i like the resources and actually use it myself for reference. i'll try to add any new ones that come along. if you miss me so terribly much and want to keep up with what i'm doing/writing/eating (pistachios!) you can wander over here.

cheers,
jena

Win and Win

Want to win 100 books from the Dalkey Archive (the 100 books for $500 special) and get your work published on HTMLGIANT? Enter the So Many Books Contest. The deadline is Midnight, Sunday, March 21st, 2010. 3,500 max words in any assemblage. Theme to interpret: love stories. Must include the numbers 100 and 500. More details here.

Not Your Grandmother's Sunday

I spent my Sunday reading Kevin Sampsell's A Common Pornography and watching Taxi Driver--while I don't necessarily recommend that particular combination to everyone, I do recommend you read A Common Pornography. Sampsell is a local Portland writer, long-time Powell's employee, and small press publisher (Future Tense Books). (Basically I want to be him.) His latest book, A Common Pornography, is a memoir told in snippets of prose--mostly linear--but each one also reads as complete short story.

It's an entirely fascinating way to tell a story--especially a memoir. Our memories work much more like snapshots than film reels, and we have to do a little connect-the-dots in between. But Sampsell's narrative still flows smoothly from one incident to the next, taking us from the complex pornography stash in his ceiling to the complicated relationship with his father in one swift bound. The leap frog narrative works for Sampsell, largely due to his consistent voice--it's reflective, subtle, and honest. He doesn't always explain his actions or try to psychoanalyze the past, but he gives small observations that lend a weight to even the lightest anecdotes and make you feel the need to re-read each one more closely.

Did I mention it's striking, hilarious, heartbreaking, and left me wanting more?

Want to know more about Sampsell, Future Tense, and A Common Pornography? Check out HTMLGIANT's seven day exposé, or click any of the links above.

Rainy Afternoon Read

Okay, so it may not be rainy everywhere, but the rain has returned to Portland (shocking) and it's a perfect excuse to curl up on the couch with a book, or perhaps your laptop. So here you go: Justin Taylor's Tennessee (a la' Fifty-Two Stories) from his collection Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever. Which I'm going to go buy as soon as I get off the couch. (Fifty-Two Stories also links to more Taylor at The Outlet, if you're jonesing for more.)

New Love: Best American Non-required Reading 2009

If you haven't picked a copy up yet, do it now. Dave Eggers (and his coalition of student helpers) has put together a smashingly quirky collection of essays, comics, short fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, etc. The letters to President Obama from school children are both hilarious and surprisingly philosophical, like the boy who writes:

Dear President Obama,

I want to tell you hi. Do you work with Santa Claus? Can I meet you in your house? Can I say bye to you after I meet you? And then can I meet you again? And then again after that?

Sergio Magana, age 5

San Francisco

I want to turn that into a song.

My next favorite so far is "Everything I Know About My Family on My Mother's Side" by Nathan Englander--beautifully written and told in short numbered snippets--which, admittedly, confused me at first, but wowed me by the end. On top of all this, the intro is written (and illustrated) by Marjane Satrapi. Oh, it all gives me tingles.

Slush Town

An article on HTMLGIANT yesterday spoke to something that's been bothering me for a while. As someone who works with the slush pile and attends editorial meetings at a well known lit mag, it's frustrating to see the ratio of slush to solicited/lit agent pieces that make it into the magazine. Sadly, slush has a terribly slim chance at making it even beyond the first or second round of readers, let alone into the magazine--at least in my experience.

From the trenches of Slush Town, the outlook is bleak, and yea, it's discouraged me from submitting to many of the better known mags. It takes the stars aligning, some serious karma (and/or determined interns) and damn good writing to get a piece from the slush into the top editors' hands. But when one of those shows up in the magazine, it feels friggin' good. I suppose the point of a slush pile at this kind of high rep magazine is to give the little guys a chance to appear next to the big names... even if it's only once in a while.

A Wild Ride Through the Night

If you've never read A Wild Ride Through the Night by Walter Moers, go do it now. I mean it. Right now. It's giants and wicked naked damsels and dragons and forests of ghosts and the time pig and philosophy and death. Moers wove the tail using twenty-one amazing woodcuts by Gustave Dore.

A teaser: 'What!' Gustave cried. 'You mean you're servants of Death?'

The bird raised its beaker in salute. A few other forest demons followed suit. 'Aren't we all?' they chorused.

Mini Post: The Book

The New Republic just launched a new online book review, The Book. Want to know why? Click here--it's too long to repeat. The real question is, will it be any good? My guess is yes--mostly because I usually like TNR articles--but also because I'm currently enjoying the poetry review by Rosanna Warren of Louis Glück's new book, The Expanse. Not only will TNR review books of such wonderful subjects as poetry, but they also have non-conventional "book" reviews, like Tom Bissell's review of Playboy magazine--"The Bunny Revolution". 

Some Words from Wilde

A few Oscar Wilde quotes to ponder on a lazy Sunday:

"The true critic is he who bears within himself the dreams and ideas and feelings of myriad generations, and to whom no form of thought is alien, no emotional impulse obscure." (from Mr. Pater's Last Volume)

"It is absurd to divide people into good or bad. People are either charming or tedious."

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

Tuesday; An Art Project

Since my brain hasn't fully recovered from vacation I thought I'd just give a shout out to one of my favorite literary mags: Tuesday; An Art Project--a highly thoughtful and well crafted publication that consists of poetry, photographs, and prints. Tuesday letterpresses (oh, and what a fine letter press!) their poems and prints onto postcard sized (and thick) paper, allowing you to rearrange the contents at will or send off a piece to a friend (hence postcard sized). On top of all this, I just really like their selections.

Poor Claudia, a relatively new Portland literary mag, did something similar with their most recent publication. Yay unconventional printing!

This Just In: People Still Buy Poetry (thank god)

Ooo, just found this on HTMLGiant: Small Press Distribution's Top-Selling Poetry of 2009. I wonder how many books you have to sell to be considered a small press top seller in poetry... And no fair Sherman and Suheir, share some of the love.

More All-encompassing Reading

As you delve into the holidays and ever-closer new year, make sure to check out "A Year in Reading 2009" from The Millions. They've compiled 49 different reading lists (or the "anti-list" as they've deemed it) from various contributers, including Jon Raymond (recent Oregon Book Award Winner). They're fun, short essay-lists with various accounts of reading in 2009 (though not necessarily books that were published in 2009)--even Harold and the Purple Crayon finally got some recognition. 

Indie Lit Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Today's your last chance to sign up for HTMLGIANT's second annual indie lit Secret Santa gift exchange! You can spend between $10- $20 on your favorite book or chapbook from a small/indie press, or send a subscription to a literary magazine. HTMLGIANT will email you the name and address of your recipient, and make sure to add your address as well--it's kind of essential to the whole "exchange" part. Spread the (indie) literary love.

Poetry Fix: Four Poems by Natalie Shapero

If you're looking for a quick poetry fix this Saturday morning, head over to failbetter.com for four short, hilarious, and poignant poems by Natalie Shapero. I've never read any of her work before, but I hope she keeps putting this good stuff out there. And if you need an example of spot-on last lines, make sure to read "Coconut" and "Our War." 

Best Books of 2009: A List of Lists

Every year around this time newspapers, magazines, blogs, radio stations, you name it post their "Best Books of 2009." For the past week or so I've been reading through many such lists, compiling my own lists of "to read" and "to gift." The amount of lists out there can get overwhelming (just try googling "best books of 2009" and you'll see what I mean). So, instead of adding yet another list of favorite books to the pile, I thought I'd gift you with a composition list (in no particular order) of my top "Best Books of 2009" articles:

1) The LA Times: "Favorites 2009: Fiction and poetry," and "Favorite nonfiction of 2009" (separate articles)

2) The New Yorker: "A Year's Reading"

3) The Christian Science Monitor: "Best books of 2009: fiction" and "Best books of 2009: nonfiction"

4) NPR: "Complete Holiday Book Recommendations 2009" (condensed version of many lists)

5) The New York Times: "The 10 Best Books of 2009" (or "100 Notable Books of 2009" for the ambitious readers out there)

6) GoodReads: "Best books of 2009" (a very democratic (and looong) list)

7) Publisher's Weekly: "Best Books of 2009"

8) The Economist: "Books of the Year: Page-turners" (lots of nonfiction sub-categories)

9) The Guardian: "Christmas Books" (various writers and "guests" pick one book they would gift from 2009)

10) Powell's Books' Puddly Award Winners and Nominees of 2009 (only 2 winners, but a list of 50 contenders!...plus you can fill your cart with goodies as you read) or Morrison's Gift Picks

These are just a few of many, so if you have any favorite lists you like to reference, please leave in the comments or email me!

Update: HTMLGIANT's Blake Butler ventured a "25 Important Books of the '00s" today--good stuff.

Opium Magazine's New Jiggly QuickFix App

Ever wished you could just shake your iPhone and magically have a piece of fiction appear before your eyes? Well kids, Christmas (or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, you name it) came early. Check out "Opium's QuickFix with Jiggle Technology" for iPhone. 

With each little jiggle you'll get an app-exclusive story along with access to all of OpiumMagazine.com's archives. The app is only $1.99 through iTunes, with all proceeds working towards Opium's print editions. Special for the launch, the app features a story by humor writer Jack Handey of Deep Thoughts fame. Jiggle on!

Update: The wonderful Kevin Sampsell (check out Future Tense Books) just informed me of another awesome iPhone story app called TripleQuick. This one brings you short-short stories that are all 333 words long--quick to upload, quick to read and enjoy. Not only can you upload new flash fiction with TripleQuick, you can also compose and submit your own juicy 333 word nuggets right on your iPhone. I'm getting excited.

Nonfiction Writing + Tricks for Your Noodle

Something about writing non-fiction has always felt a little icky to me. Whenever I start a prose piece that involves parts of my real life I tend to hide those bits with layers of fiction. It's not so much that I mind displaying my personal, uncomfortable moments (although that does play a role), but rather that it feels self-important to think that sharing my story would be interesting enough to captivate another human's attention, let alone mean something to them. 

And yet, so many non-fiction works have meant something to me. So when my writing class segued from fiction to non-fiction I sacked up and hit the keyboard. It wasn't easy. I should say it isn't easy...I'm still working to finish a piece I need to turn in on Monday. And I've probably started about six different stories. I thought about writing a braided essay about loss and the five steps of grief, but as I was putting important moments of my life into words it began to feel trite. I don't think it's that my stories lacked meaning, rather that my discomfort with writing about my own stories was coming through in my writing and mucking it all up. 

It happens. But after two weeks of self torture I've figured out a few tricks I thought I'd share that have helped me write personal non-fiction without gagging on my words:

1) I try to write without looking at the screen/page or paying attention to how and what exactly I'm writing. It may end up gobbly gook, but it's something to start with and then I can cut, cut, cut. I also try to do this with fiction as well but I find it's easier with non-fiction since I'm not creating the narrative or characters, just relating .

2) I try to picture the story in snapshots and write each part separately--whether it's atmosphere, character description, or dialogue--in whatever order they come out. Then I can rearrange them later so the narrative flows.

3) If I'm writing about something intensely personal, I sometimes write my first draft in third person. Distancing myself from the confessional "I" allows me to get out certain truths and opinions that I would otherwise choke back. Once I have the words down and I'm in revising mode it's easy to switch to first person and bring myself back into the story.

Wish me luck...time to get back to it!

Living in a Literary Mine Shaft

Yes, a mine shaft. Which is why I haven't posted in...oh...forever. Right now I'm interning both at a literary magazine and a non-profit dedicated to the literary arts (state book awards, literature fellowships, etc.). I say mine shaft because I'm so deeply entrenched that my vision's narrowed (quite literally--I read so much I need new glasses) and I rarely have time to come up for air and check out what else is going on. You'd think with this literary tunnel vision I'd be blogging about it more--sadly, I've neglected reporting from the front lines. I know it's not New Years yet, but I'm resolving to update here more with interesting insights from the inside (ohhhhh, way too much alliteration there). 

Until next time, here's a link to some From the Fishouse (an awesome resource) audio clips--both interviews and readings--by wonderful the Portland poet, Matthew Dickman, whose work I recently fell in love with. More on him soon!

Fathers and Sons by David Mason

An event almost as exciting as getting your own work published, is seeing a good friend or mentor's work getting the recognition it deserves. Such an event happened today when I came across one of my college writing professor's poems in the September 28th, 2009 New Yorker. Not only was I exuberant to see his work featured in such a notable publication, but I am thrilled with the poem itself--so brilliantly poignant and quietly beautiful. So, here's a link to David Mason's poem Fathers and Sons. 

Happy trails Dave, and thanks for everything.

Secret Agent Man

If you have a book-length manuscript sitting around, waiting for someone to marvel at its genius, then you're probably on the look out for a way to sell that bad boy and watch it take form as a perfect-bound, illustrated cover (with your name on it), bio and all, bundle of joy.

There are certain "publishers" that will offer to print your book (for a nominal fee) and claim they will work to see it off into the world. Sometimes they will be "agents," sometimes they will just provide you with an "editor." Either way, you want to avoid companies that ask you to pay them to sell your book. That's not how it's supposed to work! Sure, getting a legitimate agent is no easy feat, but it sure as hell beats going broke when your "publisher" forces you to buy thousands of copies of your own books because, oh wait, they don't even have a bookstore presence.

WordHustler (see earlier post) recently conducted an interview with Dunow, Carlson, and Lerner literary agent Erin Hosier, and in it she comments on what she looks for in an unsolicited submission. While her preferences may not be universal, I think she has some good suggestions: keep your query letter short, smart, and informative, and never send your full manuscript until they respond to your query.

To learn more, check out A Delicate Balance: An Interview with Literary Agent Erin Hosier.