Got an email today from Barb Shoup, exec. director of the Writers' Center of Indiana. Along with the board members, she's been working her ass off to retool WCI, and now they're up and running again. Here's the brief, from their website:
"Dear Members and Friends of the Writers' Center of Indiana:
Thanks to so many of you for your overwhelmingly positive response to the news of our recent financial struggles and for your offers to help. The response from the community has been positive as well. Over the several months, I've talked with numerous people about the possibility of collaborating in a variety of ways as we move forward.
The Indianapolis Art Center has very generously agreed to allow us to maintain our office and to use the classroom space on a limited basis for the next several months.
Click "Classes and Workshops" to view upcoming Spring classes and mark your calendar for "Be A Better Writer" with speaker David Shumate, "No Rules, no Maps." This Clowes Lecture Series is made possible by a grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation."
I've also plugged the new classes into Book Choy Lit Events (to your right). Welcome back, WCI. The calendar was looking mighty sparse without you.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sound My Barbaric AWP: Part II
Coupla other notes about AWP, upon request . I went to many panels (maybe a few too many; my strategy next time will consist of fewer panels, more bookfair, as well as a nap or two so I don't crash into an exhausted, paranoid, Oh-why-do-I-bother-I'm-no-good-and-also-no-one-likes-me state on the third day) but there were two that really stood out.
The first was about "first novels." The panelists were writers who had each published in a slightly different way. Some had books with small presses; others with big houses (smallest print run was 500; the largest was 80,000 – and those two guys were sitting next to each other, both kind of chuckling uncomfortably). Each panelist had taken a different route to publishing – contests, direct submissions to small presses, working with agents, etc. – and if there was one take-home message, it was this: try every route at once. Many roads diverge in a wood: take them all.
The second panel, about creative writing pedagogy, basically asked what else we might try besides the workshop. It wasn't anti-workshop, which was a relief (the last thing I wanted to hear was a bunch of cranks rehashing tired-ass complaints about workshop); the panel just wanted to talk about other ways, other forms. A skills-acquisition model? A "speed-dating" approach where students hold one-on-one conversations, rotating every fifteen minutes? The panel got me thinking about my own teaching philosophy, and I'm still thinking about it today.
I'd write more, but my boys are downstairs, starting Speed Racer, and I don't want to miss that monkey.
The first was about "first novels." The panelists were writers who had each published in a slightly different way. Some had books with small presses; others with big houses (smallest print run was 500; the largest was 80,000 – and those two guys were sitting next to each other, both kind of chuckling uncomfortably). Each panelist had taken a different route to publishing – contests, direct submissions to small presses, working with agents, etc. – and if there was one take-home message, it was this: try every route at once. Many roads diverge in a wood: take them all.
The second panel, about creative writing pedagogy, basically asked what else we might try besides the workshop. It wasn't anti-workshop, which was a relief (the last thing I wanted to hear was a bunch of cranks rehashing tired-ass complaints about workshop); the panel just wanted to talk about other ways, other forms. A skills-acquisition model? A "speed-dating" approach where students hold one-on-one conversations, rotating every fifteen minutes? The panel got me thinking about my own teaching philosophy, and I'm still thinking about it today.
I'd write more, but my boys are downstairs, starting Speed Racer, and I don't want to miss that monkey.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Lots going on today, and I don't know if I'll get to all of it, so let's start with the big news.
From the Indy Star:
"Cash prizes worth more than $20,000 for Indiana writers were announced this morning at a ceremony in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda. The prizes are to be funded by the private Glick Fund and named for Indianapolis business maven and philanthropist Eugene Glick and his wife, Marilyn.
"The competition will be administered by Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation.Members of the public are asked to nominate living writers who were born in Indiana or who have lived here at least five years. The deadline is April 8.To nominate a writer, visit http://www.indianaauthorsaward.org/, and complete the nomination form. It can be submitted electronically or through conventional mail.
"A seven-member panel will select three winners: a “national” winner, a writer whose work is known nationwide, would receive $10,000; a “regional” winner, someone known throughout Indiana, would receive $7,500; and an “emerging” winner, a writer with just one book to their credit, would get $5,000."
So this is a great thing, right? Anytime you inject more cash into the world of writing, it's good, and kudos to the Glicks for making it happen. Just one quibble, though -- because I'm a fussbudget and have to nitpick everything -- about that definition of "emerging writer." In my mind, if you have a book, you done emerged. To me, emerging means that you're publishing in lit mags, and you're on the brink of bringing out a book.
But I also admit that my definition might have a teensy bit to do with the fact that I'm a bookless wonder who would like to think that he's emerging. Or starting to emerge. I'll even take pupating. I'm a pupating writer.
From the Indy Star:
"Cash prizes worth more than $20,000 for Indiana writers were announced this morning at a ceremony in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda. The prizes are to be funded by the private Glick Fund and named for Indianapolis business maven and philanthropist Eugene Glick and his wife, Marilyn.
"The competition will be administered by Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation.Members of the public are asked to nominate living writers who were born in Indiana or who have lived here at least five years. The deadline is April 8.To nominate a writer, visit http://www.indianaauthorsaward.org/, and complete the nomination form. It can be submitted electronically or through conventional mail.
"A seven-member panel will select three winners: a “national” winner, a writer whose work is known nationwide, would receive $10,000; a “regional” winner, someone known throughout Indiana, would receive $7,500; and an “emerging” winner, a writer with just one book to their credit, would get $5,000."
So this is a great thing, right? Anytime you inject more cash into the world of writing, it's good, and kudos to the Glicks for making it happen. Just one quibble, though -- because I'm a fussbudget and have to nitpick everything -- about that definition of "emerging writer." In my mind, if you have a book, you done emerged. To me, emerging means that you're publishing in lit mags, and you're on the brink of bringing out a book.
But I also admit that my definition might have a teensy bit to do with the fact that I'm a bookless wonder who would like to think that he's emerging. Or starting to emerge. I'll even take pupating. I'm a pupating writer.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
All right, Indianapolis . . . are you ready for some LENT?
- Elizabeth Alexander, the "inaugural poet," is going to be reading at Butler tomorrow. For more details, click on the Event Listing calendar to the right.
- Writers' Center of Indiana has started a Facebook group.
- Bookchoy pal Sarah Layden has an interview with writer & Hoosier Cathy Day in the current issue of The Southeast Review, which is an excellent journal to add to your subscription list. A subscription list that better not be at zero, by the way, especially if you're submitting work to literary journals. At AWP, I watched a panel discussion about "the future of literary magazines" or something like that, and near the end, an audience member asked the panelists how many journals THEY subscribed to. One guy said 3, another confessed that it was zero, and the other two ducked the question (read: zero, and too ashamed to admit it). Don't be the zero guy. These journals are the primordial ooze from which new literary talent is crawling. Also, they're fun and cheap. Pick a couple, and subscribe.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday News Round-Up
Let's start with the big news. As you probably know, Governor Daniels had proposed a 50% cut to the budget of the Indiana Arts Commission. But after the arts community laid siege to his offices by clogging the hallways with mime troupes, the governor relented. The other day, the House Ways & Means Committee restored all but 8% of the most recent allocation, which is in line with the budget cuts experienced by other state entities.
Two related items:
1. Thursday, March 12, 2009 is Arts Day @ the Indiana Statehouse from 10am to 12 noon. The event is free and open to the public. Register here. The purpose of Arts Day is for arts advocates to meet with their legislators and express their support for public funding of the arts. Word to the wise: don't dress like a mime. The governor's still pissed. And he might be little, but he knows how to throw a jab.
2. Remember that letter that I sent to all my state representatives? The one that, in the end, begged them not to send me a form letter? Well, that's what they all sent me, which just goes to show how carefully they actually read mail from their constituents. All of them, that is, except for one. Hooray, Greg Steuerwald of House District 40! For the record, here's his response:
Bryan,
I thank you for your email regarding funding for the arts in the state budget. I am supportive of the arts and will do everything within my power to ensure that the Indiana Arts Commission has the support it deserves.
I thank you for your email regarding funding for the arts in the state budget. I am supportive of the arts and will do everything within my power to ensure that the Indiana Arts Commission has the support it deserves.
Rep. Greg Steuerwald
I hope he's at the Arts Day. I'd like to meet him.
I'll leave you now with a link to Poets & Writers. They've been running this enlightening series of interviews with agents and editors. This round is with "four young editors," including the always entertaining Richard Nash of Soft Skull. If you like this one, check out the whole series. Be warned: you will read something that will sting you. At some point in one of these interviews, some agent or editor will scoff at the kind of project you're working on right now. But the insight you'll gain should last a helluva lot longer than the sting.
Friday, February 20, 2009
About Your Habit . . .
From Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent. Here are some answers to the question he posted on his blog -- You tell me: what do your friends and family think of your writing habit?
Jmh said:
friends wonder if you'll ever actually finish your epic.
family members are all afraid that they're in it.
anonymous said:
my friend went to some scheming seminar and was told that writing a book is THE BEST way to make money without effort so he was very encouraging. I laughed and explained to him that some people lie for a living.
Scotty said:
What can be a problem is people understanding my silence elsewhere, or in public. Sometimes, I'm a little withdrawn because I've spent so much intense time in my own head, and they tend to think something is wrong or that I'm "weird". It's hard to explain to them that I stay home a lot, not because I'm sad or upset, but because I may be having a little trouble shaking an emotion or getting up to the speed of those who don't do those sorts of activities. And if you get me on the phone in the middle of something, there's a good chance you'll think you've dialed the wrong number.
RW said:
What friends?
____
Feel free to post your own answers to this question here. I'd like to hear them.
Jmh said:
friends wonder if you'll ever actually finish your epic.
family members are all afraid that they're in it.
anonymous said:
my friend went to some scheming seminar and was told that writing a book is THE BEST way to make money without effort so he was very encouraging. I laughed and explained to him that some people lie for a living.
Scotty said:
What can be a problem is people understanding my silence elsewhere, or in public. Sometimes, I'm a little withdrawn because I've spent so much intense time in my own head, and they tend to think something is wrong or that I'm "weird". It's hard to explain to them that I stay home a lot, not because I'm sad or upset, but because I may be having a little trouble shaking an emotion or getting up to the speed of those who don't do those sorts of activities. And if you get me on the phone in the middle of something, there's a good chance you'll think you've dialed the wrong number.
RW said:
What friends?
____
Feel free to post your own answers to this question here. I'd like to hear them.
Oh, Amazon
(From Andrew's Book Club, which chose Antonya Nelson's Nothing Right as its February selection.)
"So a quick look at the Nothing Right listing at Amazon reveals two items worth discussing. First, as of this moment, Ms. Nelson’s story collection is #471, which seems incredibly high to me, but it’s still good news. Second, the average rating has come up in the last week or so, but when I looked through all of them, it’s clear that many of the reviews are from readers in the Amazon Vine Program. It’s nice to supply early reviewers with books, especially story collections. But don’t give cookbooks to people who hate food.
Representative lines from the reviews in question:
This book could of earned 4 stars if just someone was happy in this book.
I would have liked it if the author had described some feelings for these characters as liberal as she uses F words.
The stories are about people getting divorced, committing infidelities, sleeping with married people, drinking excessively, dying, and otherwise going through down times. One happy woman knows her husband cheats on her, but just doesn’t care. She’s about the happiest of the characters. She turns down the sexual advance of another woman….This reminds me a lot of literature I read while working toward my degree in English. At times, it got to me. This book did, too.
That last one sounds like a good review. I, for one, want books to “get to me” in some way. But it’s not; the reviewer is upset about all of the “depression” in the book. I am depressed that she has an English degree and is still complaining that literature is depressing. (And, looking deeper, I’m now depressed that she’s written a book about dog therapy, now in its second edition.)"
Also up on Andrew's site: his interview with Ms. Nelson from The Cincinnati Review.
"So a quick look at the Nothing Right listing at Amazon reveals two items worth discussing. First, as of this moment, Ms. Nelson’s story collection is #471, which seems incredibly high to me, but it’s still good news. Second, the average rating has come up in the last week or so, but when I looked through all of them, it’s clear that many of the reviews are from readers in the Amazon Vine Program. It’s nice to supply early reviewers with books, especially story collections. But don’t give cookbooks to people who hate food.
Representative lines from the reviews in question:
This book could of earned 4 stars if just someone was happy in this book.
I would have liked it if the author had described some feelings for these characters as liberal as she uses F words.
The stories are about people getting divorced, committing infidelities, sleeping with married people, drinking excessively, dying, and otherwise going through down times. One happy woman knows her husband cheats on her, but just doesn’t care. She’s about the happiest of the characters. She turns down the sexual advance of another woman….This reminds me a lot of literature I read while working toward my degree in English. At times, it got to me. This book did, too.
That last one sounds like a good review. I, for one, want books to “get to me” in some way. But it’s not; the reviewer is upset about all of the “depression” in the book. I am depressed that she has an English degree and is still complaining that literature is depressing. (And, looking deeper, I’m now depressed that she’s written a book about dog therapy, now in its second edition.)"
Also up on Andrew's site: his interview with Ms. Nelson from The Cincinnati Review.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Dan Brown: One-man Stimulus Package?
This morning, when I read that Dan Brown has reportedly finished his new book, I had several reactions, one right after another.
1. Great, more crap! Just what we need!
2. But wait – won't this mean a huge infusion of cash into the bookworld? Actually, this IS just what we need.
3. But wait wait wait – won't the inevitable success of this book just make publishers cling even longer to the old and broken model of monster advances, giant print runs, and reliance on the mega-hit?
Yes, yes, and yes. This reminds me of the Diane Rehm show yesterday. They were talking about the stimulus package, and this one guy was insisting that some of the proposals were trading short-term gains for long-term problems. And Diane was like, "Fine. Where do I sign?"
And that's not the only similarity between Dan-o and the stimulus package. I also hear that his new book is "shovel-ready."
1. Great, more crap! Just what we need!
2. But wait – won't this mean a huge infusion of cash into the bookworld? Actually, this IS just what we need.
3. But wait wait wait – won't the inevitable success of this book just make publishers cling even longer to the old and broken model of monster advances, giant print runs, and reliance on the mega-hit?
Yes, yes, and yes. This reminds me of the Diane Rehm show yesterday. They were talking about the stimulus package, and this one guy was insisting that some of the proposals were trading short-term gains for long-term problems. And Diane was like, "Fine. Where do I sign?"
And that's not the only similarity between Dan-o and the stimulus package. I also hear that his new book is "shovel-ready."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
T. C. Boyle
I just started reading T. C. Boyle at the behest of an angry drunk I met at a train station, but he's actually pretty damn good. And even better, he's coming to Butler!
If you don't know anything about him, check out this interview on the Barnes and Noble website where, among other things, he discusses his new novel, "The Women." From the site:
If you don't know anything about him, check out this interview on the Barnes and Noble website where, among other things, he discusses his new novel, "The Women." From the site:
BNR: Several of your books have been set in the early decades of the 20th century, including parts of The Women. What is it about this period of time that you find so fascinating?
TCB: I like thinking about how we got to where we are now and how our life in the present era contrasts with life prior to the great dislocations of the twentieth century, the world wars and then the period of technological innovation that succeeded the second war. I have the advantage of historical irony, of course, when developing and addressing the characters who populate my stories set in the early nineteen hundreds, and yet, I do admire Kellogg and Wright a great deal (and relate to and sympathize with Stanley McCormick, of Riven Rock), even as I see them as delightfully and tragically flawed.
TONIGHT
At the Hussey-Mayfield library (the one in Zionsville), Susan Neville will give a talk on "the well-crafted essay." If you don't already know, Susan's the author of many fine books, including Sailing the Inland Sea, the winner of the 2008 Best Book of Indiana Award in Nonfiction.
When? 6:30
Cost? Free and open to the public.
Could you not have posted this earlier, Bryan? Like a week ago? Yeah, um . . . sorry about that. But hey -- now you can feel spontaneous!
When? 6:30
Cost? Free and open to the public.
Could you not have posted this earlier, Bryan? Like a week ago? Yeah, um . . . sorry about that. But hey -- now you can feel spontaneous!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Booth on Facebook
I just finished building a Facebook group for Booth, the new literary journal sponsored by Butler's M.F.A. program. I invited a bunch of folks, but I wanted to open the doors to this party a little wider by posting this public invitation here: come join the group for Booth on Facebook.
It will be fun. We will eat cake and write hilarious wall posts. When Alex gets up to go to the bathroom, we'll shake hot pepper flakes into his coke.
And if you don't join, that's where we'll all get together to gossip about you.
See you there!
It will be fun. We will eat cake and write hilarious wall posts. When Alex gets up to go to the bathroom, we'll shake hot pepper flakes into his coke.
And if you don't join, that's where we'll all get together to gossip about you.
See you there!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Going Back Underground
Not too long ago, Indy had this great reading series called "The Underground," or "Indy Underground" or something like that. It was at the Harrison Center for the Arts, which is the kind of place you'd get if a church and a bar had a baby. It's this big cave with pews and beer. At least that's how I remember it. Maybe too much beer made me an unreliable narrator, I don't know. Anyway . . . it's back! Second Story, that feisty educational outreach program, is staging a reading/fundraiser at the Harrison. And they've added music, so hey, even better. I'm just going to assume there'll be beer, if only because you can't make a poster this funky for a dry event.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Booth: New Mag, Call for Submissions
Sound the trumpets. Release the doves. Let the acrobats form a human cage-ball and roll down Sunset Avenue.
Booth has arrived. Proof is below. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some acrobats to fish out of a snow bank.
- - -
Booth, a new semi-annual literary journal sponsored by the M.F.A. program at Butler University, seeks poetry, prose, and literary comics for its premiere issue, which will appear online in May of 2009.
Each issue of Booth will offer an interview or two with authors from Butler’s Visiting Writers’ Series(current slate includes Charles Simic, T.C. Boyle, Elizabeth Alexander, Jane Hamilton, April Bernard, Mark Kurlansky). Booth will also present a series of sham memoirs, a satirical take on the lurid, overblown, I-came-through-hell misery memoir that has the tendency to turn out to be a lie. And we seek other intriguing and playful work that challenges the reader.
The editors welcome submissions by both emerging voices and established writers. Simultaneous submissions are welcomed as long as we are notified immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere. No multiple submissions, and we do not accept previously published work.
Deadline to submit for the first online issue is April 15th.
Poetry: up to 5 poems
Fiction: up to 7,500 words
Literary Comics: up to 20 pages
Please include with your submission a brief cover letter as well as a SASE for return response. (Manuscripts will not be returned.)
Please specify if your submission should be directed to the Poetry or Prose Editor and address to:
Booth, ________ Editor
c/o English Department
Butler University
4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46208
Please note that we do not yet accept submissions via email.
Booth has arrived. Proof is below. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some acrobats to fish out of a snow bank.
- - -
Booth, a new semi-annual literary journal sponsored by the M.F.A. program at Butler University, seeks poetry, prose, and literary comics for its premiere issue, which will appear online in May of 2009.
Each issue of Booth will offer an interview or two with authors from Butler’s Visiting Writers’ Series(current slate includes Charles Simic, T.C. Boyle, Elizabeth Alexander, Jane Hamilton, April Bernard, Mark Kurlansky). Booth will also present a series of sham memoirs, a satirical take on the lurid, overblown, I-came-through-hell misery memoir that has the tendency to turn out to be a lie. And we seek other intriguing and playful work that challenges the reader.
The editors welcome submissions by both emerging voices and established writers. Simultaneous submissions are welcomed as long as we are notified immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere. No multiple submissions, and we do not accept previously published work.
Deadline to submit for the first online issue is April 15th.
Poetry: up to 5 poems
Fiction: up to 7,500 words
Literary Comics: up to 20 pages
Please include with your submission a brief cover letter as well as a SASE for return response. (Manuscripts will not be returned.)
Please specify if your submission should be directed to the Poetry or Prose Editor and address to:
Booth, ________ Editor
c/o English Department
Butler University
4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46208
Please note that we do not yet accept submissions via email.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Rufus (still) on Fire
Next up in The Rufus and Louise Reiberg Reading Series @ IUPUI (aka "The Ruf," aka "RLRRSIUPUI," aka "The 'Berg at the 'PUI") is Joe Bonomo. Picture right. Bio down. But first, minor plea.
The biggest reason to come is that Bonomo promises to be interesting reader (check the bio -- he's working on a book about Jerry Lee Lewis' "wilderness" years!). But in case that's not enough to bring you out into the cold, consider that we're trying to build a community of writers and readers here. And that's only going to happen when we all start coming to each others' reading series. It's like The Warriors, when Cyrus brings together all the gangs and says, hey, what would happen if we all worked together? It's just like that! Except with less shooting! Can you dig it? CAN YOU DIG IT?
Start Time: Thursday, February 5 at 7:30pm
Where: University Library Lilly Auditorium (Lower Level)
Joe Bonomo is the author of the biography Sweat: The Story of The Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band (Continuum, 2007) and a collection of prose poems Installations, winner in the National Poetry Series and published by Penguin Books in 2008. Bonomo’s personal essays, prose poems, and book reviews have appeared widely in literary journals and magazines, and his essay “Caught” was cited as a “Notable Essay” in Best American Essays 2006. The recipient of fellowship awards in both prose and poetry from the Illinois Arts Council, Bonomo is currently at work on a collection of autobiographical essays titled Blur and a book about Jerry Lee Lewis’ “wilderness” years. He lives near Chicago with his wife, the poet Amy Newman, and teaches in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University, where in 2006 he won the Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Award.
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