Hiatus
On Official Hiatus.
May return with important announcements…or when I figure out how to balance teaching a full load of classes with writing. Ha–that’s a good one.
Headlines
- Come out to the Decatur Library Monday evening to hear Josh Russell introduce his second novel, My Bright Midnight. The event is sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book.
- I’ve enjoyed reading life advice on Everybody Say Ho: A Field Guide for Happy Living. Chris’ humor, self-deprecation, and wisdom are worth a read.
- I cringe every time I see a “Best Of” list about schools and programs, especially MFA programs. The lists are typically convoluted, misleading, and ultimately vapid. However, I quite enjoyed the AWP’s 2011 Ranking of MFA Programs. It is a must read for those in the discipline.
- Lastly, don’t forget about the Decatur Book Festival September 3-5!
Upcoming Conferences: Atlanta
If you have any conferences (near Atlanta) to add to this list do let me know. Also, I’d like to hear about upcoming Reading Series for my next list.
SAMLA (South Atlantic Modern Language Association) is hosting its annual conference at the Loews Atlanta Hotel November 5-7. The theme is “The Interplay of Text an Image.” I was sad to see I’d missed the Eudora Welty Society’s call for papers for their panel titled “Text and Image in Losing Battles”: “From signs to photographs to letters to oral history, Eudora Welty employs layers of visual and verbal texts in her 1970 novel Losing Battles. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of this novel, this session seeks papers that examine the interplay between
text and image in, arguably, Welty’s most complex novel.”
TYCA-SE (Two Year College Association, Southeast) is hosting its annual conference at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Decatur, March 3rd-5th, 2011.
The Georgia State University Graduate English Association is hosting its 11th annual New Voices conference October 7th-9th at GSU. This year’s title is New Voices 2010: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which centers on the theme of humor and comedy.
June 2010 Books
I’ve gotten a surprising amount of reading done this month; it is only June 11th, thank goodness! I have huge anxiety about the summer months disappearing before I get anything done and I have to go back to full-time teaching in the fall. I’m coming to realize, as I always do, that my word count goals are unrealistic and that I have so much more to figure out about my characters’ temperaments, relationships, obsessions. When I’m stuck in a vague place, say the middle of This Novel, I take a break to read, to immerse myself in other stories.
I’m thinking about how to create and maintain a gothic atmosphere throughout This Novel, how to create darkness in a love story, how to balance desire and control in my characters’ relationships.
When my son and I made our first summer pilgrimage to the library, I came away with books by only one author: Joyce Carol Oates. I’d wanted to pick up some of Oates’ novels anyway, but the books I chose were also influenced by the fact that my son was standing there waiting, having already chosen eight children’s books, which he so patiently held in his little arms. So I grabbed what looked good, what I hadn’t already read; there was no time to browse. This month of June:
Read
- First Love, novel, Joyce Carol Oates
- Beasts, novel, Joyce Carol Oates
- Rape: A Love Story, novel, Joyce Carol Oates
- The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense, stories, Joyce Carol Oates
Reading
- The Tattooed Girl: A Novel, Joyce Carol Oates
- The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
- Tin House, Summer Reading Issue
To Read
- I’ll Take You There: A Novel, Joyce Carol Oates
- Tinkers, Paul Harding
Each of these works has been wonderful. I forgot how quickly I could move through some novels (this must be Pynchon’s fault). First Love and Beasts had a great effect on me; I’ll give them their own post later, as I’m still thinking about the connections they have to one another. I grabbed The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis off of the New Titles shelf; I remember liking her in grad school and I have not been disappointed. I always look forward to Tin House. Tinkers was an impulse buy on Amazon; I was drawn in by the idea of the New England home the protagonist built himself, the idea of channeling the dead, and the Pulitzer win never hurts. One Amazon reviewer discusses a connection between Paul Harding and Marilynne Robinson, at Iowa. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I loved Robinson’s Housekeeping.
All of these Oates books are great ‘summer reads,’ whatever that seems to mean to people these days. Go read!
Love: Mo Willems
We made our first summer pilgrimage to the library. We got non-fiction books about tornadoes, Ancient Egypt, and knights. We chose several fiction books, but as I suspected the two Mo Willems books are the favorites. We love the Elephant and Piggie books.
Now we also love Knuffle Bunny.
And Leonardo the Terrible Monster.
Willems’ books can speak for themselves, so I won’t bother listing all of the honors and awards his works have received. Trust me: the praise is well-earned.
May Chatter: Books
I’ve had several folks recommend I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I just saw a full-page ad for Stieg Larsson’s trilogy on the back of the latest issue of The New Yorker. It sounds like a lot of fun, and here’s an opinion on it that connects back to our earlier discussion of bad writing. Whenever this book becomes available at my library I’m going to check it out. It is currently at the top of the NYT Paperback Mass-market Fiction Bestsellers and Paperback Trade Fiction Bestsellers lists.
The Pregnant Widow, by Martin Amis, is another book getting plenty of publicity. There’s a review in the New York Times as well as an article at Salon that counters several critics: “Martin Amis’ New Novel: Why the Haters are Wrong.”
May 2010 News
Great News: My friend Stephanie has many exciting things to share about her journey through publishing.
Good News: The first four chapters of This Novel are thoroughly revised and nearly polished: thirteen more chapters to go. I researched the heck out of 1945 and now I’m wondering—what was the most elitist champagne to be served in 1988? Any ideas? Give me your 80s memories.
Bad News: Georgia continues fall from grace, grace being the elevation granted by one tiny thread holding it up above Mississippi. I’m talking about education [sic].
On Bad Writing
This week I’ve added some words to This Novel. It is not a tremendous amount, but considering I’d set the project aside for several months and had to get back into it, I feel all right about it. The key to producing material is accepting that early drafts are UGLY and BAD. The key is revision: four-fold, five-fold, however long it takes, however many times a writer has to see (vision) things again.
I share Anne Lamott‘s essay “Shitty First Drafts,” from Bird by Bird, with my composition students, but I’m considering teaching it at the beginning of my literature classes as well. Too many students have the erroneous assumption that they can simply sit down and think for a minute and then type a three page literary analysis paper and be “done.” I try and build tasks of serious revision into our course schedule, but ultimately it is up to the student to give a shit or not. Lamott’s essay explains the necessity of bad first (and second) drafts and clearly articulates one of my most overused teacher phrases, “Writing IS thinking.” Lamott also examines the anxiety that surrounds writing, the anxiety to produce, to be good enough. So, is bad writing okay? Yes, it is a means to better writing, to revision. Is it okay to present it as a final product?–not so much, unless the purpose of said final product is to examine ‘badness,’ as does Steve Almond in his Bad Poetry Corner.
I read an article at Salon by Laura Miller, “Bad Writing: What is it Good for?” I appreciate Miller’s discussion of the abundance of crappy prose. The internet provides the perfect showcase. Miller takes various angles in discussing crappy prose, referencing a list of bad books and Steve Almond’s Bad Poetry Corner. The list of bad books from the American Book Review is tenuous, but I can get behind Almond’s pursuit. The key for the success of Almond’s site is that he already has a marked fan base; he has more than established himself, he is almost an ethos, a cause within cyberspace. One can either praise such self-promotion, which I do because I like his work, or one can find it trite and audacious. I find it fun. I, lacking a ‘platform’ and prurient exposure, should certainly shy away from trying to create any sort of medium out of the horrendous song lyrics and poems that my fifteen year old mind may have birthed. THAT needs to stay in the past. I will never claim to be a poet, probably because I am scarred from reading my teenage endeavors. No need to inflict that adolescent angst on my friends in cyberspace.
Bad writing is a necessary precursor to the good stuff. So, get thee bad writing down. And then, work it up again and again.
Summer Progress I; A Call for Help with Details
So here I am, embarking on the summer of Finishing This Novel. Finals are over, grades are entered, and now I have a reprieve from one kind of work; now it is time to push myself through the Other Work. I want a finished manuscript by August. But things keep getting more and more complicated: history, architecture, plot threads, character’s emotions yet to be discovered.
I’m taking inspiration from my friend Stephanie; her first novel is coming out this December. I am so proud of her. I know she has called herself lazy before, but truly she has remarkable self-discipline. I am going to mooch off her and give you a great list of links and books On Writing.
I’m deep in research, as I have been. I have a very lengthy list of Facts to Check and Details to Figure Out. The main part of This Novel takes place in 1988, a chunk in 1966, 1972, and 1945. We are on a grand estate on a icy New England Island, just barely pre-MilliVanilli.
Dear Readers,
Please help me with 1945. I’d appreciate any book and website recommendations, as well as any other information. What type of medication(s) would be prescribed for respiratory problems/distress in 1945—did they have inhalers back then? Pills? What kind of wedding cake was popular in 1945? What were some popular party foods from the 40s?
Sincerely,
Drowning in Details
