Hope no one was expecting me to get any work done this weekend

Because I may be getting the pre-lim galley copy this weekend. To be sent on to the galley printers next weekend.

Gulp

Plus, we just started a weight loss program. Mainly in preparation for the book tour. How doomed are we?

The main character of Death Wishing is a guy who is trying to lose weight in New Orleans.

beelines & pinballs

Looking forward to a weekend at the cabin where I don't have to talk to anyone but Dean. I'm still talk-tired from last weekend's admissions event where not only were we swamped by potential English majors and their fams, but engineering and business and everyone else, because we're offering a new writing and rhetoric minor. They'd beeline to the communications table then pinball over to us--I sure did get the impression our program looked hot.

Then there was the 17 year old who stopped by to show us her new book (quite pretty) and to let us know she's convinced the campus B&N to stock it. I hope she was 17. She mighta been 16.

Last weekend was also Conversations & Connections weekend. It was very cool, and sort of by design an indie-first event. I talked to Dave Housley about it at Plumb, and Rae Bryant did a great break down over at the Patasola Press [Caper Books] site.

All the sessions I attended tended to come back to addressing the meaningful use of social media, or meaningful promotion in general. Interesting as hell, and a philosphy we should see in action, soon--these concerns are at the heart of The Lit Pub, LLC enterprise to be formally launched late spring/early summer.

Death Wishing listed on Amazon.

So my friend's mom asked her to check out Amazon to see if my book was listed yet, and it was so she posted it to Facebook. Which is how I found out.

Yes, that is THE Dorothy Allison blurbing me.

I'm buzzy and my ears are hot.

The cover art is awesome, check out the wee little rats in the background.

Purring

Writer Tim Dicks said a couple sweet things about Curio in an interview over at Flash Fiction Chronicles. But he also talks about writing flash every day, which should drive you over to his blog where you'll see his "Story every Day" project unfolding. Really interesting stuff, and it looks like he's up to #160.

People should be talking about this project. I'll try to get to work on that.

Over at Plumb, my latest post is about trippy pinball machines. Yes, I left off Orbitor1 and Cirqus Voltaire. But those are a little on-the-nosey, aren't they?

Still not sure what Plumb's identity is. It's fun to write for, but there's a lotta WHITE DUDES on staff, and they like WHITE DUDE stuff. It's not clear where I fit in, tone-wise.

Making the list

Erin Fitzgerald's Storybucket 2011 is a compilation of suggestions, and for the time being the suggester identities are being withheld. Insanely I was dreaming about this thing for the past few days, really working up a lather. And today? Delight and confusion. Yes, one of my stories made the list, but it's a really random one from Curio called "Crimson." One that I almost cut, as a matter of fact.

Prick of the Spindle 5.1 is live & my last

The latest issue is live and chock full of features by me, mainly because Cynthia Reeser encouraged me to initiate a lot of projects last winter, and now they've come into being. Check out

My interview with Steve Himmer.

A round up of silly questions for Steve, Matt Bell, Paula Bomer, D. Harlan Wilson, Lee Papa, Ethel Rohan, and Joseph Young.

A review of Joe Young's Name, where I seek assistance with the vampire genre from a 14 year old expert named Maggie.

So with my fingers all over this issue, it probably seems weird for me to announce that this is my last go round with Prick of the Spindle. It has been a wonderful experience, but I'm just not able to manage the reading load, and with other events on the horizon, my head is not in the game.

My sincere thanks to Cynthia, Erin, and Trish--I've learned so much this year, and you all have been terrifically supportive. Congratulations to the incoming fiction team--they're already doing incredible work and are largely responsible for the fine selections that appear in 5.1: Cynthia Hawkins, Peg Alford Pursell, and Sarah Fruchtnicht.

Curio Reviewed (at last!)

Well, mini-reviewed, but damned sweet. David Barker was an early supporter of the project, and now he's the first reviewer. But the best part? (And here Robert Swartwood needs to listen up.) I don't know this person. We're not even FB friends. I don't think--hafta check.

Also? A CANADAIAN OPINION. C'mon US, what're you scared of?

Why, it's revision-fest!

Welcome to the fourth annual (fifth? we may have skipped a year)re-write of my West Virginia novel. This year we're working on making it sure it "jells" and features a "plot."

At the cabin right now, and the peepers are outraged.

Exploiting my gosh daughter to further my fabulous career

Rexine reads Garson over at Plumb.

Btw, the url keeps sitting in my mind as "plumbdognet." Zatta prollem?

Curio the ebook has arrived

Woweee, respect the tweet. Last night Curio was set free in ebook format, and we're using pay with a tweet or FB update, which has been pretty successful, especially after the support of some heavy taste-makers.

I've been getting a couple of questions about the "free" status. It's not that I don't value my work. My thing is out there the way I want it, Dean taught himself how to do e-pubs, Mike will teach himself e-pubs, and the privilege of being the first representative of Uncanny Valley's vision is an honor and a thrill. Right now that's the pay-off. Money, or the work of collecting it, would mess with the energy of what we're doing. That said, I can totally imagine throwing Curio up for a 99 cent sale on amazon at a later point closer to the release of my novel next fall. If I do that, I'll probable create a modified edition with added stories--turns out I'm still writing itty bitty creepy stories.

PLUMB!

PLUMB is a lit & culture blog dreamed up by Charles Dodd White. My debut post is up today--it's about some DIY Katrina lit titles that I like.

Other contributors include:

Matt Baker
Matt Briggs
Kirby Gann
Robert Kloss
Sheldon’s Lee Compton
Lavinia Ludlow
Cynthia Reeser
And The Terrifying PH Madore

Too early to tell what flavor this project is, especially since I've been caught up in the technicals of wordpress. Bot so far the posts have been pretty fun.

P.U.

Last week one of my students came back from a job & internship fair with a dismal report: Upon entering the site a suit-clad woman jumped up and demanded to know, “Are you a SHARK!?” (I suppose that counts as whimsy in the world of biz.) My student’s honest repulsion at how the professional world/professionalism was depicted at the job fair reminded me of when, in a moment of stress, I bitchily let it slip to a third party that a colleague of mine was not tenure-line (I’m not tenure-line either, but the difference is I don’t care. And it’s public info anyway. So there. Yeah, I’m still defensive seventeen years later). When the colleague got wind of my indiscretion, he wigged and demanded that I be punished for my lack of professionalism. Nothing came of it, because at the end of the day, I do my thing pretty well. I am not necessarily unprofessional, but I am aprofessional, if the a- prefix means what I think it does. I should look it up some time.

Actually, that last part is a lie. I am often deliberately unprofessional. For example, I chew gum and blow bubbles at meetings so I don't speak up too much. The main thing I’ve learned about professionalism is that posers and bullies love it. And in the dark corner of the writing world that I inhabit, professionalism offers a comfortable domain for talent-challenged, anti intellectuals. Professional behavior is powerfully attractive; it is easy to produce and measure, and we all have a story about failure that resulted from a technicality. The thought that we are a checklist item away from success is intoxicating. Do you remember cracking open your first Writer’s Market? Suddenly being successful was merely a matter of research, routine, and tidiness. They still sell those things, you know.

I know that at 48 years old it is unseemly for me to be growling eat-the-rich-type slogans, but if I’m honest, the professional urge has sent me down too many blind alleys. The only successes I have ever enjoyed came from doing what I want to do when I want to do it.* Slapping on the pantyhose never got me anything except a uti.

I’m going on about this because with my novel coming out in October, I’m starting to feel the PU (professional urge), and it’s making me nervous. Gotta lose weight, gotta buy clothes, gotta dye my hair, gotta what else? Grace comes so easy to everyone else.

*It’s true that when I’m thinner people are nicer to me. So there’s that, I suppose. But when I’m thin I wear shorts and t-shirts, so not exactly profesh.

"Stickers" is my autobiography

The last story in Curio. It's my favorite.

Crimson

Story 20 is a wee thing that reflects my fear of turnpike rest stops. It's also a vague tribute to the spirit of Shane Jones' Light Boxes. "Crimson" almost didn't make the collection, but now I'm glad it did, because 1) on its own it would have perished, and 2) the folks who have indicated they like it are an odd, unexpected bunch.

Last Week of Curio: "I Want to Kiss!"

Story 19 was originally published Corium Magazine's debut issue, but in context of the collection, you finally get to see why Bun likes to carry a dead chicken around with him.

In other news, I've gotten a glimpse at the possible cover art for my novel, Death Wishing, due our in October from Ig Publishing. It's completely crazy and I LOVE it. My main worry about the new title was that it seemed too grim, but the art takes care of that problem. I think I have finished the requested edits, but I'm going to sit on it for the week in case I think of anything else.

In other, other news, Tim Jones-Yelvington picks up on a suggestion I made on Facebook in his Big Other post, "What's Your Stuff"

"First Anniversary," Story 18

"First Anniversary" went live today. It's based on our real life adventure of having found a guy out in the snow with a broken leg. I'd say almost all of it is true except the end, the car models, and the fact that Dean and I are not quite as old as Linda and Red.

Only one more week of these to go. Also, I think I figured out/fixed most of the large edits for the novel--there were about 25 pages of scenes that needed pov shifts and re-ordering, plus a sex scene that needed better integration. I feel good about how I've solved these problems, but I know I need to do the finesse work now and that means I have to be damned good to myself to reclaim my frame of mind.

"Inking"

Brining The Chronicler and The Courier together in this one. The final story in Curio, "Stickers," depends somewhat heavily on this one.

I like reading "Inking" out loud so I can shout the final 5 lines.

"Seckle"--Sweet Sixteen

"Seckle" appeared in Double Shiny, but then vaporized. Guess they don't archive, which is a drag.The story is an extract from a humongous story I've been writing all my life called "The Temple of Love and Hate." It's about being a kid, then being a grown-up. It sucks, but the title is good and there are five little possum skulls in it. Apparently you can purchase a possum skull for $69 from a vendor called Skulls Unlimited.

aspiration, ohio

Remember Simon & Garfunkel's "My Little Town"? Story 15 from Curio is my version of that song. "A Closed Throat"

Two Thirds

"Last Seen Leaving" is the 14th story from Curio. It was originally published in last Summer's Smokelong Quarterly, something I never thought would happen. I have a virtual pile of SLQ rejections, so many that for a long time I refused to "like" SLQ on facebook because it seemed S&M to do so. In fact, I had given up on SLQ, but last February I did a reading at The Big Bear Cafe as part of the Cheryl's Gone series, and when I saw that Art Taylor and Tara Laskowski had braved the icy mounded remnants of snowpocalypse to attend, I did a quick change up, setting the artsy fartsy stuff aside for something more fun and creepy--LSL. At that point Tara was a helper-reader for SLQ, having completed the Fish Fellowship. I don't think she was even on the masthead, but she encouraged me to submit the story. I was shocked when it was accepted, even more shocked to hear that it was a unanimous yes.

I guess that's a boring story.

Dean's working on the ebook version of Curio, btw.