The First Book Interviews are a go. I'm going to start a blog and continue Kate's tradition. I'm in the process of contacting poets right now to see if they want to participate. I'm also going to be asking poets with either two or three books (depending on where they are in their careers) to get more of a rounded perspective, to see what's happened in the last few years versus one or two. I'm excited to continue this, especially since there are so many great poets writing out there with books. Inquiring minds want to know about your experience.
Once the interviews start getting gathered and I have enough to keep it updated regularly, all the info will be out. Keep checking here. I hope to get it up and started by mid-August, but if not it'll hopefully be ready for the beginning of the fall semester.
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My friend Sean got advance tickets to The Pineapple Express for a week from today, July 30th, at 7:30 P.M. Holy shit I'm psyched.
This will also be my first advance screening ever. I'll be driving, so there will be no smoking before, not that I do that anyway, or have ever done it. Marijuana's illegal, people, come on.
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Chorus of the year goes to Ra Ra Riot for their beautifully 80s synth-pop oriented tune, "Too Too Too Fast."
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"When I look in your eyes, what am I supposed to do?"
Showing posts with label kate greenstreet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kate greenstreet. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mondayness
I'm in my office in the Hibbs Building, which is why I'm able to use the caps lock key, which is nice. A friend who works at Richmond's local Mac store said I could switch keyboards with hopefully a working one, which I'm going to try and do tomorrow.
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Had a good weekend with Corey and Sarah visiting. Richmond's a crazy place, and I hope they enjoyed it. We hope to hit some more sites and such next time instead of just Hollywood Cemetery and in and around The Fan.
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Mary Biddinger apparently is starting some posts about first books. I have to say I'm disillusioned with everyone's opinions about it all, meaning with things like that. As I've said in a past post, I've learned more from Kate Greenstreet's interviews on her site. What better than to hear from actual poets who went through it with their own experiences? So much is hysterical, though. Using different clips, and thicker paper, and different fonts. If your book sucks monumentally, it ain't gonna get published. If it's worth publication, then hopefully you're not sending a manuscript bound with a 4x6 Clifford the Big Red Dog Clip in 16-font Palantino on a ream of paper that cost you $50. And I love advice from people who think they're "editors" because they run an online "journal" mainly filled with other poet bloggers who they became friends with so they could solicit them. OK, there are only a few of these folks, but they make me want to switch to fiction sometimes. Still, discussing this stuff I think can be a good thing, even though a lot of it leaves me confused, and annoyed, and sometimes sad.
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Sometimes when I'm teaching I picture Matthew Broderick's Jim McAllister in Election, wearing a different shirt and different tie everyday, but saying the same things, essentially: "Legislative, Executive, Judicial.." "Judicial, Executive, Legislative..." "Executive, Legislative, Judicial..." -- standing some
where slightly different by the board. Putting a different spin on it. But essentially saying the same thing, and wondering how many students are actually listening or getting anything from it. I do like teaching, especially when someone writes a really great and original and professional argumentative essay (when involving teaching composition of course), but I do hope to try and teach creative writing, and be good at it. No offense to anyone doing such a thing, the adjunct thing, the teaching comp thing, but if I'm doing what I'm doing now in 10 years when I'm 36, I'll be thinking of ways to drive my car off a cliff and make it look like an accident. Maybe I have it too easy, but I'm hoping for big things ahead, and am pushing myself as much as possible toward those goals.
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I'm hoping, after the 4th, to start getting a kind of spreadsheet going for the Ph.D information. Most likely we'll be some place close to home, the western PA, Pittsburgh area, though this can vary I suppose if a school in the Midwest wants to give me a fellowship and a 1/1 teaching load. Doubtful, yes, but if it happens who knows what direction we'll be moving toward. I know the process is going to suck, but I'm dying without a community, without reading for pleasure amidst criticism, without writing papers and exploring the many aspects and parts of the craft I have yet to discover and learn about. It's time.
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The new Ninth Letter is out. It's a great issue. Lots of good stuff so far I've read, and still a ton to go through. I'm so happy to have been a part of the last issue, and I hope in the future I don't get as many rejections as I had anticipated by the time I got the acceptance after only one rejection. I really don't think any magazine compares to, especially solely in the graphics and design. It smells like freshly wallpapered room, it weighs a ton, most of the work is of high quality in every issue (of course no one's going to like every piece in an issue of a journal or magazine). If you put it up to The Paris Review, or anything else for that matter, it's pretty laughable how much it kicks ass. I have one more issue in my contributor subscription, but I'll most likely keep subscribing.
*
Had a good weekend with Corey and Sarah visiting. Richmond's a crazy place, and I hope they enjoyed it. We hope to hit some more sites and such next time instead of just Hollywood Cemetery and in and around The Fan.
*
Mary Biddinger apparently is starting some posts about first books. I have to say I'm disillusioned with everyone's opinions about it all, meaning with things like that. As I've said in a past post, I've learned more from Kate Greenstreet's interviews on her site. What better than to hear from actual poets who went through it with their own experiences? So much is hysterical, though. Using different clips, and thicker paper, and different fonts. If your book sucks monumentally, it ain't gonna get published. If it's worth publication, then hopefully you're not sending a manuscript bound with a 4x6 Clifford the Big Red Dog Clip in 16-font Palantino on a ream of paper that cost you $50. And I love advice from people who think they're "editors" because they run an online "journal" mainly filled with other poet bloggers who they became friends with so they could solicit them. OK, there are only a few of these folks, but they make me want to switch to fiction sometimes. Still, discussing this stuff I think can be a good thing, even though a lot of it leaves me confused, and annoyed, and sometimes sad.
*
Sometimes when I'm teaching I picture Matthew Broderick's Jim McAllister in Election, wearing a different shirt and different tie everyday, but saying the same things, essentially: "Legislative, Executive, Judicial.." "Judicial, Executive, Legislative..." "Executive, Legislative, Judicial..." -- standing some
where slightly different by the board. Putting a different spin on it. But essentially saying the same thing, and wondering how many students are actually listening or getting anything from it. I do like teaching, especially when someone writes a really great and original and professional argumentative essay (when involving teaching composition of course), but I do hope to try and teach creative writing, and be good at it. No offense to anyone doing such a thing, the adjunct thing, the teaching comp thing, but if I'm doing what I'm doing now in 10 years when I'm 36, I'll be thinking of ways to drive my car off a cliff and make it look like an accident. Maybe I have it too easy, but I'm hoping for big things ahead, and am pushing myself as much as possible toward those goals.*
I'm hoping, after the 4th, to start getting a kind of spreadsheet going for the Ph.D information. Most likely we'll be some place close to home, the western PA, Pittsburgh area, though this can vary I suppose if a school in the Midwest wants to give me a fellowship and a 1/1 teaching load. Doubtful, yes, but if it happens who knows what direction we'll be moving toward. I know the process is going to suck, but I'm dying without a community, without reading for pleasure amidst criticism, without writing papers and exploring the many aspects and parts of the craft I have yet to discover and learn about. It's time.
*
The new Ninth Letter is out. It's a great issue. Lots of good stuff so far I've read, and still a ton to go through. I'm so happy to have been a part of the last issue, and I hope in the future I don't get as many rejections as I had anticipated by the time I got the acceptance after only one rejection. I really don't think any magazine compares to, especially solely in the graphics and design. It smells like freshly wallpapered room, it weighs a ton, most of the work is of high quality in every issue (of course no one's going to like every piece in an issue of a journal or magazine). If you put it up to The Paris Review, or anything else for that matter, it's pretty laughable how much it kicks ass. I have one more issue in my contributor subscription, but I'll most likely keep subscribing.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Kate Greenstreet's First Book Interviews
I'm so glad someone eventually decided to do this, and I was actually fairly said when they were finished. For those of us (and there are many) shopping around our first books, and getting the close but no cigar advice, these are always inspiring. Would many first books have changed significantly if they weren't picked by a judge or from an open reading period? Sure. Are some (maybe most?) poets better when it takes their book longer than some to get taken so it can become a more fruitful collection? I would imagine.
One quote from Tony Tost I've had in my head for awhile: "I just wanted Invisible Bride to be an interesting first book, and to make the kinds of mistakes a first book always makes (which end up being their virtues): tons of sincerity and ambition and hopefulness and recklessness and incompetence. A fecund starting point." I like to think (hope?) someone could say the same for my first manuscript.
Some of them are a bit boring and / or derivative, as if people are afraid to really give truthful answers to the questions. But some are insightful, hilarious, sarcastic, pissed off. My favorites are listed below. Some of the writers I really like. Some I don't like at all. Some I discovered after these interviews (and some of their books I bought just because of them) and continue to like and follow.
4. Tony Tost
5. Brian Teare
13. Victoria Chang
42. Oliver de la Paz
52. Jake Adam York
57. Zachary Schomburg
59. Mary Biddinger
64. Adam Clay
75. G.C. Waldrep
76. Ashley Capps
81. Steve Fellner
83. Joshua Poteat
87. Joshua Kryah
One quote from Tony Tost I've had in my head for awhile: "I just wanted Invisible Bride to be an interesting first book, and to make the kinds of mistakes a first book always makes (which end up being their virtues): tons of sincerity and ambition and hopefulness and recklessness and incompetence. A fecund starting point." I like to think (hope?) someone could say the same for my first manuscript.
Some of them are a bit boring and / or derivative, as if people are afraid to really give truthful answers to the questions. But some are insightful, hilarious, sarcastic, pissed off. My favorites are listed below. Some of the writers I really like. Some I don't like at all. Some I discovered after these interviews (and some of their books I bought just because of them) and continue to like and follow.
4. Tony Tost
5. Brian Teare
13. Victoria Chang
42. Oliver de la Paz
52. Jake Adam York
57. Zachary Schomburg
59. Mary Biddinger
64. Adam Clay
75. G.C. Waldrep
76. Ashley Capps
81. Steve Fellner
83. Joshua Poteat
87. Joshua Kryah
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