Tag: news

Look! Publication!

I am very pleased to announce that my short story, “Others,” has been published at Residential Aliens. Here’s the first paragraph:

Edward spotted them as soon as he stepped onto the train platform. They, the Others, had a strange shimmer about them, a distortion of the air as if heat from the desert sands were pouring out of their skin. As far as Edward could tell, he was the only one able to see them: the other people on the platform, the regular ones, pushed past the two men and the woman, whose traveling dress was slightly shabby, without even a first glance.

Go here to read the rest of it. Enjoy!

HALFWAY

We interrupt your regular broadcasting to announce: HALFWAY, PEOPLE!

I’m feeling really good about Edgewood. From where I’m standing now, I’m absolutely going to finish on time. And the novel’s going quite well, in spite of / because of some minor unexpected events. The general contents of the next two chapters are largely assembled in my mind, and I’m excited to find out the exact details of what happens.

Supposedly, Week One is supposed to be the easy adrenaline-filled week and Week Two is where the writing gets hard. But I was sick during Week One and had to force myself to write, whereas Week Two has seen my plot and energy pick up significantly. I hope that means that Week Three, which is supposed to bring you to the magic 35,000-word mark, will be even easier.

P.S. If you ask really nicely, I might let you read the first half.

Woe Is Moving

1. On Moving and Writing.  They do not mix.  Since July 1, when we got the keys to our new apartment, we’ve painted three rooms in two days.  And we’ll be officially moving on Thursday.  Since the first, I have written 0 words.  Why?

2. I Crave Routine.  That about explains it.

3. Additional Woes.  Though we are moving on Thursday, we will not be able to get our internet set up until the following Monday.  I have my iPhone, of course, so I’ll never be truly out of touch, but going four days without in-home internet is a frustration I would rather forego.

4. On the Other Hand.  We painted our apartment a very smart-looking pearl gray.  This is because it was originally a flesh/ham/peach-toned “neutral.”  Electing not to puke every time we walked through the doorway, we made the right choice and beautified our new home.

5. One Final Positive to Offset the Three Complaints.  I’m quite enjoying the book I’m reading, a 600-page first-in-a-trilogy monster called Devices and Desires by K. J. Parker.  Everyone is spying on everyone else so far; it’s enormously entertaining.  I’ll review the first volume once I’ve finished reading it.

Good

Here are four good things that happened today, and one bonus good thing.

  1. After 41 job applications, I finally have an interview.
  2. I got a free lunch at Panera Bread because their computer ignored my order.
  3. My second rejection letter arrived from a journal where I sent my fiction.*
  4. I unexpectedly wrote two thousand words.
  5. I’ll probably even keep most of the words I wrote.

*Rejection is good, because it means I’m actually submitting stories instead of saying I will, plus it thickens my skin and gives me experience.  Also, after I get five rejections for the same story, I can send it to The Rejected Quarterly, a journal I aspire to get rejected from.

Grad School in Review

Fall 2009

I write “Orators: Voice, Agency, and Identity in Jean Toomer’s ‘Kabnis'” for American literature 1865-present (later the recipient of the University Writing Award), “Parodic Heteroglossia in ‘The Psychiatrist'” for literary theory, and “The Art of Ruling” and “Black and White” for my fiction workshop.  I also work in the writing lab and as an academic assistant.

Spring 2010

I write ten four-page response papers for form and theory of fiction, “Say Never: Time and Mortality in Katherine Mansfield’s ‘At the Bay'” for modern British fiction, and “The Mind’s Eye” and “At the Cabin” for my fiction workshop.  I also assist three undergraduate courses.

Fall 2010

I complete a sixty-page portfolio for my theory of teaching composition class, “Toward a Definition of American Whiteness in Russell Banks’s Continental Drift” for my Cormac McCarthy and Russell Banks class, and “She Who Has No Earth” and “The Conquest of the World” (later published in the university journal) for my fiction workshop.  I also teach two sections of College Writing I.

Spring 2011

I successfully defend my Master’s thesis of short fiction, “The Mind’s Eye and Other Stories,” and write “Playing Shifgrethor: What Makes a Man a Traitor in The Left Hand of Darkness” for my science in literature class.  I also teach two sections of College Writing I.

And soon I will get my diploma.

THE END

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