From “John McEnroe Visits Seven Months” by Sean Aden Lovelace, winner of the Crazyhorse fiction prize:

He says, “John, you make me ill, physically ill. Listen: every person has one thing they’re placed on this earth to do, born to do. Think Mozart, think Pistol Pete. Most people — I bet ninety-nine percent — never find their one thing. Not ever. They live miserable lives, half-lost, feeling like something’s not right. We’re one of the lucky, John. Born in the right place, right situation. Fate is smiling and you’re just going to shit on it. Throw it away! So, I ask you again — what-the-hell-are-you-doing?”

I hang up the phone.

From “Reasons for Concern Regarding My Girlfriend of Five Days, Monica Garza” by John Tait, also in Crazyhorse:

Feelings I Must Fight in the Wake of My Split (?) from Monica Garza

A dread that, by losing Monica, I’ve lost my one late opportunity to become a person who continues to grow and change along with a growing and changing world rather than shutting myself fearfully away with the rest of the people like me. A naive optimism, fueled by well-intentioned movies and TV shows, that we Americans can overcome all barriers between us and embrace each other based on our shared humanity. A recognition that even though the above is a crock, it shouldn’t be. The worry that I am more concerned with what others think of me than with my own happiness, a fact that makes me wish I was miles from every other human being—maybe on some unpopulated island or at least archipelago, though when I imagine myself in that desolate place it seems only natural to add a companion, leading to fantasies (about M. G.) that are both pleasant and troubling.

I think the second one may be set in Houston? Anyway. Both pieces are more experimental than what I usually write, and I enjoyed them immensely (the second one slightly more so).

As always, reading these stories made me think. What was I put on this Earth to do? (Write!) What-the-hell-am-I-doing? (Procrastinating…) What feelings must I fight? (Impatience. Fear of failure. The munchies.)

What about you?

No, it’s not snowing here. In fact, it’s in the 70s, sunny, and beautiful. I should be in heaven. Instead, I’m sick.

So the cold is my cold. And the Christmas-y is my nose, which is red like Rudolph’s from all the tissues rubbing against it.

Apparently Andy’s sick and miserable too, back in Cincinnati, so I’m sure we’re going to have SUCH a fun reunion tonight when I get home…

From a (looong) interview with Algonquin editor Chuck Adams, who was with Simon & Schuster before that, and who selected and edited Sara Gruen’s hit Water for Elephants:

What are you looking for in a piece of writing?
The first thing is the voice. If it’s got a strong voice, I’m going to keep reading. And if a story sneaks in there, I’m going to keep reading. To me, those are the two most important things. I want a voice and I want to be hooked into a story. I believe very strongly that books are not about writers, and they’re definitely not about editors—they’re about readers. You’ve got to grab the reader right away with your voice and with the story you’re telling. You can’t just write down words that sound pretty. It’s all about the reader. You’ve got to bring the reader into it right away. If the writing is poetic and so forth, that’s nice. I’m reading something right now that has an amazing voice, and I’m only fifty-six pages into it, but I’m already getting a little tired because it’s so nice, if you know what I mean. It’s so pretty. It’s like every page is a bon bon, and I want a little break somewhere.

Dangit. I think I tend to write bon bons. No, seriously! I am a writer, and I laugh at my reputation for telling awful stories — you know, ones that I think are hysterical but no one laughs at and then I try to explain the punchline and kill it even more — but Andy, and this Chuck guy, are right: I need to tell a good story.

That’s something Nora Roberts (see yesterday’s post) does really well, and exactly why I always reread her books before going to bed at night whenever I come back to visit my parents in Houston.

More from the interview:

Look at Michael Chabon. He’s had success from the beginning, but it wasn’t until he wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, where he took his formula of two guys and a girl and put it against this big panorama—the Holocaust, the Depression, World War II—that he turned the intimate little stories he’d been writing into a big story. It’s not that difficult to do. It’s not easy to do, either. But when you really look at what he did, you just have to come up with the right backdrop and put the story in front of it and make the story one that people really relate to and care about.

…

I keep saying, “Look, write Romeo and Juliet or write Jane Eyre or whatever. But put it against a big backdrop. Steal somebody’s else idea, but just make it your own.”

Last but not least, something I know I will have to overcome when my time (finally) arrives:

That is the one thing I don’t understand about writers sometimes. It takes so much work to write a book. It takes a lot of ego to write a book. And then they finish it and find a publisher and go, “Oh, I’d feel cheap trying to sell it.” Bullshit. That’s part of the process. You wrote the book for a reason: You want people to read it. Help us. Help us get it out there.

I dunno if it’s the Asian in me, or just a natural shyness, or what, but the idea of actively promoting my own work makes me cringe. I’ve never enjoyed being a salesperson. I always think, Shouldn’t the work/product/service speak for itself? But I guess I have to remember that work/products/services don’t have voices, so I have to lend them my own if I want them to be heard.

That said… PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF BABY PANDAS, IF YOU EVER SEE A BOOK WITH THE NAME KRISTAN HOFFMAN ON IT, BUY IT!

I don’t think I was freaked out until I read this article. Thanks a lot, Alex.

If you are in (or visiting) Cincinnati, GO HERE NOW:

Space 513

Also GO THERE NOW if you just like neat stuff, because it’s tré cool. I’d love to do something similar (maybe for Houston? or Pittsburgh?) but, um, I have stories to write and people who will yell at me if I don’t…

Between shopping for a casual men’s jacket, going to Discovery Green in the rain, catching up with Barbara (Alex’s Momma #1 and my Momma #2), and spending hours trying (unsuccessfully) to get our sailboat’s motor to start, I unfortunately did not find time to upload any photos on Friday. I am so sorry. Please accept these fireworks as a display of my never ending regret.

“Not good enough!” Andy says. “Actions speak louder than intentions, and you did not meet your deadline. Thus you have failed, and I banish you to that vine-like prison.”

“What vine-like prison?” I ask.

“THAT ONE,” he says, pointing.

“Oh,” I say.

“Wait, this one’s prettier!” my mom chimes in.

“Hey! Whose side are you on?” I ask.

She takes a moment to consider her answer.

“Andy’s,” she finally replies.

“Oh,” I say.

And so it was that I came to be jailed by my mom and boyfriend in a giant red claw. Or something.

Dude, when did this happen, and why didn’t anyone tell me about it?

It looks great!!

–

From a cute article Alex sent me, titled “Your Friends Are Not Watching the Same Show You Are”:

To summarize the potato salad theory, fanfiction works for readers because the readers are already coming to the story with enough history and background to enjoy the story without piles of world-building and setup, much like stories that feature historical or mythological characters. We are bringing our own utensils and plates to the picnic, not expecting restaurant service. That’s fanfic. When it comes to our source material, we’re all bringing very different things to the table, and that’s going to affect what we consume.

As it happens, these preferences not only inform what we choose to watch in the first place, but also what we see when we get there. As when we sit in English class and interpret poetry, we each have our own particular take on the canon that’s unique to our backgrounds and histories.

And that’s okay.

–

Angie goes home tomorrow. :(

But we had fun while she was here!