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St. Johns has a Writers' Room

2008-03-27T12:20:00.001-07:00

Sock man do

2007-08-09T23:49:00.001-07:00

Selin with dirty sock

We'll Miss You Immensely

2007-04-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

One of my literary heroes, Kurt Vonnegut, died last night. Here's a great,
short bio about him, his work, and his influence on the literary world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html

We do love you already

2007-04-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, we're headed to see Jonathan Lethem tomorrow as part of the Portland Arts and Lectures series. He's on tour with his new book You Don't Love Me Yet.

His Web site abounds with the notion that Writer, Publisher, PR, Web-2.0-Savvy are all one organic globule with the young lit rock star gig. His bibliography (did you see that essay list?) has many a Writer Bum at home sighing over rejection letters and forgotten plans for publication. We'll see if his show lives up to his hype. My guess: of course it will... and then some. This is Lethem.

The Business of Books

2007-04-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yet another blog post to be filed under "no duh!" Today I rediscovered the Web wonderland that is Publishers Weekly. Every pro resource, insider, agent and book monger in the country will say, "Hey, you should read PW. It's what's going on in the business." To which the Writer Bum might say, "Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know." But do we do it?

We should. The site is rocking with news, tips, hints, facts, trends, events, reviews, interviews, and more. I'm a believer.

Council for Literary Magazines and Presses

2007-04-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

If you're like other Writer Bums and you're looking to publish in a literary journal, it's interesting to see behind the iron curtain, to see how these magazines—largely published through MFA programs—operate behind the scenes. Enter CLMP—Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. They offer a wealth of resources for new publishers and writers, with links and amazingly helpful tools. You're going to want to browse this site.

Authors We Love

2007-04-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Staring at my bookcase in amazement today for the prose of lit rock star Jonathan Safran Foer. Here's New York's new Truman Capote. Foer has his youth, a movie deal, and his cartoon likeness in an episode of The Simpsons.

If you haven't already, go today and read this book and this book. (And if you have read the first one, check out this site.)

Foer has a distinctive voice—one that’s lyrical and literary; one that relies on syntactical artistry. It’s the sort of prose that makes the writing community hopeful, as it did in reviews by his Princeton mentors, Joyce Carol Oates and Jeffery Eugenides.

Bravo, Mr. Foer.

Sight set on BOMBsite

2007-04-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

BOMB is, well... the bomb. For artists by artists. They claim that: "No other arts magazine pays such close and serious attention to developments in new art and writing, regardless of commercial appeal or name recognition." OK, you say. Maybe. Then you start reading and you discover the people involved in BOMB. Just some of the best and brightest voices of our times. So, I know most of us Writer Bums will be interested in their fiction contest. Normally I wouldn't advocate for a contest with a $20 reading fee. But, this is BOMB. I'd want to donate to them anyway. Why not donate with an opportunity to be printed in their pages? We're talking the launch of a career here.

Publishing to the Web 2.0

2007-04-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 has been wowing the iSavvy for years. I'm late to the game. Oh gee, look, I have a blog!

Now free, easy-to-use content management systems are the norm, creating communities and bubbling information up to users faster than you can develop a MySpace site or add thoughts to the wiki.

All this comes to mind today when I thought to share a list of books for writers. I love Web tools.

Ode to Poetry Month

2007-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

The listening booth.

the X-change

2007-04-04T01:07:00.000-07:00

Writer Bums have been raving about the online powerhouse resource that is Poets & Writers. If you are a literary artist and into online forums, their Speakeasy Message Forum is a must. This is the best, focused, professionally monitored, writers' forum we've seen. Need hints, tips, or information on the writing life, querying agents, tracking submissions, publishing in literary journals, hot links to new markets, how to reach acceptance into an MFA... it's a vibrant community. And it's free. Sign up just requires an email.

Books for kiddies

2007-04-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Writer Bum community has been blessed with numerous new births and many more on the way. This brings to mind the genius of children's books. What Writer Bum can have a baby and not consider penning a few tales?

With so many children's books about random funny things, this should be easy, right? Then, there are some rare amazing, classically trained artists who just happen to also create amazing illustrations and decide to write books. Enter Peter Sis.

Recently he was spotlighted on an HBO Family special that featured books about different cultures. His featured book was a wonderful adventure through cultures in a New York City neighborhood with Madlenka.

Suddenly it's obvious that children's books require just as much serious dedication as a literary novel. No wonder, a read through Sis's bio is a jaw-dropping experience for writers and artists alike.

One for the shelf

2007-04-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last year at the Willamette Writers Conference I caught a session with “author, editor, teacher, speaker” Elizabeth Lyon. More than one literary agent at the conference spoke highly of her talented red pen. Recently at Powell’s I discovered her book The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit. It’s a classic, so maybe a little dated, but still a great read and a must-have addition to any growing library on publishing and connecting with literary agents. "Everything you need to know about queries, synopses, marketing, and breaking in." Don't miss the real letters that landed literary agents and the sidebar commentary on why they worked. Good stuff.

Poetry in the Rain

2007-04-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

April is National Poetry Month. No fooling. Here in Portland there are dozens of outlets and open mics to check out. And here are some Portland poetry links to browse:

Poetry Northwest Magazine
Caffeine Destiny
Poetry Downtown
Poetry in Motion

Zine-ing it at IPRC

2007-03-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

Portland is the perfect home for a Writer Bum. Even the rain for eight months is perfect. Think about it. Then you stop and look around. Holy shit. There are awesome people doing awesome things here in Portland. One of them is this lady who teaches a workshop here and in this awesome book has a chapter on "Make A Zine".

Luckily here in PDX we have this place. Wow! Thank the gods of indi writing. Thank you, thank you. Get on this site, go to the free monthly open house, absorb the knowhow for creativity, fun, and underground self-promo.

Poets & Writers Rocks

2007-03-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

There are some resources that just boggle the Writer Bum imagination. Once such goldmine, on the top 10 list for crazy, great resources: Poets & Writers. Yes, there's a permanent link to P&W here on the blog. But let's take a closer look at what this site offers.

How do they do what they do? Here's one way they do it. Of course, these serious players don't hurt. Well, I think I can speak for Writer Bums everywhere: thank the gods for the dedicated folks at P&W.

The Write Club

2007-03-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

It's interesting to see well-known authors developing online resources for aspiring writers. Most of these sites are half workshop, half links, and half glitzy self promotion. This one by Portland lit rock star Chuck Palahniuk is pretty cool. Lots of great info for fodder, and an online manuscript critique group.

Redefine Rejection

2007-03-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

pro•lif•ic [pruh-lif-ik] adj. producing in large quantities or with great frequency; highly productive: a prolific writer.
re•ject•ed [rĭ-jěkt'ed] tr.v. to discard as defective or useless; throw away.

Two words every Writer Bum needs to redefine for oneself. This book by Michael Larsen has a three page list on A Celebration of Rejection that may help ease the burden. Facts like:

"Before he wrote Roots, Alex Haley had received 200 rejections."
"Robert Pirsig's classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, couldn't get started at 121 houses."
"Dr. Seuss's first book was rejected 24 times."
"Louis L'Amour received 200 rejections before he sold his first novel."
"The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck was returned 14 times, but it when on to win the a Pulitzer Prize."

As Ray Bradbury put it in advice to writers: "You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance." Writer Bums know this is what separates the pro's from the ranks of amateurs who have publishable work without the publishing credits.

Writers On-tap

2007-03-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Two days ago a fellow Writer Bum called for aid. 58 pages due to a contest later this week. I hopped to help and in exchange shared a short story I've been massaging. Today, stories dipped into vats of red editorial ink, we met at the local pub. Good microbrews, decent eats, delicious conversation: Writers On-tap was born. Forget the weekly, biweekly, or monthly meetings. Just write your heart out and when you're ready, within a few days time we're discussing the depth of your characters' motivations. In celebration of this fine evening of literary community and writing development, our first blog entry sans links. It helps to remind: there's more to connecting than what's online.

Maui Wowie

2007-03-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

It's pre-registration price-break season for the August line-up of writing conferences. I went to the Willamette Writers Conference last year and met many wonderful folks, including agents, editors, and fellow Writer Bums. It was a great show and worth a peek. But several years ago I attended the Maui Writers Conference. They have the venue, to be sure. It's, well... Maui.

Now they have the all-star line-up to go with the setting. If you're going to a conference to meet agents, I'm sure many are the events that can connect you. But I don't know how many will have so many bestselling authors and Pulitzer prize winners... in the sun, by the pool, on the beach. Scott Turow, John Lescroart, WS Merwin, Buzz Bissinger, Lisa Nichols... Wow!

University of Powell's

2007-03-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

Writer Bums nationwide and around the world salute the greatest independent bookstore: Powell's City of Books. The Web site attempts to rival the bookish leftover sections of Amazon. But here in Portland we walk over to Burnside and meander the stacks.

$64.21 later I came home with new hard cover copies of:

What Is The What by Dave Eggers (perhaps a follow up on yesterday's post, and according to his tour schedule, he happens to be coming to Reed College here in Portland on 4/15 though it doesn't appear yet on the Reed visiting writers site)
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem (which he's offering to some lucky film maker with a free option; also coming to join us here in Portland on 4/12)
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (who's book donned the cover of last week's NY Times Book Review)

"Staggering Genius"

2007-03-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

Writer Bums are often late to read the next best thing. We're usually writing. Case in point: I just discovered why Dave Eggers almost won a Pulitzer.

This guy is a literary pioneer and powerhouse. Now, one of my favorite online surf spots is his hilarious McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Stories, like this one; just too damn funny!

Even the about page on the site cracks me up. This is how I feel, too, about blogging.

Yearning to write

2007-03-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

The one week anniversary for this blog and we have yet to mention craft. Is there anything more important for literary artists? Publishing and agents and events... all of it is talking about writing instead of writing.

Today I've been puzzling about character motivations and desires. In this most amazing book on craft (that's now my favorite book on writing next to this book), Robert Olen Butler devotes many pages to yearning as "a product of your own deepest white-hot center." Butler's approach has me wanting to drop all and head to FSU as his MFA student. (MFAs are a blog for another day.)

What does my character truly yearn for?

Writer Bums are Reader Bums. So forget the 101 lessons. Let's talk Flannery O’Connor and the most amazing short story classic Everything That Rises Must Converge. How does she do that and make it seem so effortless?

Overnight delivery required

2007-03-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

This site comes to us courtesy of our Writer Bum contributor in LA LA land. The site is slightly deceiving at first... just another blog? Lo, Hollywood agents are revealed. Scroll, scroll, scroll, search, study, uncover in amazement, the insider info including reviews with contact information and email addresses of script reading movie agents. Wow!

Literary journal review

2007-03-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

Know your market. So sayeth conventional publishing wisdom. Writer bums hear it all the time. But all these journals that publish literary/mainstream stories are basically the same, right? Wrong.

Here’s what P&W has to say about it.

With 3-6 months just to receive a “no thank you” letter, maybe a little homework—some enjoyable reading—is a good idea, especially for pubs that don’t like simultaneous submissions.

So hey: save time, inspire the writer within, and help support a journal.

But maybe you don’t have access to every journal in your bookstore. You’ve read the publisher’s description and a few stories online, but you need more. Here are two links to help with your research. These sites show reviews of literary journals.

Reviews at newpages.com
Literary magazine reviews

To go or not to go

2007-03-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Purchased tickets yesterday to see Jonathan Lethem (4/12) and David Sedaris (4/22) coming to town thanks to the Portland Arts & Lectures series. Writer bums know, hobnobbing with other literary folk is good for our health. So I culled some event calendar info.

But first, EL Doctorow's reminder: "Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." Thanks for the reminder, EL.

Some Portland literary event calendars:
Powell's Books upcoming events
Literary Arts upcoming events
Willamette Week ("words" on homepage under "more things to do...")
Oregon Live (choose "literary" from event menu)
Borders (choose downtown from "store locator")
Craigslist (general events may include readings)

Label it under process

2007-03-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Time to payoff on the current title: Join the journey…

I have one short story, Kirby’s Dive, circulating for publication. I reworked this baby countless times over 2+ years, with help from writing workshops and literary friends. Finally I have a piece that upon rereading, I don’t feel compelled to edit.

This is the first time my confidence around a story can’t be swayed by rejection. So, this is my new earmark of completion. I feel like a salesman who believes 100% in his product. To get to “yes” just requires more sales calls.

All you writer bums out there are shaking your heads. Yeah, yeah. I know, this is 101 stuff. But when I reflect on a decade of sharing work, after each rejection I lost faith in my story’s appeal.

Kirby’s Dive was sent off to 10 literary journals back in January. (Researching journals that accept simultaneous submissions was a breeze thanks to Duotrope.) To date I received six rejections. So today I’m sending it off to six more—thus our blog topic.

Ten seems like a good, if not totally arbitrary, number. The trick for me now is to have 10 stories circulating with 10 journals. (Did I mention this is easy thanks to Duotrope.)

One day we’ll see this blog entry again, when I link back to it upon acceptance.

A Macro Fiction Must Read

2007-03-18T00:54:00.000-07:00

Many writer folk here in Portland are familiar with the Dangerous Writing workshop. In search of a URL, I came across this article from its most celebrated attendee, who waxes admiringly for a story that was out of print. Google to the rescue, uncovering "The Harvest" by Amy Hempel. This is a must read, folks.

Web-log. We-blog. Blog.

2007-03-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

Day two. I’m staggering through the blog-o-sphere in the wee hours, frothing with anticipation for the community of writers and readers that will discover the comment tab below. Let’s recap from yesterday’s launch. Here's a clue, for those kind enough to ask—what the hell are you doing?

On second thought, that will become clear over time. But apropos of my amateur blogging status: a disclaimer, in the form of... Hey, it's bonafide. So for my intended audience of would be authors: some links to better blogs, from bloggers with the inside track in the world of publishing.

Literary Agents
Miss Snark
Jennifer Jackson
Agent Obscura
Kristin Nelson
Lit Agent X
Dystel & Goderich
Deirdre Knight
BookEnds
Jenny Rappaport

Editors
Evil Editor
Book Review editor
POD-dy Mouth

Publishers
Penguin
Harper Perennial
Simon & Schuster

Critics
National Book Critics Circle

More Links
Literary blog links

Just write a book. What's the problem?

2007-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Until now, I never blogged. I thought blogs and the bloggers who blogged them ranked right up there with angry preteen diary journalists and truck-stop bathroom stall poets. So why am I blogging?

I have 36 reasons. Here are three:

I discovered a handful of professional, focused blogs from literary experts, like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one, and I realized, hey, blogging, holy shit.
There’s this ineffable desire I have. It's an itch. I can’t get to it, by I try with email and Web surfing. It’s the need to be needed, to be connected. So until this day comes via literary pursuits—when I have hundreds of people trying to reach me daily who I ignore—until that day, I’m hoping a blog will help take the edge off.
I want to share my trials and successes (I don't write erotica, but it's a bit like S&M) on this path to financial and emotional freedom as an author. Maybe I'll even encourage some friends to do the same.

So here we go. This blog is dedicated to you, if you too are on the difficult path of transition to fulltime literary artist: be it novelist, playwright, screenwriter or poet. Here we'll track the daily struggle. We'll experiment, until we are lead to the professional promise land—and one by one celebrate our independence day.

I will forgo peddling my wares or using this forum as a personal promotional tool. The consistent delivery of useful and humorous content will determine the size and depth of our community.

It’s a journey, so let me stick some flags in the dirt for where I stand:

Starting line: Let's get this out from jump street. My name is Jeff and I'm an unpublished author (as of the time of this post). Except for a few travel articles in newspapers and one online essay, I have yet to see the light of publication. I’m a copywriter, currently for an internal ad agency at a health care company. I’ve been a copywriter for about 12 years, writing for print, broadcast and Web. And for about 12 years I’ve threatened to write novels. I did once. (That crappy manuscript is hiding in a drawer.)

Destination: A novelist with a dedicated fan base, publishing short stories in literary journals, asked to speak at conferences and literary events, judge writing contests, and teach writing workshops. I’m open to the gods of abundance, to fame and fortune, but my image is that of a working author, comfortable with his limitations and narrative voice, making a few hundred grand in the good years, slipping beneath the radar of best-seller lists and national award credits.

So, let’s get moving.