Poet John Gallagher at his blog, Nothing to Say and Saying It, has posted two questions about MFA programs and solicited responses from MFA grads, in his post, The Top 20 MFA Research Q: What is it like there?
The questions Gallagher entertains are:
1. Is there an reigning, asserted aesthetic where you feel forced or seduced into writing in a “camp”? Is there a two-camp model being talked about, and do you feel you are being indoctrinated into one side or the other? What are your reading lists like? Who is ignored?
2. Is there talk of the “real world” in your MFA program? Is there conversation about this notion of the “professional artist”? How does the faculty talk about this? How do students talk about this?
So far he's had plenty of responses. So if you are interested (and judging from the number of "views" of my posts on DIY MFAs, many of you are), check it out.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
One for the Notebook (One Against)
I subscribe on Twitter to AdviceToWriters, which generally yields several pieces of "advice" per day. Today they provided this quotation from Will Self (really, there's a person named Will Self? yes, just Googled him, he's a British novelist):
"Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea forever."
Which immediately reminded me of the following quote from Kay Ryan:
"I do not carry a notebook in my pocket. That would be the ruination of me because it would make my two worlds connect. I can’t say it strongly enough."
There is no right way to be a writer. There is only the way that works for you for now, which may not be the way that works for you later (see post on Troy Jollimore).
This is, like all the best things, both a blessing and a curse. As is, apparently, a notebook.
"Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea forever."
Which immediately reminded me of the following quote from Kay Ryan:
"I do not carry a notebook in my pocket. That would be the ruination of me because it would make my two worlds connect. I can’t say it strongly enough."
There is no right way to be a writer. There is only the way that works for you for now, which may not be the way that works for you later (see post on Troy Jollimore).
This is, like all the best things, both a blessing and a curse. As is, apparently, a notebook.
Update: Japan Writers Conference
The Japan Writers Conference website has been updated. The event, scheduled for October 15 and 16 in Kobe, now has a tentative schedule and a tentative list of presentations. They will be finalized on or about October 1, it appears.
On the homepage are announcements of three events that should be pre-registered for, including Australian poet David Gilbey's popular poetry seminar and a few social outings/open reading.
Venue map and directions to Kobe Shoin Women's University have not been provided yet, but I'm sure they will appear on the website on or before October 1.
Hope to see some of you there!
On the homepage are announcements of three events that should be pre-registered for, including Australian poet David Gilbey's popular poetry seminar and a few social outings/open reading.
Venue map and directions to Kobe Shoin Women's University have not been provided yet, but I'm sure they will appear on the website on or before October 1.
Hope to see some of you there!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Socially-Conscious Women, Submit!
From the Magnolia Journal website:
The Institute welcomes submissions for Volume II of a new series dedicated to socially engaged fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry by women.
What to submit: Socially engaged works of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry that interact with and challenge social injustices of our time.
Length: 5,000 word maximum for fiction and creative non-fiction; poetry up to 5 pages.
Fees: We do not charge reading fees.
Compensation and copyright: Each successful submission will receive 2 paperback copies of the anthology as payment. The Institute of Arts & Social Engagement (IASE) requests Non-exclusive Anthology and Electronic rights. IASE retains the right to continue selling back issues of the journal in print and electronic format.
How to submit: Send your manuscript as an attachment (.doc or .rtf only, please do not submit .DOCX files) to magnoliajournal@theiase.org. Submissions must be typed, double spaced, using standard Arial or Times 12pt. font. Include your last name and title of the work in the email subject line (EX. Smith – Title of the work).
Response time: All submissions will receive a written confirmation upon receipt, with a final decision in 1-3 months. While we will accept simultaneous submissions, we ask that you make us aware at the time of submission and communicate any changes regarding your manuscript as a matter of urgency.
Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2011.
Guest editor is Karen Connelly.
Thanks to novelist and expat in Japan, Suzanne Kamata, for making me aware of this opportunity.
The Institute welcomes submissions for Volume II of a new series dedicated to socially engaged fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry by women.
What to submit: Socially engaged works of fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry that interact with and challenge social injustices of our time.
Length: 5,000 word maximum for fiction and creative non-fiction; poetry up to 5 pages.
Fees: We do not charge reading fees.
Compensation and copyright: Each successful submission will receive 2 paperback copies of the anthology as payment. The Institute of Arts & Social Engagement (IASE) requests Non-exclusive Anthology and Electronic rights. IASE retains the right to continue selling back issues of the journal in print and electronic format.
How to submit: Send your manuscript as an attachment (.doc or .rtf only, please do not submit .DOCX files) to magnoliajournal@theiase.org. Submissions must be typed, double spaced, using standard Arial or Times 12pt. font. Include your last name and title of the work in the email subject line (EX. Smith – Title of the work).
Response time: All submissions will receive a written confirmation upon receipt, with a final decision in 1-3 months. While we will accept simultaneous submissions, we ask that you make us aware at the time of submission and communicate any changes regarding your manuscript as a matter of urgency.
Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2011.
Guest editor is Karen Connelly.
Thanks to novelist and expat in Japan, Suzanne Kamata, for making me aware of this opportunity.
Conversations with the Dead and Others
Never am I more aware that as a writer I am engaged in a conversation with all the other writers I have ever read than when I am involved in the act of putting together my notes to poems, as I was this week when assembling a short manuscript for another poet to look over. Then I am overwhelmed with the influences that have lead me to write and think as I do, and I feel grateful.
This week one of you wrote to me to tell me about how many Moby Dick references there are in Louise Erdrich's work, and I realized I am going to have to reread Erdrich now that I have read Moby Dick, so that I too can join in that conversation I hadn't even know was going on.
Yesterday I was listening to podcasts on the bus as I was on my way to a meeting, and during my hour commute, I heard two different podcasts about artists responding to other artists' work. First was a KUOW podcast, "Pessimism, Optimism and the Songs In Between," about a project in Seattle in which bands were assigned books and had to write and perform original songs in response. The books chosen included Nabokov's Pale Fire, Maggie Nelson's book of poetry Bluets, and Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island. The songs are assembled by Levi Fuller on the CD Ball of Wax.
The other podcast I listened to yesterday on the subject of artist-on-artist influence was an interview with best-selling author Arthur Phillips about his new book, The Tragedy of Arthur, at New Letters on the Air. Phillips does a number of interesting things in this novel (one of which is to blur the lines between fiction and memoir, something I have a fascination with, but that's for another post another time), one of which is that he writes a play that in the novel may or may not be an authentic work of Shakespeare.
So it's on my mind this week not only how much I owe to other writers, but also how much I owe it to myself to be selective in what I read, especially as I age and have less time to indulge in books. I used to read everything that came my way, start to finish, but lately I look at the stack of over 50 to-be-read books in my home, and don't feel motivated to open most of them. I am craving a new conversation, or a different one than the ones I have been having in the last few years, and I think it is the writer in me more than the reader that is craving inspiration. While I do read for escape, these days escape-reading bores me, and instead I want to be astounded by the creativity in what I read.
I read a lot of popular science, poetry, and short stories for ideas and stimulation. I also have been reading essays a lot in the past decade. And, I am a bit loathe to admit, some spiritual reading. But clearly I am in need of something new, something different, these days. I wonder what it will be.
This week one of you wrote to me to tell me about how many Moby Dick references there are in Louise Erdrich's work, and I realized I am going to have to reread Erdrich now that I have read Moby Dick, so that I too can join in that conversation I hadn't even know was going on.
Yesterday I was listening to podcasts on the bus as I was on my way to a meeting, and during my hour commute, I heard two different podcasts about artists responding to other artists' work. First was a KUOW podcast, "Pessimism, Optimism and the Songs In Between," about a project in Seattle in which bands were assigned books and had to write and perform original songs in response. The books chosen included Nabokov's Pale Fire, Maggie Nelson's book of poetry Bluets, and Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island. The songs are assembled by Levi Fuller on the CD Ball of Wax.
The other podcast I listened to yesterday on the subject of artist-on-artist influence was an interview with best-selling author Arthur Phillips about his new book, The Tragedy of Arthur, at New Letters on the Air. Phillips does a number of interesting things in this novel (one of which is to blur the lines between fiction and memoir, something I have a fascination with, but that's for another post another time), one of which is that he writes a play that in the novel may or may not be an authentic work of Shakespeare.
So it's on my mind this week not only how much I owe to other writers, but also how much I owe it to myself to be selective in what I read, especially as I age and have less time to indulge in books. I used to read everything that came my way, start to finish, but lately I look at the stack of over 50 to-be-read books in my home, and don't feel motivated to open most of them. I am craving a new conversation, or a different one than the ones I have been having in the last few years, and I think it is the writer in me more than the reader that is craving inspiration. While I do read for escape, these days escape-reading bores me, and instead I want to be astounded by the creativity in what I read.
I read a lot of popular science, poetry, and short stories for ideas and stimulation. I also have been reading essays a lot in the past decade. And, I am a bit loathe to admit, some spiritual reading. But clearly I am in need of something new, something different, these days. I wonder what it will be.
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