"Thy Will Be Done:" New Fiction on Monkeybicycle

Hey y'all, good morning. My latest short story was published today! You can read "Thy Will Be Done" right here.

Thank you to editor James Tate Hill for the amazing work he's published and promoted at Monkeybicycle, and for being so warm, gracious, and enthusiastic about my work. When he sent me the final edits, he included a compliment that I'm too embarrassed to share here, but let's just say it's one of the best remarks I've ever received about my writing. And thank you to Steven Seighman, who I believe posted it, and may be the one who included the perfect image accompaniment. Or it might've been J.T. who did so; either way, they both had hands in this publication, and I couldn't be more pleased.

And a thank you to Alyssa Zaczek, who graciously read this in its early stages when I wasn't sure the story was doing what it was supposed to do. Alyssa and I worked together very briefly in Chicago, and reconnected online. She's a fiercely talented writer and editor, and I'm grateful she took the time to help me. Keep her name bookmarked. Her work is wonderful, and she will be making even more joyful noise in the future.

I hope you enjoy reading this story. Have a great weekend.

Hypertrophic Press: Spring 2018 Issue

Hey y'all.

This post is a week overdue, but I'm thrilled to be part of Hypertrophic Press's Spring 2018 issue. My short story "Chinatown," originally published in Luna Luna Magazine (three! years ago), has been dusted off. The issue is available online and as a beautiful print issue, a lovely collection of poems and stories held together by some of the best artwork I've ever seen, courtesy of Victoria Olt.

You can purchase the print issue here.

Thank you to Lynsey Morandin and Jeremy Bronaugh for their hard work and dedication to this literary project. And a special thank you to Maddie Anthes, who works as their acquisitions editor and was gracious in accepting my work, which I didn't expect to be published again. Its original publication home underwent a redesign, and previous work vanished. "Chinatown" is one of my personal favorites, and I'm thrilled it's back out in the world again. I'm sending love to all three people: I hope editors and readers around the literary world know how much they're appreciated, since so much of what they do is behind the scenes.

And a thank you to AJ Wolff, b.g. thomas, Chloe N Clark, Courtney LeBlanc, Kanika Lawton, Hannah Gordon, Kathryn McMahon, Liz Howard, and Paul Schiernecker. It's an honor to be included with you and your amazing craft. Hugs and high fives all around.

TinyLetter: Rising Rejections

I just posted my first TinyLetter, a slightly rambling introduction to what I hope to accomplish with (hopefully) weekly letters and updates.

From now on, I'll just share the URL whenever I do a post, but for this first one, I'll share it here in full.

If you'd like to subscribe, you can do so here: https://tinyletter.com/jyatesLA

Even though I haven't posted here with any frequency, I'll still have original content that I'll update on this blog for the sake of variety. I like using social media in various forms, as in: not excessively cross-posting for one blandly unified collection of feeds.

Hi there, and welcome to my first TinyLetter.

I'm still figuring out how to navigate this space, and while I do have ideas on how I want this to take shape, there may be stumbles and hiccups along the way. So bear with me.

I first mentioned writing a TinyLetter a month or so ago. What I hope to accomplish is straightforward. After a year living in Lafayette, Louisiana, I want to document how my writing has changed after Southern immersion. Do I call myself a "Southern writer?" Is such a label necessary, and if so, what claim do I have? Just because I've eaten a ton of po' boys and I'm a writer, should I worry about how my new environment has shaped me? My last published story ("Love Bugs," Split Lip Magazine, December 2016) was explicitly Southern, and my latest WIP is heavily immersed in a Southern landscape. So am I a Southern writer? I don't know, but that's something I can explore later on. I'm concerned with how using my surroundings in fiction translates into honesty and reality, especially when faced with Southern stereotypes that I had in my head upon the move down here, and when famous Southern writers tend to form a small sect that is influential, both positively and negatively.

For now, as my bio suggests, I want to talk about anxiety, depression, and rejections. I hesitate to describe myself as depressed, because it's the kind of word that can be thrown around easily, and I've never been diagnosed with it, or treated for it. But my last several months were a spiral of negative feelings. After working as an adjunct instructor last fall, the university I worked for wasn't able to offer me any courses. I found myself dangerously unemployed for months, trying to find work in an area that had a) doesn't have a wealth of jobs available, and b) tends to give openings to family and friends in need of work. My girlfriend carried the financial weight, and I applies for dozens and dozens of jobs, with almost no return calls or emails. I was scared, depressed, and didn't know what to do. Between worrying about money and feeling isolated, my motivation to write was nonexistent, which led to even MORE writing anxiety: writers are supposed to write, no matter what. But I felt guilty and nervous carving out writing time when I didn't know what the future was going to hold.

I got damn lucky. A full-time management position was offered to me at the bookstore. I interviewed, got the job, and I'm now on better financial footing. And now I'm trying to get some long-simmer writing projects dusted off. I'm not entirely out of the woods. I still have anxieties and problems. And this is where writerly, geographic labels come back into play. I'm trying to be more brave, to write more openly about my problems. My reluctance to do so is a Midwestern trait (or, given my words above, a stereotype). I keep my fears bottled up.

And this is where this TinyLetter swoops in. I want to be more open, and I genuinely hope my own stumbles are reassuring to other creatives. This is a terribly simple hope, one I'll return to later.

Let's get back to rejections. Here are concrete numbers, presented as accurately as possible. Since January 2017, I've received:

16 short story rejections
14 novel rejections (both agents and presses)
1 fellowship rejection
1 essay rejection
1 poem rejection

I started submitting work back in 2012. I'm fully prepared for this to be the first year since then that I haven't had a single piece published. Of course, I still have many pieces both long and short floating around various journals and presses. These could be future rejections or acceptances. In addition to feeling like I wasn't a writer for most of this year, I've also dealt with the steady onslaught of rejections. Therefore, my anxieties have been twofold: "Writers write (which I struggled to do, given job woes and depression), and "Writers write to write, not to be published." I've struggled to accept this To borrow a phrase from writer Tasha Coryell, I think my post-MFA crisis year is this year, not last year. I had ups and downs last year, but I still ended 2016 with four publications.

I'm not treating this first entry as a full-fledged essay. I'm not going to say I've overcome the aforementioned obstacles, nor am I going to give any sappy notes to anyone who might be reading this, platitudes along the lines of "Hey, our struggles are the same!" We're not the same, you and I. I'm not going to assume that my being fairly open about my issues is going to make someone sit back, slap their forehead, and think "I'm not alone!" The psychology of writers and writing advice deals far too heavily in absolutes. I stop reading when I see phrases like "all writers must" and "real writers to do this." So if my future letters end up being looks at craft and process, I won't present them as set in stone. What works for me might work for you, but most likely not.

But here's the thing: you're not alone. Whatever you're dealing with, we all do. Am I being hypocritical? Yes, just as I'm hypocritical with my own creative struggles in the face of life struggles. Writing highs and lows are the same and different for everyone. But if my laying this out here offers you solace, I'm happy to do so. However, the last thing I want this TinyLetter to be is a sad sack diary entry. I want the majority of my messages to be detailed unpackings of current WIPs, readings, and entries on what it means to be Southern when one is a transplant (I plan to propose this as a presentation for next year's Deep South in the Global South conference).

I've been editing this over the last two days, but I'm going to stop for now. Thank you for reading these initial ramblings. And welcome.

-James Yates
August 28, 2017

TinyLetter Debut

I've let this site lag quite a bit lately, but I've started something that might help me jump start some new posts and ideas.

I have a TinyLetter account now. You can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/jyatesLA

Here's a brief synopsis of what I hope to accomplish with this new platform: "I'm writer based in Lafayette, Louisiana, originally from Chicago (and, in a roundabout way, Lynnwood, Washington). In addition to my very sporadically updated blog, I want to use this TinyLetter to work through some forthcoming projects and ideas. Also, as I come out of a very long personal/creative funk, I hope my notes and thoughts help other creatives know they're not alone."

Once I get the posts up and running, I'll copy and paste them here as well.

Happy reading and writing, y'all.

The Literary Magazine Project: Introduction

In the past, when I updated this blog regularly, I often did two things consistently: 1.) I'd have a great idea, say something along the lines of "I'll write about this soon!", and then never get back to it. 2.) I'd recognize this failure, claim to not make plans in writing, and then the cycle would repeat again.

But in this case, I'm taking on a smaller scale project for 2017, and I think the benefits I'll outline here have merit.

The accompanying photo shows two shelves of back issue literary magazines and journals. While I'm sure others have much more impressive collections, I have to admit that I haven't finished a lot of these. There are a handful that I've read front to back, some issues I've read selections out of, and some that I haven't touched. People love to talk about collecting books, and this word has spawned endless memes and book posts. But what about literary magazines? Are they counted as books, especially when piled up? Or should they be considered their own class?

This also came about because there are many books I want to reread this year, and I realized that nobody talks about rereading literary magazines. I'm not under the assumption that I'm doing anything unique or radical. This is my own project, to help myself as I put more emphasis on supporting the literary community that has supported me.

I'm not concerned with definitions; what I am concerned with is dusting off some older archives, and giving new attention to pieces that might not have been widely read in the last couple years. When literary magazines are published, they receive attention, hopefully some sales, but this often isn't sustained. The bump in sales and clicks is probably at its strongest when the issue debuts. What I'm hoping for is a renewal of this energy.

So for the rest of 2017, I'm going to read these all from beginning to end, and I'll document hidden gems, early pieces from now well-known writers, and give older literature a bump.

I'll also add to my collection as the year goes on, through single issues that I find and through subscriptions that I'll be taking out in due time. As for online literary journals, I'll work those in, but I'm not sure how. For now, the focus is on the printed, physical ones, especially in this age when not many journals still produce actual magazines.

I started this last night, and I already made a pleasant discovery: I'm reading a 2010 issue of Eleven Eleven Journal, and I read an early piece by Alissa Nutting, one of my favorite fiction writers. I'll include more analysis when I report back on the issue, but this is what I want: to see the early development of writers, and to discover names that have slipped under my radar. Maybe these are writers who are still widely published; maybe I'll fall in love with a story by someone who published one piece of fiction in 2012 and never published again.

I'll either do single issue recaps, multiple issue analysis, or a combination of the two. I might incorporate online magazines as well, but this will mostly be devoted to the physical copies, old and new.

If anything else comes to mind, I'll update this post accordingly. For now, I like this foundation, and I'm eager to really get it moving.

2016 Readings, 2017 Goals

Happy New Year, y'all. Here's my annual reading recap.

For starters, this is what I wrote last year, when I revisited my 2015 readings: "In 2016, I want to read more classics, more international translations, and spend more money on small press titles. My goals will fluctuate as the year goes on, but I think that's a good starting point."

Back in 2015, I read 93 books. This year, my total went down to 55, but I have good excuses. First, my girlfriend and I moved from Chicago to Lafayette, Louisiana for her PhD candidacy. From packing, to planning, to coordinating the drive down south (helped immensely by my brother and sister-in-law), reading time was taken up by this. I also started teaching English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I highly enjoyed teaching, but was unaccustomed to how time consuming it is. Lesson planning, class readings, assignment preparations, student meetings, grading, and general anxiety about essentially performing four times a week in front of nearly fifty students: I read fewer books from September to December. I started several, but they took over a month to read when they should've taken a week at most.

My goals for 2017 as a reader aren't as detailed as my goals as a writer. I (still) want to spend more money on small press titles, because we as a community need to sustain them. I'm not preaching from a soapbox, because I could have done more to financially support worthy literary organizations. With the Trump administration just weeks away (oh fuck, just typing that makes me angry), small presses will need to to remain voices and homes for the voices that might be silenced or marginalized by the powers that be. I want to remain optimistic about 2017, but deep down, I worry it'll be a shitshow. So, I want to do less talking about supporting diverse demographics and more buying, reading, and promoting of them.

So this means I'll do everything I can to help small presses and literary magazines. I also have an entire shelf of great literary magazine back issues (Hobart, American Short Fiction, Fence, Tin House) that need attention.

I'd love to hear your goals, too. As always, I'm eager for recommendations.

Here's to 2017. As we read and write, don't forget to fight back against the backwards thinking that wants to prevail in our culture. This is a challenge to myself more than anything.

My 2016 readings are listed below:



1.) Mothers, Tell Your Daughters by Bonnie Jo Campbell

2.) Crazy Horse's Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth

3.) Negroland by Margo Jefferson

4.) Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexual by Patricia Lockwood

5.) Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

6.) Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

7.) The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks

8.) Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago by Gillian O'Brien

9.) Not Dark Yet by Berit Ellingsen

10.) Elegy/Elk River by Michael Schmeltzer

11.) What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

12.) The Girl Who Could Only Say 'sex, drugs, and rock & roll' by Kendra Fortmeyer

13.) The Farmacist by Ashley Farmer

14.) The Revelator by Robert Kloss

15.) Slut Lullabies by Gina Frangello

16.) Find Me by Laura van den Berg

17.) The Ghost Network by Catie Disabato

18.) The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

19.) Cataclysm Baby by Matt Bell (re-read)

20.) A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

21.) If I Knew the Way, I Would Take You Home by Dave Housley

22.) The Upper Peninsula Misses You by Mark Magoon

23.) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

24.) Long, Last, Happy: New and Collected Stories by Barry Hannah

25.) The Vegetarian by Han Kang

26.) Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle

27.) The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation by Natalie Y. Moore

28.) Please Don't Be Upset and Other Stories by Brandi Wells

29.) The New York Stories by Ben Tanzer

30.) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

31.) My Only Wife by Jac Jemc (re-read)

32.) Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss

33.) Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA by Jonathan Abrams

34.) Beloved by Toni Morrison (re-read)

35.) Chronicle of a Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi

36.) Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

37.) Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith

38.) The Tennessee Highway Death Chant by Keegan Jennings Goodman

39.) McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

40.) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

41.) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks

42.) Dandarians: Poems by Lee Ann Roripaugh

43.) Insurrections: Stories by Rion Amilcar Scott

44.) Twenty Grand and Other Tales of Love and Money by Rebecca Curtis

45.) Mesogeios by Steve Karas

46.) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

47.) How the Post Office Created America: A History by Winifred Gallagher

48.) Sex Object: A Memoir by Jessica Valenti

49.) The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward

50.) Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar

51.) No Man's Wild Laura by Beth Gilstrap

52.) The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai

53.) Sing the Song by Meredith Alling

54.) Swing Time by Zadie Smith

55.) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

Chicago Flashbacks: A 2013 Interview with Ben Tanzer

Two weeks ago,my girlfriend and I moved from Chicago to Lafayette, Louisiana, as she prepares to embark on her PhD studies at the University of Louisiana. While this is an exciting new phase, in a fantastically different landscape from the Midwestern lives we've been used to, there's also the challenge of immersing myself in a new literary community, one concentrated in what feels like a small town (in reality, Lafayette is the fourth biggest city in Louisiana, I believe; in addition to the University, there's a beautiful downtown and fantastic restaurants sprinkled in unexpected areas off the main roads).

I'm going to be teaching two English composition courses at the university, and once I get into that groove, and once we explore the city (and hopefully nearby New Orleans in due time), the transition will feel more complete. For now, though, I still feel pang of homesickness, and I remember why I started this blog in the first place: back in 2008, I impulsively moved to Washington state, and thought this would be a log of new landscape experiences. Instead, it turned into a film and book review blog, and the upkeep of this site led me to renew my focus on creative writing. Eight (!) years later, I have my MFA, I have a novel draft that's almost ready to send out (Hi agents! Hi publishers!), and I'm about to start teaching at the university level.

Where am I going with these ramblings? I've neglected this space pretty heavily over the last three years, updating sporadically, mainly showcasing my publications when they happen. I don't want to make any goals on how I'll dust off this blog, but I'd like to start with a piece of writing I recently unearthed. Back in 2013, I had to do an interview as part of a creative nonfiction assignment, and I reached out to Chicago writer Ben Tanzer. I'd read his work, loved it, and found him to be gracious and hilarious on social media. To my surprise, he readily agreed to take time and meet with me. Little did I know that I'd end up doing readings with him, and fostering what became a genuine friendship. In 2015, we read together for the book launch of Steve Karas' Kinda Sorta American Dream. After, we went out for drinks, and Ben insisted I ask him whenever I had questions about publishing, writing, or life in general. It doesn't matter if I end up moving back to Chicago or just end up visiting sporadically. Ben will always be a warm link to Chicago for me, and I'll always be grateful for his guidance as I stumble toward life as a professional writer (whatever the hell that means). So here's the transcript of my first meeting with him. I've edited parts (mainly to clean up some bad writing of mine), but almost three years later, I think this reveals some good ideas. Thanks, Ben.

Also, Ben has a new book out: Be Cool is now available from the great people at Dock Street Press. So if you'd like, read this and then order the book from your favorite independent bookseller.

Ben Tanzer Interview: October, 2013

The rise of social media has made it possible to blur the definition and distinction of "stranger." Last fall, I became acquainted with Chicago writer Ben Tanzer after I read and reviewed My Father's House, a novella published by Main Street Rag. Mr. Tanzer shared my review on his website and his social media feeds and sent me a thank-you email for my review. Since then, we've followed each other on Twitter and have been Facebook friends without actually meeting in person; however, I've met him twice in the last week.

I attended a book launch last Saturday at City Lit Books in Logan Square for Friend.Follow.Text., a collection of stories about digital culture, and Tanzer read his excerpt. The previous week, he agreed to meet with me as the subject for this interview, and I talked to him after the reading. We finally introduced ourselves, and actually had proper faces to put with our social media handles. We met the following Monday at the Starbucks on Wabash and Jackson. I wanted to interview Ben for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, his fiction explores contemporary masculinity in complex ways, not shying away from negative aspects. This is a subject I want to explore more in my own fiction and creative nonfiction writings.

Tanzer is interested in twenty-first century men, but he explained to me that he wants to write stronger female characters. This is yet another idea that I've been conscious of in my own work. With Tanzer, he explained this need not with any grand social meaning, but out a necessity for male writers to make sure they're not just exploring their own views and sensibilities.

Tanzer is very active on Facebook and Twitter, which ties nicely into his inclusion in the Friend.Follow.Text. anthology. He also maintains a blog and website, devoted to publicizing other writers and books, in addition to sharing reviews of his own work. However, he maintains a strict distinction between marketing and writing, saying "I would never market [myself] instead of write." I also asked him about his online persona. His blog is called This Blog Will Change Your Life, and online, he maintains a steadily sarcastic, hop voice. In real life, however, he's polite and expansive in his answers. He started the blog back when, in his words, "nobody was blogging," and he wanted to create a mini-universe and tongue-in-cheek "media empire," making it a fake corporate blog. This backfired on him at one point: an unnamed writer, upon reading Tanzer's debut novel, was disappointed that the book didn't literally change his life. He wrote a long complaint to Tanzer, who was perplexed that anyone could confused a literary work with an obviously satirical website.

My work with Longform.org has helped me familiarize myself with small presses and independent journals; that's how I discovered Tanzer in the first place. I stumbled upon his short story "The Gift," published in The 2nd Hand, after a random Google search for local journals. I asked him how he views the sheer number of places for writers to publish their work, both in print and online. He believes it's very good for writers, since it gives them wider audiences and readers. For readers, however, Tanzer maintains that the volume is good and bad. There are a lot of journals that publish work of poor quality, and the amount of reading available is such that one can never read everything.

This brought me to the final question of my interview. Tanzer is married with two boys, works full-time doing social media work for a nonprofit, and finds the time to write a variety of stories and novels (Orphans was released this week, with a starred review in Publisher's Weekly), in addition to reading a staggering amount of outside fiction. He's very strict about his time.

"If my wife and kids go out unexpectedly, I never look at it as 'oh, I have half an hour to myself to sit on the couch and watch TV.' I made it my writing time. I strip the fat out of my day." I asked him about this because I find myself daunted with my school activities and my day job, but Tanzer believes that, no matter how busy one is, there is more time in the day than most people realize. He makes his day segmented, balancing his outside responsibilities with his duties as a reader and writer.

This interview wasn't conducted out of a need to research a specific topic, but it was done because Tanzer represents so many intangible ideas that come up in my writings and research. I wanted to get his opinion on these ideas-masculinity, time management, and independent journals- because, combined, these make up the vast majority of my interests. For as familiar as I am with independent journals, I wanted to hear a new take on their numbers and qualities. And most importantly, I believe this interview has given me a new contact within the literary world; while Mr. Tanzer and I have been in touch over the last year, he's always been quick to answer my messages and questions.

He closed the interview by insisting that I email him with any further questions or to set up times to meet for coffee and more discussions. This was a genuine offer, and I'm confident that, should I need an outside opinion on creative matters or subjects, I have someone I can reach out to for insights and guidance. This will prove to be very valuable during the course of my MFA candidacy. So while I'm still considering various creative nonfiction projects, this interview provided me with an excellent face-to-face with a writer who touches upon my concerns.

"The Farmacist" Review: The Collagist

Hi there.

I have another book review up, again hosted by the fine, hard-working people behind The Collagist.

I reviewed The Farmacist, a delightfully weird puzzle of a novel(la) by Ashley Farmer. The book was published late last year to kick off Jellyfish Highway, a publisher spearheaded by Justin Lawrence Daugherty and Matt Fogarty. They have many projects slated for 2016, and I'm eager to see what comes out.

For now, you can read my review here. And check out the rest of The Collagist here. And for more information on Jellyfish Highway Press, click...you guessed it...here.

"Empire State Building" at matchbook literary magazine

I'm normally more punctual here. Last Monday, my latest short story went up at one of my favorite literary journals: matchbook literary magazine.

My story, titled "Empire State Building," is a piece of flash fiction about family tall tales, infrastructures, and a weird, mysterious possibility. It went through many drafts, and thanks to some terrific editing and assistance on the part of R.B. Pillay, it made its way into this new, final form.

You can read my piece here. Thank you to R.B. and Brian Mihok for their care and time with my work, and for allowing me to have space next to some of my favorite writers.

2015 Readings, 2016 Goals

It's time for my annual reading recap, where I list my readings for the year, compare it to my original goals, and make tentative plans for 2016.

Earlier this year, I wrote:

"So for 2015, I want my final tally to be 75-80% women writers, and with more minority and GLBT voices as well (any recommendations? I'd love to hear them). I'm not going to make a number prediction. I was happy to break 80 titles, and if I stay within the 70-80 range, I'll be happy. As I always say: quality beats quantity. With that in mind, I'm not ranking these titles under any "great/good/mediocre" categories, but merely writing out the reading list chronologically."

I ended up reading 93 titles, a nice little bump from last year. As for the gender breakdown: 68 women, 24 men, and 1 anthology (which was split down the middle, more or less). This rough estimate means I read around 73% women writers, which is below my stated goal of 75-80%. Overall, I'm pleased, but I want to keep that going in 2016.

Here's the list:


1.) The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink

2.) Promising Young Women by Suzanne Scanlon

3.) Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli

4.) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

5.) My Only Wife by Jac Jemc

6.) Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

7.) My Ántonia by Willa Cather

8.) On Immunity by Eula Biss

9.) The Hook and the Haymaker by Jared Yates Sexton

10.) Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska

11.) What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg

12.) An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

13.) A Taxonomy of the Space Between Us by Caleb Daniel Curtiss

14.) Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid

15.) Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (re-read)

16.) The Street by Ann Petry

17.) I am Barbarella by Beth Gilstrap

18.) Jillian by Halle Butler

19.) Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat

20.) Don't Ask Me to Spell it Out by Robert James Russell

21.) Pushing the Bear: After the Trail of Tears by Diane Glancy

22.) The Revolution of Every Day by Cari Luna

23.) Today I am a Book by xTx

24.) Sidewalks by Valeria Luiselli

25.) This Boring Apocalypse by Brandi Wells

26.) Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

27.) Her 37th Year: An Index by Suzanne Scanlon

28.) Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

29.) The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic by Jessica Hopper

30.) Toughlahoma by Christian TeBordo

31.) Creature by Amina Cain

32.) Above All Men by Eric Shonkwiler

33.) This Must Be the Place by Sean H. Doyle

34.) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

35.) On the Way by Cyn Vargas

36.) Families Among Us by Blake Kimzey

37.) Other Kinds by Dylan Nice

38.) I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita

39.) Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith

40.) The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

41.) Someday This Will Be Funny by Lynne Tillman

42.) Can't and Won't by Lydia Davis

43.) Kindred by Octavia Butler

44.) Black Cloud by Juliet Escoria

45.) The Brothers by Masha Gessen

46.) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

47.) Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

48.) The Last Illusion by Porochista Khakpour

49.) Deep Violence: Military Violence, War Play, and the Social Life of Weapons by Joanna Bourke

50.) Hollywood Notebook by Wendy C. Ortiz

51.) Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy

52.) Scrapper by Matt Bell

53.) Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

54.) Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont

55.) Invisible Women by Lily Hoang

56.) Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith

57.) Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet

58.) Locked Away by Gabe Durham

59.) Man Bites Cloud by Bob Schofield

60.) Doll Palace by Sara Lippmann

61.) Oracle by Cate Marvin

62.) The Other Serious: Essays For the New American Generation by Christy Wampole

63.) The Black Automaton by Douglas Kearney

64.) Mesilla by Robert James Russell

65.) Hank by Abraham Smith

66.) You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman

67.) To Be Human is to Be a Conversation by Andrea Rexilius

68.) A View From Above by Wilt Chamberlain

69.) Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales by Tom Williams

70.) The Good Thief by Marie Howe

71.) For You, for You I am Trilling These Songs by Kathleen Rooney

72.) Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

73.) The Way We Weren't by Jill Talbot

74.) Ecodeviance: (Soma)tics For the Future Wilderness by CA Conrad

75.) Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser

76.) The Story of my Teeth by Valeria Luiselli

77.) Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

78.) Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi

79.) The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

80.) Kinda Sorta American Dream by Steve Karas

81.) A Highly Unlikely Scenario by Rachel Cantor

82.) Between Parentheses by Roberto Bolaño

83.) Bottom of the Ninth by Wyl Villacres

84.) The Face of Baseball by Robyn Ryle

85.) Resurrection Science by M.R. O'Connor

86.) Does Not Love by James Tadd Adcox

87.) Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

88.) Gutshot by Amelia Gray

89.) Drawing Blood by Molly Crabapple

90.) Meaty by Samantha Irby

91.) Flashes of Life by Micah Ling

92.) The Best Small Fictions 2015 edited by Tara L. Masih and Robert Olen Butler

93.) The Invaders by Karolina Waclawiak

I don't like to pick favorites, because with such a mix of novels, story collections, poetry, and creative nonfiction/essays, it's silly to do any kind of ranking, since all of these books were terrific in their own ways. I would like to thank Cari Luna, Porochista Khakpour, and Eric Shonkwiler for their works, since I read them at times when I struggled with my own novel/thesis. Their works are wildly different from each other and from what I was writing at the time, but their characters, pacing, and layers served as inspirations for me. Thank you.


I'm also partial to Suzanne Scanlon's books. She's one of my favorite writers and has been such a valuable teacher and mentor to me, providing tremendous help in my own work.

This total might be skewed because I read more poetry and chapbooks this year, but a book is a book. I wouldn't go up to a chapbook author on this list and say "hey, I loved your work, but I'm not counting it because it's only 80 pages." Hell no.

In 2016, I want to read more classics, more international translations, and spend more money on small press titles. My goals will fluctuate as the year goes on, but I think that's a good starting point.

As always: feedback is welcome. Recommendations are gleefully accepted, especially minority and GLBT works that I should keep on my radar.

Happy 2016, all.

Book Reviews in The Collagist

It's been awhile since I last contributed book reviews, and I'm pleased to finally contribute to one of my favorite literary journals.

I reviewed three e-books for the November issue of The Collagist: Locked Away by Gabe Durham, Invisible Women by Lily Hoang, and Man Bites Cloud by Bob Schofield (Publishing Genuis, 2015). These are stellar, diverse writers, and I was honored to spend time with their words.

You can read my review here. And if you click here, you can check out the rest of this awesome issue.

Thanks to Matthew Olzmann, Gabriel Blackwell, and Michael Jauchen for being terrific editors and putting a lot of time into one of the web's best literary resources. I'm grateful to be a small part of it.

"The Cookie Sun:" Vol. 1 Brooklyn Sunday Stories

This should be a great week. I'm starting my final (!!) semester of my MFA on Tuesday, and thesis is rolling along. I always fail to meet timetables, but I hope to have a draft of my novel done by mid or late September. Exciting times. Overwhelming, exhausting, scary, but exciting.

Also, I have a new short story published! I'm thrilled to be this week's Sunday Story at Vol. 1 Brooklyn, a phenomenal literary website that has published work by some of my favorite writers. It's still weird to see my name there.

My story is called "The Cookie Sun." You can read it here.

I wrote my first draft of this back in 2009, not long after I moved back to Chicago from the suburbs of Seattle. While the first drafts sucked, it was part of my breakout, my transition from unmotivated writing to taking my work much more seriously. Last fall, I workshopped it for one of my creative writing classes, and I finally got it into the draft you can read above.

If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Tobias Carroll and Jason Diamond of Vol. 1 Brooklyn for being astounding writers and literary citizens, and for giving my work a new home.

The Debut of HOBART HANDBOOKS

Aaron Burch and Jensen Beach have launched a new division of Hobart: Another Literary Journal: HOBART HANDBOOKS. I can't describe it properly, so I'll copy and paste from the "About" page:

"Envisioned as a kind of mash-up of all things Hobart-related (website, print issues, book division, goofy ideas), Hobart Handbooks will publish 2-3 books/year, likely alternating themed anthologies (focused on reprinting some of the best from the Hobart archives, as well as new work and art and design) with single author books, and possibly occasional special projects. Of course, like all things Hobart, it’s still a project in motion and, while we have some exciting ideas, we’re making it up as we go. But we’re excited to see where it goes."

The first-ever Hobart Handbook is a best of the annual online Hobart baseball issue, and I'm honored that "Hands of Grace," my first ever publication, is included, therefore making this my first ever print publication. Thank you to Aaron and Jensen for including my work. I've used the word "honor" a lot in promoting this collection, but I'm not using it lightly. It's an honor to have my work in this new project, and to have my fiction sharing space with some stunning writers, including (but even close to being limited to): Jill Talbot, Justin St. Germain, Ben Lyon, Jim Ruland, and Elizabeth Ellen, to name a few.

Want to buy a copy: click here. Until July 16th (tomorrow), the book is available for a donation. The minimum is $4 to cover shipping, the maximum is up to how generous you want to be.

The Hobart Handbooks website is here. There's a bundle option, so you can receive the baseball book, a forthcoming book by Micah Ling, and the third book in the Handbook series.

Again, I'm thrilled to be included in this kickoff. Read, donate, support!

Flutterfucked: Reading Snapshots

In order to devote more time to writing my novel, I've taken an extended break from social media. I haven't posted on Twitter and Facebook in two weeks. But that's not to say I'm completely off the grid: I'll admit to scrolling from time to time, and I've been more active on Instagram (it's an outlet and a pleasant distraction, but one that, for me, doesn't lend itself to endless, mindless staring).

I'm sure I'll have the occasional post in the next couple weeks; this isn't an endless break, just a small one, because I found myself thinking of all the time I spend gazing at a screen without any engagement. Of course, I'm still wasting time online, but it's easier to blink when browsing, say, ESPN or NPR for long stretches.

Being off social media means I haven't liked or shared my reading activity. I'm writing this to showcase some of the things I read this week that stuck with me.

1.) I finally read Juliet Escoria's BLACK CLOUD, a stunning collection of stories (with a linked theme of depression, addiction, and loneliness) published last year by Civil Coping Mechanisms. I've followed Juliet online for awhile, and the book had been on my to-read list ever since it came out. I snagged a copy at AWP and finally devoured it. Some highlights:

"The train comes but it has the wrong number on the front and I move myself to the middle of the platform, because suddenly I realize how beautiful it would be to jump. If there were swords in stones with the pricks facing outwards, I would surely hurl my heart at one, just to try it, just to say that I did. To see what it feels like to have something slice me open (85)."

"I wanted to stop speaking now, but I had already treaded too far. The words tumbled out of my mouth in ribbons, bitter and curling. I watched his eyes glaze over as I spoke. I watched his pupils turn into flat disks, dull and dry as paper (103)."

2.) The spring issue of Wyvern Lit was published this week. There are so many literary magazines out there, and Wyvern Editor-in-Chief Brent Rydin has done a stellar job of making each issue kill. Click here to browse the spring issue (including their first-ever inclusion of poetry!)

I made the story "Other Gods" by Emily Carpenter the Longform Fiction Pick of the Week. It's a stunningly crafted examination of weather, religion, and combinations thereof that lead to unexpected catastrophes:

"On the tenth of April, Our Heavenly Father sent a tornado that wiped out practically the whole town of Rosewood. Every family lost their home. The Murphys, Engels, Hillyers, Rathbuns, Randalls, Wyatts. Everybody. The grocery and the hardware store were smashed to pieces. The post office, the school, and the fire station—all gone too.

The only buildings left standing were the church, the armory, and my house. My house, praise the Lord, with me in it."

3.) I'm leaning toward making July a month devoted exclusively to my stack of literary magazines, but I started Issue 22.1 of Yemassee, co-edited by the stellar writer/reader Matt Fogarty. A poem by Rachel Mindell caught my eye right away with a terrific use of what is now my favorite word: "flutterfucked:"

...There's this good spot. We could just get
in any car. The miles would part their legs
for us headscarves all flutterfucked.
As it stands, I possess a near doctorate...

4.) And finally, something I should have written about a couple months ago. I'm super excited that Steve Karas' debut story collection, Kinda Sorta American Dream, is being published this fall by Tailwinds Press. I had the fortune to read this collection awhile back, and I'm thrilled it has found a home. Steve is one of the best short story writers and literary citizens around, and I can't wait to hold the book in its physical form. I'll update once there's a set publication date.

I'll do more updates, especially when I do my literary magazine project. I'm eager to read new and old journals that I've been collecting, and I'm sure there are plenty of brilliant pieces by writers with whom I'm unfamiliar, waiting to be discovered. Can't wait. And thank you for reading.

"Mythos:" WhiskeyPaper Story of the Week

I've been running around like a crazy person this week--in my novel writing workshop, we're starting massive manuscript edits, and in my Women's Literature course, I had to prepare and give an in-class presentation. And there's this writing conference I'm heading to today. AW...something.

So I'm using a rare 20 minutes of downtime for a cool announcement: On Sunday, Mythos, a piece of my flash fiction, was published as the story of the week at the great journal WhiskeyPaper.

I've been reading WhiskeyPaper for years, and they've published work by a staggering lineup of my favorite writers: Wendy C. Ortiz, Ben Tanzer, Amanda Miska, Sean H. Doyle, and many others. There's no way to say this and not have it sound obvious or trite, but seeing my work in the same place as these people is a fucking honor.

WhiskeyPaper is edited and run by the wonderful wife and husband team of Leesa Cross-Smith and Loran Smith. They edit and maintain such a wonderful literary home, and Leesa is easily one of the top five nicest, kindest writers you can ever care to meet.

The link to my story is here.

WhiskeyPaper recently published their first chapbook, a stunning, beautiful collection of stories by Robert James Russell titled DON'T ASK ME TO SPELL IT OUT. It's for sale here, as well as a delightfully awesome WhiskeyPaper koozie. There's photo evidence below:

We all love to share and support independent literature. But an even better way to support is with dollars. Keep indie presses alive.

See you at AWP!

"Chinatown" Now Live at Luna Luna Magazine

I'm really thrilled for my first publication of 2015. It's a short story called "Chinatown," published by the fine people at Luna Luna Magazine.

The piece is set in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood and explores cultural awareness, loneliness, and fear. I wrote a first draft about three years ago. I submitted it to a literary magazine, and while it was declined, I received my very first personalized rejection letter. After including it in my MFA applications, I sat on it, dusted it off some more, and it received a lovely response from Amanda Miska, who's now the Editor-In-Chief of Split Lip Magazine. Amanda is a wonderful friend and editor, and I'm grateful she gave this work a home. It's one of my personal favorites, and I hope you'll give it a read.

Here's the link.

2014 Readings, 2015 Goals

Happy New Year!

As I've done the last two years, I'm recapping the books I read in the last calendar year, and sharing some goals for this next year. Last January, my goals were:

"... in 2014, I want to read 65-70 books. I'm currently halfway through Ben Tanzer's Orphans (a science fiction novel, something I didn't touch upon last year, depending on one's definition) and I'm starting NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names, which starts me off on an ongoing goal to read more minority and women writers. So yeah, I'm pleased. My focus is more on writing, but reading is essential to that balance."

I'm pleased to note that I went above that estimate and finished with 81 titles. Throughout the year, I thought I was reading more women writers than men, but after reviewing my list, the total wasn't as high as I hoped. So for 2015, I want my final tally to be 75-80% women writers, and with more minority and GLBT voices as well (any recommendations? I'd love to hear them). I'm not going to make a number prediction. I was happy to break 80 titles, and if I stay within the 70-80 range, I'll be happy. As I always say: quality beats quantity. With that in mind, I'm not ranking these titles under any "great/good/mediocre" categories, but merely writing out the reading list chronologically.

I'm writing my own novel this year, so any reading I do will be done with an eye for narrative voice, syntax, and spacing as I attempt to make sense of my own project. So, without further ado, here are the books I knocked out in 2014:

1.) Orphans by Ben Tanzer

2.) We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

3.) The Isle of Youth by Laura van den Berg

4.) Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus

5.) Remainder by Tom McCarthy

6.) Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor

7.) Blood and Soap by Linh Dinh

8.) The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

9.) Samedi the Deafness by Jesse Ball

10.) Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

11.) Threats by Amelia Gray

12.) AM/PM by Amelia Gray (re-read)

13.) The Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again by Sven Birkerts

14.) Bluets by Maggie Nelson

15.) Fugue State by Brian Evenson

16.) One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses by Lucy Corin

17.) Steps by Jerzy Kosinski

18.) Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

19.) China Cowboy by Kim Gek Lin Short

20.) Embassytown by China Mieville

21.) Lost in Space by Ben Tanzer

22.) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

23.) The Fun We've Had by Michael J. Seidlinger

24.) The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

25.) Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

26.) You Only Get Letters From Jail by Jodi Angel

27.) The Lover by Marguerite Duras

28.) The Weirdness by Jeremy P. Bushnell

29.) Up Up and Away by Jonah Keri

30.) The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick

31.) Every Kiss a War by Leesa Cross-Smith

32.) Big Bad Asterisk* by Carlo Matos

33.) The Last Days of California by Mary Miller

34.) Horse, Flower, Bird by Kate Bernheimer

35.) Every Day is For the Thief by Teju Cole

36.) Sky Girl by Rosemary Griggs

37.) The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense by Tim Kinsella

38.) Motorman by David Ohle

39.) The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich

40.) The Holy Ghost People by Joshua Young

41.) Angry White Men by Michael Kimmel

42.) The Great Frustration by Seth Fried

43.) Fast Machine by Elizabeth Ellen

44.) Backswing by Aaron Burch

45.) You Feel So Mortal by Peggy Shinner

46.) The Crystal Eaters by Shane Jones

47.) The New Black, various writers, edited by Richard Thomas

48.) Neverhome by Laird Hunt

49.) Alone in America by Robert Ferguson

50.) Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro

51.) Notable American Women by Ben Marcus

52.) If I Would Leave Myself Behind by Lauren Becker

53.) Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins

54.) Commercial Fiction by Dave Housley

55.) Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

56.) Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (re-read)

57.) Princesse de Cleves by Madame de Lafayette

58.) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (re-read)

59.) Democracy by Joan Didion

60.) Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

61.) The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

62.) Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (re-read)

63.) Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison

64.) Candide by Voltaire

65.) The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

66.) A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne

67.) Sprawl by Danielle Dutton

68.) Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

69.) The Poor Man's Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide by Schuler Benson

70.) Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

71.) Distant Star by Roberto Bolano

72.) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

73.) Women by Chloe Caldwell

74.) Excavation by Wendy C. Ortiz

75.) Binary Star by Sarah Gerard

76.) Forest of Fortune by Jim Ruland

77.) Once I Was Cool by Megan Stielstra

78.) A Different Bed Every Time by Jac Jemc

79.) Fat Man and Little Boy by Mike Meginnis

80.) Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter

81.) Kill Manual by Cassandra Troyan

Some brief notes on these readings:

--I smiled when I typed this out and wrote the names Ben Tanzer, Megan Stielstra, and Leesa-Cross Smith. Back in July, I had the amazing honor of reading with these amazing people (including Paul Luikart and Steve Karas) in support of Leesa's debut story collection (the aforementioned Every Kiss a War). Frankly, I need to get more confident about reading my work in public. I'm really new to that part of the game, and I'm still honored that I was invited to share the stage with these lovely, talented people. I'll never forget that evening.

--I can't pick a favorite book, but one that stuck with me a lot was Binary Star, which is being published this month. Sarah Gerard writes with amazing details, forms, and emotions, and I was fascinated, repelled, and captivated by the relationship in her book. Read it when you get a chance. Yes, you.

--As I write my own novel, I'm constantly struggling with spacing, details, and how the narrative voice should take shape. I'm grateful for Jim Ruland's Forest of Fortune and Lindsay Hunter's Ugly Girls. These novels have very distinct narrative voices, and the pacing and layouts gave me ideas on how to go about my own story. This project is a challenge, but I'm happy that I can read books with an eye for narrative. For this, I also thank my professor Kyle Beachy and his "Finding Voices" workshop this fall.

--A final shout-out to Megan Stielstra. Once I Was Cool was such a wonderful collection, and I almost cried on the train when I read the essay "This is Scary and Here I Go:"

It was in that quad, on my way to my very first class, that the panic kicked in: What am I doing here? How did I get here? Am I a total fraud?

I've grown so much as a writer over these last couple years, yet, when I'm struggling with a piece of writing, or I get another form rejection letter, I sometimes wonder if I'm a fraud and will have the rug pulled out from under me. But I realize that some of my favorite writers struggle with this all the time. When I finished this book, I tweeted that it made me feel less alone. And for this, I'll always be grateful for having read it. Thank you, Megan. I needed that.

Have a productive 2015, everyone. Thank you to the writers on this long list. I'm glad I spent time with you.

My Writing Process Blog Tour

My Writing Process Blog Tour

I can't thank Beth Gilstrap enough for sending this invitation my way. She's an extremely talented writer ("A Girl and a Civil War Dress" is so moving and beautifully written/spaced), and her Twitter feed has pointed me to other great writers and literary organizations. She's working on a book, and I can't wait until it's ready to be put out into the world.

What Are You Working On?

Right now, as in this week, I'm editing an old story that I've had in my files for over a year. It's a weird little story about a second (and last) date and a partner's confession to a strange fetish. In the long run, I'm working on a novel for my Master's thesis. It's still in the planning stages (He's thinking about writing a novel? Roll your eyes...now!). It's a dark family drama about fractured identities with a father's evolving obsession with various forms of reality TV and social media outlets. Once that's done, I plan to turn my attention to a short story collection. It wasn't until recently that I noticed slight common threads in some of my published fiction, and reflecting on the latest collections by Leesa Cross-Smith (Every Kiss a War) and Aaron Burch (Backswing), I'm eager to see if I can eventually produce a collection that, upon reading, has a collective meaning. That might sound like a stretch, but really, my favorite story collections leave me with a feeling that is a sum of the individual stories, even if the stories aren't explicitly related.

How Does Your Work Differ From Others of Its Genre?

Right now, that's a complicated question. With maybe one or two exceptions, I don't write fiction that adheres to a genre (I refer to genre as most would assume--sci-fi, mystery, etc.). Then again, while literary fiction is a genre, it's far too vague for me. And some of my latest pieces are experimental, for lack of a better word. I don't think my fiction is unique in the sense of doing things that nobody else is doing. I've had a long, seething hatred for the advice "write what you know." I've always worried it could limit writers, especially young or beginning ones, from taking a larger worldview into account. I have projects that try to take points of view into account that I wouldn't know firsthand. Writing from the point of view of a gay person, a woman, or someone of a different cultural background than myself is risky, but sometimes I try to imagine myself in those shoes and what it's like. Of course, a female writer is going to have more to say about her experience than me imagining a woman's point of view. But I like it, because instead of assuming that I have all the answers, thinking in different ways allows me to consider multiple avenues for my work. Getting back to "write what you know," I've now taken that in my own way. I've gone through my experiences in life, some of them painful, and tried to write work that uses these experiences as a foundation. Therefore, nothing is so much "veiled autobiography" as it is taking a singular moment or thought and seeing the unexpected places it can do within fiction. None of this is edgy or unique, but for the sake of this question, this is how my process works. Sometimes, that is.

Why Do You Write What You Do?

During my English major undergrad years (I graduated in 2006), I was in love with the idea of being a writer. I loved the idea of seeing my name in print, I loved drinking multiple cups of coffee in cafes with a notebook at hand. I cranked out tons of 2-3 page stories with no idea about editing or craft. I thought the mere act of creation was enough. It was because of those early years that I still have trouble calling myself a writer, and I sometimes become uncomfortable if someone introduces me as a writer. Sometimes, I feel like an impostor, like I'm not an artist working on his craft, but still that weird 22 year-old who wanted to be a writer without having to put in the serious work, hours, and editing that goes along with it.

I was absolutely slaughtered in undergraduate workshops. During my first workshop, my professor (Rone Shavers, to whom I'll always be grateful) held up my piece and said "Don't ever hand in any shit like this again." For a lot of people, this would be the end. But I kept trying. After I graduated, I partied a lot, worked a dead-end job at Borders, and still clung to the designation of "writer." My life was slowly crumbling in 2008, and I moved to Seattle to live with my brother. I was unemployed for six months, and I started reading much more. This renewed focus on books then turned into a renewed focus on my own writing. That's where this blog came about: I wanted it to be a travelogue about Seattle, but right away, it turned into a blog for literary essays and book reviews. Another professor, Jeremy P. Bushnell, started a daily fiction archive called Instafiction, and he invited me to join as a co-editor to help him post daily links for stories from around the web (this then led to our positions as Fiction Editors for Longform.org). With this position, I had to read daily. Jeremy introduced me to some staggeringly good fiction. I'll never forget reading Matt Bell's "His Last Great Gift," a long story about history, religion, and mysterious creations. It was this story that really hit home and showed me what writing could do. So while I still seek out publications and I'm excited to see my own fiction published, I started writing what I do not for the sake of writing, but because art and writing can really change people. Good writing can make someone laugh, cry, or see things differently. That sounds like a terrible cliche, but it's true. "His Last Great Gift" was such a great work of art to encounter, and following Matt's Twitter feed led me to The Collagist and other writers/organizations producing amazing work that I was unaware of at the time.

How Does Your Writing Process Work?

Coffee and cigarettes. But seriously, it varies. I sometimes work in my apartment, I sometimes work in coffee shops, and I sometimes work in campus offices. Once I have an idea, it sometimes takes me a little while to get it going. I'm still my own worst critic, so sometimes I'll write two pages and get bored or abandon it because I don't think it has merit. A lot of my fiction ends up being very different than what I originally intended. I don't have any magic formula for my process, and really, it's boring. I sit with a computer, or a notebook, and a cup of coffee. I have a baseball and glove in the office, and sometimes tossing the ball up to the ceiling and catching it for fifteen minutes puts me in some weird Zen place that allows me to overcome some blocks. My girlfriend and I have two cats who keep me company.

I do a lot of my own editing, but I'm very grateful to people who read my work in its first draft stages. My girlfriend Patti isn't afraid to tell me if something isn't working in one of my drafts. She's a poet, but her eye for fiction is vastly superior to my eye for poetic forms. That goes for my MFA classmates as well. We're all very encouraging of each other, but we all have thick skin and can take critiques, because we all know that nothing is said out of negativity, but for the ultimate goal of helping each other become better artists.

Thank you for reading! I've nominated the following people to post their Writing Process Tours on August 29, 2014:

CLAIRE LOMBARDO (@ClaireLombardo) is a fiction writer from the Chicago area. She has a story forthcoming in an anthology from Fiction Attic Press ​and was recently named a finalist in ​the Cupboard Pamphlet's short fiction contest. ​She​ is currently at work on her first novel. More information and writing samples can be found at www.clairelombardo.com.

PAUL LUIKART (@PaulLuikart) Bio coming soon

BRENT RYDIN (@brntrydn) lives and works in Boston. He is the founding editor of Wyvern Lit, and has pieces published or forthcoming in Pithead Chapel, The Island Review, Cartridge Lit, WhiskeyPaper, and CHEAP POP. He has a website at brntrydn.com.

"Artists in Residence" in Pithead Chapel

Hiya.

I had a new short story published in the July issue of Pithead Chapel, a lovely online magazine/press based in Michigan.

"Artists in Residence" is a story that I've struggled with for years. Its origins are embarrassing, with some details I'd rather not explore here (but I'll gladly share over a beer). It took several drafts, several wrong turns, and one big workshop push to get it to a state that I liked. I'm really proud of my work on this story, and I hope you'll check it out. It's also an honor to be featured with some great writers: Katherine Gehan, Erin Pienaar, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Kevin O'Rourke, and Rob Alexander.

Here's a paragraph from the story. Click here for the whole piece.

"Andy had full reign of the courtyard in front of his apartment, thanks to a landlord who enjoyed his installations and fancied himself a supporter of the arts. As long as he did it while the rest of the tenants were at work, he had freedom to chop wood and weld scrap metal to fasten together collages in his rotating outside gallery. Melanie sat on the front steps, jotting notes in her case book while Andy, shirtless, swung sledgehammers and caulked vases to broken down end tables he’d found in alleys and dumpsters. Whenever someone walked by, he’d stop momentarily mid swing to let them admire his clenched back before heaving and breaking down a pipe or a piece of plywood. The landlord sipped his coffee and peeked through the blinds."

As always, support literary magazines (print/online/both). Seriously. In fact, I'm taking a few weeks off from reading books to catch up on my pile of journal back issues. I may do some reporting about what I unearth, since the back issues date from 2009-2013/14. I'm sure I'll discover some little treasures. I can't wait.

July 29th Reading at City Lit Books!

I'm trying my hardest not to annoy the shit out of people on Facebook and Twitter with this, but I'm so very excited. I'll be reading this July with a lineup of some of my favorite writers; how the hell I was invited is beyond me. Anyway, mark your calendars, come out, and listen to some words by me, Leesa Cross-Smith, Paul Luikart, Ben Tanzer, Megan Stielstra, and Steve Karas.

I haven't the faintest idea what I'll be reading. I'll have about ten minutes, and I'm torn between a longer work or a collection of smaller pieces. I still have time to decide, but I don't want to wait until the day before, for obvious reasons.

All of this will be in support of Leesa Cross-Smith's Every Kiss a War, her recent story collection from Mojave River Press. You can order it here, and you should. I finished it about a month ago, and it's such a great collection of fiction. There is great prose galore, and the stories are sexy, moving, and honest. I can't wait to see Leesa perform, and I'm eternally grateful for her asking me to join her in her Chicago debut. I'm sure there will be many hugs and Instagram selfies.

But seriously: buy the book. It's received praise from Roxane Gay and Kathy Fish. What else do you need to know?

Leesa designed the bear poster, which should contain all the relevant information. I'll post links or updates if they become available.