On writing, teaching, and the workshop (plus some other things)

Hello!

This picture has nothing to do with my post, but it's a water tower a mile or so from our apartment. Sometimes, we walk by it. Look at it. Take it in...

I graded papers and wrote all day. Papers: There's never enough time to really give the students the kind of feedback they need. So, you find a few specific examples from their paper and talk to them about how to make those things that aren't working work. What's fucked up about teaching/workshopping/etc is that we have been trained to look for what's wrong. I try, as a teacher, to find what's working, and only address what's not working through what is working. I also believe that good writing is born out of practice. Sure there are people who are just naturally really good at laying down a sentence or two. But good writers are ones who keep writing, who keep putting stuff out, and keep giving to the community of writers by producing work, by growing. Sure, writing a brilliant story is great, but it's better to keep writing those stories. I know a handful of people who just float through their writing. They turn stuff in because it's due, rather than writing because that's what they want to do. I've been discussing the problems with my program (and posting some of it on here) with some of my close friends. I wrote this on my friend's facebook: Yeah, that's the trouble with workshops, people don't ever want to let the suspension of disbelief enter their reading, because they're too busy looking for what doesn't work, rather than what works and why. It's fucking backwards. That's one thing that's good about the poetry workshop, people have to find what's working in order to comment, in fiction it's like, "that unrealistic," followed by "that's too familiar." apparently boring, familiar/but not too familiar characters, arcs, and actions must be a part of every piece of fiction. God forbid you write something that takes a chance! Believe in the story, ask questions later! The second and third time you read it. The key word: QUESTIONS. Not problems. I know I might be getting off track here, but this post is organic. I just want to change the way we look at writing. Maybe it's not a change, but it's happening and there are some stragglers. But I'm not sure. I know one thing, though. It seems like people don't want to put in their time (Read the stories more than once, hell you should read each workshop piece at least (At the very least) three times to get a proper read on it. Some require less, but those are the ones that don't really need the workshop and those are few and far between. There was someone in one of my classes that admitted they only read everyone once (unless they have to). I was appalled. This is graduate school. Some people don't even read the books because they know they probably won't get called on. But reading isn't about finishing an assignment, it's about becoming a better writer. But there's a lot of "Oh, I'm in a program, so I've made it." Like when bands get signed and sort of mail it in from there on out. MFA programs is where you have to distinguish yourself, where you have to get ahead. Yeah, you're there to form communities and make friends, but you're there to put yourself ahead of the pack. Competition is necessary and healthy. Though it shouldn't be there to cut everyone else down. You want your peers to get better so that you will perform better. Right? Give as much as you want. If you're in a program just because that's what you need for a paper chase or this is something you feel you should do. Get the fuck out. Unless you want to give. A community is only as strong as its weakest, and a community isn't just a bunch of people who get drunk together and talk about TV, a community is about a bunch of writers who challenge and support each other.

Going back to teaching, you're job is to give your student writers that sort of challenge and encouragement. Don't view them as students, but as writers. You job is like that in a workshop. Give them a valid read and point out their strong points, before you go into what's not working. Because what is working can always inform what's not, and the writing can get better. OK. enough of that.

While I wrote today, I watched Henry Fool. If you haven't seen this film, see it. It's about this garbage man who's kind of out of it, and this stranger shows up (Fool) and gives him a journal to write in. He starts writing this long poem, and over the course of the film, this poem makes him Noble-Prize famous. But the poet part is only the a thread. What matters are the friendships and family, the violence, the dirty and grit of Queens and these people, and how people react to each other. It's a masterpiece. The music in it is perfect and not manipulative. It's there. And there's a really cool scene about "There" "Their" and "They're." Henry Fool, well, it's hard to describe him, but he belongs in grad. school, and he talks like it. He's probably one of my favorite characters in literature. Yes, I said literature. This film is literary (many films are!), but this is especially so.

I'm rereading Beloved Tony Morrison and I'm reading A Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers for school. Next is that Apathy book.

Those who are going to AWP. How do you choose which talks to go to. There are so many, and now that I'm pretty much 90 percent sure I'm going, I've been looking at that stuff and man, there's some good stuff.

I'll leave you with some pics...

Well, that's all I have to say tonight.

Love you

Joshua

It's Friday.

I miss this. A lot. I miss having the Sound right down the street. Oh, Chuckanut!

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I thought I'd throw up a crazy sunset pic.

It's crazy how it looks like there's something burning on the horizon.

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I just got back from the gym and I'm all showered and ready to go watch either The Orphan or The Orphanage (either way, I'll probably piss my pants) with some of Em's work friends. Right now though, Blades of Glory is on. Yeah, I'm not really watching it. Indie's digging in her bed like it's some kind of lawn.

Anyway, I just finished Season 2 of the Wire, and Season 3 is on it's way. I want to write about what I think, but I think I'm gonna wait till I finish the series. Whattcha think? I've got some ideas about where I think they're headed, but I don't want to jinx it, I want to see if it happens. But man the show gets better and better.

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I'm about to read a novel of a friend's friend called Apathy and Paying Rent by Zach Vandezande. It sounds cool and looks cool. If I was judging a book by its cover, I would buy it and read it. I've judged a few books by their cover, and let me tell you, I'm 5-7. Not bad if you ask me. Pretty cool looking, actually.

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I've been thinking about something lately. I'm not a short story writer. In fact, most of my short stories, turned into a novel. In fact, every short story except for maybe four have been turned into a novel. All the other stories I've written never make it to a final draft. I read that John Irving isn't a short story writer either. Says that he just get to emerged into the characters, their histories, and place that he can't just write a small piece out them (or he said something like that). I think I could write novellas, though. Actually, I have a short story, that'll probably turn into either a novel or novella. Speaking of novels, I worked on The Story Thief some more today. I had this road trip part that was basically a bunch of snapshots over the course of a month, but thanks to Ian's suggestions, I dug into each scene and wrote the shit out of it. Now they are scenes, and they mean something. They're not just passing time, they're doing something, they're adding to the characters to the tension, to the final showdown. Though, the showdown is still pretty normal, real. I've got an idea about this cigarette pack (those who know what I'm talking about will be pleased) and it has to do with Chad the fox and other animals in the story. Anyway, I'm writing a lot, and I'm keeping up with my school work (not like that's hard) , so I've been able to sink back into the novel. Funny thing, my magical realism class is not really allowing me to focus on the novel, but it is getting me to think outside that fucking boring realism box. I'm pretty stoked about what I've been writing and reader. We're onto Beloved right now. I need to brush up on it again. That book is amazing, but dense.

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Anyway, I'm heading out. Have a good weekend.

Love and Guns

Joshua

A Future Lived in Past Tense

I just started listening to the band Juno again. Do not get this confused with the movie. It is not the movie, but a Seattle band I first head in like '99 (think about that) at a place called RK CNDY (which i think is now a parking lot for 24 hour fitness next to the Graceland. I think it closed down a month or two after I saw the show. I know Botch--amazing band--played the last show there). Anyway. The band were: Pele, Juno, Burning Airlines (J. Robbins), and The Promise Ring. We stood upstairs and all the cigarette smoke stung my eyes, and I vowed I'd never smoke, even though I was pretty much planning on never smoking anyway--I thought I'd be a college wrestler. I laugh at it all now. Anyway, the show was amazing. I loved all the bands, but I was mostly in love with Juno. I had never heard of them and they had three guitars and they were spitting on the stage and rocking out. Anyway, I started listening to them again. My poetry prof Richard Greenfield and I have been exchanging CD's (mostly he was just burning some for me and I was giving him some to rip). So, I ran into him the other day and I said, "Hey have you heard of the band Juno?" He said, "Yeah, only me and you have ever heard of them. No one's heard of them." So, we talked about them, and I just burned him their second record "A Future Lived in Past Tense." Listen to that (or their first record) while writing, it's really awesome. Some people say it's hard to write when music has lyrics. I don't agree, but if you do agree, you should listen anyway, cause it's spacey and rocky and really good.

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Indie's got an vet appointment coming up. After spending some much time and cash on Indie and the vet when we first got her, it's nice to know that this will be quick and easy. She's sleeping in her bed with her cute pink blanket.

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It looks like I might be going to AWP after all. I've got a few options for rides up there. So, I'm just seeing if any of these work. Kenny, Ian, and Chas have been harassing me (thanks guys), and Emily was like, "If you can get up there, Go!" I'm stoked: Chabon, Wilkinson, and a ton of others I can't think of off the top of my head. Now, I will see Chabon after having some weird dreams about being his close friend at a writer retreat. Maybe it will come true, maybe he'll give me a hug.

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I just submitted my second book of poems When The Wolves Quit to a press. And I'm sending out To the Chapel of Light to a contest tomorrow. I'm stoked. I really like both of these presses and I think they're good fit, but we'll see what they think.

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Been writing a bunch for the Story Thief. I got some real good stuff and I can't wait to get it down on computer, then go back through the novel with some edits. I'm hoping to have my next draft done within the month. I feel like this revision (thanks to Ian's notes) has forced me to go back and dig into the past of these characters, to really tie in the loose ends I hoped to tie together in later books in the trilogy/saga. But I think he's right, and if I tie up the loose ends that I have, it will provide more interesting histories and futures to explore in later books. The second book is starting to form in my head (and notes) it's gonna be crazy, almost post-apocalyptic.

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In poetry, I've been trying not to write a project, but I've been writing a project. My prof, Carmen, told me I'm not allowed to turn in a project packet next round, so I wrote about Bellingham and Las Cruces. I wrote about the Royal and that stabbing that took place. I wrote about my friends, and my family, and my wife and my dog. Not about my project. I'm actually excited about these new poems. they're way different.

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I've been submitting a lot of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry to journals, getting rejections (nice and form--no mean) and send them back out.

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While I was at the gym today, I was listening to Juno and I happened to see Fox News and all it's bullshit. I just can't stand that they're considered news. And that's all I have to say. I was getting pissed in the thirty seconds I actually watched (read the subtitles). So, enough. No reason to get mad about idiots who know they're idiots. It's entertainment anyway so who gives a fuck.

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OK. Fiction workshop is still kind of stupid. Well, a couple people are really stupid. And everyone else knows they. One guy doesn't belong in graduate school and doesn't belong writing. He's harmful to the workshop and comments on stories based on what people said about his. Fucking Bush League. That's all I have to say about that (actually I have a lot more to say, but I don't want to get all worked up).

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Matt and Chelsea. I will get on gchat soon. Maybe tomorrow. And we'll talk.

Here's a sunset to check out. I gotta say, the sunsets, man, the sunsets!

Well, I'm off to bed.

Later and love,

Joshua

Yeah, I'm blogging again, what?

So, it was Valentines day yesterday. Emily's not a big fan of the day, so I got her stuff the day before. I tried to get the most un-valentine's day stuff I could find. I got her a sketch pad and fine art pencils, the Lady Gaga record, sour skittles, and I made a card with a dinosaur on it. Then we watched WHIP IT, which by the way is really good. Drew Barrymore's not a bad director. Not bad at all. I recommend. Then the next day we chilled and watch the some flicks, some Olympics, and some Wire. Disk 3 here we come!

OH my God, there are these fucking commercials playing all the time on TV here. They are for Values.com. The commercials are awful. Even worse than those terrible KAY jewelers commercials. So bad. Ian I am reminded of your essay on commercial narratives. I never read it, but I remember you talked about it in class. But these are just trite, contrived narratives that are so heavy handed and sentimental, I want to scream at the TV. i think a church is behind this. but I really don't want to investigate, because I just don't. I just want the commercials to stop.

Almost read the whole The Book of Whispering in the Projection Booth by Joshua Marie Wilkinson. I recommend, as always.

Later,

Joshua

It's Sunday.

Right now, the Olympics are on (Women's Hockey), I just did the dishes, and food's a cooking. There's been a lot of little stuff going on, but not much to report. I do however have some complaints about my workshops. While one of my workshops was fantastic and really great (even though the whole class thought I was still writing for When the Wolves Quit and kept commenting on how these pieces have better titles--Wolves titles are all stage directions: Enter Stage Right, etc--and how they're really commenting on the town's destruction. Towards the end of the workshop I said, "These have nothing to do with my earlier project." For one, I had real titles; two, there was a lot more of "i" and "we" within the poems (something that is only seen in letters and dreams in Wolves); and three, these poems were mostly unconnected. There were two pairs of poems connected only to each other. I even wrote a poem about the Wire--or inspired by the wire--and people thought it was about an apocalypse. That said, I totally know what my next is about. It will be called This is the Way to Rule and it will be about a apocalypse/post apocalypse landscape. People are tying to find this city. Though, no one is really dead and dying like in The Road but everyone is just living with the wreckage. I knew my poems were going in that direction, so i guess connections could be made that way, but there's nothing in the poems that linked it back to Wolves. I think people only read stuff once and comment, just to get it done. That was sure true in my fiction workshop. Ugh. Don't get me fucking started on that! Anyway, the poetry workshop was great and while I had some frustrations, I ultimately got some really good ideas and a push in the right direction.

Speaking of fiction. I got about three good sets of end notes. That's it. I feel like no one even read the story more than once. I read poems and stories at least three four times, sometimes more. Especially, if I think I'm missing something. My end notes are between 3 and 6 pages (single spaced)...there are some exceptions...I'm glad I'm not studying fiction here. I've got too many issues with things and people/a person or two. Haha. I got one end note that wanted to explain fiction rules and info to me "In fiction, you have to set the scene..." "in fiction your dialogue tags can't get in the way of the dialogue...." "in fiction your dialogue has to move the story forward..." THANK GENIUS. I ONLY HAVE FUCKING MASTERS IN FICTION! Everyone looks at me weird (not everyone, everyone who doesn't know me) because I'm a poet in fiction workshop. First of all, anyone of you who know me, know I know a lot about fiction--not everything--but the above quotes are frankly insulting. There's this weird divide here, where everyone puts poetry in one corner and fiction in the other. Fuck that noise. They should blend...am I right? I think I'm right. That's what I want to do anyway...they should at least fucking talk to each other like friends or work buddies. There's also an aversion to genre...yeah...I think I've said it, but one of my comments was "This is a revenge story." "It's noir." "It's like Pulp Fiction." My professor told me there's too many at stake and I needed to tone down the tension. Here's the thing. There's truth in all of that. I know it's noir and revengey (not like Pulp Fiction though) and I know it's tense, but I was trying to blur the genre, and it seemed like everyone was so concerned with the "danger" of what I was doing, they didn't want to dig in and talk about ways the genre is bent, or maybe ways to bend it further. I was just told it was "too bloody" "they all shouldn't die" and "tone it down." Wow. I guess taking risks in workshops are too dangerous. OK. I'm gonna stop ranting, because I know the story needs a lot of work (and yes Ian, I used waaaaayyyy too much dialogue...something I'm going to cut down my more than half in my next story and in The Story Thief...) and it'll probably end up being a short novel...there's a lot to explore. But the resistance wasn't so much that the story wasn't working it seemed that it was trying to do too much (and the dialogue made it really script-like...damnit..) and people apparently didn't want to read that. I had some of the rudest comments ever by one guy. He didn't even care. He was just interested in being an asshole. But it's OK he's a douche bag and I just read his story and it sucks ass. Like real bad. So I'm fucking laughing about it.

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Oh, my Magical Realism class is fantastic. Robin Romm is a great teacher and we're reading some cool stuff and she's asking us to write cool stuff. I'll report more on this later.

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I'm always scared someone is gonna stumble across this and confront me. My poetry professor Richard Greenfield found this and said, "Fuck all you do is bitch about Las Cruces." I said, "What else is there to do?" But he's cool. I don't care if he reads this.

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OK. I just watch GI JOE the rise of Cobra. Once again, my youth was raped. I loved Gi Joes and this took everything good about it and turned it into a fucking stupid-ass 2000-era action flick with no depth, no imagination, no magic, just a bunch of fucking hi tech weapons that are stupid, bad acting, bad plot lines, stupid love interests, horrible tacky dialogue and an ending that says, "Let us know if you want more." Well, let me tell you: I WANT NO MORE. I'D RATHER EAT A PILE OF INDIE'S SHIT! I'D RATHER SHOWER IN GOAT HEADS (the plant...they're all over Las Cruces).

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Started the Wire season 2. Oh McNulty, you're the meaning of Good Police.

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Dexter Season 5. I await you.

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Fringe Season 2 (spring episodes) I await you.

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I just got news that the sound for Do You See Colors When You Close Your Eyes is almost done. Next week it will be mixed and mastered. For those of you who don't know, or forgot. This is the film I wrote and Caleb directed (though it's credited as written and directed by Caleb Young and Joshua Young). I watched it a bit ago and I've been thinking about it. I like it. I want to wait though, watch it a couple more times. After a handful of let downs (cinematically) watching our films do nothing really besides small festivals, and not turning out the way we wrote it to be, the way we envisioned them, being made on shoe string budgets and feeling the constraint of lack and time and extra money, I feel like, finally, Caleb and the crew took my script (my baby) and made a great film. You can't tell there was no money. Watching it I forgot that the budget was the smallest to date. It looks great and sounds great and the acting is great and it's not saturated with too many indie pop songs and trite, clever dialogue. It's real. It's powerful. I'm proud I even wrote it. I hope festivals see the work in this. I hope these see this as something worth showing.

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I'm hungry. Speed skating, dinner, and later the Wire.

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Love

Joshua

I can't smell what's cooking

I can't smell anything, 'cause I got a cold. But that's OK, it doesn't feel so bad and there's no reason to be down, because Chelsea just got into the PhD program at St. Andrews! Way to go! I knew you would, but still...AWESOME. I'm sure most of you who read this already know, but still...Too bad, they'll probably never come back to the states, although, by the looks of things who knows how long we'll want to stay. I'm moving to Denmark bitches! Not really, but hey, who knows what's gonna happen...

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I've been writing a lot of fiction and revising a bunch of the poems I wrote over the break. thanks to Ian, I got a lot of good notes for the Story Thief, and I came up with some fucking sick ideas (a few Ian already knows, and a couple more that will blow your socks off...I'm so stoked about what I did, I'm shaking right now).

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I just got news back that my novel Bumping was at the table for a small publisher, but in the end, the decision to accept was split down the middle. They apparently liked it, but the "screenplay-style" of the narrative ultimately pushed half the room away from it. Yeah, yeah. I write screenplays, but I wrote this Goddamn book before screenplays. I was just writing in a minimalist style (like Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInterny, Carver, etc...) But I guess it's easier to link it to a screenplay. I get it. Totally, I just wish that someone would find the benefit in that kind of understatement. Well, onto the next. Currently, it's out to at least five other small presses. Though, I have a feeling that The Story Thief will be a lot easier to sell...due to its content, style, and intended continuing story. That's fine. I've got some time. I'm going to start sending out To The Chapel of Light and When the Wolves Quit in the next couple weeks, to contests and publishers. Fingers crossed everyone, fingers crossed.

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We were supposed to get the Wire Season two disk one today, but instead Whatever Works slid up to the top! I don't know how that happened! But it's OK. We'll watch it and admire the Woody Allen/Larry David comedy machine and send it back. Man. I can't wait for the Wire. I'm getting all crazy about it.

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So, I've got one episode of Dexter Season 3, then it's on to Season 4. If you haven't seen Dexter, fucking get on it. So good. Soo Goood. Sooo Goooood.

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It's been hard to write short stories. I have to write another one for my workshop. I'm just not a story guy. I like projects and it's hard to rip myself from those projects. Any ideas? Somebody throw me an idea. Something realist that i can meld into a Magical Real sort of story. I'm think like Ian's thesis (this note might only be for Ian). Maybe something with guns and relationships.

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The Girl in the Glass Skirt - Ali Shaw (Read it) Great book, great ending.

Lost in the City - Edward Jones Great collection of short stories about DC

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt - Great Magical Real Collection

Right now I'm reading Gimpel the Fool and other stories by Isaac Basgevi Singer. It's weird and cool. easy to read.

And I'm also reading books of poems

The Lama's English Lessons by Tony Trigilio

The Book of Whispering in a Projection Booth by Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Howl Allen Ginsberg

Love you

Joshua