LUUUUUUDDDDDDAAAAAAA!!!!

I can't help it. I can't stop. I'm writing stories. They're still steeped in the Magical. I'm working on one about a Lighthouse and a kid who disappears. I'm revising it right now. I'm working on another one about a brother who's obsessed with Ludacrious and buys his cell phone number, then hangs out with him--shenanigans ensue. I'm fiddling with the idea of a kid who sets fires for money, but it seems to be just floating in the not-quite-working category, though I can't get the image of a kid burning down a high school out of my brain. I WON'T GIVE UP! Though, I probably should.

I do, however, need to gear up for some poetry, as Chas has sent me a few selections of his work for our project. It's dope, and I'm excited to tackle it. I got ideas. I'm sure Chas does too.

I also NEED to start organizing This is the Way to Rule. I think this might be my thesis at Columbia. Though, most of the work (i think/hope) will be structure and organization and form. My newest book, Bellingham Vs. Las Cruces, is looking pretty good. There's a couple poems that need tinkering, but the arc of the book is there--Cruces, Bellingham, Thinking about Cruces in the NW. Tinker. Tinker.

I've been submitting the shit out of my poems. Some are single subs, and some are simultaneous. I'm thinking that a few of the poems from Wolves rely too heavily on the narrative (and that's part of the resistance), so I may put them together and chapbook 'em (yes I used chapbook as a verb!! HA!). We'll see. I put all the letters from Wolves together, and submitted it as a story. Speaking of Wolves, I just got a story accepted about a pack of wolves in a city terrorizing a family already terrorized by the father. Black Heart Magazine. Boom.

Recent Publications (stories) - "Rainfall and a God Who Looks Like Bowie" (Bartleby Snopes); "The Forest in Our Home' (Ghost Ocean - I'll be featured as a printed sneak peek at AWP. So, swing by their table...IAN); "Wolves in the City" (Black Heart Magazine). I also just got a really nice rejection letter from the Collagist (one of my grails).

Here is a list of my grails:

Puerto del Sol

Bellingham Review

Hobart (Print)

Mudlucious

Ninth Letter

Columbia Poetry Review

McSweeney's

Tin House

Collagist

5x5 (Ian!)

Weave

Salt Hill

Flatmancrooked

TLR

I'm waiting for responses from about half of those. Mcsweeney's is almost 300 days. But I don't want to submit somewhere else and have them say yes...even though they're not gonna pick my story, even though it's the best story I've ever written (And it makes my Dad mad, 'cause it's about him as a kid, and he's pissed that his "friends" and "him" sound like my friends and me).

Maybe I'll submit to Tin House. That's fine journal. We'll see if I can bring myself to do it.

I'm amazed at how many people don't seem to know how to submit. Ian and I have been talking about this a bit here and there. I think when I land myself a cushy job at some college I'll teach a course about submitting to journals, publishers, agents, and programs (among other things). Assignments would be researching, submitting, and logging.

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Teaching. It was rough draft day. 7 kids showed up. Hmfpt. I gave them extra credit. The kids that show up are really, really great. Smart too. Even the kid who's trouble. He's a great student and a smart kid.

I don't want to talk about other school things. I get frustrated with where I'm at.

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I know I talk about Counting Crows a lot, but I just listened to some shit of their today and thought, "Fuck this guy is sincere." He's not being ironic or melodramatic (most the time). He's telling the audience how he feels privately and in public. I see so much insincerity or irony or tongue-jammed-into-cheek or fucking cool-points. I just want honesty and vulnerability, not contrived by the need to produce images or emotions. I just want something that doesn't feel like it's being over-produced. Does that make sense?

I can't stand reading shit like that, or hearing, or watching. It bugs me. OK. End little Rant.

But seriously, the Counting Crows.

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Albums I've been bumping

Gaslight Anthem - 59 sound

The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot in People

The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Boat - Setting the Paces

The Cure - Disintegration

David Bazan - Curse Your Branches

Lemuria - Get Better

Race Track - Go Ahead and Stay

Vampire Weekend - Contra

The Velvet Teen - Elysium

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I've been slacking on my reading. Em's reading Never Let Me Go. I'm gonna snag than when she's done.

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I hope this suffices, loyal readers.

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I'm envious of tumblr. It's so neat looking. Mmmm.

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Bye.

J.

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