Writing and the Rest of My Life

ARC

2011-09-12T10:49:00.001-05:00

Received my advance reading copy from the publisher.

A unique collection. The only anthology of short-short stories to focus on youth.

In these stories of no more than 1000 words, well-known and emerging American authors spotlight crucial moments of change during coming-of-age. Their young protagonists face matters of great consequence, such as the death of a parent, unwanted pregnancy, and bullying, as well as lighter, if perplexing circumstances: how to hold a prom when being home-schooled; what to do when the babysitter suddenly sees the Rapture. The stories are of this moment--a girl who falls in love and then is pressured to lose her virginity in a cyberspace world--and they also remember the past: the Nixon era, the Vietnam War, slavery. Here is a glimpse into the way we live now from the point of view of those who will determine the future. Among the contributors are Steve Almond, Peter Bacho, Richard Bausch, Gayle Brandeis, Richard Brautigan, Ron Carlson, Kelly Cherry, Dave Eggers, Pia Z. Ehrhardt, Jim Heynen, Victor Lavalle, Meg Kearney, Naomi Shihab Nye, Maryann O'Hara, Sonia Pilcer, Pamela Painter, Bruce Holland Rogers, Robert Shapard, and Alice Walker.

Here.

Short or long?

2011-08-24T15:22:00.002-05:00

What is your favorite length? No, it's not a sexual or a fashion question. Do you prefer writing novels, short stories or flash? Do you prefer to take your time to develop a story or do you favor concise writing? I've seen many people complain that there novels have to be reduced from 100k or more words because publishers don't like such length. I have an opposite problem: my own novels are too short.

It's a hard work to trim the fat, making sure you don't break the bones and cut flesh. It's like sculpting: cut, step back, observe, cut again. But unlike sculptors, we writers can always return to the previous edit.

Do you write porn?

2011-08-19T14:09:00.002-05:00

Do you write porn? I don’t, but once I posted a very short parody on Harry Potter fanfic porn (yes, such genre exists) on a writer’s website. A woman writer was very vocal in her indignation, and as a result the sysop took the post down. I have later discovered that the woman herself was a soft porn writer.

So, do you write porn? If yes, why? If no, why not?

A quote of the day from a book agent

2011-08-18T13:10:00.001-05:00

A quote of the day from Tom Dark, an agent with Heacock Hill.

We’re unusually swamped with queries and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the economy and lots of people imagining the way to make a quick buck is to copy some vampire movie and the like (not kidding)…

… from where we stand, the market is glutted with … YA paranormal stories. … there’s so much of it going around. The commercial publishing industry put out 350,000 new titles last year and 93% of them lost money. They didn’t specify what the 7% were that made money, but I rather suspect it was in a “captive audience” area like textbooks. They’re losing billions, we know that much.

We’re both [he and Catt LeBaigue] pleased lately to see that the “Harry Potter” imitators have slowed down, but it’s always somebody they’re imitating. Getting something original published is very difficult—as Rowling’s books were—but flooding the market with imitations does lose money, as we have seen.

He goes on to recommend self-publishing. Of course, self-publishing requires that the author would become the editor, proof-reader, designer and marketeer. And there will be no validation by the peer review before the publishing. I would rather write and let the agent and publisher do the real work.

A Stale Device?

2011-08-12T13:14:00.001-05:00

I think that giving the name, rank and serial number of the protagonist in the first sentence has become a very stale device. OK, no serial number, just the name. I know it's convenient, and it has been done successfully before, but that doesn't make it any more stale.

There are other ways to address this problem:

From the New Yorker: Gilgulby Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi

“You know,” she said almost shyly, “that I have the ability, if you wish, to look into your eyes and tell you when you will die?”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/fiction#ixzz1UpyHh9Ps

Thoughts?

Why must a story...?

2011-03-11T13:13:00.002-05:00

Q. Why must a story contain a resolution of conflict with a change in the protagonist? It doesn't happen in real life.

A. It mustn't, but it would be a better story that way. As for real life, we know that fiction is lies and that writers lie for money and fame.

Yaroslav blogs here.

2011-03-09T15:17:00.003-05:00

Yaroslav, the Poslopian shape changer blogs here.

Have courage

2010-10-17T11:06:00.001-05:00

One author withdrew his manuscript from Vestal Review for the following reason:

"The reason for withdrawal is: It's going to be rejected anyway."

Have courage, fellow writers.

A politically incorrect way of teaching English

2010-07-15T13:14:00.001-05:00

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to come up with a politically incorrect limerick that involves the typical conundrum of a technology project manager, presents a geography lesson and teaches ESL students the usage of the interrogative pronoun “what,”

continue reading

My Life at First Try in CompLit

2010-05-05T12:46:00.003-05:00

Recently, My life at First Try was introduced to a Comparative Literature class in one of the California universities. The following are the questions I got from the students and my answers to them.

1. Did you intend MY LIFE AT FIRST TRY for a younger audience? Is this connected
to your decision to make the book available on Kindle? What about the short chapters?

2. What was the flash-fiction chapter decision all about?

3. Is Alex ever happy?

4. What is up with Alex’s obsession with Annie?

5. How did you pick the chapter titles, and did you have anything to do with the fact that the titles are separated by quite a lot of space on the page?

6. Do you consider yourself a postmodernist?

A comment from a student in the back row in the undergraduate class:

Alex is the most baddass Russian engineer I’ve ever read about!

1. No, I intended MLAFT for the kids of all ages. As a matter of fact, I had one chapter (later removed) where Alex turned 80, finally become an adult and met space aliens. As for Kindle, that’s my publisher’s decision. The short paragraphs are intended for modern people with short attention spans who want more for less
(be that money or time).
2. See above. Also, I love flash. I love it so much that I publish a magazine of flash fiction, Vestal Review, http://vestalreview.net.
3. Yes, Alex is always happy. Unless he is not. Happiness is fragile and fleeting and sometimes you can’t tell if a person is happy or sad by observing him. More importantly, is Alex becoming a better, wiser person? What do you think?
4. Alex is an explorer. He wants something new, and the less attainable, the better.
5. The titles are to add to the action describes in each chapter. As for spaces, that’s the publisher’s decision.
6. I have never tried to classify myself. Classification means you have an assigned place on a bookshelf. I don’t want to remain in one place. Like Alex, I want to be the most badass Russian-American writer you’ve ever heard of.

Somali pirates attempt attack on Dutch warship (and no one gets hurt)

2010-03-17T13:55:00.002-05:00

Today, Somali pirates foolishly attacked a Dutch worship. The heroic Dutchmen beat back the attack, flew over to the mothership “finding ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades on board… The two skiffs were destroyed and the pirates were set free on the mothership after it had been cleared of weapons.”

Now, why did the big-hearted Dutch release the pirates? In olden times, they (the pirates and not the Dutchmen) would have been all hung on the gallows until dead. Right now, losing the weapons and skiffs is only the price of doing business for the pirates. They will use their multi-million dollar ransom to buy newer and better equipment. Of course, the pirates in the olden times were not poor fishermen deprived of their livelihood. Wait a minute? Who were they? Knights of the Garter? Prosperous bourgeois? Rich intellectuals who spent time writing for the Open Salon? The excuse of poverty will never justify robbery and mayhem.

Without an effective deterrent, the pirates will continue to multiply, no matter how many flying Dutchmen, armed to the teeth, would roam the seas.

Paradise hotel in the Bahamas

2010-03-10T19:28:00.002-05:00

After reading some reviews at Tripadvisor, I didn't want to go to Atlantis, which is situated on Paradise Island in the city of Nassau, Bahamas, but it was much better than I thought it would be. We arrived on February 24 after a 12-hour trip (missed our connection in Philadelphia because of the weather). The hotel was overly expensive--$1500 for 4 nights in the cheapest room not counting food, transportation and entertainment--but otherwise enjoyable. The service was good, the staff helpful (except for the casino bar) and the water attractions amazing. I was worried about crime, but I haven’t seen any signs of trouble. I stayed at the Beach Towers, so the view wasn’t great, but still I saw palm trees from the balcony while they were having a snowstorm in New York. And of course, I couldn’t get into the water back home unless I used a bathtub. Aquatic life was a must-see. Some of the water attractions, such as the Dolphin Cove were expensive, $120/person, but most were free. Turtles, sharks, stingrays, all kinds of fishes. So, not quite paradise one earth, but a good destination for a short winter break.

Updated my website.

2009-11-28T19:44:00.002-05:00

Updated my website.

An Open Letter to Men Who Don't Wash Their Hands in the Public Bathroom

2009-08-30T15:47:00.000-05:00

An Open Letter to Men Who Don't Wash Their Hands in the Public Bathroom

I know this is nothing compared to a roadside bomb, campus shootings or the health care fiasco, but why don't you stop for thirty lousy seconds to wet your hands with water? Perhaps you are hungry for some finger food? Perhaps you long to hold hands with your girlfriend? Or maybe you are giving out those leaflets outside, advertising antibacterial hand-cream and are running back to do your duty?

Perhaps you think that the human body is resilient enough to kill your germs? Maybe you are a terrorist on the path of biological warfare? Perchance you think that shutting down the water flow on the faucet will make your hands dirty again, so why bother? But the automatic faucets seem to make no difference. Perhaps you want to make a statement: real man cares less.

I would ask you why, but what if you flip me the bird? I am not afraid of you, but I prefer clean, proud birds soaring in the wind, over the filthy, flightless ones. Does that mean I am a chicken who rejects a stand on the public health issue out of fear? How do the foreign men behave? Is there a difference between the Old and the New Europe?

I hope that women wash their hands after the toilet. Why else do they spend more time in their bathrooms than men do? With that comforting thought, I open the door of a public toilet, wrapping it with the paper towel first. I am ready to hold hands with my wife. Will she finger-feed me a snack now?

A social experiment on Quechup

2009-07-30T21:36:00.002-05:00

I set a Quechup profile out of curiosity. My profile is absolutely bland: no picture, no name, no info except for gender. Now,I get daily messages from beautiful young woman. The messages are a fine mixture of vapor, atrocious grammar and flirt. Such as:

"Hello there howz you? Have a good one"

And the folks at Quechup want me to pay so I would be able to reply to this onslaught. Howz that? Hellooooo :o)

P.S. I set up my age at 69 and my height in the profile at 4 feet.

An interview in a Russian magazine

2009-06-22T16:32:00.002-05:00

A Moscow magazine «/Иные берега/» (Other Coasts) did an interview with me.

Sex discrimination

2009-03-25T20:37:00.001-05:00

Why can a Russian actress play a Russian woman (Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace) but an American actor has to play a Russian man (Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2)? Sex discrimination!

What my barber said about book sales

2009-02-17T11:28:00.002-05:00

He said: "Why do they come to Barnes and Noble, read the books, but don't buy them? Imagine they come to my shop to read the newspapers instead of taking a haircut? I'd kick them out." There is some hairy wisdom in this saying.

A Russian deal for my novel

2009-02-15T11:59:00.001-05:00

I've got a Russian deal for my novel My Life at First Try. It should be published in Moscow within a year.

On exposition

2009-02-04T19:15:00.001-05:00

People ask me if there is room in a flash fiction story for exposition.

In skillful hands, exposition might be arousing. However, if you mean "discourse or an example of it designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand," then there is little room for that in a flash.

Think a postage stamp. The price and the picture and a bit of glue and nothing else, yet it does carry your thoughts from point A to point B.

Reviews

2009-02-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

Bad reviews hurt, even if they are unfair. The Library Journal said about my novel:

"The novel reads more like a family blog and offers few tangible rewards."

Though I had about a dozen other good reviews from the places like People Magazine, Kirkus Review, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and was featured in Ingram's Advance, it still hurts.

I am rejecting

2009-01-31T20:19:00.002-05:00

I am rejecting submissions to Vestal Review on Saturday night. Am I that mean?

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T16:36:00.002-05:00

I am sweeping the floor and my cat bites the broom. My wife barks commands from the kitchen, but if she really needs me, she would have to make a personal appearance. Twelve guests tonight and I have only eight chairs. Happy New Year.

My book signing today

2008-12-23T22:10:00.001-05:00

I drove to B&N in Elmira, about an hour drive. It turned out they arranged a signing without a reading. Huh? They put me at the table there their gift wrapper normally seats and I was mistaken for him. Darn. I thought I was more handsome. So no one came though they made two announcements. The place was full of colorful characters including a woman in unzipped jeans size 36 who asked me to wrap a CD box for her. An hour later, I took my destiny in my own hand and began striking conversations with everyone in the striking distance. As a result, I signed three copies. Not bad under the circumstances though I question the whole idea of book signing. Is it worth time and gas?

My novel in SF Chronicle

2008-12-13T18:17:00.003-05:00

Here.

My reading at a book fair

2008-12-07T18:39:00.002-05:00

I read at a book fair today in Vestal, NY. A man from the audience stared at me as if I wanted to cheat him out off his life savings. I was afraid he'd ask for my ID to make sure that I am not an impostor trying to sell Mark's books. In the end, he let me go. I have a reading in NY next month. Should I hire a bodyguard?

Steps to a nimble mind

2008-11-25T21:54:00.001-05:00

1. Learn tango
2. Have sex
3. Read a novel
4. Write a blog
5. Anything else?

Riding your bike naked

2008-11-13T20:50:00.001-05:00

I was listening on NPR to an interview with a Portland man who arrested for riding on his bike naked. I hope he was better looking than he was articulate. When asked if he was protesting something, he wasn't sure. I wonder if any of you would ride your bike naked for a good cause, say to market your book (or mine?)

Autographing your book

2008-11-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

Just came home from autographing my novel "My life at First Try" at Barnes and Noble. Feels weird and uplifting at the same time.

The First Benefit of Obama's Presidency

2008-11-06T10:51:00.001-05:00

Is the new laxative, Yeswecan. Sorry, couldn't resist resist running it by you.

Read the Guidelines

2008-11-05T20:45:00.001-05:00

If you write for publications, repeat this mantra after me: "Read the Guidelines." Now, follow them.

My Voting Day

2008-11-04T10:39:00.001-05:00

I came to my voting place at 9 am. The line was short; five people. I stood behind the patent lawyer from IBM whom I knew from my past life, and who asked me if added more patents to my portfolio of eleven. I said that I am a writer now and am looking for readers. He switched the topic to the elections. We speculated on the size of Obama’s landslide and on whether or not he will be good for New York State. After voting, I was offered a choice between a chocolate and a sugar cookie. Let the best candidate win.

If you think that publishing your book is tough

2008-10-28T21:21:00.008-05:00

If you think that publishing your book is tough (true), imagine how hard it is to wait until the reader comes. Good reviews? Check. Not enough. A good trailer that is mentioned at the New Yorker Blog? Check. Not enough. Maybe good luck? Sounds like a winning solution, but where do you get that? Persistence is the answer.

McCain's Homes

2008-08-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

I don’t care how many homes McCain has, seven or twenty-seven. There is no law against being rich in America. What worries me, however, is that he forgot the exact number. What worries me more is that Obama is portraying McCain as out of touch for being rich. Do the presidential candidates have to live in a one-bedroom slum apartment and worry about their utility bills and new shoes for their kids? Do we want a candidate who was never able to make enough money for a comfortable living? Do we want to have a candidate who resembles a Mexican cop: underpaid and ripe for corruption? Come on, Mr. Obama, you’re a millionaire yourself. Self-made millionaire. Nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it’s rather admirable any place outside Cuba or Burma. So don’t touch another man’s home. His home(s) is (are) his castle(s). Even if he has too many to count.

A book trailer

2008-03-08T21:35:00.002-05:00

Go here.

Clarity in writing

2008-01-15T18:54:00.000-05:00

A good writer requires an equally good reader who can and should
be able to unearth the rich meanings of the author's work.

You Have Time For This

2007-11-21T20:17:00.000-05:00

You Have Time for This

Contemporary American Short Stories

Edited by Mark Budman & Tom Hazuka

These contenders for the title of “world’s best short-short stories” are by among the best micro and flash writers I know of, such as Katherine Weber, Bruce Holland Rogers, Sherrie Flick, Deb Olin Unferth, Bruce Boston, and Aimee Bender. How can they do it in less than 500 words—suspense, revelation, a twist of metaphor, or plot, or character, and sometimes all, before you can turn the page? It’s like levitation—I’m skeptical, but seeing is believing. A good book by two editors who are excellent flash fiction writers themselves, Tom Hazuka and Mark Budman; Budman also edits the Vestal Review, which is one of the best of the flash journals, and where many of these stories come from.

- Robert Shapard, editor of “Sudden Fiction International”, co-editor of “Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories” and “Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories”

Love, death, fantasy, and foreign lands, told with brevity and style by the best writers in the short-short fiction genre. You Have Time for This satiates your craving for fine literature without making a dent in your schedule.

This collection takes the modern reader on fifty-three literary rides, each one only five hundred words or less. Mark Budman and Tom Hazuka, two of the top names in the genre, have compiled an anthology of mini-worlds are as diverse as the authors who created them. Contributing writers include Steve Almond, author of My Life in Heavy Metal and Candy-freak; Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt; Robert Boswell, author of five novels including Century’s Son; Alex Irvine, author of A Scattering of Jades; L. E. Leone who writes a weekly humorous column about food and life for the San Francisco Bay Guardian; Justine Musk, author of dark-fantasy novels including Blood Angel; Susan O’Neill, writer of nonfiction and fiction with a book of short stories Don’t Mean Nothing; Short Stories of Vietnam; Katharine Weber author of several novels, her most recent is Triangle.

From Buddha to beer, sex to headless angels, there’s a story here for everyone. In You Have Time for This you will find:

* Flash fiction from forty-four authors
* Works from across the globe
* Highly regarded authors from all types of genres
* Fresh work from emerging writers
* Fifty-three stand alone pieces that tie the world together

Enjoy. You have time for this.
To order go here or here.

Stalin blogs here

2007-07-15T11:20:00.000-05:00

Stalin blogs here.

Do you like English?

2007-06-26T12:06:00.001-05:00

I bought "Doing Our Own Thing. The Degradation of language and music, and why we should, like, care" for the title alone.

The author, John McWhorther, argues: "To be a modern American is to lack a native love of one's language that is typical of most humans worldwide. I suspect that many Americans reading this do not consider themselves as feeling much of anything about English pro or con--and that is exactly the point."

01011001 01101111 01110101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 01110011 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110100 01101000 011010

2007-06-25T19:04:00.001-05:00

01011001 01101111 01110101 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 01110011 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01101101 01100001 01111001 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100011 01110010 01100001 01110011 01101000 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 01110100 00100001

NEO magazine

2007-06-15T16:08:00.000-05:00

I had a story (not from MLAFT) accepted by Neo magazine, a university press at Portuguese Azores. They usually publish more than one story from an author so they want me to submit more.

The New Yorker

2007-05-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

I have always considered a submission to TNY as a waste of time, but one day I decided to try. I followed the guidelines to the letter. Guess what? A month or so later the acknowledgment e-mail arrived: TNY has deleted my sub without reading it. I inquired. The reply? Drum roll! They sent me the guidelines again. Apparently, the subs to TNY are read by a robot.

Congrats to Sarkozy

2007-05-06T19:27:00.000-05:00

Now, I hope, the freedom fries will turn back into French fries.

Cat Haiku

2007-05-05T20:15:00.001-05:00

The same market that gave me the 11 minutes rejection, bought my three cat haiku. I don't know what the payment is yet, but at least I will get a copy of the anthology.

Tamarack Award

2007-05-02T11:32:00.001-05:00

Tamarack Award is open [only] to residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

I live in Far Eastern North Dakota (New York). Does that count? I hate it when they exclude people for any reason, most of all geography, gender and age. What if New York magazines and publishers start excluding non-residents?

11 minutes rejection

2007-05-01T12:03:00.001-05:00

11 minutes rejection from "Cat Tales" anthology. My personal record. The editor actually read the sub, judging by his reply.

The worst thing an editor can do

2007-04-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

The worst thing an editor can do is to refuse to reply to a query.

Marketing and publicity

2007-04-29T15:57:00.000-05:00

I wonder what other authors do for publicity?

Book reviewing magazines

2007-04-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

A couple of book reviewing magazines have agreed to see my novel when it comes out. One editor told me: "we get between 20 and 80 books a day to my attention." Wow.

Will they remember the promise when the time comes? Only time can tell.

New Cat

2007-04-27T10:40:00.000-05:00

Our new cat.

Negative publicity

2007-04-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

A blogger made some negative comments about me. I was surprised to see how many people came to my defense. Thank you, friends.

The new crop of edits

2007-04-26T20:23:00.000-05:00

Sent the new crop (I hope not crap) of edits to Counterpoint today. Working with a book publisher is unlike working with a magazine editor. Firstly, it's a lengthier process. Secondly, it's done both by phone and e-mail. Thirdly, the payout is greater. I love it.

It's funny that I recently received a form rejection from an agent whom I queried back in October. Their fist reader is sleeping at the wheel.