EXTRA EXTRA

EXTRA EXTRA:

This week:
None.

This month:
Mon. Sept 15- www.calwriterstv.com (Masters Literary Awards)
Mon. Sept 15- www.uncg.edu/eng/mfa (Robert Watson Literary Prize)
www.opencity.org/rrofihe.html
Mon. Sept 22- www.scratchcontest.net

Voila!

Paris!

Now that I'm in Paris, my mind has cleared for new types of writing. Turns out none of my Sept. 1 contest are actually viable (they all have word limits that I don't make in any of my current stories, or have changed their deadlines to later), so that's good because I don't have to stress out about them and can concentrate on my writing. I've made My Dearest Tomcat into a personal project (a way to practice writing that I won't try to publish), but I'm sure it will have its own effects on the rest of my writing. So, that one's easy to work on because I don't have any publishing deadlines. So, I'm working on the same old projects:

-Benedetti poetry translations
-botany story
-short stories in Los Angeles
-France short stories
-read La Tregua for Benedetti novel translation

I might add more on as the semester continues. It's a really great environment, because as France attracts many artists, people here are very artistic and thoughtful! Yay! I'm very excited about writing here.

Los Angeles, etc

I finished writing the Los Angeles story (yay!), and editing it, as well, so I'm going to be working on finishing up a couple more stories (Devil's Den, and another one I started about a man with an oxygen tank (it's from the point of view of a lesbian?)) I think after these two, I should try to put together a collection. I'm going to be writing a story about/in Prague (I'm there now), but we'll see if that goes into this collection or not. I guess it depends on how the short stories develop while I'm in Paris--if they're *all* Europe-oriented, I'll put the Prague story in there. If they're all Paris-oriented, however, I'll put the Prague story into the Los Angeles collection. I'll be working, in Paris, on My Dearest Tomcat (which I might change to Mon Chere Ohio?), and on the botany story. I'm going to go now, to do some handwritten work on one of the three stories I need to work on.

EXTRA EXTRA

(sorry for the delay, folks.)

EXTRA EXTRA:

This week:
August 8- www.givalpress.com

This month:
August 22- www.scratchcontest.net
August 29- web3.unt.edu/untpress/conest.cfm (for a short story collection)
August 30- www.unt.edu/untpress
August 31- www.usc.edu/scr
August 31- www.glimmertrain.org (short-short fiction)

Voila!

Short Story Collection!

So, I'm thinking of putting together a short story collection. I'm thinking of naming the collection Los Angeles/ The Angels, or something along those lines, when I combined the style and themes of my writing with the fact that I noticed that there are always beautiful women in my stories. One of my stories is titled 'Los Angeles,' so it's appropriate. (The one I started yesterday and is going swimmingly.) The fact that some of my stories are half spanish/ half english, and all of my stories have a feel of escape and travel, make the bilingual title work, I think. When I met up with Prof. Chaon last February, he mentioned the idea of 'ghosts,' and then hinted more at the idea of 'spirits,' and I think the latter is more what's going on with my stories: there's a certain pull, a certain magic, but more of a charming, beautiful sort than something spooky or fatally sad. The only truly sad people are my narrators, and by the ends of the stories, there is always some sort of feel of redemption even for them (hence why 'angels' seems a bit appropriate).

Readings!

And now, my new readings!

The Cider House Rules by John Irving, and
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane!

I e-mailed Prof. Hall for philosophy recommendations, so I'll be picking either one of his or Prof. M. Thomson-Jones's recommendations next week, in philosophy (either ethics or metaphysics, respectively).

Now I am off to a Mark Knopfler concert! Must go! (With FA-LA-FELS!)

Scratch Contest

I totally just submitted 'The Mortgage' to www.scratchcontest.net. I think I might have done it wrong, though, because they were really unclear about the submission dates and their different contests...So I either applied for the monthly one...or the quarterly one...We'll see...I paid $10 for the entry, so whichever entry is worth ten bucks, that's the contest I applied to. Here's a short excerpt from 'The Mortgage':

The intoxication is as heavy as the flowers sitting in our kitchen and as the air outside. That’s what it’s like. You pour yourself another glass of wine and I watch you, waiting for you to return to my side. This is what it’s like. This is what it’s always been like, Ellen. You know that.