That's what I've made in my stacks and stacks of books. Here's a quick recap of the books I've read lately which I guess means since my last post, which was, yes, almost a month ago:
"Blue Water" by A. Manette Ansay
"Reasons to Live" by Amy Hempel (reminds me of Raymond Carver)
"The Winter Without Milk" by Jane Avrich (lush, dark and magical)
"Grayson" by Lynne Cox
"Grass Roof, Tin Roof" by Dao Strom (beautifully structured)
"The Breakdown Lane" by Jacquelyn Mitchard
"Me & Emma" by Elizabeth Flock
"As Simple as Snow" by Gregory Galloway (good story)
"The Big Book of Bright Ideas" by Sandra Kring (a little too predicatble for me)
"Parasites Like Us" by Adam Johnson (oddly creepy especially in this age of bird flu)
"What to Wear to See the Pope" by Christine Lehner
That's actually a lot of reading when you throw in the holidays and, you know, life and stuff.
My writing group decided to lay out some writing/publishing goals for the year so that we can encourage/support/nag each other into accomplishing them. It ended up being a great exercise for me. I have tons of stories that have been workshopped over the last few years but need that final revision before sending them out into the world. The biggest project is this novel-in-stories. So I mapped out a month-by-month plan to revise, workshop, revise again and send out the stories one by one. It takes me all the way to November at which point I plan on looking for an agent.
The other part of my goals involved daily, weekly and monthly quotas. Three morning pages a day. A new story or draft every two weeks. Filling a notebook a month with writing practice. So far, so good. I was able to cross the first thing off my list which was finally finishing "Being Franny's Sister" and sending it out. I did that on Monday. Now I'm working on the first story in my collection. It's turning out to be a major revision.
My story "You Are Here" should be posted to www.literarymama.com sometime today. Check it out- the story and the whole site.
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3 comments:
Congrats on sending out Being Franny's Sister - I'm so anxious to hear what happens. Also, congrats again on literary mama - I'll look for it tomorrow.
Courtney
Good luck on Being Franny's Sister. It's one of your best stories (my second favorite, after "Small Gestures of Violence"). Can't wait to see it in print. Re-read your literary mama piece. Outstanding!
Audrey
C- I'm anxious too but trying to just let it go for now. Thanks!
A- Those are my two favorite stories, also. They are both out there now trying to find homes. Thanks!
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