McCorkle Does it Better

Many of you have heard me sing the praises, and many of you have yourselves, of Charles Baxter's Feast of Love. If you like that structure, you may want to check out Jill McCorkle's Carolina Moon. Same structure, minus the cheezy prologue and epilogue, minus the distracting conceit that Charles Baxter--the author, is also Charles Baxter--the character.

Yep, here's my two cents guys--Jill McCorkle does it a helluva lot better.

Remember this?

The day of Michael's defense . . . .

Go, Girl!

Ab-fantab's story, Pretty Girls was "picked up" (as they say) by Bellevue Literary Review. Congratulations!!

I tend to go big when I get lazy

I freelance writing some marketing copy, ok? Check out this blurb rewrite I have to do about fashion schools in Nevada.

Hi, Sarah,

I’m sending this blurb back for a rewrite, along with the assignment spreadsheet. My concern is that you’ve made a lot of sweeping generalizations, which the request specifically warned against. Statements like “Because it's a fashion epicenter, Nevada is spilling over with fashion schools." is, at best, unsubstantiated. As a lifelong Nevada resident, I can say with all confidence that it’s NOT a fashion epicenter, and that it almost certainly is NOT “spilling over” with fashion schools.” However, this doesn’t mean a manifest lack of opportunities for Nevada-based fashion designers (you made good mention of big-name boutiques in Vegas, for example). Do a little more research on fashion opportunities in the area. Reread the request, follow the instructions, and send the blurb back ASAP. Feel free to write me with any questions you may have about content, formatting, research, etc.

Best,

THE MAN

Now, then. You Guys. Freelancing.

I'm Just Saying.

p.s. Ms. Gray, you KNOW who sent me this.

it's impolite to read on a lunchdate

All right. I'm currently washing windows. I'm not hating it, but what I am hating is the all-too-familiar internal cringe when someone asks, innocently enough, what I do. I feel like it's classist to be ashamed of doing what I do, and besides, I love the company, what it stands for, and the people who employ me. And I hate qualifying what I'm currently doing with "I just graduated, and I'm looking for a job," even though it's true, and probably smart to say so to EVERYBODY, since according to Barbara Ehrenreich in "Bait and Switch," nobody gives a shit about your paper resume (don't, by the way, pick up that book right now. Wait until you are gainfully employed in a career you love).

So, my problem is that while I don't want to necessarily wash windows forever, I'm loathe to enter into the job search market. And suddenly, I have a friend who is emailing me tips like "don't take a summer vacation from your job search! It takes three to six months to move into a management position!" and offering books on networking called: "Never Eat Alone."

AAGGH!

I feel like it's important to maybe go to a lunch with an academic adivsor since I'll be applying for some academic advising jobs come August. I think that's wise. I think I can handle a lunch with someone who might be able to help me. But it really throws the fear of god into me to think that I might need to buy a suit and start attending power lunches.

I'm just saying.

Summer (Book) Lovin

Since I don't think I'm going to be allowed out of my cube for a vacation this summer (the lovely ms. Dee's wedding doesn't count because it is only a weekend and I'm going to be so excited that I won't want to pull out my book light and reading glasses), here's some good beach books.
(These are according to the Longhorn Literati--which you'll notice includes Van, my beloved creative writing teacher from undergrad).

The reason I bring this up is that lately I've seen a ton of these types of features (take note ms gray--I smell a very funny satire). There are everywhere: they are on NPR, in those horribly addictive women's magazines, in newspapers, college web pages. I know what Barbara Kingsolver's reading, what maude from that blog I read and michael silverblat from bookworm recommend.

And then I was thinking that in our three years as bobcats, we learned eachothers writing heros and sheros. Bearden =Barry. Tracy = Willa Cather. But I don't know what you read to relax. So...what's in your proverbial beach bag?

This is How We Rolled

I was promised to secrecy, made to take a serious, serious oath that invovled blood letting, feathers, and a hoop of cheese so as to insure I would never share this recipe with anyone still within the boundaries of Texas. But, you know....
2 shots tequila
1 shot Cointreau
2 shots simple syrup
2 squeezed limes
add1 or 2 tteaspoons of olive juice, if you prefer dirty
serve with olives=
poof, a Mexican Martini

Baby Got Job

Molfey's working the DOMAIN, Bearden the DEPOT, and now I've gone and done grown up, too. On July 6th (after a trip to Seattle and Vancouver) I'll be assuming the title of Grand Poobah of Junior Estimating for a commercial flooring company. Nice people, decent salary, VCT galore. A Junior Estimator in Texas. I never dared dream.

Good Reads

So there's this site, Good Reads, and it's a little almost like myspace, but for people who read. You simply enter what you've read and rate each book on a five-star scale and look at what everyone else is reading. It's a good thing really.

And Front Porch 3.0 is here, in case you didn't know. Help spread the word. Wo rd.

No Country for Old Men Movie Clips

Check out these clips for No Country for Old Men, slated for release in November. I'm usually not a clip-watcher, but I had to see what the Coen brothers were going to do with it. I was worried they'd cast John Goodman as Ed Tom Bell, Clooney as Llewelyn, etc, but it looks fantastic. I'm loving Javier Bardem as Chigurh, even if his haircut does make him slightly resemble a little lad.

I'm reading The Pugilist at Rest and hoping for rain.

Once upon a mini-workshop

I heard one of our workshop leaders talking about this, and I just thought it was one of those writer rumors. I remember thinking that it would make a funny comedy sketch for an improv troup or SNL. But no, Tim never lies. The Quills are here...
Check out the nominees. Check out the categories. What is going on? Who are these people and what is going to happen when they get on television? Can writers be sincere on television? Besides the big names (you know, dorrie greenspan and amy sedaris and old cormac mcC) which books have we collectively read? Who is hosting the central texas party when this crashes into our televisions? I'm saving up for some top shelf tequilla.

rockin Mexico City, now have strep

Laura and I just got back from deep in the heart of Mexico where we were doing a sponsor project/vacation. We are involved with one of those organizations that let's you sponsor kids--you know "for the cost of a cup of coffee..." We sponsor a little boy in Mexico and a girl in Ethiopia. Anyway, we went down with a group and met our little boy. It was humbling beyond belief.

We also saw some of the sights of Mexico City. It felt a lot like New York and got us pumped to move back to the big city. Here's Laura's blog . Everyday this week she's throwing up pictures of the trip. She started yesterday, so scroll down a little to the beginning.

Also, I picked up strep down there on the last day and Laura got muy inferma in the stomach. Now she's fine and I'm on penicillin and a high doseage of pain pills. Did I mention that I started teaching at Badgerdog today? and that eight of my ten students were born in Korea? and the other two--brothers--are first generation from India? And, oh yes, I start back up again behind the cash register at the Kyle Home Depot. Swing by if you need a peice of plywood or a plunger.

The Work

Justin and I successfully moved Rebecca's massive credenza into my new place. The furniture-moving spirits smiled on us, and we didn't even run into the walls in the stairwell. I'm writing this from my desk, which faces a window with no screen in it. I was going to tell the landlord, but I like the view better without the screen, and now I have an easy exit if this writing thing doesn't pan out.

My project continues. There are good days and bad -- here's one of the bad, 6/8 AM:

Hey baby, you give me hives. You're lucky, because I happen to think it's an essential function of any relationship that one party be covered in hives at all times. Even in business relationships, and even secret hives. You know what I'm talking about.

I love 6/8 AM like an ugly child.

I have errands to run today, but if anyone wants to come over after work for some pie, I should be around.

blue goat, M26

here are a couple of pictures from the past year. carmen, i've got more if you want me to send them along.

More Pics from Grad Night

Taken by my father (so Im in every picture). Oh well. Enjoy!

P.S Abby, where the hell were you when we were taking these? I love you, girl!

Honeymoons Over

So today was my grand re-entry into the writing world. After taking a good long month (and a half) off from writing, today I sat down to let the magic happen.

In a phrase: It didnt.

I wrote a horrible three paragraphs (in two hours) about a girl in rehab who must rat out a friend to the police. It was REALLY BAD. I scrapped the whole thing except for this line:

"We hang out in bars."

So day one of being a writer post-MFA has gone pretty much as bad as it can go. But tomorrows a new day. Ill let you know how it goes.

I have some pics from graduation I want to post on the site, does anyone know how to do that?

Love all you guys.

She-Blammo!

New Pages often reviews lit mags, which I think is one of the greatest services they offer. Last month, they reviewed Backwards City Review saying: "Just a few highlights of this issue, in brief:...Rebecca Hall's “Ise,” the story of a Japanese-American man who finds a moment of compassion for his hard survivor of a mother..."

Here's the link. Scroll down to find the Backwards City Review.

Sha Bambam

I always want an excuse to raise my glass or carrot stick or pen. Don't we all?
So if I hear about a publication by or an award for one of the people on this blog--if you don't announce it yourself and you don't object to me announcing it. I'm gonna. So let that be permission to post your good news. Or e-mail me and I will.

On that note: a toast to Michael.

Radio Ready

I don't know if you like Ian McEwan. I don't know if I particularly like him, though I do remember well the two books of his I've managed to get through: Atonement and Amsterdam. That's something. I heard him on NPR the other day, though, and I very much liked the way he talked about crafting a novella. You can read an excerpt from the novella "On Chesil Beach" here and listen to his interview. It's short.

And Carmen, Phillip Roth announces that organized religion is "delusional" here. !

MASTERS OF THE MYSPACE!

Hey, we now have a myspace account: www.myspace.com/mastersofthemiscellany. That's where we'd like to list our publications and make crude comments about other people and add pictures. The account has a login and a password and if you're real nice to michael or abby they will let you in the club so we all can update it as you rock the schizzle.

Also, everyone on this blog should now have administrative power. i love that phrase. that means you can add links on the right and change template types of things (but don't do that too often, the template stuff). Oh, abby demands you all add some schizzle bits to your profiles.