Matt Nagin's Blog: Matt Nagin, on Writing, page 2

My Humor Book Has Been Published

I’m excited to announce my humor book, ‘Do Not Feed The Clown,’ has been published by Tenth Street Press. No, this book is not suggesting we try and starve all clowns....since they are depleting our food supply. Nor is it a book full of paint-by-the-number clown jokes from 1953 (sorry to disappoint).

Instead, it is an eclectic mix of short humorous pieces on contemporary subjects that is guaranteed to make you laugh...or, if not laugh, than weep, helplessly, while making walrus noises. Pick up a copy today...it’s available for pre-order on Amazon...and I will be most grateful.....since you will be giving me a reason to keep banging my stupid lunatic drum into the useless, infinite void.

https://www.amazon.com/Not-Feed-Clown...

New York's Best Emerging Poets 2019: An Anthology

New York's Best Emerging Poets 2019: An Anthology

My poem "Birds Singing In My Chest" is now in a new anthology titled "New York's Best Emerging Poets 2019: An Anthology." It is available at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/108.... Use this affiliate link if possible https://www.zpublishinghouse.com/?rfs... In case you didn't get to pick up my second poetry book, "Feast of Sapphires," it is on Amazon now, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578508125 and obtaining some terrific reviews. As always, really appreciate any feedback or interaction, so DM me about myself or my work if interested. Have a great day!!!!!

Feast of Sapphires Available!

My new poetry book just hit #12 in the New Releases Poetry Category on Amazon. I never expected this! Thanks for the support! I think this book is a definite improvement over my prior book, "Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight."

Hope you will check it out!

link: Feast of Sapphires

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

2018 has been all about highs and lows! I'll skip the lows and emphasize the highs.

Since I last wrote, I’ve had a number of humor pieces published—check out "Insensitivity Training" in Robot Butt (https://www.robotbutt.com/2018/06/19/...) and "Children Beg To Return To Cages," in the Daily Squib (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) . Plus, The Satirist has just published my piece "A Misanthropic Guide To The Holidays" (https://www.thesatirist.com/satires/a...). My collection of satirical pieces is finished and I’m actively seeking an agent for the New Year!

On the poetry front, The Charles Carter has published "The Dewdrops of Death"(https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) and “Twilight Reverie.” (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) These are poems from my first collection, ‘Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight,’ that makes an incredible holiday gift FYI (https://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-Lo...). If you do buy it, be sure to write a review on Amazon as it helps tremendously. Torrid Literature Journal Vol XXII has just been published (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) and includes the poem “Weekend Getaway” from my upcoming poetry collection “Feast of Sapphires.” I also have a new poem "Writing on The L.I.R.R.," out in the print edition of New Plains Review (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...). Other recent poetry publications include Street Light Press (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...), Parentheses Journal (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) and Courtship of Winds(https://www.thecourtshipofwinds.org/m...)

My poem "If We Are Doomed" won the 2018 Spirit First Editor's Choice Award. Read it here (http://www.spiritfirst.org/poetry_con...). Humbled and honored to obtain this award—out of more than 2000 entries. Plus I was interviewed about writing here. (FYI...my FB clone isn’t half the poet I am!).

If you like these works, my books are on Amazon, ‘Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight’ (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...) and ‘From The Fridge To The Crackerjack Box. (https://mattnagin.us17.list-manage.co...)’ Would love if you could read some of my writings and provide feedback. Any feedback helps—even the admonition that "I should quit...immediately!

Plus, just in time for the holidays, I now have a Zazzle store with some very cool Nagin merchandise. Weird Jokes, Poetic Inspiration, Zany Graphics, you name it. Check it out! (https://www.zazzle.com/burningflowerp...)

Happy holidays!

Matt Nagin
http://www.mattnagin.com
https://twitter.com/MNagin
https://www.instagram.com/naginplease
https://www.amazon.com/Matt-Nagin/e/B...
https://www.facebook.com/mattnaginwri...

The Chronicles Of Nagania

Welcome to Nagania—a realm from which you may not want to escape! Why? Because many cool and dynamic things are happening here.

Poetry, humor writings, film scripts, IOU’S—in Nagania we have it all! Let me specify. The film I wrote “Inside Job” was nominated for three awards at the Nice International Film Festival and won Best Supporting Actor in a Short. I also performed standup in three European countries (it was B.Y.O.T.T.P.A.M....Bring Your Own Tomatoes To Pelt At Me). What fun!

Meanwhile, I continue my quest for a publisher for my new poetry collection. It is a wild and crazy compendium of 78 poems that will get you crunked and/or make you think. Here are some of the recently published poems from the collection, for your reading pleasure.

Crossways Literary Magazine https://crosswayslit.com/278-2/
Bitterzoet Magazine https://bitterzoetmag.com/?s=matt+nagin
RAW Journal of Arts https://www.rawcommunityarts.com/issu...
Months To Years https://www.monthstoyears.org/
The Ibis Head Review https://www.theibisheadreview.com/vol...

Also, my latest parody of politically correct training at Starbucks, "Insensitivity Training at Dunkin' Donuts" was just published on Robot Butt. Writing topical satire helps keep me sane in an age of hysteria (wait? Did I say just sane. That was a bit hyperbolic. I’m writing a blog on Goodreads that no one knows exists! I’m certifiable!). READ IT: https://www.robotbutt.com/2018/06/19/...

If you haven’t yet, please consider following my writing page on Facebook….. https://www.facebook.com/mattnaginwri...

Till next time....

Matt

http://www.mattnagin.com/

New Interview

I was interviewed by Titaninkorp about my writing process. Some creative types have
told me it was helpful, so I am sharing it here (https://www.titaninkorp.com/index.php...)

Additionally, good news! I just completed my second poetry book and am seeking a traditional publisher. If anyone has any leads or advice I'd be much obliged. Thanks!

Exciting Updates In Nagin Town!

I’ve been busy working on my upcoming poetry collection—narrowing in on a title and preparing to submit it to publishers. Does anyone have any publishers they might recommend?

My last book obtained strong reader and critical reviews and decent sales (50 Amazon Reviews so far). Hoping for a publisher that gives me a degree of creative control and that has an interest in poetic exploration/experimentation.

Over the last few months a number of poems have been published that will be included in the collection (some after further editing/polishing). I've provided a few samples below--hope you enjoy!

Would love your feedback!

Happy Writing! Happy Reading! Stay positive! (At one point I was thinking of writing a book of suicide notes--so I know what I'm talking about!).

Foliate Oak published “When An Angel Falls,” which can be read here:https://www.foliateoak.com/matt-nagin...

“If We Are Doomed” can be read at Quail Bell Magazine--http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/the-...

The Wire’s Dream has included “Hermit on the Subway” in their third collection, as well as an interview I did for them. Check them out here: https://thewiresdreammagazine.wordpre...

“Sanctity of Impulse” has been included in Vol III, issue I of The Ibis Head Review. Please consider purchasing a copy here: https://www.theibisheadreview.com/vol...

My first poetry collection, “Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight” has garnered 50 reviews on Amazon. Of course I’m still looking for more reviews so let me know if you’re interested. https://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-Lo...

God Bless America! (Then again, I'm an atheist, so what do I know?)

Love,

Matt

WEB: mattnagin.com
EMAIL: mattnagin@gmail.com
TWITTER: @MNAGIN
INSTA: @NAGINPLEASE
IMDB: imdb.com/name/nm4263194/
YOUTUBE: mattbrian12345678
POETRY:amazon.com/Butterflies
FILM:insidejobthemovie.com

Poems In Odd Places

Lately, I've been writing poems in odd places....like on a packed subway car that smells of rat piss, or in a radiology testing lab, or in middle of a crowded bar. I write on the Notes section of my iPhone; believe there is something to writing while in the midst of madness; you enter the chaos; are hurled into new directions; it makes it all a bit more unhinged. Perhaps it is paying dividends.

My new poem "Agonies & Bliss" was published in the October 2017 issue of Gravel Magazine so please check it out here. https://www.gravelmag.com/matt-nagin....

Meanwhile, my debut poetry collection, "Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight," just obtained a terrific write-up in Kirkus Review. It was compared to Gnostic poetry, stuff like Robert Creely (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...), as well as the beats like Kerouac and Ginsberg. Read the full review here: (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...).

Would love if you’d check out my book and let me know what you think. I am also always looking for other poetry or fiction to read--authors I don't know--so if you have suggestions for me I'd be much obliged.

Thanks!

a paean to the lost souls of our day

We live in an age of lost souls. The abandoned; the forlorn; the shipwrecked; the wayward who have little hope of salvation: those always interested me most. I guess they best reflect our time period.

Perhaps the critical question is today...in the age of the military-industrial complex and endless bureaucracy, how does the individual have any impact at all? Kafka's 'Castle' is real and--it feels sometimes--like we are in it.

All these feelings contributed to the sentiments expressed in my first poetry collection 'Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight.' We are the butterflies (among other symbolic readings), of course, in a world so misaligned that even the moonlight--a figment of the natural world--can beguile us.

If you ever felt similarly lost or abandoned you might enjoy my book--which--right now I'm doing a free giveaway for. Just go here click the link to have a chance at winning a free copy.
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/c08b924...

The book--among other things--is a paean to the lost souls of our day and is so dark largely because I felt ill during the writing of many of these poems (I've had crohn's disease for 27 years). My illness has forced me to--or maybe it is better stated given me the gift of--confronting my own mortality and helped me return to what is most important. The book is dark; but there are triumphant poems and lyric poems and comic poems in it as well....and I would hope the insights found on the other side are worthy of the journey down the rabbit-hole.

I hope you will enter the giveaway, read the book, and provide feedback on Amazon and thank you in advance for your generosity and support of my passion and the poetic arts in general.

Matt Nagin

http://www.mattnagin.com

Here I am!

Thanks for joining me on Goodreads. I love writing and have been writing in some form since age 16. I have written poems, stories, novels, screenplays, suicide notes...you name it (the suicide note line was sort of a joke). Recently, I put together my first poetry collection, "Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight." For a sample please go here https://www.wattpad.com/user/MNagin

I've been a standup comedian for eleven years. What propelled me into standup was comedic writing. Humor writing is perhaps my greatest passion. In 2007, I put together a collection of short humor. If you like satirical flights of fancy and wild irreverence then be sure to pick up my first humor collection, "From the Fridge To The Crackerjack Box." Check it out, along with my new book of poetry, at https://www.amazon.com/Matt-Nagin/e/B... I would love your feedback and appreciate your review.


Thanks for reading! I really look forward to hearing from you!

Matt