Jeffrey Ricker's Blog, page 23

2016 in a word

There’s a piece of paper that I’ve taped to my computer monitor. It has one word on it:

Why? Bear with me, it’ll become clear in a second.

I’m not a big fan of year-in-review letters or blog posts, but I can see some value in looking back over the past year (or the past month, or any sort of arbitrary span of time) and trying to figure out how things went. We spend so much time with our heads bent down as we try (at least) to barrel forward that we don’t always see the terrain around us. We end up letting our momentum carry us along until we do finally stop and ask ourselves, “Wait, where the hell are we?”

And by “we,” of course, I mean “I.” You may have no problem with this, but it’s a challenge for me.

So anyway. When I looked back at everything I did last year, especially when it came to writing, I realized I did a lot—but I didn’t really finish anything. I have two novels in progress, ideas for two more that I really want to get started on, at least three new stories in progress (there might be more; I don’t keep track of my stories as well as my novels), an essay for a possible anthology, and even (dare I say it) a couple poems.

Now ask me how many of those things I finished. Or better yet, don’t ask, because the answer is “none.”

Clearly, I’m really adept at getting things started. Getting things done? Not so much.

Here’s the thing: I thought I was good at getting things done. I was able to check a lot of things off a lot of lists last year, but none of them seemed to get me closer to any of my big picture goals. (Ugh, did I just use the phrase “big picture”? Somebody please make me never repeat that ever again.) Looking back, I realize I was doing really well at being busy, but not so well at accomplishing things.

I’m easily distracted. I know this about myself, and I don’t think I’ve been doing as good a job lately at focusing on the things I really want to do. Like writing. Or more specifically, finishing what I’ve started writing.

Hence, that piece of paper taped to my monitor. That’s the word I’m focusing on this year, at least when it comes to writing. There are other things I want to do in order to make it easier to focus on that, but more on those later.

If you had to sum up your goals for 2016 in a word or a phrase, what would it be? As for me, I’m getting back to my novel in progress….

Psst. If you like this, you might like my weekly completely unannoying newsletter. What’s coming next week? One way to find out: Click here to get started.

What I’ve been reading: talented friends, memoir, and social media

I’m a runner. I started running when I was fifteen and except for a recurring back injury, I haven’t stopped since. So my friend Jane Campbell’s essay at Hazlitt on running, pain, and persevering when you just want to end it (spoilers: it’s about more than just running) was a breathtakingly awesome read.

Meanwhile, over at The Awl, my friend Nicole Boyce writes about the commodification of nostalgia, an event called 90sFest, and delivers this awesome line: “(W)e were being marketed to, but not necessarily duped. And for the first time, I felt real nostalgia: not for Rugrats or Steve Madden shoes, but for a time when I was less skeptical about buying the experiences I love.”

And while we’re on the topic of personal essays, this article on memoir, taboos, and trust was gripping and useful reading for me. I tread this line whether I’m working on fiction or nonfiction, and even if I’m making something up, it seems a given that someone will think it actually happened.

I teach a workshop at St. Louis Community College on social media for writers (there is an irony in there, but I’m not sure if it’s real irony or the Alanis Morrissette version). A couple of articles I’m going to recommend this year are this one: “Please shut up: Why self-promotion as an author doesn’t work” and this one: “Wait, Keep Talking: Author Self-Promo That Actually Works”. It basically boils down to be yourself but don’t be me me me all the time, lift other people up, and don’t do it if you don’t want to. But still, go read them because there’s more to it than that.

Whenever I have periods where I can’t keep up my momentum, I seem to come across things that help stoke the furnace. This comic, for one. This article, as well. Rejection comes with the territory, and it’s (usually) never personal, even if it feels personal to us. Reconnect with what you love about what you do: crafting the sentence with exactly the right number of words, getting the color of the sky just right, landing the punchline. Whatever it is, don’t let go of that.

Where do the stories go?

I think the question I get asked most often as a writer is “where do you get your ideas?” And my answer to that is always “Costco. They sell them in bulk.”

Here’s the question I ask other writers most often, especially after I read one of their recently published stories: how did you hear about that magazine?

Writing the story and revising it—and then revising it again, and one more time, then shoving it in a drawer and saying “you’re dead to me” before pulling it out a month later and saying “I promise to treat you better,” then revising it again, and thinking maybe, maybe it’s done—

Wait, where was I? Oh, right. Writing and revising are perhaps the hardest parts, but then figuring out what to do with the thing once it’s finished is a different kind of quandary. Where do you send it?

Obviously, the first tier is to the magazines you love to read. I do that. I love to read Tin House, Glimmer Train, Malahat, and Subterrain, and Joyland, Little Fiction, and One-Story. Especially One-Story. (I love to read The New Yorker, too, but I’m not that arrogant.) But if it doesn’t fly at those places, or if maybe it’s not the right fit in the first place, where else could it find a home?

That’s when I turn to a few other resources. Here they are.

The Creative Writers Opportunities mailing list. This has been run as a Yahoo group since 2005 and I think I’ve been subscribed for at least that long.
Literistic. I should probably have listed this first, since it’s the first thing I check. There’s a free version, the short list, and a paid version, the long list, which is more tailored to your specific genre interests. I went ahead and plunked down for a long list subscription this year, and it’s been worth it.
Lambda Literary’s calls for submission. I tend to write a fair amount of fiction with a queer bent, so I keep and eye on their submission calls board.
New Pages Classifieds section. I get their weekly newsletter and peruse the most recent submission calls, then go to their classifieds section if I want more info.
My friend ‘Nathan. Every week he posts an update on the stories he’s working on as well as the submission calls he’s aware of and working toward. Have you heard about a magazine seeking submissions? Let him know!
Erika Dreifus. Every Monday she posts a roundup of submission calls, job opportunities, and more on her blog.
Calls for Submission Facebook Group. As much as I hate Facebook (a topic for another post), this group is actually useful.

Where do you send your stuff? Let me know!

Hump day happy, Midweek Refuel Edition

Lately I’ve felt like my tank is running kind of low, you know? Like everything I do is tired or worn out or not so fresh. So I’ve been refueling with stories, and not just the ones that I read on the page or on the screen. For the last couple years I’ve really not been watching much TV at all, but recently I binge-watched Don’t Trust the B— in Apt. 23 and am kind of hooked on Krysten Ritter, so when Netflix basically preloaded the first episode of Jessica Jones, I said why not? Yep, hooked again. It doesn’t hurt that David Tennant is also on it, even if he’s completely evil.

I also recently started watching The Flash, which is also addictive. The dialogue is frequently too on the nose, but Grant Gustin as Barry Allen is so likable.

I’m also the last person in the country to start listening to Serial, but I’m halfway through season one after starting it just a couple days ago.

Meanwhile, maybe because I have a murder mystery idea lurking in the back of my head, I was drawn to this story: a Vancouver cold case from the 1950s involving two murdered children. Likewise, the recent issue of Vanity Fair has an article about a Crufts show dog who was poisoned, and the article mentions another show dog who was basically assassinated, so that has me thinking, too. Mainly, it’s got me thinking that the world is full of horrible people, but like that’s a news flash, right?

Another story I’m adding to the to-read list is Curveball, a graphic novel reviewed by my friend Parrish Turner, whom I met at the 2014 Lambda Writers Retreat.

An interview with Kathryn Mockler and her poem “Serial Killers.” I met her in Vermont and we bonded over grad school; I enjoy how delightfully dark her work can be.

There’s an anthology coming out from Bold Strokes Books called Men in Love. I’m not in it, but it’s edited by my friend Jerry Wheeler and I think there’ll be some names in the table of contents I’ll recognize, and hopefully some happily-ever-afters to be read on the pages.

Congratulations to my friend Leah Horlick, whose book “For Your Own Good” was named a Stonewall Honour Title in Literature by the GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association!

How is Powerball like writing?

So, the Powerball jackpot got me thinking a lot about writing this week. For those who aren’t familiar, a) you must pay attention to the news even less than I do (which is not much), and b) the jackpot is now up to $1.3 billion.

Wow, that’s a lot. Even if four people got tickets with the winning numbers, they’d each get over $300 million. Pretty life changing, right?

What does this have to do with writing? you ask. Well, nothing, except that writing often seems like a big gamble, but if you don’t play, you can’t win.

One of my friends asked the perennial question, “What would you do if you won?” After my initial thoughts of “biggest pet sanctuary ever” and “life-size Millennium Falcon,” I was kind of stumped. Then I realized, I would do exactly what I’m doing now: Write, only with less worry about finances.

I’d like to say “so I decided to stop worrying about finances” but HA! Right. As if.I don’t think I know any writers who don’t have a side gig, because writing is not something you do for the money. My side gig is freelance editing and design. (I know, I pick probably the two most unstable things to do for a living, apart from being a tightrope walker. At least I’m not that crazy.) And I mention it now only so I can show off one of my favorite projects from the past year, a book I designed for the Missouri Botanical Garden:

I did that! This was an awesome project that gave me the chance to work with people I really like and produce a finished piece for an organization I really believe in. Designing and editing get me thinking in different ways than I do when I’m wrestling with characters on a page. (And they’re slippery suckers.)

So what does that have to with writing? you ask (again). Well, like any side gig, this work puts cash in the bank and buys me time to, you guessed it, do more writing!

If writing is a gamble, having a side gig is hedging your bets. But if writing’s a gamble and the payoff’s not money, what is the payoff?

Readers.

If you haven’t read it, there was a great article at Salon.com last year, “Sponsored by my husband: Why it’s a problem that writers never talk about where their money comes from.” I know I’ve mentioned it before. Still, I think it’s easy to romanticize the notion of being a full-time writer and how nice it must be to have command over your time. I’m stubborn, and persistent, and I used to think that persistence was more important than hard work or talent (which are also important), but the more I think about it, there are two things that trump all of that: luck, and privilege. And not necessarily in that order.

I’m incredibly lucky. And I’m incredibly privileged to have a partner who has faith in my writing. I couldn’t spend as much time writing as I do (or, as is often the case lately, staring at a blank screen or piece of paper until my forehead feels like it’s starting to bleed*) if it weren’t for him. I know, I’ve written about this in the past, too, but I don’t think a lot of writers ever talk about that kind of luck, or certainly not often enough.

*metaphorically speaking

In the meantime I’ve produced more writing in the last three years, since I stopped working full time, than I produced in double that time prior.

If my partner’s faith and my persistence aren’t misplaced, they’ll pay off, not in loads of money that you could dive into Scrooge McDuck style, but in people reading and, hopefully, enjoying that writing.

And I mention Scrooge McDuck only so I can use this:

In the meantime, I think we do a disservice to aspiring writers when we let it appear that dedication and sacrifice have a lot more to do with success, when the reality is that luck and privilege have a lot more to do with it than we might be comfortable admitting. It doesn’t make me comfortable, that’s for sure. But I’ll admit it.

Lastly, the other way that writing is a lot like Powerball? You can’t win if you don’t play. So go ahead and play!

Hump Day Happy, “Is It Still January?” Edition

I read somewhere recently that January is like the Monday of months, and if that isn’t the truth, I don’t know what is. That said, there’s still lots of fun stuff to read, and a lot of it’s written by people I know, which is totally a coincidence:

“When you hug your father grab onto his love handles, look him in the eye and say “You’re only doing this to hurt me, aren’t you?” (From “How to survive the holidays with parents who fat-shame you,” by the fabulous Baruch Porras Hernandez)

I don’t know about you, but this year I’ll be boldly going to the post office! (More on all their releases can be found here.)

“Short stories are gaining increasing critical respect,” said Ciabattari, who lives in California. “We’re reading on our phones; we’re reading online; we are pressed for time. We can grab a moment and read a complete story.” (The rise of short stories)

“The fact is, I don’t want to go back to the world. Would you?” (From “Can’t Stay Here” by Seth Fischer, whom I met at the Lambda Literary Retreat in 2014)

“I didn’t get the point of Mike. I didn’t see what he brought to the table. Brooke was amazing and funny and whipcrack smart. Mike was…a dude. In his group of friends, he wasn’t even the dude. He was Dude #3, faceless supporting cast in an anonymous posse of white bros.” (From “Nightshade” by Taylor Basso)

Family, togetherness, and my favorite books of 2015

There’s always that sigh-of-relief moment that comes around when the holidays are over, isn’t there? Or is that just me? Maybe it’s just me. It’s such a whirlwind of going here and meeting there and cheering and toasting and having loads of fun, and by the end of it I’m more than a little bit in need of a recharge. So, once the calendar flips over I’m glad it happened, but I’m kind of glad it’s over, too.

The holidays also tend to remind me that I’m doubly lucky. Most queer people are in a place where they have two families: the one they were born into and which doesn’t accept them, and the one they’ve chosen and built around themselves that takes them completely as they are. I tend to think I hit the lottery because I was born into a family that has my back no matter what, and have a fantastic circle of friends scattered across the globe that, likewise, has my back no matter what.

Well, as long as I don’t blow up the moon or anything. I think they might be peeved with me in that case.

In spite of my love of lists, I’m not a huge fan of making “best of” lists (although I’ve probably done just that in the past and in that case am I a hypocrite? Maybe) because my consumption of popular anything is always pretty well skewed. I don’t always see, hear, or read a lot of what’s current because I’m working from a backlog, be it books, TV shows, or movies. (I can’t even keep current on music; I’ve given up trying.)

That being said, my favorite books that I read in 2015 were, to no big surprise, centered around that idea of family and friendship. They were not necessarily published in 2015, so they won’t all be on anyone else’s list, but here are three that I loved especially hard:

…which I read, apparently, at Starbucks.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This brick of a book (720-plus pages) follows the lives of four college friends as they build lives for themselves in New York, and the troubling but unspoken past of one of them, Jude, begins to make his present unravel. This book is spellbinding and beautiful.

Kindred by Octavia Butler. A black woman in 1970s Los Angeles finds herself suddenly transported through time and space to the antebellum South where she confronts a slave-owning ancestor. As she continues to be pulled back again and again without any choice, the situation gets more and more desperate. I’m currently reading another Butler novel, The Parable of the Sower, which is also science fiction but with a solid grounding in reality.

Pictured here with another fantastic book I read last year, Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I would have loved this book, about a band of Shakespearean actors roaming the Great Lakes region after a plague has wiped out most of the population, even if one of the characters didn’t have a tattooed line from an episode of Star Trek Voyager on her arm: “Because survival is insufficient.”

In 2014 I set myself a goal of reading more books by people other than straight white guys. Admittedly, since I read a lot of queer fiction and books by writers who are women, this was an achievable goal. What I noticed from that year, though, was that even when the books were by queer writers or women writers, they were still frequently white writers. In 2015 I decided to broaden my focus and explore more writers of color. Out of the 27 books I read last year, 13 were by writers of color. Not as big of a percentage as I would have preferred, but a marked improvement over 2014’s percentage of around 25 percent.

It would be a shame, I think, to consider that a goal that’s checked off and now I’ll just go back to reading primarily white writers. It’s a big world, and if you’re not careful you’ll miss it. (Thanks, Ferris.) So the first book I’m reading this year is Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I’ve got another book by Shyam Selvadurai, Funny Boy, on my to-read stack, a book by Kim Fu, and I’m really looking forward to reading The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee when it comes out.

In fact, Alex’s book is going to be an exception to my reading goal for 2016, which is to #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks. Seriously, there are at least three dozen books in the house that I’ve bought or been given but have yet to crack, and it’s time to do something about that. So I’ll also finally be reading Birds of America by Lorrie Moore, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man by Nick Clegg.

A Goal for 2016, and something free

Happy New Year! I don’t like making resolutions, but I do like setting goals. (I love making lists, and a list of goals is better than a list of resolutions to me. I have better luck saying “I’m going to do X” instead of “I’m NOT going to do Y.”)

One of my goals for this year doesn’t have much to do with writing. At least, it didn’t at first. In my secret double life, I’m a graphic designer, but the majority of my work has been in print, and I’d like to strengthen my Web skills. Lately I’ve been messing around with some tutorials on a website called Skillshare, where I decided to take a tutorial on how to design apps for mobile devices. I always feel like a bit of a slacker if I’m not at least trying to learn something new, so I decided to pony up for a year’s subscription. (If you’re a freelancer, like I am, remember that these things are tax-deductible.)

They have a lot more than just Web and mobile design. People from professionals to dedicated amateurs will teach you everything from writing business plans to hand-lettering poster designs. (There’s even one on crocheting, but I don’t think I have the dexterity for that.)

You can probably see where this is heading. God help me, I decided to try putting together a tutorial of my own.

As you might know, I teach creative writing in the continuing education program at St. Louis Community College, and one of the classes I really enjoyed teaching was Writing Fiction for Young Adults. I didn’t get a chance to teach it last term, so I figured I’d take a unit from that class and see if I could translate it into an online DIY (all-up-in-your-eye) format. Check it out.

(Yes, this is the equivalent of your precocious child running into the house and waving a crayon drawing of—is that a cat? A dragon? A fire-breathing cat with wings? Anyway, put it up on the fridge and reinforce their self-esteem. What are you, a MONSTER?)

Wait, where was I? Oh, right. Check it out, and sign up if you like. (This tutorial I put together is free, and if you sign up on the site, you get access to all the free classes. I haven’t checked yet to see if the crocheting one is free.) If you like what the site offers, get a free month of premium membership (because some of the tutorials cost, and dagnabbit, nothing’s free anymore, is it? Well, except this one-month free offer. [Also, in the interests of full disclosure, if someone signs up for the premium then I get a bonus, which makes me a little uncomfortable, to be honest. So I say try out the free stuff and see if it’s worth your while.])

ANYWAY, after all that, click here if you’re interested in getting a free month of premium (just cancel before the month is up), and let me know if you try the one on crocheting, because I’m tempted….

Psst. If you like this, you might like my weekly completely unannoying newsletter. This week I sent out a short story that was a finalist in a recent contest. What’s coming next week? One way to find out: Click here to get started.

Hump Day Happy, Pre-New Year’s Eve Edition

Whew. Did you survive Christmas? One more holiday and then it’s back to normal, whatever that is. (“Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.”*) If you’ve had enough family time, here are a few things that have caught my attention lately:

“Almost every day I wince at typos I missed during a first pass of some document I’m editing. Just days ago on a first read, I breezed right past two references to ‘viscous rumors.’” A Word, Please: Why is it so difficult to catch our own errors?

Because it is possible to be overcaffeinated and overboozy: 15 ways to catch up with friends that aren’t grabbing coffee or a cocktail

Where does our patronising idea of diversity and normality start and end?

‘It’s a noble thing to serve your audience,’ he told me, ‘if you’re lucky enough to have one.’” Read more of this interview with Matt Damon. (Hat tip to Jeff Cufaude for posting this on Twitter.)

Lastly, this bucket of bolts I got for Christmas:

Yes, it’s a little metal toy, but it made me happy and now sits on my desk reminding me I may not look like much, but I’ve got it where it counts. (Also, #phrasing.)

Happy New Year, y’all.

*Can you name that book?

Psst. If you like this, you might like my weekly completely unannoying newsletter. This week I sent out a short story that was a finalist in a recent contest. What’s coming next week? One way to find out: Click here to get started.

Hump Day Happy, Christmas Eve Eve Edition

Please tell me you’ve done your Christmas shopping. You’re all wrapped up (so to speak), right?

You’re not? Seriously? You know you’re one of the people I’m going to be silently judging tomorrow, right? No, really, my partner and I are going to the Panera at the mall so we can do a little work, drink a little coffee, and watch the people slowly (or, more likely, quickly) lose their mac and cheese. It could become a holiday tradition.

If you do find yourself shopping at the last minute, okay, don’t be too hard on yourself. More important, though, don’t be hard at all on the sales staff. (Are we still saying “phrasing”? Because I think being hard on the sales staff might merit a “PHRASING.”) Fellow writer ’Nathan Burgoine, who is also a refugee from the retail trenches, has a few timely words of advice on that count. (Personally, I can’t even believe that #6 on that list is even necessary to mention. People suck.)

Speaking of holiday traditions, check out this little ditty by Rick Andreoli. Talk about great headlines: The year we found out our mom was a criminal

Hey y’all: A month of writing prompts. A WHOLE MONTH. Yes, the month is almost over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them, right? Also, click the buttons at the bottom and you can get previous months of prompts. Yes, that’s right. YOU GET A PROMPT. AND YOU GET A PROMPT! AND YOU GET A PROMPT!

Still struggling to get a gift for someone? Get ’em a book. I mean, come on, you knew I was going to say that, right?

Merry Christmas, y’all!

Psst. If you like this, you might like my weekly completely unannoying newsletter. This week I sent out a short story that was a finalist in a recent contest. What’s coming next week? One way to find out: Click here to get started.