Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 69

Elizabeth Austen's Letter to Young Writers (A @HugoHouse Series)

Seattle's Richard Hugo House is doing an incredible series on Letters to Young Writers (not "young" in age, but in the idea of the beginner's mind, the just-beginning writer, the we-always-have-something-to-learn writer).Poet Elizabeth Austen wrote the first letter and it's wonderful.Here's a bit of it--Years ago I heard Stanley Kunitz say, "The first job of the poet is to become the person who could write the poems." For a long time I thought this meant I had to become a better person than I am. I thought I had to become virtuous and perfect, so that the Muse would give me wise and beautiful poems.But what I know now is that all (all!) I needed to do is to become myself, not someone else's idea of me.Visual artists David Bayles and Ted Orland, in their indispensable book   Art and Fear : Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, write that "…becoming an artist consists of learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive."You can read the rest of her letter here.Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

[image error]

Quote of the Day: Steve Jobs

Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Thankful Thursday - Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

I wish I knew the artist of this image that has been circulating around the web.


After an incredible evening of poetry at the Seattle Arts & Lecture Series with poet Dorianne Laux and so much laughter with my good friends, I woke up to the sad news Steve Jobs died yesterday.



So today's Thankful Thursday--written on my Mac--is dedicated to Mr. Steve Jobs.



Here are some of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs.



What I love about them is that they aren't just for tech-people, but all people, and specifically *creative* people.  I chose my favorites from the list, but  you can read all 60 of Steve Jobs quotes here.



Enjoy--



"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."





"Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?"





"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."





"People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully."



"We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we've all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.""Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.""I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they're not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.""Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.""Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Thank you, Steve Jobs.Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Collin Kelley's new book -- Remain in Light, A Novel! Congrats!

[image error]




I just learned Collin Kelley's new book REMAIN IN LIGHT, A NOVEL, is now available for Kindle!  And it's only $4.99!  (It's also available for other eReaders such as the Nook, iPad, Sony eReader...)





And I also learned that Collin just passed the 3000 mark for followers on Twitter. (I linked up his blog if you want to see what he's up to as well...)




Collin is a writer I admire because he doesn't just *talk* about doing things, he does them.  




And from Collin's blog this--






The trade paperback edition is scheduled for a mid-January release and the first reading/signing will be hosted by Georgia Center for the Book on Tuesday, January 31,  7:15 p.m. at the Decatur Library. Mark your calendars!



To find our more about Remain In Light (and my first novel, Conquering Venus) click on this link.




And go here to purchase the $4.99 Kindle edition



Many many congrats to Collin for this and all that he's done.  He is truly a writer and author out in the world and I am so impressed with all he's done!  



I've included the book cover below and a brief summary of the book along with the author's portrait.



Congrats Collin!  Wishing you much success with this!  Cheers to you!



Okay, you can't really look inside on my blog, but if you go to Amazon, you can!

















Author Collin Kelley





In 1968, Irène Laureux's husband was murdered during the Paris riots and his body dumped near Notre-Dame cathedral. Thirty years later, she finally catches up with his killer. With the help of American writer Martin Paige, Irène will illuminate decades of secrets and lies only to discover that her husband's death is part of something far more sinister. From government cover-ups and police corruption to organized crime and stolen identities, the city of Paris is not always full of light.







Remain In Light is a first class suspense novel. - Grant Jerkins, A Very Simple Crime

















Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Confession Tuesday...

[image error]



Dear Reader,



This is take two on my confessions-- I'll explain shortly.



To the Confessional--



I confess I started to do today's confessions then decide to delete it and redo it because it pointed out some people a little too openly.



I think sometimes this is the challenge of the blog, to be honest, but not to mean or hurtful.  I have heard Google's motto is "Don't be evil" - Many times misquoted as "do no evil."  Either way, I think that's sound advice.





~  





I confess in writing my first post I found this funny article about 6 New Personality Disorders Caused by the Internet -- (I confess, I have self-diagnosed myself with #3 and I still text in full words and sentences and not abbreviations).



BTW, this was from Cracked Magazine and I was surprised (and happy) to see Cracked still existed.



~





I confess I spent the weekend at the NW Bookfest, but was very surprised to find that all the exhibitors were outside Farmer's Market style.  We live in the Northwest and the theme of the Bookfest was "It's raining books..." well, it rained day one and our Crab Creek Review table didn't have a tent.  (I confess I didn't order a tent as I somehow missed that the Bookfest was outside.)  





Maybe I read it but it didn't register because 1) I have never been to a Bookfest that's been outside and 2) we're in the Northwest and in October, why would it be outside?





We became creative as soon as the rain began.



Annette, my co-editor and I moved our table to under an eave of a building.  Annette said, "We're going rogue" and we parked our table right by a giant sign that said, "Going Bovine." (Good enough.)





By the way, Going Bovine is a book about a boy who has mad cow disease and goes on a roadtrip (possibly with a dwarf).  Because of his mad cow disease, it's apparently hard to tell what is really happening in the book and what is in his mind.  I know this because a woman yelled, "That's my favorite book!" so I had her tell me what it was about.



This is what I love about writers, I had so many incredible conversations about books and so many other literary things that most people never talk about.  How often do I get to hear someone yell out, "That's my favorite book!"?  I love it when people are passionate about books. Warms my heart.



~



I confess that while the attendance at Bookfest was down, the people I did meet were incredible.



One of my very favorite people I met was Ed Lincoln, who wrote the memoir, Life Through the Rear-View Mirror.  If you're from Seattle you'll know exactly who is if I say that he was the man who built the pink Lincoln "Toe Truck."





He stopped by the Crab Creek Review table and even gave my daughter a pink "Toe Truck" keychain from Seattle's golden days (I have been hugely impressed by this token and showing it to everyone).  





His book has received a lot of good reviews and he said when Howie Mandel came to town he borrowed the Toe Truck and drove it around Seattle.  Ed was an incredibly nice man and with a great story and history.



I hope he sold a lot of books.  His story is unique and well, he's just a really nice guy.



~



I confess one of my favorite part of Bookfest was reading with Susan Rich, Jeannine Hall Gailey, & Elizabeth Austen.



They are INCREDIBLE poets and readers, so hearing them was a treat for me and because we went in alphabetical order, I was first (which I LOVE) because I was able to read then enjoy the rest of the hour listening to their words.



~



I confess my concern with the Bookfest is how many people didn't know about it and the major publishers and bookstores who weren't there this year.  No Open Books, no Copper Canyon Press, no Elliott Bay Books, no Floating Bridge Press.  These are some of my favorite organizations and I missed that they weren't there.



What is also odd in Seattle is that we have so many writers and book lovers and yet, because the Northwest Bookfest has been tossed around from location to location for a number of years, no one can find it and people bow out because they don't know what to expect.



Even Bumbershoot, which was our arts festival, has become mostly a musical festival with literary arts getting smaller and smaller.



If I had a wish (and I do), it would be that Seattle would take care of its writers and its literary organizations and give them a decent place to connect.  There are so many in this town who are in love with books and words, who love their fiction writers and their poets, this shouldn't be a grass and tents production, it should be huge (and inside).



I hope the Bookfest finds a home and an organizer who is willing to bring it back to its glory.



Here it is in 2002 in at a hangar in Sand Point (they estimated 20,000 people came through)--







I confess I miss these days of Northwest Bookfest-- at Sand Point and on Pier 48-- and I hope one day we can remind ourselves what a literary city we are.



Amen.

Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Do What Conan Says -->

[image error]



Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Happy Anniversary to Us (here we are after 18 years of marriage...)

My husband and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary.  18 years ago today, we were married.



How I wished we looked every day...


More realistic version of how we look every day.
I don't have any marriage advice except if you're getting married, make sure you marry someone who supports your art & your dreams, and if you can marry your best friend, even better.  



Summer 2011 - Go-Go's Concert
Marry someone who will attend a Go-Go's concert with you even if while you were listening to Madonna and Go-Go's, he was listening to Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones.







Bret Michaels & Jimi Hendrix (aka me & my husband)
If you like costume parties and you marry someone who also does, you will have more fun.  (Also, someone who thinks it's cool if you choose to dress up like a man for Halloween.)





Prom (after 17 years of marriage)
Attend usual events and name yourself Prom King & Queen even if no one has voted yet.



Realize marriage is not an ongoing honeymoon.  There will be bills and stresses and bad habits and messy kitchens and you will not photograph as beautifully as Ashton and Demi do.  And that's okay.  



Happy 18th... xoxo 



To 18 more...


Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

English-- It's more than just a muffin... it's a MAJOR! --->

English Majors Unite!Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Mother-Writer Does Not Equal "Hobbiest" -

So,  I was cleaning out my desk cabinet when I found this--  a sweet little Mother's Day note from my daughter.







Anyway, I'm in my happy place and then I innocently flip over the note and realize she did her drawing on a page from my notebook where I was taking notes in a class about applying for grants I took when she was only about two years old.  Can I tell you I was *shocked* in what I had written down?



Here is the advice someone gave me early on, before my first book, before my chapbook, before I'd ever received anything really significant in my writing life.  Someone told me, "Do not say you want grant money for childcare even it's true because you'll appear to be a hobbiest even if it's not true."



SERIOUSLY?  Reading this advice makes me so annoyed as a mother and poet, mother and an editor, mother and co-founder of a small press.  That was early 2000's and that's the terrible advice being given to women who choose to have children and write.  Don't tell anyone about your struggles with time and childcare or you will appear to be not serious enough.  Don't mention kids or needing help or time or money for them.  Pretend you are not a mother.  Pretend you're not a mother and you'll do better in your writing life.



I'm guessing I must have asked a question, perhaps saying I needed grant money for childcare so I could have time to write and this was the response.



I don't remember, but it's my handwriting and my notes.  It says: "Project Description, Bio, Artist Statement."  It says, "Do not say you want grant money for childcare even it's true because you'll appear to be a hobbiest ..."  But that word "hobbiest"-- it burns me.



I did apply for that grant and I did ask for money for childcare so I could on a writing residency and have time to write.  And I did receive the grant.  My first one.



So let me say this loud and clear-- You can be a mother AND a serious writer.  You can be a mother AND an academic.  You can be a mother AND a working artist.



Before having a child, I had no idea about this bias.  This whole thing brings me back to one of my very favorite documentary-- Who Does She Think She Is?  (you can watch the trailer for the film at this link...)





I'm inspired to watch the movie again.  If you're a mom and a creative person and you haven't watched this film-- you should.



And thank God for mothers as they are the ones who keep having those artist and writerly babies.Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Why We Must Continue Using the Oxford Comma (and yes, it involves strippers...)

[image error] Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com