Michael Kitchen's Blog, page 29
March 2, 2014
Writings I’ve Read. February, 2014
Yesterday, I blogged the list of writings I read during the month of January, 2014. To get caught up, here are the various writings I read during the month of February, 2014.
NOVELS
The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons by Lawrence Block (great fun, as always. Five Stars on Goodreads)
The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley (intrigue & a book store in the early 1900′s. Five Goodreads Stars).
NONFICTION
Promise Land: My Journey Through America’s Self-Help Culture by Jessica Lamb-Shapiro (Five Stars on Goodreads)
SHORT STORIES
The Messenger Who Did Not Become a Hero by Douglas Watson (One Story, Issue #177)
Little Red by Cate Caldwell (Legends: Summer 2013)
Shiny by Cate Caldwell (Legends: Summer 2013)
Sargasso Cove by Cate Caldwell (Legends: Autumn 2013)
Who Killed Paul Bourne? by Cate Caldwell (Legends: Autumn 2013)
Shelter Roof, Bloody Floor by Jennifer Koch (Write to Woof 2014)
COMIC BOOKS
Quack (Star-Reach) #2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Power Comics (Power Comics) #1, 2, 3
Cobalt Blue (Power Comics) #1
[Yes, waxing nostalgic over those independent comics from the 1970's]
Velvet (Image Comics) #1, 2, 3
Sex Criminals (Image Comics) #4
SHOOT First (Dark Horse Comics) #3, 4
The Movement (DC Comics) #7, 8, 9
Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse Comics ) #32
Shadow Year One (Dynamite Comics) #7
Shadow Now (Dynamite Comics) #4
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
4 articles from Bookforum
4 articles from Poets & Writers
3 articles from The Writer
1 article from Writer’s Digest
March 1, 2014
What did I read this month? – January, 2014
Nick Hornby’s memoir Fever Pitch is about Hornby’s love of soccer and of being a committed fan of the Arsenal Gunners specifically. I’m an Arsenal fan, though I was not destined to grow up in North London and have it become a part of my genetic make-up. Hornby’s introspection of being a soccer fan of the team I favor was my introduction to the writer. It was while reading this book that I discovered Hornby wrote a regular column for Believer magazine titled “Stuff I’ve Been Reading.” Each month Hornby summarizes the books he purchased and the books he read over the previous month.
Inspired by this, I started doing my own monthly purchasing/reading summary since September, 2012. Certainly not on the level of deep analysis that Hornby puts in his column, I have privately kept track of the books I purchased and the different writings I’ve read during the course of a given month, with brief commentary.
Well, now that I have this blog here, my thought was to share what writings I’ve read over the previous month for those who are interested, and to engage in conversation, if you feel so moved. The writings will not just be books, but also short stories, comic books, graphic novels, and the number of articles read within a specific magazine (most of which will be writing-related magazines). This does not necessarily mean I read the entire book in the given month, but rather, it’s the month I completed reading the book. Some books just take me longer than thirty days to get through.
After that long introduction, here’s the Writings I’ve Read in January, 2014.
NONFICTION BOOKS
The Art of Intimacy by Stacey D’erasmo
NOVELS
Stop Here by Beverly Gologorsky
Twelfth and Race by Eric Goodman
SHORT STORIES
Running Alone by Halima Marcus (One Story)
Rain by W. Somerset Maugham (The Collected Stories of Somerset Maugham, Volume One)
COMIC BOOKS
The Movement (DC Comics) #5 and 6.
The Shadow Now (Dynamite Comics) #1, 2, 3
Buck Rogers (Hermes) #1, 2, 3
Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse) #31
Shadow/Green Hornet (Dynamite) #4 and 5.
12 Reasons to Die (Black Mask) #5
Satellite Sam (Image Comics) #1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Quack (Star-Reach) #1
ARTICLES
Writer’s Digest (7 articles)
Poets & Writers (4 articles)
Bookforum (2 articles)
The Writer’s Chronicle (1 article)
The Writer (1 article)
Writings I’ve Read – January, 2014
Nick Hornby’s memoir Fever Pitch is about Hornby’s love of soccer and of being a committed fan of the Arsenal Gunners specifically. I’m an Arsenal fan, though I was not destined to grow up in North London and have it become a part of my genetic make-up. Hornby’s introspection of being a soccer fan of the team I favor was my introduction to the writer. It was while reading this book that I discovered Hornby wrote a regular column for Believer magazine titled “Stuff I’ve Been Reading.” Each month Hornby summarizes the books he purchased and the books he read over the previous month.
Inspired by this, I started doing my own monthly purchasing/reading summary since September, 2012. Certainly not on the level of deep analysis that Hornby puts in his column, I have privately kept track of the books I purchased and the different writings I’ve read during the course of a given month, with brief commentary.
Well, now that I have this blog here, my thought was to share what writings I’ve read over the previous month for those who are interested, and to engage in conversation, if you feel so moved. The writings will not just be books, but also short stories, comic books, graphic novels, and the number of articles read within a specific magazine (most of which will be writing-related magazines). This does not necessarily mean I read the entire book in the given month, but rather, it’s the month I completed reading the book. Some books just take me longer than thirty days to get through.
After that long introduction, here’s the Writings I’ve Read in January, 2014.
NONFICTION BOOKS
The Art of Intimacy by Stacey D’erasmo
NOVELS
Stop Here by Beverly Gologorsky
Twelfth and Race by Eric Goodman
SHORT STORIES
Running Alone by Halima Marcus (One Story)
Rain by W. Somerset Maugham (The Collected Stories of Somerset Maugham, Volume One)
COMIC BOOKS
The Movement (DC Comics) #5 and 6.
The Shadow Now (Dynamite Comics) #1, 2, 3
Buck Rogers (Hermes) #1, 2, 3
Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse) #31
Shadow/Green Hornet (Dynamite) #4 and 5.
12 Reasons to Die (Black Mask) #5
Satellite Sam (Image Comics) #1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Quack (Star-Reach) #1
ARTICLES
Writer’s Digest (7 articles)
Poets & Writers (4 articles)
Bookforum (2 articles)
The Writer’s Chronicle (1 article)
The Writer (1 article)
January 24, 2014
An interview
Grey Wolfe Publishing’s Diana Plopa interviewed me for their website. Here is how it begins:
GWP: Do you have any writing rituals? If so, what are they?
MK: I don’t have any writing rituals. All the virgins are safe and won’t be sacrificed to the writing gods on my account.
GWP: What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?
MK: Is sanity a requirement? No one told me! Seriously, cultivate patience; with your own growth as a writer, with the process itself, and in receiving criticism. Patience will go a long way to maintaining one’s sanity as a writer.
GWP: Are there any occupational hazards to being a writer?
MK: I’m guessing you mean those of us who write fiction. I’m sure journalists and staff writers for television networks have their hazards. I can only speak as someone who writes fiction. And the only occupational hazard I can think of is expecting to have writing financially support yourself and a family. I find it destructive to my creativity to think about writing strictly for the money.
GWP: Describe your Muse. How does she/he/it influence your writing process?
MK: I don’t understand. If “Muse” is to mean what my American Heritage Dictionary defines as a source of inspiration, then that would have to be life itself. I try to write character-driven prose so people, in general, inspire me, especially those who live against the flow of the status quo. That’s what inspires me to write.
One essay shifted my writing and improved my development as a writer. It was George Orwell’s “Why I Write.” In it, Orwell identifies the four motives for writing prose which exist in different degrees within each writer. Those motives are sheer egoism – the “desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death,” etc.; aesthetic enthusiasm – the perception of beauty in the world or in the placement of words in their right arrangement; historical impulse – to record things as they are for the use of posterity; and political purpose – “to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.” When Orwell wrapped up the essay saying “I cannot say with certainty which of my motives are the strongest, but I know which of them deserve to be followed. And looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug, generally,” I resonated with that.
Some might say that The Y in Life is a political book, which I don’t fully agree. It is a book about characters asking questions and the answers revealed or left unanswered. Questioning life does not leave out the environment within which we live. In Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, the lead character – Larry Darrell – focused on the spiritual. Though Maugham’s tale occurs during the roaring 20’s and the Depression which sends Larry’s “privileged” friends to financial ruin, Maugham doesn’t include these events into his questioning. They appear more as a natural force, like a hurricane, which “happens” without questioning the why. That’s where I wanted to push The Y in Life which, for me, gave me a novel worth writing.
You can continue reading at A Conversation with Michael Kitchen.
December 31, 2013
Publication Announcement
Let’s start 2014 off right (or write!).
My short story “Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others” has been accepted by Grey Wolfe Publishing for their anthology Write To Woof. The anthology is scheduled to be released in February, 2014, of which the proceeds will benefit Almost Home No-Kill Animal Shelter in Southfield.
The theme of the anthology is dogs and/or no-kill shelters, and will contain poetry, short stories, and personal experiences by owners of adopted dogs. “Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others” is a short story that features Trevor Aldabra, the attorney who represents the paranormal. Aldabra assists in solving the cause of death of Muriel Capra, an employee of a no-kill shelter. Aldabra is assisted by Ms. Capra and her predeceased dog, Snowball.
Trevor Aldabra was recently featured in a story titled “Confession” published in Grey Wolfe Publishing’s anthology, Legends: Autumn 2013 (available at www.GreyWolfePublishing.com).
Photograph by Michael Kitchen
December 29, 2013
No Goals For 2014
Ah, the end of the year. Let’s look back and see if I’ve accomplished my goals.
Goals? What goals?
As I wrote last year at this time, I declared I had no goals for 2013; no goals “other than enjoying life, including the uncertainty of it.”
So how did that work for me? Let’s see:
-First novel published – The Y in Life (Grey Wolfe Publishing)
-First book signing as an author at Purple Tree Books in Cheboygan, MI.
-Short story finalist in 2013 Michigan Bar Journal Short Story Contest
-Two short stories and one essay published in Written in the Mitten 2013 (Heron Bay Books)
-Two short stories published in Legends: Summer 2013 (Grey Wolfe Publishing Anthology)
-Two short stories and one essay published in Legends: Autumn 2013 (Grey Wolfe Publishing Anthology)
-Became a member of Detroit Working Writers
- Won first trial.
- Had numerous cases dismissed, maintaining the innocence of several clients
- Finished the 2012-13 bowling league with my highest average to date.
-Attended every Detroit City FC home match, caught an away match, and attended two Columbus Crew games.
Not a bad year, considering I set forth no goals.
Goals are more of a hindrance to living a happy life than not. In a survey commissioned by Steve Shapiro, 41% of adults agreed that achieving their goals had failed to make them happy, or had left them disillusioned, while 18% said their goals had destroyed a friendship, a marriage, or other significant relationship. Steve Shaprio, Goal-free Living (Hoboken, New Hersey: Wiley, 2006) cited in The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman (Faber and Faber, Inc. 2012).
Seriously. It can’t be said any clearer than this:
The optimism-focused, goal-fixated, positive-thinking approach to happiness is exactly the kind of thing the ego loves. Positive thinking is all about identifying with your thoughts, rather than disidentifying from them. And the ‘cult of optimism’ is all about looking forward to a happy or successful future, thereby reinforcing the message that happiness belongs to some other time than now. Schemes and plans for making things better fuel our dissatisfaction with the only place where happiness can ever be found – the present. ‘The important thing,’ (Eckhart) Tolle told me, ‘is not to be continuously lost in this mental projection away from now. Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.’ Another staccato chuckle. ‘And that’s a revelation for some people. To realize that your whole life is only ever now. Many people suddenly realize that they have lived most of their life as if this were not true – as if the opposite were true.’ Without noticing we’re doing it, we treat the future as intrinsically more valuable than the present. And yet the future never seems to arrive. Oliver Burkemann, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking (Faber and Faber, Inc. 2012) p.116.
I know the goal-setting crowd likes acronyms, and mine for GOALS is Ghosts of Attaining Life Satisfaction. Yeah, it’s a stretch. But to chase these ethereal creatures and to attempt grasping them in order to experience a satisfied life seems to be a waste of energy and focus, and a distraction from the happiness of now.
I will look back on 2013 for the year that it was, reflect on it, savoring its joys and reflecting on its missteps and challenges. But for the future? All I have is now. This time next year I can review what another collection of 365 days of now-moments create.
2014 is uncertain, and I’m satisfied with that uncertainty. It is foolish of me to set a goal, for example, of writing and publishing another novel in 2014. If something happens to alter that goal I’ll have excuses or disappointments to chastise myself with. With no goals I have no quota to meet. I’ll just look back and see what good was created, and be all the happier for it.
And I just might be surprised at how awesome a year it can turn out to be – like 2013 was!
December 3, 2013
Visiting the Indies Chapter Three: Used on New Books & More, Mount Clemens, MI
Sherman Alexie, National Book Award winner and author of over twenty books, issued a letter on September 1, 2013 to authors to become “a superhero for independent bookstores” by spending Small Business Saturday (November 30, 2013) hand-selling books at their local independent bookstore. When I first saw the letter, I was intrigued, but The Y in Life was not out yet and I wasn’t sure where I could do this, or if even a local bookstore would be interested in doing this. After all, I’m no Sherman Alexie.
In early November, I saw Used on New Books & More’s owner, Lisa Taylor post on Facebook a link to Alexie’s letter, praising it and commenting that they weren’t going to have a famous author visiting, but that she had recently been published in the local newspaper twice. That got me thinking.
Used on New Books & More and its companion store Weirdsville Records is on New Street in downtown Mount Clemens. It is just a block away from my office and from the 16th Circuit Court. Lisa Taylor and her husband Davey have owned the stores for just over two years. The first time I entered the store shortly after it opened, I recognized Lisa right away as a former Borders manager from the Utica, Michigan store. In fact, the shelving in Used on New were former Borders book shelves. After she posted the link to Alexie’s letter, I stopped in and asked if she was interested in having a not-so-famous author be a bookseller for the day on Small Business Saturday.
Lisa Taylor, owner of Used on New Books with me.
So on Saturday, November 30, 2013, I got to spend four hours as a volunteer book seller at Used on New Books & More. Along with a wide selection of used books, Used on New carries a few new books by local authors (including The Y in Life). Weirdsville Records carries vinyl records (and turntables upon which you can play them) and other cool stuff, owned and managed by Lisa’s husband, Davey, who is also known as Sir Graveson of The Sir Graveson Show.
Used book stores are as important as new book stores, and are independently owned. At new book stores, you can buy the latest titles. Libraries are a great place to borrow books. But many books have been read and kept in the libraries of individuals. And sometimes these readers need to part with them, leaving the loved books homeless. Used book stores offer a shelter for these books until a new reader finds and purchases them, giving them a new home. No one likes to see books in recycle bins or worse, the trash.
Needless to say, I had a blast. Spending four hours in a book store is easy for me. Doing so while engaging with customers and selling and signing The Y in Life was even more fun. Surrounded by Borders’ bookshelves and the company of Lisa and Dave Taylor, Used on New Books & More and Weirdsville is a funky place for the reader and music aficionado to enjoy.
Signing a copy of “The Y in Life” for an adoring fan (and family member – Jill Robertson)
November 16, 2013
Visiting the Indies Chapter Two: Purple Tree Books in Cheboygan, Michigan
My son-in-law is from the Philadelphia area. When he and my daughter toured northern Michigan recently, he told her that he had heard of Cheboygan and thought it was a fictional place.
Works of fiction (and nonfiction) have an adorable place to hang out before they are purchased in this real town at Purple Tree Books. This sparkling amethyst is located in heart of downtown Cheboygan on Main Street, slipping into the place of Log Mark Book Store. Purple Tree Books opened in late September, 2013, and it has hit the ground running, scheduling Michigan author signings just about every week. Emily Clare is a wonderful host and a knowledgeable bookseller, having studied her trade at Horizon Books in Petosky.
The changing of the name from Log Mark Book Store, which had been in the community for a number of years, to Purple Tree Books has more meaning than a change of identity. Emily’s niece was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was six days old. Purple is the awareness color for this incurable genetic disease, and Emily named the store to enhance that awareness in honor of her niece. All donations from the self-service coffee provided in-store go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
It was a drizzly, grey afternoon when I appeared on November 9, 2013 after my annual trip to Traverse City for the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan conference. I signed copies of The Y in Life, met customers, and shared a fun afternoon with Emily and Grey Wolfe Publishing’s Associate Publisher, Diana Plopa. My first visit to Purple Tree Books was as a guest author to do a book signing and to feed my book addiction. It is now a must-stop when I make my travels to the northern part of Michigan.
Cheboygan may be a fictional place to those outside of Michigan, but a great true story has begun in this Northern Michigan town, authored by Emily Clare called Purple Tree Books.
Purple Tree Books
334 North Main Street
Cheboygan, MI 49721
Photo by Diana Plopa
Photo by Diana Plopa
Emily Clare, Mike, Diana Plopa
Photo by Christopher Chagnon
November 12, 2013
Visiting the Indies Chapter One: Brilliant Books in Traverse City, MI
I love book stores. I especially love independent book stores. These are businesses where the owners have a true love for their product. They care about books because they love books. Their business is focused on their community and the readers within it. And they are knowledgeable about the vast area of books and authors and publishing houses.
And though Borders had grown to become a large chain before it closed, each store had a knowledgeable staff and it’s own character. I know. I tried to apply for a position at the Borders in Novi, but was not qualified to become an employee. They had a pre-employment test about authors and books and their subjects, which I must not have passed. As for independence, I could only purchase my annual “Haiku: Japanese Art and Poetry” calendar at the Birmingham store because it was the only one in the Metro Detroit area to carry it.
The current chains are not like that. My experience of them have been that books are fungible items, and from my observations the staff always rely on the computer to locate the book a customer seeks.
With The Y in Life now released, and as promotional efforts move forward, I’ll be sharing my photos of signing books at these wonderful establishments.
On November 6th, 2013, Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Michigan stocked The Y in Life. I was in town for a conference so I stopped by to sign the copies they had on their shelf.
Brilliant Books is a relatively new book store in downtown Traverse City. They have a great selection of books, including a solid bookcase of works by Michigan authors. They offer a membership club that grants a variety of discounts, and they provide free shipping for orders. They also provide a Surprise Book of the Month program where, for a fee, they will send you a book each month that, based on your reading preferences, will be a surprise pick by the store. With the City Opera House just a few doors down and the National Writers Series an event at the Opera House featuring authors, Brilliant Books also has a collection of signed editions available for sale.
Brilliant Books
118 Front Street
Traverse City, MI 49684
(Special thanks to Jack and Jodie for your kindness and hospitality, and to the store for carrying The Y in Life).
Visiting the Indy’s Chapter One: Brilliant Books in Traverse City, MI
I love book stores. I especially love independent book stores. These are businesses where the owners have a true love for their product. They care about books because they love books. Their business is focused on their community and the readers within it. And they are knowledgeable about the vast area of books and authors and publishing houses.
And though Borders had grown to become a large chain before it closed, each store had a knowledgeable staff and it’s own character. I know. I tried to apply for a position at the Borders in Novi, but was not qualified to become an employee. They had a pre-employment test about authors and books and their subjects, which I must not have passed. As for independence, I could only purchase my annual “Haiku: Japanese Art and Poetry” calendar at the Birmingham store because it was the only one in the Metro Detroit area to carry it.
The current chains are not like that. My experience of them have been that books are fungible items, and from my observations the staff always rely on the computer to locate the book a customer seeks.
With The Y in Life now released, and as promotional efforts move forward, I’ll be sharing my photos of signing books at these wonderful establishments.
On November 6th, 2013, Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Michigan stocked The Y in Life. I was in town for a conference so I stopped by to sign the copies they had on their shelf.
Brilliant Books is a relatively new book store in downtown Traverse City. They have a great selection of books, including a solid bookcase of works by Michigan authors. They offer a membership club that grants a variety of discounts, and they provide free shipping for orders. They also provide a Surprise Book of the Month program where, for a fee, they will send you a book each month that, based on your reading preferences, will be a surprise pick by the store. With the City Opera House just a few doors down and the National Writers Series an event at the Opera House featuring authors, Brilliant Books also has a collection of signed editions available for sale.
Brilliant Books
118 Front Street
Traverse City, MI 49684
(Special thanks to Jack and Jodie for your kindness and hospitality, and to the store for carrying The Y in Life).
