A Good Short Story is Hard to Find...

I first discovered Frank Yerby (1916-1991) in the anthology, Black Southern Voices: An Anthology of Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, and Critical Essays (1992). My father purchased the withdrawn book from the public library yesterday. Immediately, I was drawn to the short story, "Health Card," which won the O. Henry Memorial Award in 1944 for best first short story.

"Health Card" is set in the Jim Crow South, where an African-American soldier awaits for the arrival of his wife, Lily. Needless to say, the story is very suspenseful and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. I love how the story explores black masculinity: how does a man be a man when his manhood is constantly challenged and undermined?

As an African-American writer, I feel I have a responsibility to challenge the status quo. I feel a need to write something so profound and illuminating that it challenges and confronts racism. However, I don't know if my writing achieves that yet. Right now, my writing deals with the fantastical and supernatural, but maybe one day, I will write that ground-breaking novel...one day...until then, we still have Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1953) and Ann Petry's The Street (1946).  

A Hidden Gem: Dael Orlandersmith

I just finished reading a great American play entitled, Yellowman (2002), which is written by actress/writer Dael Orlandersmith. The play was nominated for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, which was the same year that Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Topdog/Underdog (2001). Before picking up the book at the library, I had never of Orlandersmith. Ever. I was browsing through the book aisle and saw a thin yellow spine that read, "Yellowman." Interesting title, I thought. Then, I became even more interested when I saw the photograph of  the playwright: a Black woman sporting braids. I find myself being drawn to Black female writers because I feel they understand me. It's like, finally, I see myself on those pages...but I digress. I first picked up Yellowman in 2008. Interestingly, I didn't read the play when I first checked it out from the library (I have that habit; I checkout a bunch of books, and read only a few). Last month, I checked out the book again. This time I read it, and I loved it. It was a fast read. It almost went too fast, but I enjoyed reading every bit of it. I love the language in Orlandersmith's play--it's poetic and lyrical. I could feel the heat of South Carolina. I could feel the humidity cloak my body and the dust fall on my skin like rain drops. Orlandersmith's writing and content reminds me of Alice Walker. The richness. The beauty. The womanness. It's so awesome when you discover a  writer that interests you and pulls you in. It's like meeting someone who captivates you. You're under his spell. Finding a writer that intellectually stimulates you is like finding a needle in a haystack: hard! Because I liked Yellowman so much, I am now reading Beauty's Daughter; Monster; The Gimmick: Three Plays (2002). Hopefully, those plays are as good as Yellowman. I'll let you know if I liked them. By the way, are there any writers that you have discovered recently?

Say It Ain't So, Tin House!

Darn, another rejection and dreams of stardom are flushed down the toilet, once again. The blow came in an e-mail with the words, "Your submission to Tin House," in the subject line. Uh-oh, I thought. About three weeks earlier, I had received an email confirming that my submission was received, and for the last couple of weeks I was daydreaming about seeing my poem published in the crisp pages of Tin House...and then my whole life would change. I would be discovered by a New York literary agent and then I would have a book deal and BAM I'm a household name! Please note: I am being extremely sarcastic and completely delusional. But when I saw that email from Tin House, I knew the deal...defeat...another one bites the dust. Usually, when you receive a response too soon, especially when it comes from a literary publication, it's not a good sign. So, I braced myself for the inevitable and opened the email. Yep, it's what I expected. One of those impersonal rejection letters. Or should I say note of brevity where you are a nameless soul:

Dear Writer,
Thank you for your submission to Tin House. Unfortunately, we must pass at this time. Best of luck placing your work elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Tin House Editors
2010-06-03 13:25:39 (GMT -7:00)

As a result of my Tin House rejection, I'm thinking about submitting my work to another publication, preferably Callaloo, but I'm not sure. I know everyone says that a writer should simultaneously submit their work to various publications, but I never do that, which is not the most efficient route to become published. I have to understand that just because a literary magazine passes on my work, it doesn't necessarily mean that my work is crap. It might mean that my style of writing or content is not "suitable" to the publication's aesthetic. Or at least that is what I have to tell myself. I know that ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2004), mentioned that she had submitted a number of stories to The New Yorker before her story, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," made its debut in 2000. So, I got to keep writing and keep hope alive. If your work has been rejected, please don't feel discouraged. In fact, give a shout out to the publication that rejected your work. Don't be mad--you're just earning your writer's stripes.

Dreams of a Doubtful Writer

I am asking myself the hard question, "How do I plan to jump start my writing career?" And to be honest, I don't have a writing career, yet. I'm still a struggling writer that no one has heard of except friends, family, and classmates. I don't even know if I have enough credentials to call myself a writer, but I am one (I've been one ever since I was in elementary school). I dream of penning a book that becomes a best-seller. I want to earn tons of money and travel the world promoting my book. I want to be interviewed by the best journalists and have my photograph donning the front cover of Poets & Writers. At least, that is what I want, but will it happen? Right now, I'd be satisfied with having one of my works be published in a major literary magazine, but I don't know if this is achievable. Right now, I know that I need to write more, but I feel blocked. Like the blank page is a challenge. A test. And I don't want to fail. To put it bluntly, I'm a very practical person, and sometimes the idea of being a fiction writer seems too lofty. To write a well-written piece of work takes a lot of time and effort. And in spite of your hard work, there are no guarantees, and it is this realization that is preventing me to write. For example, I really want to turn in a manuscript to The New Yorker, but there is a huge part of me that feels it is a waste of my time, but we never know unless we try, right?

Discovering your Writer Self

Attending the right graduate program can alter your life and writing style. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I think grad school gives you a wide range of skills. After reading a post entitled, "it feels like changing fortune," by fellow classmate Dave Kiefer, I agree with him when he writes how attending the University of Baltimore has significantly improved his writing. Before attending UB, I never wrote my stories by hand--I wrote every story directly into the computer. As a novice, I thought it was bad if you didn't know what your story was about before writing it. However, as I began to study the writing habits of writers that I admire such as Toni Morrison, I learned that many of them write their stories on a piece of paper or pad. At UB, I learned that writing is a process and an exciting journey. Discovering the story is the best part of writing. I used to think it was crazy when I heard writers tell journalists, "The story just came to me." But I can honestly say, this is true. A writer shouldn't cocooned himself in his dank, lonely writing den because the best material comes from the outside world. I find myself incorporating conversations I overheard and things I saw on TV into my writing. Writing is cultural; so why not embed society, media, and real life into your writing? With writing we are creating worlds, and those worlds should somewhat resemble "real" life. Not just fictional life.

A Writer's Tweets

It was so funny. It just hit me today--you need to use your Twitter account. I'll admit I wasn't a huge fan of the new social media. I thought it was silly and a waste of time. However, after taking my electronic publishing class at the University of Baltimore, I found out that utilizing social media is a great way to market yourself as a writer. As mentioned in a previous post entitled, "It's all about Twitter, folks!," two classmates and I did a group presentation on Twitter. From the research, I learned that many celebrities and companies have Twitter accounts including Oprah, The New York Times--everyone! With Twitter, you can tweet about upcoming events. You can insert links into your tweets so people can view articles and/or blog posts. Also, create hash tags so people can find your tweets using keywords. So, here is my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/mbanks6. Also, for all you Tweeters, have you found Twitter useful? Let me know. Also, you can post a link to your Twitter account!

A New Chapter...

Yesterday night, I attended the University of Baltimore's MFA Creative Writing & Publishing Arts Book Celebration. For that night, graduating students from the program showcased their books that they designed and printed (some made theirs by hand). The books looked great. The prices ranged from $5-$30. I purchased Adam Robinson's poetry collection entitled, Say, Poem. Students also read excerpts from their books which ranged from poetry, novel excerpts, novellas, short stories, to memoir. As I was watching my fellow classmates give their final readings as grad students, I thought about how in one year, it will be my turn. I will stand in front of my peers, colleagues, family, and friends, and share my child to the world. Then, I wondered what in the world will I do after graduation? Teach? Write? If I could have any wish, I would love to be a "professional" writer...I want to get paid to write...I know that a lot of writers who dedicate their lives to the craft and do not have a "day" job often apply for grants and fellowships...but I wonder, is that realistic? Is that even doable? If you're a full-time writer without a day job, can you give me pointers?

My New Addiction, Part II

As I mentioned in a previous post entitled, "My New Addiction," blogging has opened up my universe; I have found an emerging passion. It is cool to be able to voice your thoughts and opinions--and bam--you have an audience. After installing, Google Analytics, I found out that this blog has been viewed by folks in Hawaii, California, and even India! Call me a nerd, but I was tickled to see those statistics. Blogging is a new form of communication. I call it "the call and response." I write a post, you read it, and you respond--there is interaction. I also love to read other writers' blogs. My favorites are Blue Mosaic Me: The Writing Blog of Jackson Bliss and Alligator Legs. I like "Blue Mosaic Me" because Jackson Bliss, a Ph.D. Literature and Creative Writing student at the University of Southern California, blogs about the conversations he has with faculty including Aimee Bender, TC Boyle, and Percival Everett. He types verbatim both acceptance and rejection letters he has received from editors and literary agents. He shares the correspondence he has written to authors, literary agents and editors; he includes their responses (my favorite is the one from Junot Diaz; click here to read it). The other site I enjoy is Alligator Legs. I like how she blogs about the New York literary and arts scene. Plus, she chronicles her writing aspirations in New York City. Are there any writing blogs that you love?

The Countdown

School is coming to an end. It's like being back in grade school when you're counting down the days...that leaves me with question, "What will I do with my extra time?" I have a couple of things on the list which includes working on my short stories, reading, and perusing the library. And oh yeah, of course blogging. Before, I couldn't tell what traffic I was getting for this blog, but I uploaded Google Analytics and now I know. Thank you to all my Baltimore visitors, ya'll have been showing me love, and to all those from other locales. Thanks! I hope to keep giving you a reason to come back! Also, check out my other blog, The Writing Zone. For that blog, you can read about the writing process and post your comments. You even can become a subscriber (shameless plug, I know, but hey, you got to market yourself, right?).

A Dream Deferred?

The waiting game is what I call it. What am I referring to? The months and months you wait to hear whether your work will be published in a literary magazine. It's like waiting to hear whether you've got accepted into the school of your dreams. Honestly, I don't ever think I have a real chance of getting published, but it's nice to believe you have a shot. During your waiting period, you ask yourself, "What if?" What if your work does get published? I remember when my story, "Elvis,"became published. I received the news on the last day of July via email. It was for The Baltimore Urbanite, New Voices: Emerging Writers Issue, August 2009. I was so ecstatic. Lights, camera, action! I thought being published meant things were going to happen. Maybe someone would contact me...recognize me...phone calls...none of the above...but it is a starting point. So, I just got to keep trekking along and maybe things will start to happen. At least, I hope. Anyway, can you recall your first published story? Did you have high expectations? Did anything come from it?

Creativity and Electronic Publishing

It was cool to see the variety and range of the final projects for my Electronic Publishing course at the University of Baltimore. There weren't too many people who used Twitter (shout out to Tania's Twitter Text Poetry, click here to view). I really liked Courtney's creative use of Facebook--that was so innovative. Create a Facebook account for fictional characters. Basically, everyone did a nice job. Three people did e-books, which are supposed to be the wave of the future. Call me old-school, but I still prefer a traditional book. The E-books were well-designed and were in PDF versions. I wonder how E-books will change the concept of book design. A couple of people used video with images, words, and audio. One person even shot a series of web shows about two fictional characters (click here to check it out). In retrospect, I learned a lot by taking Electronic Publishing. It's funny because I didn't want to take the class at first because I told myself I'm not tech savvy, but truthfully you don't have to be that tech savvy--maybe a little--but not a whole lot. Good job on the final projects, everyone!

Get your Blog on!

Yesterday, in my Electronic Publishing course, there was a group panel: Rose Huber (blogger), Erika Shernoff (non-profit marketing director), and Adam Robinson (blogger and publisher). The panelists gave great insight about their experiences with blogs and electronic marketing. It was cool to see that blogging can actually mean something other than how many people visited your sight, that if you're lucky and persistent that maybe a career can spring from it. For example, both Rose and Adam mentioned receiving free stuff; I would love for publishers to send me books that they want reviewed (knock on wood). But knowing me, I would feel funny endorsing something that I didn't believe in. Anyway, I was very impressed with Adam Robinson's indie book publishing house, Publishing Genius (a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about his press, click here to read it). I hope to one day have my own publishing house, but it takes time, money, and energy. Distribution and marketing are essential to having a successful publishing house. If no one knows about your company or the books that you're selling, it's like you don't exist. Also, it was pretty cool to see how Rose's post, "The Ultimate Vegan Cuisine," was the top google search. So, as you can see, the Internet levels the playing field in a way. Just get the word out about your blog, and hopefully people will become interested, and then you can become a famous blogger, right?

The Last Hurrah!

On May 7th, 2010, students in the MFA Creative Writing & Publishing Arts program at the University of Baltimore will showcase and display their final books on the fifth floor of the Student Center. This year, I know a handful of the graduates, so I'm excited to see their work. Last year, I attended the reading, and it was awe-inspiring to see how the books looked professional and attractive. At the University of Baltimore, students have to produce their own books, which means they can either get them printed using a commercial printer or they can hand-make them. I'm telling you now, I doubt I'll be making my final books by hand--too much work. Lord willingly, I will showcase my book to the world next year or should I say to a roomful of people. I am excited about that--my three years wrapped up in the completion of my final book. I already have an idea of how I want my book to look. It's hard to imagine that I will have wrote, designed, and printed my own book without the help of a publishing house. Anyway, I can't wait to see everyone's books! And hopefully, I can afford them (smile).

My new addiction

The end is coming, and I am excited! May 11th will be my last day of class--Hallelujah! But I will admit, I have learned a lot this semester. For example, blogs! I never knew I would like blogging so much. I like communicating to an audience other than myself (I write all the time, but I only show a fraction of my work to the public). Blogging is cool because you control the content that you want on your blog. You can inform the audience about things you find important and the things that interest you. I never knew I would like blogging so much. Before taking electronic publishing, the word, "blog," intimidated me. I thought I had to be a computer whizz to master the art of blogging. Now, I see all I need is a computer with Internet, and I am good to go!

Hey, can I have my book regular?

I wonder with all of this technology, what will happen to the book? Will technology replace the physical book? What will that mean for brick and mortar bookstores? What does that mean for book design? It's hard to believe that books will become relics of the past. There are some things that we must preserve and the book, the traditional book, the one that is held in your hands, and have actual pages you can turn, and you can place your cheesy bookmark in, and write on its physical pages for posterity, must be preserved. I know for myself, I don't want to read a book on a book reader. I want to be able to smell the book, look at its cover, finger through the pages, and after I'm done reading it, I want to place it on my bookshelf and admire its beauty. Having said that, E-books are the new wave of the future, but they shouldn't replace traditional books. Not all new things are better. Long live the printed book!

The Fame Game

You've sent out your manuscript to your favorite literary magazine. You imagine yourself reading the email, "Congratulations, we have selected your story for our publication..." And to top it off, you get paid a couple of hundreds, and before you know it, you become a household name...okay, I'm getting carried away. But honestly, who doesn't wish that one of the above scenarios wouldn't happen? What prompted these fantasies? I have submitted a collection of prose poetry entitled, "Black Codes," for Tin House's issue about class in America. I guess, I'll find out, if my submission made it by August. If not, the game continues. If so, YAY! I gotta be like Jesse and keep hope alive. What is your motto that motivates you to keep writing?

Confessions of a New Blogger

Blog statistics. The first thing I do when I turn on my computer is to checkout my dashboard to view the stats of my two websites, The Writing Zone and The Diary of a Black Prophet. Some days, my stats are so dismal. There are days when no one has visited my sites, and I think to myself, What is the point of maintaining a blog that no one reads? But on the flip side, there are days when you have a couple of clicks, and you become excited. So, I guess, I'll hang in there. Maybe one day, I will have daily traffic of hundreds of visitors on my websites. Wishful thinking? You never know.

P.S. For those of you that have blogs or websites, what do you do to attract visitors to your sites? And most importantly, how do you get them to come back? Help a novice blogger in training (smile).

The end is almost here

The semester is almost over. It's like the countdown to freedom, but I'll admit there is nothing like getting up in the morning with purpose. I like to feel productive, although school can be stressful. Right now, I have a couple of major assignments due: Pedagogy presentation, Electronic Publishing final project, and an experimental writing assignment, but by the second week of May, it should be a wrap! But when I'm an old woman, I'll remember my days at UB--the days when I would stay until the closing of the Design Studio Lab to design work, taking the shuttle that drops me off at Penn Station, and definitely making those books by hand--and how many people can say that they handmade their books? Not many.

What's behind the doors, MFAers?

The deadline is looming. You feel antsy. You've had this feeling before. The fear of what's on the other side of the door...is it wealth and stardom? Your name on The New York Times Bestseller? Or is it a bag of regrets and broken dreams? A nice little note with the word, "Sucker," scrawled across it? What am I talking about you might ask? Graduation. In 2007, when I graduate from college, I just knew my Bachelor's degree was going to get me a job ASAP! Wrong. As a result, I learned that you have to plan early. I'm beginning to think about the transition from school to the workforce. What should I do with my MFA? Teach? Write? Purse owning my own publishing house? Who knows? So that leads me to my next question, what are your plans after earning your MFA?

Easy as 1, 2, 3?

Today, I tested my website's usability and navigational tools. I used my parents as the sample pool. It was interesting to see how they navigated my blog. They are traditional readers, meaning their reading paths are linear; they didn't go to the archives and "play around;" instead, they just scrolled down the blog. My father does not have much experience with computers, so he needed help to navigate to older posts. My mother is a bit more tech-savvy; she was able to locate items on my sidebar, while my father was unable to find them without my guidance. Now, it would be interesting to see how a younger testing pool would have "behaved" on my site. I wonder if they would have "noticed" the sidebar more? Would they have clicked on the posts and the links? Who knows?