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Writing, Reading, Far to Go
The Bathtub.
Hushpuppy, her daddy Wink, Jean Battiste, Miss Bathsheba, the wild Aurochs. Beasts of the Southern Wild. Thinking on all y'all tonight. Despite my friends who disliked your story, I still hold on to liking it. It's a good story. Without being overly philosophical, by responding to the narrative with my heart instead of my mind, I lean into a little girl's words of wisdom and courage and spirit, and I feel glad.
“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes, aww!” — Jack Kerouac
Thanks to Len Kuntz and all the editors at Metazen, the itty bitty story I mentioned in a late June post, "White Stripes," has been nominated for the 2012 Best of the Net. Who says art doesn'tmake for more art? Thanks Meg and Jack!
That little turntable is spinning and so am I.
2012 Waasmode Short Fiction Prize
Caitlin Horrocks' stories have always punched me in just the right way. So that after reading "The Sleep" or "Sun City" or even "Zolaria" and especially "This Is Not Your City," I feel amazed and exhausted and alive and also a little bit in love with Caitlin Horrocks and her words. And so, when I entered a story - in the usual titled-with-no-author identification format given to most contests - in the Passages North short fiction contest, which announced CH as judge, I hoped she might find something in my words, too - if my story even made it passed the first readers.
This week I had my first phone call ever from a literary magazine. Yes, that's right. From Tim Johnston, the managing editor at Passages North. He was quite calm, and meanwhile I tried to stay calm, as he told me that my story, "We Are Here Because of a Horse," had been chosen by Caitlin Horrocks as the winner of the 2012 Waasmode Short Fiction Prize. I'm still surprised and ecstatic and occasionally mumble, "nah, that wasn't me," even though I know I should shout, "yes, that's me and that's my story!" That's my story about a girl and a boy and a horse, about drums and Tulsa and dreams. And then I can't help myself and I celebrate by jumping up and down and scaring the dog, because my stories are finally getting a chance to be read.
And that's why I'm even more in love with Caitlin Horrocks and this thing that she and I both do. This thing called writing.
"We Are Here Because of a Horse" was published in Passages North, Issue 34, Winter 2013.
(Photo Credit: sheeshoo at Flickr - the chrome horse at the Natural History Museum in Fair Park in Dallas).
Swallowed alive by the holidays, and so in a nutshell, here are the rest of my Reverie 2011 musings. For each day’s topic, a few words of response or less.
Choice – writing
Protest – against SB5 - Ohio Workers' Rights - & for environmental awareness along the Gulf Coast
Solstice – so dark, so bright
Technology – iEverything!
Service – the Gulf Coast: wetland restoration awareness
Bizarro – miscommunications
History I – Japan and the tsunami, Gulf Coast restoration, the deaths of Liz Taylor and Amy Winehouse and Steve Jobs, violence in Arizona, revolution in Egypt, tragedy in Norway, the Brits and their Royal wedding, the end of bin Laden, U.S. troops returning home
History II – reading, writing, places to workshop and write from San Francisco to Acadia
History III – short story publications, editing work, blog posts, nearly finishing the novel, traveling on West and East coasts, children's milestone birthdays and daughter's college graduation
Dreams – teaching, traveling, finally going back home to New Orleans, writing words that others want to read and that will hopefully make a difference
Table of Contents – Chapter title for 2011 – “The Year of Seven Stories”
A Day to Delete – the day the bizarro miscommunications began
New Year’s Eve 2010 – I could’ve been home – in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and bringing in 2011 – but I stayed alone at my desk in Columbus, writing and writing. It took an entire year for me to regret this. Serious delayed reaction. Sometimes getting-things-done at the expense of not-visiting-your-mama is just-not-worth-it. So 2012’s theme might just be, Make-Sure-There-Ain’t-No-Room-for-Regrets!
Thunder & Lightning - Flora - Kauai, 2008 - by Karin Cecile Davidson
