MFA Nostalgia

Last night I visited my old campus. It’s a city campus, walled in, where I spent two-and-a-half years in MFA courses (I took an extra semester for thesis workshop) and then two-and-a-half more years “writing” the thesis (more like keeping my cheap & cushy couples housing that I won by lottery) and more years have [...]

Top 10 Reasons Why It Is Time to Go to Bed

It is 7 minutes to my bedtime.
I didn’t have a bedtime as a child (my mother didn’t believe in them) and yet now that I am “older” I do because if I don’t go to bed by a certain time I am unable to wake up in the morning and my day is completely shot.
Tomorrow [...]

Unable to E-nun-ci-ate, and Other Story Problems

I’m at a difficult spot in the short story I’m writing: the final scene where it all comes together. The how-did-this-happen, the full circle, the change everyone says you must come to in a story, the WHY. To be honest, the story is about me, but no longer about me, it’s more personal a piece [...]

Where I Write, Suggested Improvements

My weekend writing spot would be better if they fed writers intravenously from convenient tubes in the desks. I can never decide what to eat—a character flaw—and taking the time to venture downstairs and out of the building is a distraction too dangerous since it involves seeing all the colorful windows and crowds on Broadway [...]

A Whole Life in One Story

I’ve been carrying around a short story anthology for a couple of weeks now, reading a story in the mornings with my coffee when I have the spare moments. Today I wanted to go straight to my writing spot, but upon starting one of the stories in the anthology I couldn’t move until I reached [...]

The Real Fellowship Essay

I won’t post it here, but today I completed the actual fellowship essay that I’ll be sending off next week. It’s honest but not as sappy as previous drafts. I have tried to remove all trace of desperation, but the fellowship committee may still be able to sniff it out when they open the envelope. [...]

Distorted Memory

Memories are twisted. They’re worse than play-doh. Let’s just say I had a friend, and we spent many years together, and many of my memories are tangled up with this person, and I would only assume, I would have to assume, that her memories would be the same. Or similar. Or at least have mention [...]

Lecture to Self on a Two-Day Week

Dread is not called for here. It’s only Tuesday, and the week is up after today. This is a holiday week, a happy occasion, so be happy.
Sit awhile. Listen to the Dresden Dolls. Sip your mocha. Cover your head with the scarf so it feels like no one in the whole Starbucks can see you [...]

Start Small

I’ve started small. There are many things I want to write—some I’ve admitted here, some I haven’t admitted even to myself. So much to do, and such small scraps of time in which to do it. So I’ve narrowed my focus this week, holiday and all. The story I’ve returned to is already 25 pages [...]

Magic

An old friend who has come to visit is a magician. I didn’t know until last night, and it thrills me. I am the most gullible person when it comes to tricks. I want them to be real magic. I do not want to know the secret (please do not tell me). When his trick [...]

Failed Fellowship Essays

1.
Dear Fellowship Committee:
Please, please, please let me in. I’ll owe you forever. Plus, I’ll bring chocolate.
Kisses,
Nova
2.
I’ve had stories published here, here, here, here, and here.
I was a fellow here.
I have an MFA from here.
I had a residency at this writers colony.
I edited this literary journal.
I organized this reading.
My left leg falls asleep often, and I [...]

Happy Typo Day!

This was forwarded to me today from a business email one poor (high-level) soul sent out, apologizing for a book publishing mistake:
We apologize deeply for the incontinence and appreciate your understanding.
It’s my favorite typo of the month! Or year! It’s beautiful!
I’m thinking of starting a collection for my wall at work, so if you have [...]

All I Want to Do Is Dye My Hair…

…but the fluorescent bulb in the bathroom died and there’s no replacement and I can’t see my own head.
E: if there are plum-colored sludge stains on the kitchen floor when you get home, this is why.

The Door’s Thatta Way

Today was a going-away party for someone at work. Then four other people had mysterious “appointments”—one was an arm-waxing (shhh!), so I suppose that doesn’t count. But the others? I can’t know. One person left the office mid-afternoon for her “appointment” wearing a white button-down shirt, skirt, and pantyhose. Pantyhose! We’re so casual of an [...]

Philadelphia

I needed to see my sister. It was imperative. I’ve talked about her before. She’s 9 1/2 years younger than me, a poet, a beauty, a student, a waitress, not a baby anymore and I’ve stopped calling her that, for the most part (or at least out loud). But she’s been going through a tough [...]

My Own Trajectory

I need to keep my eyes on only myself. A person walking beside me is not there to make me speed up—although, often, I can’t help it. A writer can write a book in a month (as many are doing now, as it’s November), but that doesn’t mean I will be writing a whole book [...]

Mattresses, Showers, 7th Grade, Fathers, Stepfathers, and Brownies (among other things)

Each and every morning this week I didn’t want to go in to work. I didn’t want to get up early to write before work either. The weight of “Work” was enough to pin me to the mattress when the alarm wheedled its way into my head, and invariably I hit snooze and returned to [...]

The Nicest Agent I Ever (Almost) Got a Yes From

Once upon a time, there was a literary agent. She was new enough to be hungry but settled enough to know what she was doing. She called me on the phone to tell me she loved my novel. She called me “a talent.” Then she let me down gently and said she’d consider my novel [...]

Day 3: File Away for Later

The final day of the conference focused on the time AFTER you’ve found an agent, and AFTER you’ve found a publisher, once your book is in the hands of the publicist, the bookstore, and then—you might hope—the world. Alas, this will not be happening anytime soon for me, but I absorbed as intently as ever, [...]

Day 2 Continued: Truly I Can’t Sit Still

You should see me in the weekly status meeting at work: I’m a squirmer. I wiggle, too. So it was with great dedication that I sat today through four more sessions, and all were worth it. The final reading and Q&A of the night answered some of my questions about small presses, which I heretofore [...]