Asinine Prose: "What Brought This On?"

This past summer, my story "What Brought This On?" received an honorable mention in Asinine Poetry's prose contest. Editor Richie Narvaez has posted the story this month. Enjoy.

Smallville: "Idol"

Starstruck Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna (David Gallagher and Allison Scagliotti) try to help spread the Blur's legend, but their ill-conceived saves only allow Metropolis's corrupt DA to smear the Blur. Meanwhile, Lois has resorted to seeing a psychiatrist to interpret her continuing fantasies about Clark.

This may be my new favorite episode, full of great dialogue and hints of the Superman mythos including Lois's protectiveness of Clark/Superman when the chips are down and Clark's putting on the famous glasses. Kudos to writer Anne Cofell Saunders.

Unlucky, you say?

It's been a good week for me, having reached my chapbook contest goal of forty poems early yesterday. I've decided on a theme and eliminated some of the forty to that end. I'm going to take the rest of the month and see if I can build back up to forty, eliminate further, etc.

Also, I just finished polishing my Walmart flash fiction story. My story and the rest will be posted November 30.

Poetry Progress Report

As of dawn on GePoWriMo Day 10, I have 33 poems for the 2010 Nerve Cowboy Chapbook Contest. My goal is the contest-maximum 40 by November 30. If I go over, I'll have a wider selection to draw from for my entry. Follow me on Twitter to track my progress to the minute.

Meanwhile, Jack T. Marlowe has accepted my poem "Best $90 I Ever Spent" for Issue 7 of Gutter Eloquence Magazine, due out January 2010. Intrigued?

Short Stories vs. Novels

On Murderati the other day, Allison Brennan blogged about writing short stories versus novels:

Readers, do you like reading short stories? Novellas? Or prefer to stick only with full-length novels? ...Writers, do you like reading and/or writing short stories?

I commented:

I've always enjoyed concise writing and written concisely, but I'm not satisfied reading or writing just short stories or novels. I think the scope of a story should determine its length. For the classic journey that changes the hero on several levels, a novel can show that journey at a more believable pace than a short story. Conversely, a short story is often better than a novel for showing the immediate effects of a single event. A short story allows you to give the event its due while a novel would force you to draw out its effects perhaps unnecessarily or implausibly.

I am not a Yankee fan(atic).

The team I've rooted for since age 3, the New York Yankees, won their 27th championship last night, and I slept through most of the final game. After watching Cliff Lee dominate Game 1 with a friend, I slept straight through A.J. Burnett's Game 2 win.

Five years I ago, I stayed up and paced through every minute of the Yankees' historic collapse against the Boston Red Sox, and I was very conscious not to get overexcited this time around. To be honest, I had several work commitments throughout the playoffs—the Lineup reading, my weekly reviews for BSC, and GePoWriMo chief among them—that prevented sheer devotion to baseball.

I did follow the Yankees through the regular season, and more than anything I'm aware of how difficult it is to go out and perform, blocking out the media and fan attention. I'm happy they won, but I'm also glad not to let baseball distract me from performing, so to speak.

GePoWriMo Has Started

That's Gerald's Poetry-Writing Month. I've done it unofficially the past two years preparing 24-page entries for the Nerve Cowboy Chapbook Contest. This year's goal is a contest-maximum forty pages. Up, up, and away.

Fascinating.

Any comments on my virtual Halloween costume this year?

You Had to Be There

Since Anthony Rainone, Richie Narvaez, and I were among the readers at KGB Bar last week, we didn't have much time to take pictures of the first Lineup event. The three taken for us on camera phones came out blurred beyond our photo editing abilities. I may invest in a Flip Mino HD for next time, but as an Ubuntu Linux user, I'm not sure the Mino would mount or that Ubuntu has software to make snapshots from the video.

Any insight from the blogosphere? Stay tuned.