New issue of Brevity.

Nothing like a little short, snappy nonfiction to brighten my day. 

Read it here. 

Praise. song. for. inaugural. poetry.

Did anyone else notice how incredibly slowly Elizabeth Alexander read her poem? It was like she was teaching kids how to read. 

Anyway, the full transcript of the inaugural poem is at the New York Times, and the Poetry Foundation is all buzzbuzzbuzz with comments. 

Call me sentimental, but I liked these lines at the end:

What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

Good news, good poem, good blog

Good news for writers and publishing: More people are reading! 

Fiction reading increases for adults in the New York Times 

My favorite poem in the latest issue of poetry was "The First Line is the Deepest," by Kim Addonizio. The trick is to find all the references to other poems/poets all over the piece. (The poet also reads the poem on the Poetry Web site.) The link to read the poem is here. She reads aloud on the podcast here. 

From the world of blogs, not new but always good: The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Artwork above is courtesy of said "blog."

It's all about focus

http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html 


The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing.

Round-up of good stuff

A writer and reader on why publishers fail from Forbes

They dumb everything down.
Why is publishing the only industry so arcanely enigmatic that no one, not even the people doing it, seems to understand its sublimely mystical machineries? Many media watchers are linking the latest horrors in publishing to the financial crisis, but it's not quite as simple as that, either.

The the impotence of proofreading, from the Stranger

Yes, proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence. Now, this is a problem that affects manly, manly students all over the word.

Calls for funny poetry by women, posted on the New Pages blog

For shits... and giggles

Did I tell you there's an online (print??) lit mag called the Shit Creek Review? For reals. It's legit, too, and I've started thinking that it'd be great to have that on your list of publications: "James Jameson's work has appeared in Poetry, the Chicago Review, The New Yorker and Shit Creek Review..."
Check it out here.

The End of Cushy Schmooze Fests

The New York Times says the publishing industry is reconsidering the luxurious, book-related soirees of old. Mr. Moneybags (see above) will be so sad to hear it. It's doubly sad for me, because I've always wanted to hang out at schmooze fests, and now who knows when I'll have the chance? Staff cuts, corporate restructuring, cutbacks on perks--looks like publishing is going the way of ... pretty much every other industry right now. 

Read it: Puttin' Off the Ritz: The New Austerity in Publishing.

Happy New Year!

Now go write. Wasn't that one of your resolutions, to write more? Edit more? Submit more? Get published more?

Go. do. make. write.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Salinger!

JD Salinger turns 90 today, so I hear. But he's still locked up in New Hampshire, hiding from the public, adoring fans and life in general.

What do you think he does all day? I'm betting he's got satellite TV and tivo and watches non-stop soap operas. Or maybe he has a terrible online poker habit. That's the thing about being a recluse--we can speculate and make up lots of ridiculous stories, and there's no way to validate them. Or invalidate them.

Read more about the elusive author in Still Paging Mr. Salinger, from the New York Times.