Category: Literary Matters

Back Into the Writing Life

John Winkelman

Reading material for the week of October 31, 2021

I have written more in the past two weeks than in the entire previous year. I wouldn’t say I have recovered from anything; more that I have grown accustomed, finally, to the way things are now. The new abnormal, if you will, which could also be a newbie-friendly version of the New Weird genre. Like, Annihilation for junior high.

But whatever needed to click, clicked, and now I can write freely again, if not well. I am a little out of practice.

Four new readable things arrived this past week at the Library of Winkelman Abbey.

First up is The Interim by Wolfgang Hilbig, the most recent delivery from my subscription to Two Lines Press.

Next is the new issue of the ever-excellent Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, to which I will, one day, submit some writing.

Next is the latest issue of Jacobin. I have cancelled my subscription to this one as, though I like the magazine and appreciate what they do, I have a stack of over two years of mostly-unread issues sitting in my office.

Next is the latest issue of Salvage, subtitled “The Disorder of the Future.” I will continue my subscription to Salvage for as long as they continue to publish. Though their topics are grounded in the present their viewpoint seems to be about five years ahead of the consensus reality, and I find that invaluable as I think about the events of the past few years.

In reading news, not much has happened because I have been too busy…

WRITING! NaNoWriMo started on November 1, and as of this post I have completed 17,000 words, or just over one third of the 50,000-word minimum to be a NaNoWrimo Winner. One third in one week is a comfortable buffer and I think I have it in me to get to 50,000 by the end of the month, though I have looked that particular gift horse in the mouth enough times to know that I shouldn’t take my time/energy/motivation/health for granted.

IWSG, November 2021

John Winkelman

Welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group post for the month of November, 2021.

Hmm. What am I feeling insecure about this month? What could it be. Could it be…

SATAN*?!?!

No! Not Satan. Just NaNoWriMo. It’s always NaNoWriMo.

My confidence took a big hit last year when I failed to complete my 50,000 words worse than in any previous NaNo. I blame burnout, family stress, COVID stress, and attempting to continue a partially-completed work, rather than starting something new. For me, NaNoWriMo works best when whatever I work on is completely contained within the month. This is why I do so well with short stories at this time of year.

So for 2021 I am trying a different approach. I plan to write a book, so nothing new there, but instead of writing in chapters, I have created 30 documents in Google Docs, one for each day of the month. Whatever I write on a given day, no matter what it is, where it starts or where it ends, goes in the doc for the day. I’ll take notes about where chapters should start and end, but rather than worry about chapter (or short story) length, this year will be all about the writing. Just get it down and get it done. The editing will happen in December. Or January. Or never. Anywhere but in November.

Therefore I am cautiously optimistic that this month I will be able to get the 50,000. And so far, two days in, I have averaged about 5,000 words a day. So it may actually happen.

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, here is my profile page at nanowrimo.org. Hit me up with a buddy request!

Anyway.

This month’s IWSG question is the following:

What’s harder to do, coming up with your book title or writing the blurb?

That’s an easy one: The title. I say this simply because I have not yet had to come up with a blurb for a book, because I have not yet worked a book the point where it requires a blurb. Maybe this year. Or maybe next.

I suppose that makes it another thing to feel insecure about.

*If you didn’t get the Satan reference, do a google search for “SNL Church Lady”.

 

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Another October, Put to Rest

John Winkelman

The Tai Chi Tree at Wilcox Park

Yesterday was the last outdoor session of the year for the tai chi and kung fu classes. We were extremely lucky with the weather. Since late March we were only rained out twice, and had to cancel one class due to extreme heat. Three classes in eight months. We could probably tough it out on Saturdays for a couple of more weeks, but since all of us are vaccinated and okay with masks, we are moving classes to From the Heart Yoga for the winter. With a little luck our original practice space at the downtown YWCA will open after the beginning of the year, but we are prepared to move locations for the long term, if necessary.

No new reading material arrived at the house in the past week. This is becoming a regular occurrence.

In reading news, I am slowly working my way through David Graeber‘s Debt: The First 5,000 Years, which has put me in a state of information overload. I think it is brilliant, but a more nuanced opinion will need to wait until I compete the book.

In writing news, I wrote most of the first draft of a short story which has been bouncing around in my head for a few months. I would have completed the draft but a migraine laid me low for a couple of days in the middle of the week. Still, this is the first creative prose writing I have worked on this calendar year, and it was a good practice run for NaNoWriMo which starts tomorrow.

And tomorrow starts in about six hours.

Autumn Weather and Autumn Energy

John Winkelman

New arrivals in the week of October 17, 2021

Yesterday I wandered over to Books and Mortar to help Jenny and her crew move the store from their old location at 955 Cherry Street SE, across the street to their new location at 966 Cherry Street SE. The moving event was supposed to take three hours, and I set aside a couple of hours more because I know about moving locations. I also expected maybe a dozen people to show up (again because I have lots of experience with moving) because the day was cold and intermittently rainy.

But instead, the weather broke and the sun came out, and at least 75 people showed up and formed a human conveyor belt to move the books across the street, and the entire inventory and most of the fixtures were in the new space in less than an hour. Books and Mortar have photos and video of the event up on their Instagram. I look forward to seeing the new space when it is finished (grand re-opening November 5!).

Two new bookish things arrived this week, and one shirt.

First up is the latest issue of Poetry, which continues to be a balm of sorts for when the world gets a little too chaotic.

Next up is Gaia Awakens, a new anthology of climate crisis fiction from a recent Kickstarter created by C.D. Tavenor and Meg Trast of the Two Doctors Media Collaborative. I backed their project at the tier which included the “Eco, not Ego” tshirt, which I will happily wear to conventions, if the conventions I attend ever happen again.

In reading news, I started David Graber‘s Debt: The First 5,000 Years, which should keep me good and angry through the end of November.

In writing news, I am slowly amassing a pile of notes for the kickoff of NaNoWriMo in a week and change. I am trying something new this year – instead of breaking up my writing by chapter or story, I created 30 documents in Google Docs, one for each day of November, and will just put everything I write on each day in each document. I’ll worry about redistributing the words to their final resting places after the end of the month. What comes out of NaNoWriMo is the zero-eth draft of the work. The first draft will appear out of the random pile of typing once I have time to review what I have written.

The Days are Definitely Darker

John Winkelman

The Tai Chi Tree at Wilcox Park

Here in the middle of October dusk comes noticeably earlier every evening, particularly on Wednesdays when we have tai chi class in Wilcox Park. Class runs from 6:00 to 7:30, and while the sunsets are beautiful, soon we will not be able to see each other well enough to practice sword work safely.

No new reading material arrived at the house this week. Just as well; I have a big backlog.

In reading news, I just finished Simon Wiesenthal‘s The Sunflower, and I can see that this is a book which I will keep within reach for a very long time.

I also finished George Saunders‘ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which is now firmly in the top three of the best books about writing I have read in the past thirty years.

In writing news, still no new prose or poetry. I am still in recovery (mental, emotion, sleep) from the past month or year or two years, and hope to get to a place where I can participate meaningfully in NaNoWriMo, which starts in (o god!) two weeks.

Kickstarter, Covid, and Supply Chain Disruption

John Winkelman

New Books for the Week of October 3, 2021

This past week was one of little to nothing accomplished. A combination of terrible insomnia and stress, along with some kind of mild illness (not COVID, according to the test I took on Wednesday), left me as brain-dead as I have been in any week this past year.

Three new books arrived at the house this past week.

On the left is Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Julie Costa and published by Two Lines Press.

In the middle is Jason Sanford’s new novel The Plague Birds, published by Apex Book Company.

On the right is Ekphrastic Beasts, a combination art book and RPG monster manual published by Janaka Stucky by way of his Kickstarter campaign. This book is the basis for the title of this post.

The past two years have been tough on everyone. The COVID pandemic has disrupted the interconnected systems of the world to a level usually not seen outside of world wars. Everyone is having a tough time. Everyone is stressed.

On April 28 of 2020 Janaka Stucky launched the Kickstarter campaign for his RPG monster manual Ekphrastic Beasts. The pandemic was well underway at that time, and quarantines had been going on for well over a month. There was no indication at that time of how long the lockdowns would last, or what the effect would be on the global workforce and supply chains. Simply put, the modern world had never experienced a disruption like this, ongoing, pervasive and unpredictable.

The original estimated delivery date was well over a year ago. Obviously, since the book just arrived here for my weekly update, that deadline has long passed.

In the comments for this Kickstarter are many, many messages of support, many more messages expressing concern and/or some level of dissatisfaction with the caveat of understanding that times are tough, and a few messages which basically say, “fuck your problems, ship the books.”

There are any number of reasons for a Kickstarter campaign to miss its deadline – shipping issues, production issues, workforce issues. Personal issues. This kind of thing happens. It is unfortunate that it happens, but it happens.

Over the last two years a great many deadlines have been missed for a great many reasons, almost all of them related either to COVID (and peoples’ responses to COVID) or the occasional cargo ship stuck sideways in the Suez Canal. This is just as frustrating for the people responsible for fulfillment as the people expecting to be fulfilled.

So coming in when a long-delayed Kickstarter is finally complete, and complaining about the wait, and about the perceived deficiencies in the product, without acknowledging the unique circumstances of the past two years is, frankly, a dick move, and people who feel such a gross sense of entitlement, no matter the amount of money they put down, deserve to be disappointed. It isn’t all about you. Pull your head out and take a look around at the world, and then choose to feel a little empathy rather than kick the one person who held it all together in order to complete the project, come hell or high water.

Here endeth the lesson.

IWSG, October 2021

John Winkelman

Welcome to the monthly Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. This month’s question is the following:

The question: In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?

Back when Caffeinated Press and The 3288 Review were first starting up, the bunch of us met to discuss editorial policy. As I was heading up the journal, and intended it to include reviews of West Michigan arts and letters, the first points I introduced were “No poison pens. No punching down.” In other words, the performative sadism of the Hot Take and the Gleefully Nasty Review had no place in any publication to which I would contribute my time and effort.

That being said, I found this to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer with specifics. After much consideration, I think the line I draw is here:

No exploitation of, or punching down at, minority or marginalized or vulnerable persons or groups.

I say this as a middle-aged, straight, white, middle-class, cisgender, progressive, sort-of-Buddhist man whose political sensibilities have moved steadily leftward for the past thirty years. Any art which depends on stepping on necks in order to elevate itself is art which is on the wrong side of history.

While the stories I write may include instances of cruelty and People Doing Bad Things, those scenes will be in service of the story and not merely as gratuitous filler for increased views and sales. And, spoiler alert, those people will probably receive karmic justice by the end of the story.

There are many artists and writers who believe that there is nothing which is out of bounds, and while I do not state my position as a Rule Which Should Be Followed By All, the things I won’t write tend to also be things I won’t read. Write what you want. I ain’t the boss a’ you.

I will not turn this post into a detailed examination of “punching down” as it relates to dominant social structures here in the United States, though I think such a post would be useful for teasing apart the multiple threads of of privilege and power which permeate every facet of modern life. Perhaps I will write it to pad my word count during NaNoWriMo next month.

In closing, note the tagline for this blog.

 

Insecure Writer's Support Group BadgeThe Insecure Writer’s Support Group
is a community dedicated to encouraging
and supporting insecure writers
in all phases of their careers.

Poetry and Cyberpunk

John Winkelman

Reading material for the week of September 26, 2021

Another short update, due to some intense family stuff.

This week saw two new bundles of pages arrive here at the Library of Winkelman Abbey. On the left is the latest issue of Poetry. On the right, fresh from his latest Kickstarter, is Rudy Rucker‘s new book Juicy Ghosts.

In reading news, I am closing in on the end of S.A. Chakraborty’s The Kingdom of Copper, and still enjoying it immensely. I am now about halfway through George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, and I consider it one of the best books I have read this year, and one of the best writing books of the many such I have read.

In writing news, as usual, there is no writing news. Perhaps next week. Or the week after.

Hello, Autumn

John Winkelman

Reading material for the week of September 19, 2021

Brief update this week. I am tired and burned out, and need to focus my attention elsewhere.

The only new pages to arrive in the past week belonged to the latest issue of The Rain Taxi Review of Books, which never fails to be interesting and full of compelling titles. I considered cancelling this subscription as part of the Great Expenses Purge of 2021, but as it is only $24.00 a year, and the magazine takes up less than a quarter inch of shelf space, it easily made the cut.

In reading news I am about 200 pages into S.A. Chakraborty’s The Kingdom of Copper, and it is really good! I read the first book in the series, The City of Brass, well over a year ago, and I now regret not immediately diving into Kingdom.

I am also somewhat over 100 pages into A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. So far he has gone through Chekhov’s “In the Cart” and Turgenev’s “The Singers”. We have just started Chekhov’s “The Darling”. I don’t think I have read any of these stories previously. Saunders is brilliant at showing how the stories are constructed without resorting to jargon to deconstruct the text. Though ostensibly aimed at undergrad or graduate level readers, these essays/teachings/contemplations are accessible and well worth the read.

In writing news, still not a lot to report, though I do have some more notes jotted down. I doubt I will find a useful intersection of time and energy for creative pursuits before the first of November.

Buh-Bye, Summer

John Winkelman

Reading material from the week of September 12, 2021

This is my last post of the year wherein the days are longer than the nights. In just three days Autumn will arrive, and with it the slow slide into the winter months. Though if the outside temperature of the past month is any indication, we may well still be able to visit the beach well into December.

Three new volumes arrived in the Library of Winkelman Abbey in the past week.

On the left is the new anthology from the Calico imprint of Two Lines Press, Cuíer: Queer Brazil.

In the middle is the latest from And Other Stories, Oldladyvoice.

On the right is the new issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, which is one of the few remaining subscriptions I have kept, though through the intermediary of their annual Kickstarter event.

In reading news, I finished Derelict, which I found to be an excellent collections of stories, and am now about 50 pages into The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, the second book of her Daevabad trilogy. So far, I quite like it!

In writing news, I now have a plan for NaNoWriMo, which should give me the interest, the latitude, and the momentum to pump out at least 50,000 words in November, assuming the world does not, to be blunt, get even worse in the next three months.