A New Venture -- Near and Dear

For a long time I have lingered over the idea of starting a literary magazine. After serving as a Slush Editor then moving up to Copy Editor for the Oddville Press (since shut down I'm sad to say) I felt a literary magazine would really give me an opportunity to immerse myself in the craft I hold so near and dear to my heart -- and help others get the exposure they need!

And thus -- with my fellow friends and writers -- we have birthed The Abstract Quill!

Thus far I have been surprised, supported, humbled, and invigorated by reading the submissions we've received so far as well as the community support demonstrated by local businesses. I have been posting fliers in "writerly" places, including the University of Montana campus, and the response has been good. There is still work to be done, pages to be edited, rejections to be sent -- my, how it feels to be on the other end of the writing process! But I can honestly say I look to each submission with renewed interest and contemplation. I know how it feels when you feel your work hasn't gotten a fair shake. So I try to give that attention and respect to each writer and artist. We all do and our strength is in our dedication to the craft.

My fellow editors include Nick Walsh, Matt Funston, and my beautiful wife, Whitney Espeseth.

I hope you will all take a moment to visit our site, poke around, and see what we have to offer.

See you on the pages!

New Magazine!

So it's official.

The Abstract Quill has launched! Super excited about this venture. So far so good.

Check it out at:
http://theabstractquill.com

Now Write! Exercise

As part of my lovely writing group "Writing for Your Life" we have agreed to do some writing exercises from the writing prompt book "Now Write! Fiction Writing Exercises From Today's Best Writers & Teachers."

Since we've had some writers stuck in dry spells I thought it only appropriate we start with the "Overcoming Dry Spells" prompt by Leslie Schwartz. Choose one or better still, do them all!

Exercise 1:
Here are a few of my favorite exercises to jump-start a flagging writing session:

• Write about what you would write about if you weren't stuck.
• Take one or two of your characters and put them in a stuck elevator with:

1. Your mother
2. The devil
3. God
4. Yourself... and let the action roll without censure.

• Before you sit down to write, take a long walk alone in a quiet place and envision the next scene of your story. Don't ever come to the computer empty-headed. Don't ever call up your story without first knowing where you want to take it next. 

Exercise 2

The "Wedding Cake Assignment" by Debra Spark is a great starter for anyone lacking ideas. 

Write a short story using one of the following images:

1. The fish falling from the sky.
2. A lawn sign that reads, "Wife Wanted: Inquire Within."

Good luck and I want to see your responses people!

An update

So a lot has happened since I last updated with my writing adventures. Graduate school ultimately got put on the back burner as my partner and I moved to Montana so she can finish her BA at the University of Montana. I also got a financial reality check with the moving costs and getting her set up for school so for the time being I have put off my graduate school applications. I have also clarified my goals. I will apply to UM's MFA program for the academic year of 2013 so I can stay close to home and maintain some semblance of married living. Online or distance programs may also be of interest but I need to do more research on how those programs are structured. Working online I already feel largely tethered to my computer so the thought of completing a MFA online seems fairly daunting.

In other news I have made a significant (I hope) breakthrough on my current manuscript. My work has been largely stalled because of a lack of scientific knowledge about infectious diseases and the like. Fortunately, picking up "The Devil in the Freezer" has given me new information and ideas on how to continue finishing up my manuscript. Hopefully this will lead to the ACTUAL COMPLETION of my manuscript as one of my 2012 resolutions is to finish, revise, and submit my manuscript for representation. Whew! ... it is almost done though so it is completely possible for me to get my buttocks in gear and do this.

Wish me (and my buttocks) luck!

Publication WHAT?

I just realized today through fortune and fancy that my short story "Red Lights" was accepted for publication by Foliate Oak Literary Magazine! The magazine uses a submission manager and I received a brief email simply stating the status of my work had been updated. Well, I didn't directly remember the password for the manager and didn't check it right away. In fact, I didn't check back on it until I received an email from the magazine asking contributors to proof their galleys for errors before the end of the month. And I thought to myself.... what? Contributor? Wait.... WAIT! *scurry scurry* Logged myself in and lo and behold!

Accepted.

That's a major win any day of the week and I am especially excited because I quite liked my little story and worked hard at the revisions. Quite pleased indeed. This is my 3rd short story publication -- hopefully the first of many, yes? Stay tuned for the November, 2011 edition of Foliate Oak Literary Magazine!

Red Room Profile

After long neglecting my Red Room profile, I've returned to it and updated and refreshed all my info, as well as adding a couple stories on my page.

Check me out!

I'm really trying to ramp up my writing online presence especially with how much I've been reading lately about how authors are now having to shoulder more responsibility in promoting and marketing their work. So I am developing my networking savvy and trying to learn more about how to promote and market my own work/blogs. Up to this point, my blogs have served more for myself to document things of importance but now I will pay more attention to sharing my blog and general online presence. Yay!

Super Productive Woman!

Okay, I've done it. I have finalized my MFA application list. For real.

1. University of Wisconsin at Madison
2. University of New Mexico
3. University of Idaho (only 4 hours away from my love!)
4. Hollins College
5. Arizona State University
6. Rosemont College
7. Mills College

See? I got it down to 7 schools and it'll only cost me, oh, $376 to apply to them all. Piece of cake, right??

Yeah.

On a cheerier note, I finished my Statement of Purpose (SOP) for Mills College. Mills and UW's application deadline is December 15th so for obvious reasons I'm doing them first. Sadly, my SOP for Mills is way better than the one for UW. I'll have to look at the UW SOP again and try and determine why it is so lackluster. It may have something to do with the fact that Mills allows up to 5 PAGES while UW is 500 words. Which makes sense considering how many applications UW receives. But in any case, it feels good to have completed a second SOP. Only 5 left to go!

I even got all fancy and organized by creating a MFA filing system of sorts. They're just regular file folders, one for each program. In each folder I've included an instruction sheet or checklist for the paper applications. For the online applications I'm just going to print the confirmation emails I receive when I submit them. I slapped a page on the front folder specifying due dates and app fees for each program and inside each folder I attached an index card so I can document the dates I submit materials -- a double check system to make sure I didn't forget anything. If that sounds hyper organized, that's because it is. I usually am not so meticulous but it's the only way to alleviate a lot of the anxiety I feel about forgetting something or keeping all the programs straight.

OY!

Oooo, I also e-mailed a UNM student asking if she would be willing to answer some questions and got a positive response. I'm hoping she'll let me do an interview format for the blog here -- since it seems so difficult to get insider information on MFA programs, it would be great to have some of that info made public so other potentials can see it. We'll see how it goes!