Arts Institute Blog

The deadline for the SC Poetry Initiative’s poetry book contest passed earlier this week.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the first book contest, because I won only a year ago, and my book will be out very soon, scheduled to be published on March 15.  Most poets nowadays get their first book published through a contest, and we’re lucky to have something like this here in South Carolina.  I got a copy of the uncorrected page proofs on Tuesday–the day of this year’s deadline– and what a thrill!  A brief moment of panic, before someone from USC press reassured me that those were “uncorrected” page proofs, and all the edits I’d submitted would, indeed, be in the book as published.  And then I was giddy all day paging through it.  There’s a painting by Mike Williams on the cover– he’s a Southern painter whose work I really admire, and I’m so thrilled to have his work on the cover.  And it’s just so beautiful!  The press sent me a copy of the cover on Wednesday, and I was giddy all over again with the beauty of it.  Ray McManus told me when he got his first copy of his book (he was the previous winner), he wanted to go to bed with  it, till his wife told him that was sick.  Two more weeks and I’ll see mine! 

then, looking at what I had done, I saw that it needed some work, and there was revision.

As I stated in my previous posting, my thesis project began in my first writing workshop at USC.  I began the project with the intention of writing a novel based on my father’s childhood experience of losing a close friend in a suspicious hunting accident.

So, from the beginning, all I really knew was the ending; there would be the death of a friend.  Beyond that, I had no hard-and-fast plot ideas.  Most of the plot and many of the characters in the novel grew out of imagination and necessity only; the main character’s immediate family members are the only ones based on “actual” people.  Even the friend who dies at the end is based more upon a composite of friends that I had growing up than anything my father told me about his friend.

I would estimate that 30 – 40 % of the text comes directly from workshop assignments.  Inherent to this are some positive and negatives. 

First, some of the positives: 1. Workshop forces writing.  If you have a hard time producing pages, workshop solves that temporarily.  2. Workshop provides feedback, both from others and yourself.  You get some differing opinions and views on your writing.

Now some of the negatives:  1. Workshop forces writing.  It may not be your best writing, but you’ve got to do it.  And it can lead to unnaturally segmented writings of 8 – 12 pages that may be hard to incorporate together, leading to episodic chapters.  2.  Workshop provides feedback.  Sometimes the feedback can be harmful, especially if it’s too early in the process or project, or if the criticism is delivered in a way that keeps you from writing.

Next time:  Some specific revision situations …

Rejection comes….well, for me it comes in many forms and for many reasons, but I will narrow my focus to the rejection of my writing. That sort of rejection comes in the form of a terse, though polite, email or post card. Usually something like this:

Dear Writer:
We regret that the manuscript you submitted does not fit our current editorial needs. Thank you very much for sending us your work.

Sincerely,
The Editors

Sometimes they throw in a pity line like “we received many fine submissions, yours among them.” That faint praise might seem more sincere if it weren’t pre-printed on a post-card that doubles as a subscription form (“we’re sorry that we can’t publish your story, but send us your money anyway”).  The polite, robotic tone—much like the tone used by automated bank tellers and psychiatric nurses—somehow manages to make it impossible to take offense, but also makes you want to rip out your own eyeballs. Don’t rip out your eyeballs, however. Or rend your clothes. Or hole up in your bedroom for a month eating Mars Bars and peanut butter. Take heart! Endure! Persevere! And do try to feel a little sympathy for the journals and their editors—they suffer too.Most journals are flooded with submissions. Ploughshares says they receive a thousand submissions a month. A thousand! A month!  And that is not uncommon—even the smaller journals gets hundreds of submissions a month. If the editors took the time to comment on every rejection from the oh-hell-no’s to the close-but- no-cigars, they’d never have time to do anything else—including publish a magazine.

So the pre-printed post-cards are necessary and unavoidable. The best response is to shrug and try again. Look for a magazine that might be a better fit for your story. So much of this business is about taste—these editors didn’t fall in love with your story, but there may be another journal and another set of editors that have been waiting for something just like your work. If the rejections start piling up and you are getting turned away by even the likes of Rejects Quarterly (an actual journal), maybe it is time to put the story aside for a while and start working on something new.

This is what I tell myself: Don’t let the rejection get you down. Keep writing and keep trying. I have the same advice for anyone trying to get published. Also, definitely take my word on the whole Mars Bar and peanut butter thing—it may feel good at the time, but it will come back to haunt you.

Until next time!
Rachel Luria

24 February 2008 SOUTH CAROLINA BOOK FESTIVAL

The South Carolina Book Festival was this weekend –and what a treat it was this year.  The festival always gives me a good sense of the vibrant, supportive, and generous community of writers that exists in the state.  I always love the range of writing—memoirs, fiction, poetry, even sometimes cookbooks you buy for the stories as well as the recipes. (The real treat last year was the Lee Brothers promoting their Southern cookbook—which has some fascinating bits of culture, like that venison wok made from a farm disc blade.)  And I always spend an hour or so—okay, a few hours and lots of money—wandering through the stalls of the book dealers, looking for that perfect nineteenth century “language of flowers” book or an old volume by an Irish poet.  Or this year’s finds:  the first, a 1940s government sex ed pamphlet called “Manpower” (the cover features a park ranger rolling up his sleeves—who could guess what this booklet was about!).  And the second, an extraordinary collection I found at Ed’s Editions (one of my favorite local bookstores), a 1978 anthology of poems written in South Carolina prisons and published by the SC Arts Commission.  A remarkable collection. 

A GOOD YEAR FOR POETRY!  This year was the year for good poetry.  Saturday morning I had the real pleasure of introducing Lola Haskins.  Her poems are—to use the word often invoked in reviews—exquisite.  My friend Randy Spencer had recommended her to me –and told me that she is a warm and generous person as well as a fine poet.  If you don’t know her, check out her website at www.lolahaskins.com.  The SC Poetry Initiative had a panel featuring poets who’ve won the Initiative’s annual chapbook contest—Gilbert Allen, Phillip Belcher, Therese Gleason, Angela Kelly, Karen Peluso, Charlene Spearen, and Josh Watson.  Good work all around—though I’ll admit my favorite was Josh Watson, whose affable and sometimes goofy personality (yes, he came in late, and yes, he knocked his chair over, and yes, I think he thanked every person he knew in the audience) belies the extraordinary precision and power of his work.  All of their books area available from the SC Poetry Initiative (www.cas.sc.edu/engl/poetry/). 

I also got to be one of the judges for the Poetry Out Loud recitation contest—with poets from Midlands high schools reciting poems.  Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (and here by the SC Arts Commission).  This was the Midlands regional finals, from which 3 students were selected for the state finals.  Judging was tough, but there were some real winning performances!  Kaneisha Payton from Spring Valley High School was simply amazing.  She recited Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” and Vachel Lindsay’s “General William Booth Enters Into Heaven.”  The Lindsay poem is a tough one, and not one I find particularly interesting, but she had the audience riveted.  Although Ashley Cohen-Burnell of Richland Northeast didn’t make the regional finals (she was the winner from her school, an arts magnet school that meant tough competition), I have to say that her riveting rendition of Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et decorum est” (one of the most famous anti-war poems of the twentieth century) gave me chills.  And Joseph Adams reciting “Playing Dead” by Andrew Hudgins had the whole audience laughing.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:  Other poets reading during the festival were Susan Myers and Ray McManus—both winners of the SC Poetry Book Prize.  Susan’s Keep and Give Away is a beautiful book, and Ray’s Driving through the country before you are born is simply stunning.  Also Marjory Wentworth, our poet laureate and a whirlwind of energy—just being around her gets you excited about all of the literary stuff going on.  (She has organized an exciting series of readings in Charleston focused on the art of Jonathan Green—more about that in a future blog entry.)  And Linda Ferguson and Phebe Davidson and Carol Ann Davis and Kwame Dawes…. 

Other highlights from the festival?  Chatting with the Yemassee boys at the Yemassee table, there to promote our increasingly fine USC literary journal.  Seeing Susan Lenz at the Mouse House booth, with her stunning handmade and altered books (gallery80808vistastudios.com/Lenz/index.shtml).  And seeing a beamingly happy Sheila Morris at the Red Letter Press table with her memoir, Deep in the Heart (www.writersheilamorris.com).  Red Letter Press is a local press putting out some good work, and Sheila’s memoir is a poignant and often laugh-till-you-cry hilarious collection of stories about growing up lesbian in rural Texas. 

My big regret this year was missing John Lane, the Wofford poet and nature writer whose work I really love. A good festival this year!  Lots of poets and too many conflicting things to attend!  A stack of books on my desk to go through over the next few months, and lots of ideas, lines jotted down, ways of thinking about the work, people to email.  It was a good one this year. Fingers crossed I’ll be reading from my own new book at the 2009 festival!

With college spring break right around the corner, it seems appropriate to devote my first blog entry to exploring a question that has long troubled me: are writers exactly like those girls gone wild in Panama City or Cancun? The answer, I’m afraid, is yes. Well, almost.

Writers and girls gone wild both feel an impulse to expose the most private parts of their selves to an enthusiastic audience. Usually, that impulse grows stronger with alcohol. Neither a girl gone wild nor a writer would, if they thought about, really want their parents to see what they’ve done.  No matter what they claim—that they want to create a timeless work of art that elucidates the struggles of the human spirit or “I’m so wasted”—both really do it for the attention and approval.

There is, however, one significant difference between a writer and a girl gone wild: while writers face rejection on a daily basis, those wild girls almost never do. It is that experience—the seemingly enormous odds against ever getting published and the heartbreak of having your best work turned away—that I will explore in this blog. Because, unfortunately, that seems to be one of the realities of the business: at least in the beginning, you will probably be rejected more often than not. There is hope, though. Sometimes you aren’t rejected and your work finds a home and you get your audience and you feel as elated as spring breaker and find yourself throwing your arms in the air and yelling “Woo!” at passing strangers. I’ll talk about those times too.

Best, 

Rachel Luria

This first blog entry is a little bit daunting…but the prospect of writing about writing seemed like an excellent idea. I am in my second year in the MFA program at USC, specializing in fiction. I had a pretty good year last year, with a publication in Quick Fiction and two “finalist” nods from Glimmer Train.

For the purpose of this blog, I am going to concentrate on revising short stories, one in particular titled, “The Exquisite Corpse.” Short fiction interests me because I can focus on several different topics, characters, conflicts, etc.

I am currently in a writing workshop, so I would also like to include input I receive from other writers regarding the revision process. Looking forward to this.

Robin

Sometimes getting started on a writing project, whether it is a creative piece or an assignment for a class, is by far the most difficult part of the whole process.  A blank page or, in this case, a screen contains every possibility and a whole lot of pressure and expectation.  More than once in my writing life, I have sat in front of a blank form for many minutes without putting any letters down, much less any coherent sentences or paragraphs.  And, oddly enough, these thinking sessions sometimes prove to be quite productive.

However with some projects, you’ve got to jump right in, and that’s what I’m doing with this blog.  I’m going to try to post often. Some posts may be lengthy, like this one; most will probably be much briefer. In any case, my goal is to give you a chance to see how one writer works through a major revision project and to, hopefully, get some conversation going.  So, here goes:

Hi, I’m David Wright, and I have been working on my current writing project for nearly three years. 

The project started in my very first workshop class in the MFA program here at the University of South Carolina, and I will turn it in (all 250+ pages) as my thesis at some point this semester.  I won’t go into the details of the novel in this post, other than to say that the narrative takes place in a small town in rural North Carolina during the fall of 1960.

My blog entries will focus on the revision of this novel project.  I want to post in a sort of “real time” format where the posts coincide with the revision work that I do. I imagine that my posts will range from word choice to plot level issues.  Since this whole idea revolves around the writing and revision process, I invite your comments and questions, if you have them.

For now, check out this story about one of my favorite books.  Maybe one day, a book of mine will find its way onto a banned-books list.  We all can dream …

I’m new to these pages, so before I start posting, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  I’m Ed Madden, an associate professor of English, and I’m joining these pages as a writer.  I’m excited to join Joe and Blake here, and to add a literary voice to this site.  My first book of poetry, Signals, will be published this spring.  I also direct a writing workshop called the First Book Project, where writers from USC and the community get together to work on first manuscripts.  I’ll be writing about my experiences in this process of getting a first book published.

I’ll also be writing about some of the community writing workshops I work with as part of the Split P Soup creative writing program.  Founded by Ray McManus, Split P Soup connects USC writers with school and community workshop opportunities.  I’ve been working with the Palmetto Center for the Arts (PCA) at Richland Northeast High School this year, and Split P folks have a number of one-time events throughout the year.  The photo above (taken by Chris Broadbent from the English Department) is from a Split P event in January, when a number of us directed writing workshops for middle school students in the CHAMPS program at Eastminster Presbyterian Church on Trenholm Road.  It was a lot of fun—I’ll try to remember to write sometime about the “what the motorcycle said” poem and the fantastic “secret” poems they wrote (like “I want to be a vampire to suck the sweet honey blood of Beyoncé” or “on Fridays I turn into a butterfly, which is awkward because I am a boy”). 

More immediately, I’ll be posting some thoughts on ekphrastic poetry, or poems about visual art.  I’m intrigued by Blake’s questions about time and visual art, questions that resonate with my own thinking about ekphrasis.  Looking forward to this!