AWP ~ Day 3

Click here for Day 1 and Day 2.

The final day of the conference was on a Saturday and since we had been taking the train in, we had to miss the first panel because the times were different. Thankfully, it had stop snowing sometime during the night, so the sidewalks were mostly clean.The train ride was uneventful, considering Thursday and Friday's journey into the city.

The first panel we went to was "If These Walls Could Talk...Oh Wait, They Do!" and it was all about how setting can be a character in a story. Setting is one of those elements in a story where it's only given credit and thought about when it becomes crucial to the story. But I think setting can add a layer that strengthens the reader's emotional attachment to the characters and it shouldn't be overlooked. That being said, this panel felt like a into lesson to setting and as a writer, I'm passed into levels.

SAM and I decided to leave this panel and explore the sales room again. But this time we were on a mission to get business cards for promising looking lit journals and small presses. There is a system to working show rooms. You have to talk to the booth workers, smile constantly, and make yourself stand out in a crowd of thousands. More often than not, you have to loop around the showroom multiple times. That's not necessarily a bad thing; the second or third time around you can find something easily overlooked. Case in point, I got a free hair cut!

hahahaha. Yes, I let a stranger, whose career path is literature based, cut my hair. But that's one of the fun things about cons, doing something kinda crazy. Conventions should be fun and memorable while being educational.

After the hair cut we went to the Video Games, Fan Fiction & Comics: Alternative Genres as Legitimate Literature panel. The three panelist had done exceptional research on their topic and gave an in-depth look at how these types of media is often overlooked by lit snobs. All three have distinct, rich histories and it was really refreshing to see these genres being taken seriously as a form of literature. The only thing I was kind of disappointed with, was that it seemed like most of the audience members were people who already accept video games, comics and fanfic as a serious form.

The last panel we went to was Hating Your Writing: A Love Story. And this one was actually really helpful because I think it's a writer default to hate their writing or to second guess if something is ready to be called finished. Some helpful tips were: remember that one point it's less editing and more just changing, criticize constructively, and it's okay to write shit - sometimes you just gotta write.

I loved going to AWP and I hope to attend it again next time it's in Boston.


Love Always,
Joe

AWP 2013 ~ Day 2

Click here for Day 1.

Day 2

The snow was knee high as I chugged my way to the train stop. The night before, Sara and I had decided to catch the 8:05 train so we could attended the 9 o'clock panel. That was probably a mistake haha, but since the storm hadn't stopped once all night, the sidewalks were full and it was a legit journey to make it to the stop. I had to run to catch the train.

Because of the storm, there were less people on the train so it was easier to find seats together. On the way into Boston, we saw ice formed over some patches of swamp water. I'd never seen anything like that before, so it was kind cool to experience something new like that. The image of a ice chunks floating on bog water was creepy, cool and not something I want to forget. It was poetic. hahaha.

Any who, we got to the center at 9:15 so we were a little for the panel, "The Novel as Weapon: PEN Members on Book Banning & Censorship." Going in, I thought the panel would be about the dubious process of banning a book, but it was more "as a writer, you should do this..." kind of panel. I did get two pages of notes out of it though. The most interesting bits were beware of leaving out different opinions. Just because you support an issue - like no use of recreational drugs - doesn't mean you can't print something that's pro safe drug use. It's about finding a balance and letting the side be heard.

I did ask if the panels, a collection of editors and literary journal managers, if they had ever encountered something that they shouldn't be published and one of the editors said that once she read perfectly written but with questionable content; something that could have been rejected just to make her feel better. She then said she made sure to print it because it made her feel uncomfortable.

Next was poetry slam "Page Meets Stage." Poetry often gets treated like the red-headed stepchild of the literacy world, but these poets were amazing. Inspirational, funny, dirty, and all around amazing. Two stood on stage and recited poems to the audience, but almost as if they were talking to each other. It was breathe-taking and they stay in the room afterwards, taking photos and talking with us. I got a photo with Taylor Mali, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz and talked with Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Martin Espada and Reginald Gibson were there as well, but I was not able to meet them.

Next was a panel about how to use Tumblr professionally. It gave some tips, but it was more useful in finding some single-serving tumblrs. After that panel was dinner where Sara and I shared a meal. A plate of sushi and a chicken teriyaki dinner.

Then it was time for speakers Alison Bechdel & Jeanette Winterson. Bechdel, whose most famous for her Bechdel test, was unable to make it due to the snow fall so it was just Winterson reading and discussing her memoir "Why be happy when you can be normal." She was really funny, a beautiful speaker and unfolded her story like it was a picnic blanket for all of us to share.

Some of the quotes I really liked: "When I break my leg, I go to the doctor. When I break my heart, I go to a poet; We live out some of our parent's failed lives; I told myself as the hero, like any shipwreck survivor; unhappy families are conspiracies of silences; For her, life was a pre-death experience; she was a violent philosopher; to be moved is to be fundamentally placed somewhere else; the newness of art throws us into the fire of discovery."

We were both tired so we hoofed it back to North Station. Sara had to stop and return her red box so we had to wait 5 minutes for her to find it. She eventually did and we walked the 35 steps to the train stop, only to see the train pulling away. Hilarious.

I trained home, then walked back to my apartment for sleep. Day was less note-taking and more just experiencing the conference for all its glory.

Love Always,
Joe

AWP 2013 ~ Day 1

AWP info booklet

Day 1

Waking up before 7 am for the first time in months was exhausting. But since the first panel started at 9 a.m. and Sara and I still need to get our badges, so it was a necessary evil. Of course, it was also the start of the two-day snow storm so just getting to the train stop was a journey in-of-itself.

The train was packed! The two-seat row was full, and the three-seat had people on the window and in the aisle seats, so whenever anyone had to sit you had to ask a person to move over. Because of this, Sara and I had to sit in separate seats, with me in a middle seat and Sara in an aisle seat. Since it was the first day of the conference, and because I had never been before, we're obviously going to talk. After the sentence sentence, the woman sitting next to me interrupts and asks if we're going to talk the whole ride.

Yes, of course we are. She then says she has a headache and wants to know if won't. I said that if she didn't mind, she could switch seats with Sara. That way we could still talk and it wouldn't bother her. The woman just huffed, zipped up her L.L. Bean jacket and went back to her book. Rude much. And then, the whole time Sara and I talked, she kept sighing.

But whatever. Sara and I got to Hynes Convention Center, and since I preregistered, I got my badge in five minutes. Sara however had to go wait in this super long, slow moving line. The next panel became at 10:30, and since Sara still hadn't gotten to the front, I left her in the line. I went to "Being a Good Literary Citizen." It was interesting, took about a page worth of notes and a lot of it was about having good manners, but it was a good way to kick start panels.

Next was "The First Five Pages," and it was packed! People were sitting on the floor in the aisle, along the wall, in the doorway, in each other's laps. The women all around had their knees pulled up to their chests, just so other people could sit down. This panel was super-informative about getting your book published and the importance of a great Query Letter and how to write one. Two super helpful tips were to personalize to the agent - "Hey, I love your podcast. Read my book!" - and keep your book to yourself until it's ready to be sent out. She said that one of her writers had given an unfinished version to a friend who gave it to an Editor and that burned a bridge with a press.

One thing that made me gave me pause was a comment about the dangers of self-publishing. They said that if you self-publish it makes them think "are you a great writer who is getting overlooked, or do you just want to be able to say "I published a book!"?" Kind of a throwback to how self-publishing used to be called "vanity printing." Yet, earlier in the panel, the agent said she literally rejects hundreds of manuscripts a day. Self-publishing can be vanity-driven, but it can also be a way to get your stuff out there. If you're a nobody, it's so much harder than someone who has a platform - a following, which is needed to publish in more traditional routes.

The last panel we attended was "Launching the Literary Journal." This was also extremely helpful and full of tips and tricks to use. Again some it was all about manners and respecting your readers and writers, but there was a good tidbit about establishing a connection with local galleries and artists to have access to art. After the panel, we walked around the bookfair and I went to the one of the guys from "Launching the Literary Journal" just so I could grab a copy of he's journal. He gave me a deal and I got a t-shirt too!

Eventually, we had dinner and then went to a reading by David Starkey and Marsha Pomerantz. Pomerantz was amazing! Her poem "Roy G. Biv Appears to Mebetween Two Clouds" was my favorite of the night. We also got to meet this professor from Minneapolis who spent time with a Swedish circus. It was super cool! I gave him my business card, so I hope you connects me. Just so when can be FB friends or something.

And the last event of the night was the Keynote speakers, Seamus Heaney & Derek Walcott. Before it began, Sara and I talked with a woman who was just about to start her PHD. She was really interesting, and again I gave her my card so I hope she emails me. Both poets were wonderful and it was lovely hearing them read their poems and then talking about the craft. After that, we had to go home cause we were almost falling asleep during the talk. haha.

It was an amazing day, and a great way to launch the conference.

Love Always,
Joe

Overcoming Treacherous Obstacles

I love walking with my head held up high as torrents of rain or hail pelt me. It's almost as if Mother Nature is trying to force me into submission, but I valiantly refuse to be swayed from my noble mission.

In other news, it started hailing as I was coming back from the grocery store and I ran home.

hahaha

Love Always,
Joe

My life

It's 12:50 a.m. on a Monday morning and I'm eating ice cream and researching for a story about male pregnancy.

I fear I've reached a point in my life where I can't go back. I'm officially a writer.

hahaha. The story can be found here.

Love always,
Joe

New York!

For the first time, I was in New York City. The school went as a day trip. Just for funnies.

Since the predeparture meeting started at 5:45 a.m, I decided to wake up at 4:30. And I did, it's just that I ended up spending 20 minutes on my hair. So I left my apartment at 5:40. haha, I got to Marsh at 5:50 and I was quickly filled in and directed to my bus. haha. It wasn't that bad actually because there were a couple of other students running late.

We ended up leaving Marsh at 6:30/6:45 instead of 6:00. But it was alright. I was sitting in the second row so I was close to a TV. We watched "That's My Boy" which was very much an Adam Sandler film. Our bus driver was very cool. There were a number of times when I thought we were going to get in an accident, but he managed to avoid it. Driving in New York seems crazy!

When we reached the city, we were free to just explore. Only rule was not to get arrested and to show up at the pick-up location at 6:30. Since I had tickets to see "Silence! The Musical!" at 2, I had about two hours to explore before the show started. I ended upstumbling upon this park with free ice skating and all these statues dedicated to famous writers – including one for Gertrude Stein, the “mother of the modern short storytelling” and an important figure in gay history in America. Two things that are really important to me, so it was refreshing to just find that.Not exactly fate, but like finding 20 dollars in a pocket. It was nice and felt very New York-y.

After the park I got hungry so I headed towards the theatre “Silence!” was taking place and I found this restaurant that was morgue themed – which appealed to my love of allthings macabre. I ended up ordering a burger with chicken fingers called “Severed Hand,” with the burger being the palm and the chicken as the fingers.It was deadly delicious.

 
  
Then it was time for the musical, which was beyond amazing. It was wicked funny, messing aroundwith the story. The plot stayed the same as the movie, but the jokes were outrageous and extreme or just plain silly. Like, having the only African-American cast member be the maid and having her character say “why I gotta be the maid?” Or the song about the Senator’s kidnapped daughter just being her name sung over and over again. I actually bought the soundtrack because I needed it on my iPod. Haha.

But! What may be even more exciting was I met (and took a photo with) an Internet celebrity before the musical started. On the bus trip to NYC, some of us were joking about how we were going to meet up with Jay-Z and Beyonce, and while that ideais ridiculous, it’s New York, there are famous people there. It was just surprising to see Sketch Comedienne Jenny Jaffe in the audience. She was so nice and humble; it just made the trip even better. I feel that most of the trip has an “once-in-a-lifetime” feel to it.

After the musical, I went to the National Photography Museum which had an exhibit on apartheid in South Africa. It was ironic that the National Photography Museum doesn't allow photographs, but it makes sense. The actual images and videos that were on display were really emotional and awe-inspiring. There were the expected So-In-So at the Signing of Something, but there were magazine covers dedicated to South Africans who were overcoming the laws in order to achieve their dreams, photos of shootings at schools, videos of police beating protestors. It was an intense experience, but I loved the photography aspect.

Then I went to the NYC library because it's me and yes I'm going to the library. They were having an exhibit on Dickens characters, but when I got there, they were closing. So since it was almost time to head back to the pick-up location, I headed towards a bar. Cause, I'm in NYC, of course I'm drinking. It was actually kind of uneventful and awkward. I ended up leaving the bar without finishing my drink. hahaha

The ride back home feature us stopping in CT and me begging my classmates not to leave me at the rest stop cause I was going to lay down on a bench. haha. I'm really glad I got to go and it was a great trip.


Love always,
Joe