The 3,000 Miles: Day 2

The plan was to wake at 7 a.m. and leave Maryland at 8, 9 at the latest. But sleep's comforting hold kept us in bed until 9:15 a.m. 

We knew we were going to be a little late for Tennessee so we packed leisurely, determined to reorganize the back. My friend and her brood had to leave for work, so I left the present I brought for her on a dinning room chair and we locked the door. Maryland was beautiful and it was fantastic to see my friend. 

The traffic was much better than leaving New England, but the weather was depressing. It rained off and on, with a large portion of the 220 miles through Virginia and Tennessee were soaking.

  

(Some clouds forewarning intense rain)

It got so bad at one point that Joe, who did most of the driving, had to slow down to 15 mph and lean forward just to see the car in front of us. It was scary in the sense that an accident was a very real possibility.

I slept on and off for the ride to Knotsville, Tennessee. But I do remember seeing a lot of cows (Holy cows!) and open land. Some of the water towers were painted to reflect the town/county - apples, rainbows, music notes to name a few. And mountains flanking us on all sides.

Somewhere in those 220 miles it was decided that 90's music would be the road trip's soundtrack with Tracy Chapman's classics "Fast Car" and "Give Me A Reason" as the theme.

When we reached the hotel, it was decided that we wanted a warm meal curtsey of Quiznos. I got a small tuna and a small chicken bacon ranch flatbread for  $6. It was tasty and hit the spot.

After a little debating, we decided to forgo the pool in favor of showering and sleeping. The warm water was perfect to wash away two days of driving and much needed to relax everyone. 

Settling into bed, we watched "Teen Titans Go!" and "Jonny Test," shows promising poorly animated dreams. Cuddled in bed, I fell asleep by 9:45.

The 3000 Miles: Day 1

I write this as Joe speeds down the highway and Ali whole-heartedly sings with her "Songs of the 90's" playlist.

We are on a highway in Virgina for another 200 miles before the GPS will grant us the next direction. But this post is about yesterday's grand adventures, not today's sleepy ride.

Monday at 5 a.m. I hurried downstairs to the car. Ali is coming sometime between 7 and 8 and my mother, aunt, sister and cousin wanted to have one last breakfast at The Red Rooster, our favorite in town diner.

We drive the two streets to the Rooster to find that they're closed for holiday. Without stopping my mother drives is to Blue Moon, the breakfast joint downtown. They under renovations. We drive up the street to Paramount; the overcrowded Paramount.

We stop and try to think of other diners in our small city. The fifty's themed place jumps to mind and we coast towards it. The place doesn't open until 8. 

In a last ditch effort, we head to Gabby's across town; it's already 5:45 - we don't have much time. Gabby's is also closed for the holiday. It's decided that Dunkins will be my last breakfast in MA.

My mom turns the car around only to have my aunt see a sign proclaiming "2 eggs and toast for $3," on a building no one has had eaten in before.

We hesitantly enter and take seats near the door. The waitress greeted us with a smile and was very tentative to our needs. My omelet was delicious and I could tell the rest of the table found the same to be true for their meals.

We left with my mother and cousin discussing returning in a few days. At home, I said my final goodbye to my kitties and brought my stuff down to the curb to wait for Ali.

When Ali arrived, we loaded her tiny Hyundai Sonata to the brim with luggage and food; the only spot in the back a little nook. But we headed to Maryland ready for a road trip.

Everything was smooth as Ali drove out of town. Our first highway was Route 2 West and before thinking, I asked, "Why are taking West?" hahaha!

It wasn't until Conn. that we hit weather issues. There was a tornado and flash flood warning for our route. New York was easier, surprisingly smooth traffic but the New Jersay turn pike had been a huge delay. There was an overturned car blocking two (out of three) lanes. 

At this time, Joe was driving and later commented that it took three hours to drive six miles. 

We reached Maryland at 8:15 p.m. when our original arrival time was 4:00 p.m. But in Maryland we were able to stay with a friend I hadn't seen for two years. She had a bird's best, with baby chicks, right outside her front door. Her fiancée joined us for a late dinner of spicy chicken and salad. Quickly followed by shots of tequila.

Four shots in and I was drunk! The little party (comprised of myself, Ali, Joe, my friend, her fiancée, his sister and one of their friends) was loud with laughter and bonding. My friend and I sat on the couch and watched one episode of The Office before I passed out.

My friend and I

The chicks. They were adorably ugly.

Home

My brother is home for the weekend and it couldn't be a better time.
After hearing and seeing the tragedy that happened at the Boston Marathon, it's nice to have all of my family together.

-Joe

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