2012 Recap

'Tis the seasons for lists, I know. Just doing my part…

• The big "news" writing-wise was that I (finally, finally) finished my novel, Believers. To be honest, there were times when I wasn't sure that I'd make it. I've been working on the book for several years. Now it's wait-and-see time (yes, I'm being purposely vague). You can read excerpts here and here. Also got some related good news toward the end of the year: Another excerpt will appear in the anthology 24 Bar Blues: Two Dozen Tales of Bars, Booze, and the Blues, edited by the outstanding Andrew Scott. There will be a release party at AWP in Boston in March. (I'll be going to AWP, by the way. My first time.)

• Got a very nice acceptance (Kenyon Review!) for the final yet-to-be published story in my short story collection, What I'm About to Do Now. This is known as my "Cops" story (actual title: "The Riot and Rage That Love Brings"), and I've read it a few times in San Diego. So all the stories have found homes. Now, if only I can get the entire collection published…  

• I've been working on the novel, and hence haven't been writing any new stories. But I did have new work appear in Gigantic, Corium, and Pank.

• Read my story "Are You Somebody?" at a So Say We All event in San Diego. Rare video footage here. Also read at another So Say We All event at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park back in March. 

• My story "Job History" made the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2012.

• Put down some thoughts on revision.

• Finally joined Twitter. Late to the party, as usual. 

• Favorite reads? Cheryl Strayed's Wild; Don DeLillo's The Angel Esmeralda (I'd read some of the stories previously; others were brand new to me) and Underworld (re-reading it); George Saunders' New Yorker story "The Semplica-Girl Diaries"; Roxane Gay's story "North Country" (in Hobart and Best American Short Stories 2012); Caitlin Horrocks' story "Zolaria."

Coming up in 2013: As I mentioned, I'll be heading to Boston for AWP. Looking forward to meeting many writers who I know via the Internets but have never met in real life. Besides the Kenyon Review story and Believers excerpt in 24 Bar Blues, look for other work appearing in Atticus Review and fwriction.

Happy New Year!

The Demands of a Novel

From a Paris Review interview with the great Amy Hempel:

INTERVIEWER

But why do you think the demands of a novel are greater than what you do? I think the short form is incredibly demanding.

HEMPEL

I do too. But I understand it. And I don’t understand the novel. The amount of stuff to hold in mind, the number of things you have to keep bringing forward over time I found entirely daunting. How do you keep everything a novel requires in your head? A friend of mine was about three-fourths done with her novel when she realized she had two characters named Bob in it. That’s the kind of thing that would happen to me.

Gigantic Everything

 
The new issue of Gigantic (dubbed Gigantic Everything) is now available for preorder.

The issue features Lydia Davis, Etgar Keret, Michael Kimball, Stephen Elliott, and many other fine, fine folks.

And oh yeah: I also have something in there -- a very short story called "This Is Illegal."

There's also a release party on Saturday, December 15. If I lived in New York, I'd, like, be there.