January 21st, 2013

What I’ve Been Doing

Despite the overwhelming tidal wave of job-related work I’ve been doing, there’s been some writing-related stuff going on too. Here’s some highlights if you’ve missed me:

–my story, “Anxiety Attack” is in the current issue of Freefall Magazine, which is delightful news. My contributer’s copy is currently winging its way towards me but if you spot a copy in the wild I’d love to know how it looks–awesome, I bet.

–an article I wrote, “When Your Culture Is Counter-culture” is now live on the website Offbeat Bride. A new year’s resolution I don’t think I’ve mentioned here yet is to do more of this sort of lifestyle writing and service journalism, and actually try to get it published in places other than on this blog, where it doesn’t really belong. Literary journalism and criticism, as you know, give me hives, and even when I manage, through much struggle and editing, to make something decent, I’m still miserable. The above article, an advice-y chatty piece about my wedding and what others might learn from it, filled me with delight while writing it and I’m so happy reading the few comments its garnered so far. Next to fiction, this sort of thing is my favourite to read and write, so I think I should pursue it. If you know a website I should be submitting to, please let me know!

–I’ll be reading at Racket at the Rocket, organized by Open Minds Toronto on May 17, sharing the stage with my beloved husband. Yes, we’re just that cute.

–And finally, my story “Love-Story Story” will be published in the next issue of This Magazine. If you’ve not read my fiction, or only my second book, this won’t mean anything to you, but LSS is an Isobel story–a character that appeared in 2 stories in Once as well as “I Have Never Loved You Less” in Road Trips, and half a dozen other stories in various places. I’m always happy to see her and write about her–I do hope you enjoy the story.

October 14th, 2012

Literature is anything, taken seriously

I’m the worst when it comes to cat obsession–I’ve already spent far too much time and bored far too many people talking about my kitty, Evan. I even have YouTube channel for my cat videos–including a new one that finally offers proof that Evan knows how to fetch

Ta da! And that great echoing silence is the sound of no one clicking on the link. Which is fine. Cats are my one pure indulgence, the one part of my life I don’t have to analyze or think about with a subtle critical eye. I just enjoy them and all their fuzzy silliness.

And it’s only going to get worse, because on Friday we got kitty number 2, Alice Sampsonblum. Isn’t she pretty? (I can’t explain what’s going on with my hair, here).

In the Humane Society Playroom, after we’d made the big decision.

So it’s basically a personal problem and pleasure, cats, that has somehow crept onto this never-really-professional blog. But I *have* started taking a professional interest in cats, professional in the sense I write stories about them (though actually, I think kitten shepherd would be a great job for me).

From the earliest-written story in the book that became *Once*, I’ve always had cats around the margins in my work. Why? No reason except that I’ve always had cats around the margins of my life–when I imagine a world, it has cats in it. When a Famous Writer reviewed a story of mine for a class, all she had to say was it was interesting that an adult woman’s close friend would turn out to be her brother. I did not think that was interesting and wished she had said something substantive about the story, but it’s true–many of my characters have brothers, at least in my head if not on the page. Because that’s just my reality–my default position for the human race is to have a brother and a cat. Write what you know is a hackneyed, limiting piece of advice–but it can work sometimes.

I do not think writing about cats is more or less frivolous than writing about brothers, or anything else for that matter. As with everything in literature, it’s not what you do but how you do it. Which is why it’s ridiculous that, say, humourous writing is sometimes not taken seriously. I guarantee you the writer of a genuinely funny book took the task of making it so *very* seriously.

So I’m a touch nervous to say that I’ve written my first story with a more central cat in it, Everyone Likes a Little Guy, just published in the Rusty Toque Issue #3. I hope it’s a good story and engages with real people living real lives. Much as I want to live in a fluffy world where the kittens wear bowties and dance on rainbows, I live in the real world and try to write about it as best I can. One of the perks is occasionally I can write about cats.

October 10th, 2012

A little farther West than usual…

A bit of happenstance, and a bit not, has lead to a lot RR-related links in the West today–well, a lot relative to the norm, which is none. Ok, not my best sentence–moving on!

I did a fun interview with Cynthia Ramsey for the Jewish Independent in Vancouver. E-interviews can be terribly rote, so it’s thrilling as an author to open a set of questions to find that a journalist has engaged deeply with my work, and asked questions thoughtful enough to make me see it in some new ways, too. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

My short story The House That Modern Art Built is now available on newsstands in PRISM international. This is the first thing I’m publishing from the current work–my first post-Big Dream publication, actually. Yipes, that was a long hiatus. Not sure why I needed a whole year, but it felt like I did at the time. Anyway, I’m proud of this story and proud also that it found a happy home at Prism. Hope you enjoy that, too!

October 4th, 2012

The Same Only Different

I have the gift and the curse of usually liking my own writing. If I was interested enough in an idea to write a full story about it in the first place(not the little abandoned snippets that litter my Word files), I’ll pretty much always consider it worth revising until someone else likes it too. This is a gift because it encourages me to keep on with stories that have a lot wrong with them, but a curse but I can waste a lot of time on something better left in the archives.

As I approach the fabled mid-thirties, I’ve found another wrinkle in this pattern of constant revision–my voice is changing, or rather has changed, a great deal. Well, a great deal to me–I find even the contrast between some of the stories in *Once* versus *The Big Dream* pretty dramatic, but I don’t expect anyone else to notice or care. But it’s one thing to read two stories written 5 years apart and notice a difference–it’s another thing to delve into a story written years ago and try to live inside it to a degree that I can write that way again.

And in truth, I don’t go back so terribly far. I’ve always written stories, but I rarely return to ones written before 2005-2006. There are simply issues of quality I cannot overcome in most of the stuff written prior to then, and issues of deceased hard drives don’t hlep matters. So really, we’re talking max 7 years, here. Have I really changed that much? I guess so. I’ve done it before.

The oldest short story I’ve published (that doesn’t qualify as juvenalia in some way–like being in teen anthology) is “If This,” originally written in 2000, published in The Puritan in 2009. It was one of pretty much two things that I wrote in university that anyone else ever understood, and I really wanted to see it published. But revising it was excruciating–my mind just doesn’t work that may anymore. Back then, I was writing in a style I named myself (I think?) called hyper-lyric. It was a maximalism, periodic, involuted style that was only one of many reasons most people found my work hard to follow, but I loved it and writing that way made me happy.

It no longer does. I wander into periodic sentences now, and then I try to get them out in the second drafts. I always want to say it more simply, and I actually think I am far more pretentious in conversation and personal writing that I am in fiction (I’d never use the word “involuted” in a story). I was never aware of jettisoning the hyper-lyric style, or whatever that was if you don’t accept my imaginary terminology, but it sure is gone now. I still *like* that story, and a number of others I’ll never be able to repair enough to publish, but I no longer possess the mind that wrote them. Weird, eh?

So revisions become a race against, well, not the clock but the calandar, anyway. These days, between work on the new stuff, I’m trying to revise work from that 2005-2006 period and send it out before I become so different from the lady who wrote them that I can’t revise them anymore. Am I being melodramatic? Maybe, but really, anything to encourage myself to work, right?

Anyway, all this is in my head today because an older story that I revised pretty heavily this past spring, called “Anxiety Attack,” has been accepted by Freefall Magazine, which makes me really happy. I’m so pleased that that story will get its crack at being read by a wider audience than me, and I’m glad some else agrees that it’s worthwhile. And I guess I’m glad too that this proves the slog of revising older pieces is worth it, at least sometimes. “First Afternoon,” another revisited and revised story, will appear in The Windsor Review next spring, too.

And the race against the hands of time continues…(another thing I’d never write in a story)

July 28th, 2012

Readings and Writing, Past and Future

I’m thinking it’s going to be a European summer on Rose-coloured–ie., nothing much will get accomplished in August. But here are some snaps from a reading that took place in July, and a small list below of things up coming once unproductive August is over.

Fred Addis, Leacock Festival organizer and warm-hearted host (and BBQ master) kicking off the Happy Hour.

Me, reading at the Leacock Festival’s Happy Hour last weekend.

The wonderful Ken Babstock, whose reading from *Methodist Hatchet* was genuinely as thoughtful as this photo looks.

Mark Kingwell, the guiding force behind Happy Hour, reading an essay about poetry and suicide that was far more inspiring than you might think.

The Happy Hour was a really great event, and I’m only sorry that we couldn’t have stayed longer to see more Leacock Festival readings. And Orillia–so gorgeous! I went in a lake!!

Ok, onwards–in the fall I’ll have a couple new stories out and do a couple fun readings, so here’s where to go if you miss me:

My story, “Everyone Likes a Little Guy” will be in the September issue of The Rusty Toque.

My story, “The House that Modern Art Built” will be in the fall issue of PRISM international.

I’ll be doing a reading or two at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival October 16-21 (exact dates and times to come)

I’ll be doing a reading and Q&A at the Carlingwood Library in Ottawa on Saturday November 24, 2-3 pm.

So there’s some stuff for me to look forward to, and hopefully some of you guys, too. And of course I’m open to adding to this slate, if opportunities come along!!

June 21st, 2012

Best under 35 (just barely) in the Windsor Review

Next spring, when I am of the approximate age 34 and eleven-twelths, of story of mine called “First Afternoon” will be included in an issue of the *Windsor Review* cataloguing some of the best writers under 35 according to them. I’m honoured to be included, though feeling a little self-conscious of my squeaker age status. Nevertheless, twill be neat to be in such good company. Who is the company? Glad you asked–so many awesomes. This video trailer for the issue, the first that I’ve ever seen for a journal issue, explains it all. Note me, looking strangely gaunt and bug-eyed, in the second half (in split screen!)

June 4th, 2012

At the Eh-List Reading Series, S. Walter Stewart Library–Tomorrow!!

Good news–I’m on the “Eh” list and will be reading tomorrow evening to prove it, at the S. Walter Stewart Library, at 7pm. Yes, yes, it’s the east end, but trust me, it’s exactly equally as cool east of Yonge Street as it is west–maybe even cooler because we’re not so worried about it. Plus the reading is at a branch of our beloved TPL–it’s never a bad time to support our libraries. And finally, I don’t exactly know when my next public reading in Toronto might be–perhaps not for a while. So if you’ve been hoping to see me read, this might be your shot!

But, ok, if for some reason you really can’t make it…you could listen to this wonderful podcast of Laura Boudreau reading my story “How to Keep Your Day Job.” She does a wonderful job, and there’s an interview with RMSYL wizard Steve in the mix too.

Other things you could do to fill the void if you really really can’t make it tomorrow night include reading this lovely review of *The Big Dream* on the Stuff I’m Reading blog and/or watching this adorable video that I made of an angry cat.

And finally, I can’t resist sharing that a story from the new-new book (ie., the one that doesn’t exist yet) has been accepted by PRISM international and I’m just thrilled. There’s editing to do before it can actually get into print, but one of these days my story “The House That Modern Art Built” will actually be in this prestigous journal and on newsstands. Which gives me hope that I might just finish the rest of the book…eventually.

May 25th, 2012

Writing and Money, Part 2

Here’s the second installment of my writing and money post. Here, I’ll try to get into details about what’s realistic for writers to earn on journal publications (in Canada only–who knows what they do in other countries). I’m not the be-all of knowledge on this stuff, and I’m not going to be able to comment on some things (poetry) so please chime in if you know more than I do! It turns out I have so much to say on the topic of finances that I’ll have to keep extending the series. Tune in next time for reading fees and travel expenses–yay!!

Publishing a short story. Among established journals with some grant money, a longish story often earns around $200-250. Younger journals and/or those with less steady funding often pay less, while some of the big-deal journals pay more. I’ve been paid everything from $50 to (only a couple times, and I’m not holding my breath for the next one) more than $500.

When is it ok to publish a story for free? Often–I do it regularly, if one ore more of the following conditions are met: (1) it gives you a chance to work with an editor your respect and who you think can help you improve; (2) it gives you a chance to expose your work to a section of the reading world you haven’t previously had access to, and you think they would like it; (3) a friend has asked you to do it as a favour and you want to do this for your friend. All of these are rewarding in their own various ways, often much more than a cheque you won’t even remember spending.

When is it not ok to publish a story for free? (1) If it’s a print journal or anthology that does not offer contributors copies. EVERY print journal/anthology should give EVERY contributor at least one free copy for their personal archives, even if no other payment is offered. A second copy (aka, the parents’ copy) is a nice touch, but not necessary. There is no reason you should publish and have no evidence that it even happened. Some of these are scams–they publish as many folks as possible and then sell mainly to them. Some are just woefully ignorant of what’s acceptable–they’ll learn, and you can submit to them later. Of course, none of this applies to online journals, as the internet is free for us all.

When else is it a bad idea to publish for nothing? When you don’t know the editors, the readership, or anything else about the journal and are just doing it “for the credit”–don’t do that. A list–long or short–of unknown literary publications after your name is just not impressive enough to warrant parting with your precious work when you have no other reason to do so. Money, while not in itself ALL that important, is often a sign that a journal is established, organized, and respectful of its writers. You shouldn’t necessarily take payment as a sign that the payer is legit, but…it’s promising, anyway. Many great literary enterprises are just some guy and his friends in the basement, but it’s hard to discern those from the fly-by-nighters if you have no other info.

This article is somewhat lame because I don’t know much about the markets for poetry, literary non-fiction, etc. Any thoughts?

May 24th, 2012

Writing and Money

Something cool happened in April, something that usually happens to me a few times a year but never loses its thrill: in the course of the month, I earned from writing endeavours slightly more than I pay in rent. That’s always exciting, even though it’s far from a sign that I could earn my living as a full-time writer: aside from it only happening a few times a year, rent does not a living make. If writing had been my only source of income in April, I could’ve sat in my paid-up apartment and slowly starved to death. But the idea that I’m even close, even occasionally, is neat-o.

I included this fun factoid in a presentation I was making to high-schoolers, who were quite aghast that that’s *all* I make. But then I told a fellow writer, and he was aghast in a good way, and congratulated me. The expectations for a writing life, monetarily speaking, are so various–and the more you know the less you expect.

I worry about both sides of the spectrum. On the one hand, I think there is a crazy rumour floating around that writing a publishable book equals a lifetime of generous income. That’s hilarious, but I encountered yet another aspiring writer recently who had decided–knowing little of the publishing world–that it would be worthwhile to quit her job in order to write a novel. I quiver in fear for her. But on the other side, I worry about getting too anti-materialist, too hippy-dippy, “I have to write to be happy, payment or not!” I once got a rather stern talking-to from a fellow writer when I said that I would write my book whether or not my grant application was successful; the grant would just make that writing a lot easier and more pleasant. She said not putting monetary worth on my work *causes* it to be under-valued. I say putting a pricetag on work sets me up for disappointment (and not working) if no one wants to pay…but I take her point: artistic creation is hard and it matters, and in our society, the way we appreciate what matters is with money.

So…I try to care about money, but not too much; to treat writing as something that brings me personal fulfillment but also has a market value; to know what is disrespect and what is budgetary constraint. If you say you’re going to pay me and then don’t, I will politely nag you over the horizon; but there’s also situations where I’m more than happy to work for free. It’s complicated.

A further complication is that folks don’t talk about this stuf enough, because money is weird and awkward (unless you’re that girl who yelled at me). Novice writers–or writers doing it for money for the first time–don’t know what to expect and thus feel disappointed when they’re actually being treated generously, or else don’t speak up when they’re actually being treated poorly. So I’m going to do a post on what writers can and do (and don’t) earn. It was actually going to be a part of this post originally, but it’s getting really long, so I’ll see you back here in a few days.

May 21st, 2012

All Kinds of Awesome

First and foremost, the word is now on the street that Mark’s second novel has been acquired by Dundurn Press and will be out in Spring 2014. It’s called *Sad Peninsula* and it’s pretty great, I have to say. Kvell!

In other awesomeness, I found this nice review of *The Big Dream* on Niranjana Iyer’s Brownpaper. I’ll eventually track down the hardcopy in *Herizons* if I can!

And finally, as promised, on Friday night I went to the cast-and-crew screening of the newly completed short film, *How to Keep Your Day Job* and it was absolutely incredible. I think at its core the film has a great deal in common with the story, but not everything–it is an inventive reimagining of the story, and that’s what makes it so exciting–I knew what would happen next but I didn’t know how. It’s also a visually beautiful film, something us writers are never going to create–the way the film looked in snippets on the playback screen onset is nothing like the way it looks woven together into a seamless final product.

As an experience for me, the *Day Job* film has already exceeded my wildest expectations, but I know the filmmakers have even bigger ones. I certainly endorse these, and think they deserve every accolade available out there. I hope to be able to tell you sometime in the fall when *How to Keep Your day Job* will be coming to a theatre near you.