Get Your Game On Jackson Bliss

University of Iowa has a short fiction contest, awarded to a first book of fiction, so yesterday i sent DEFIANCE OF OBJECTS, my first, and more experimental collection of short stories to iowa city, all 234 pages of it, for the short fiction award. i'm also planning on sending this collection to one or more of the following first book contests in the next few months:

1. umass juniper prize
2. FC2 prize
3. bakeless prize

I'll continue working on a second collection of short stories very soon that is more plot and character-based, with more controlled language, that i hope to get ready to submit in the spring. i'm aiming at one or more of these first book contests:

1. ohio state prize
2. the flannery o'connor prize
3. the pitt prize

Ginny, one of the editors at simon & schuster told me she was really impressed with my novel. she called it a great novel and had some insightful suggestions on making the ending more potent, so, right now i'm following a lot of her suggestions, and i have to say, she's right. her ideas are making the climax stronger, and the novel, simpy better. thanx ginny.

I wrote an email to my friend, bdg, at hachette/grand central publishing, who is a senior editor there, and i asked her, hey do you know these two agents, one is Michael Chabon's agent, the second is junot diaz's agent, and bdg, was like, yeah, i know them, i know them well. . . SOOOOOO i asked her if she could talk to them and get them to check out BLANK, and she said, god bless you bdg, lemme read your novel first jackson so i have something to talk about, and then i'll talk to them. let it be known that my internship is STILL changing my life for the better.

Shameless Self-Googling is Good for You

I know, I know, it's vain and egocentric to google yourself. except when you discover that one of your fave online travel journals published a memoir of yours about africa. AND they didn't tell you either. so tonight, i was waiting for erika to get home, i'd just finished applying for a part-time tutoring gig online, and after i did some self-googling--which, i admit, sounds totally kinky--i realized that POLOGY magazine published my piece "Stripped Down" about the bike trips i used to take from my village to the malian border. anyway, there are tons of run-on sentences, but i think it's still a good memoir. check it out peeps, it's evocative enough, even if it is travel writing.

::

I'm stoked about my reading at notre dame in february. for more info, check this out. i can't wait to hit the mic

3rd Story Accepted in 2007 (Aka Goddamn the Irish but God Bless the Brits)

We just got our asses handed to ourselves by Georgia Tech. That was one of the worst ND football games I've ever seen.

On the flip side, i found out that one of Britain's best literary magazines, STAND MAGAZINE, just accepted "A Nimble Calligraphy," a language-drive short story i sent them well over a year ago.

After A Year of Hope + Possibility, BLANK is Rejected by Janklow + Nesbit

It's devastating, man.  Priscilla Gilman (Lynn Nesbit's daughter) from Janklow + Nesbit associates, rejected my novel. Here are her words verbatim:

[Jackson,] I wanted to let you know that I have now had the opportunity to read your novel and will with some reluctance be passing on the chance to represent it. I think you are a very talented writer with lots of important and interesting things to say. But the evident merits of your work notwithstanding, I don't feel strongly enough about the material to justify taking it on. Best of luck in securing the passionate representation you deserve.

Dave Eggers Is a Cool Dude

When i met Dave Eggers in february at the Notre Dame Literary Festival, i thought he was funny and charismatic, and i respected the way he was using his celebrity to draw attention to genocide in the sudan, but i thought he was way too busy to follow up on his promise to me. for those of you checking in for the first time, after chatting with him for 10 minutes or so, i told Dave Eggers about a few africa pieces of mine, a memoir and a chapter from my novel, and i asked him if he'd take a look, and he said, i'm be happy to, send them to mcsweeney's and tell the editor to forward them to me, so what's your name?

Anyway, so i sent him two pieces and waited. that was in february and it's strange cuz i was just thinking recently, man, he's never going to read those two pieces, and i deliberately sent him two short pieces, one is 4 pages, another is maybe 5 pages cuz i know he's mad busy. well last night, i got two emails, one from the mcsweeney's editor and another from Dave Eggers' assistant, both saying, i'm so sorry, your email got lost in the shuffle. mcsweeney's editor rejected a story i sent him in february, but told me to send him more fiction, and he also wanted me to know that he just recently read the email i'd sent him 6 months ago and he forwarded it to dave. and then dave's assistant, michelle, also sent me an email saying, Jackson, we're so sorry about this, we know you sent this email 6 months ago, but i want you to know that right now Dave's in the sudan, but he wanted me to tell you that he got your two pieces and he's going to read them when he can.

You know, it almost doesn't matter if Dave Eggers doesn't publish what i sent him. just the fact that he stayed true to his word and the fact tat he remembered me, and that he sent his assistant a personal mesage for me, makes me really happy.

Now, if Dave Eggers will just pick up either of those two pieces, i'll be ecstatic for the rest of august inshallah.

Anyway, right now, i have mad respect for Dave Eggers. he's a true mensch.

The Amnesia of Junebugs Finally Sent to Janklow + Nesbit

1. I completely finished revising The Amnesia of Junebugs. i can't even begin to explain to you what an enormous relief this is. i've been working on it for 2 years now and i'm finally done with it, the draft, the global paper and electronic revisions, like, really done, at least until a publishing house tears it apart again, but like i care.

2. I sent a finished copy of it to Priscilla Gilman, one of the literary agents at Janklow & Nesbit, who has been expecting my manuscript for several months now.

3. Now i can focus more on story submissions again, working on my short story collection that i'm planning on submitting next year, and a spawn of new flash fiction.

4 Things in the Writerly World I Have to Deal with, Now + Always

1. I got a great rejection from indiana review, but to be honest, it hurt so much i almost wish i hadn't received it. it said:

Jackson, we really seriously considered this piece, i admired the ambition, energy, scope--a fun read for sure. ultimately, however, we couldn't place it. please do try us again in the future. all best, megan savage, fiction editor.

I appreciate Megan taking the time to write that, that was supercool of her. but to know you were so close, and then not picked, i have to say, it hurts alot more in a way. for hours afterwards, i'd feel fine, and then i'd remember that rejection letter and get depressed. despite my modest publication history, i still haven't penetrated the elite paper literary journal market yet, and to be honest, i don't know why. it's just like in jack london's martin eden, the rejections feel as arbitrary as the acceptances. it doesn't matter that that taste corrupts technical estimation, i just think it's about time my stories starting hitting the airwaves so to speak. universe : i'm ready. me : are you?

2. Compare this to the one-size-fits-all rejection letter i got from harper's today, which was so impersonal it was funny, but hey, it didn't hurt at all. it was like being rejected by the wrong magazine, like being rejected by a spammer, like reading someone else's mail.

3.The date for my reading at Notre Dame is now officially 6 february. can't wait to hit the mic. wish i had the cajones to wear a leisure suit with rhinestones. But because I don't, here's my Arts Everywhere Blurb instead:



4. I'm halfway done with my master novel revision. it's taking longer than i anticipated.

2nd Story Accepted in 2007

i just found out a version of a chapter from The Amnesia of Junebugs was picked up and is gonna be published in one of my FAVE journals--Word Riot. Fuck yeah! Anyway, i think it's one of the best online journals there is 'sides 3am, identity theory and verbsap, so i'm really stoked about this. Stay tuned for more details peeps. "The Space between Brooklyn and Manhattan" is coming out in the July issue.

Stats Don't Lie, Motherfucker

Since I'm leaving Sobe probably for good, here is a final tally of my productivity stats:

I'm gonna leave sobe in 2 days having written:

1. A complete 434-page novel
2. Sixteen new pieces of creative non-fiction
3. Twenty-six new pieces of flash fiction
4. Six new short stories
5. One really terrible napkin poem
6. Nine little hip-hop single review blurbs so far like this one

And i've published a bunch of stuff too, which is cool.

Okay, now, time to pack, and time to move back to my city. CHITOWN! CHITOWN! here i come. . .

Disengaging Myself from this MFA Program

Looking forward to completely disengaging myself from this MFA program in 6 days (exceptions for bee, lily, tom, tim, lynne, colby, v and ls). i'm just not giving more of my sacred time and energy to some of these insecure, childish, unforgiving and selfish people anymore. the karmic bitch slap leaves a bit of a sting my friends, but i'm not going to be the one doing the slapping.

Passed the 400-Page Mark

So it's true, i'm now on page 403 of my novel, and i think i should be completely done with this draft before next week--something i didn't even dream was possible. i pretty much just banked on finishing The Amnesia of Junebugs in chicago, but now it looks like i'll be able to finish this draft, send a copy to valerie before i move, and then sit on it for a couple of weeks before revising it into shape. man, i'm so happy about this. it's amazing how when you're writing alot, not just everyday, but when you're writing copiously, you get high off the fumes of artistic creation.

Closure

I'm on the last real chapter of my novel (which is actually, the beginning) and it's coming along beautifully. right now i'm at on page 386, and i think it's gonna be around 400 pages, but that's cool. i'm hoping to finish this draft of my book by the end of this week, or the weekend, giving me enough time to revise 2 stories and 1 memoir this weekend so i can print them out with my surplus printing balance at the library next week.

Also, I checked my grades today and i got another 4.0 leaving my cumulative gpa at 3.96. what this really means is, i'm gonna graduate, and that's so fucking sick.

Getting Buzzed with Dave Griffin

Well, i'm kinda buzzed. i met Dave Griffin for some drinks at joe's. no, wait, it's not called joe's, it's called frank's. anyway, we had a fucking awesome conversation about:

writing

teaching at a university (DG just recently scored an awesome tenure gig at Sweet Briar College in Virginia for 50k a year, can you imagine being paid 50k a year as a writer? that's practically unheard of)

lit v commercial writing

Bakhtin and Chris Isaak

giving readers treats

the value of entertainment in writing

self-promotion and the hustler

dg's time at the university of memphis where he kicked it with Richard Bausch, author of 9 novels and 5 short story collections

the importance of writing for an audience instead of writing for one's self

rick moody's demonology, writing the preface for John Cheever's collected works

the PLA punks from phillie

Lynn Nesbit

being able to buy copies of the VIRGIN SUICIDES at urban outfitters

Sofia Copola and David Lynch flicks

It was one kick-ass conversation.

Working on Last Chapter of The Amnesia of Junebugs

Well, i'm def not done at all, but i'm now officially working on the LAST CHAPTER of my novel. i can't fucking believe it. i've been working on this little bastard since first semester of my first year (August 2005). a few things i've accepted about it:

1. it's gonna be around 400 pages. there's just no way around it.

2. it's cooler and much more flawed than i thought it was gonna be.

3. once i'm done with this draft, i need to sit on it for a few weeks, and then revise the hell out of it.

4. and then, send it to lynn nesbit.

5. writing a novel is simultaneously the most natural thing i've ever done--far more natural for me than writing a short story which reminds me of someone trying to fit all of his clothes into a tiny suitcase--and by far, the most demanding and intense thing, artistically i've ever done.

6. writing a novel, even more than a collection of short stories, is the very definition and essence of h. bergson's theory of élan vital, no question about it.

7. this novel is gonna be fucking big man.

Now, i really need to take a shower and think about something else.

Rejections Make Me Listen to Gangsta Rap

I went on a marathon walk up st joe's river, near iusb, then i turned around, walked on the east race boardwalk, which i didn't even know existed all the way to the end and then back home, and i did all of this listening to glock-obsessed rap music that put some attitude in my head nodding. This put me in my gangsta mode to deal with this shit. . .

I know this is the name of the game, but frankly, this past week i've been getting so goddamn sick of rejections. i don't even understand how the worst story in the whole world--statistically speaking--could get rejected that many times, morever, a really good story. the numbers aren't in our favor, but still, sometimes, i still have to keep asking myself, why is it so fucking difficult to publish an awesome short story of mine, and why do i keep reading stories in journals that are like hmm, or ho-hum, and sometimes, oh nice, but almost never, holy shit. i mean, i haven't read one short story in one journal that is technically perfect yet, and that's normal, and my stories certainly aren't anywhere near being perfect either. but why can one of those great but imperfect short stories be one of mine? it's annoying the shit out me and putting me in a really bad mood today. . . hence, the ghetto star rap i've been enjoying so much. i understand now, more than ever, why there are more literary journals than there has ever been in america. paradoxically, there aren't more lit journal readers, there are just more journals, and why? cuz writers are sick of rejections. there can't be another explanation. one day, another writer says, you know what? fuck this, i'm gonna start my own shit.

I must have received 5 or 6 really encouraging rejection letters from Missouri review, but i just can't seem to get a yes from those fuckers. okay, i luv the Missouri review, but i really wish they'd finally publish one of my stories. literary publishing is like the greatest cock tease/drive by of all time.

Finished with My MFA

I can't believe it, i'm all done with everything. go aji go!!!

After:

my mfa thesis reading
my japanese oral exam
my written japanese final
my mfa thesis
a gazillion quizzes and tests
a 100 kanji later

I'm all done with everything. i'm gonna graduate and everything. i'm so stoked about this. i can't possibly tell some of you how excited i am to have closure on grad school after having to leave yale when i was too poor to finish, this really means alot to me. and i had to work so damn hard to get here, to get accepted into a mfa program when i was a americorps volunteer living on 700 bucks a month and foodstamps in chicago, and to graduate, and it's been worth every moment and i'm so grateful. in two to three weeks, i'm gonna sit down, look at my diploma that came in the mail, and say, yo, i have a masters degree now. and that's so fucking rad for me. it means the world to me. and if there's truly a spirit world, it means everything to my obaasama too.

Now, i just have to pack, and work on my novel. i have 2 weeks to pack, 2 weeks to finish my book, and around a month or so--give or take, well, another month or so--to revise before i send lynn nesbit my finished draft. i think this summer is gonna be rad. i can barely contain my joy.