"Increasingly of late, and particularly when I drink, I find my thoughts drawn into the past rather than impelled into the future. I recall drinking sherry in California and dreaming of my earlier student days in England, where I ate dalmoth and dreamed of Delhi. What is the purpose, I wonder, of all this restlessness? I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias." ~Vikram Seth, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet
Sonya Larson wrote a funny short entry on Grub Street's blog entitled Toilets and Literature, on why short stories aren't more popular in America despite our ever-shrinking attention spans.
Since visiting other uncultured toilets, with many sighs of disappointment, I’ve wondered why not every household toilet has a Best American Short Stories propped up on the tank. Why don’t people read stories on the subway, or in line at the bank, instead of the novel they complain to have been reading since 1998? In short, why aren’t short stories more popular?
Indeed, it does seem that we prefer our other literature to be shorter and shorter. A recent Slate article estimates that the average Washington Post story is 25% shorter today than 30 years ago. Many glossy magazines nowadays are so photo-centric that words themselves are merely decorative (ironic, no?) An editor at a magazine where I had interned said articles slated for a feature can become shortened to a well article if the photos aren't good enough, and a mediocre tiny blurb can become bigger features if the photos are amazing.
Franz Kafka
Tom Stoppard
Dave Barry
M.F.K. Fisher
Here's to many more years of writing and blogging. :)
Or poems about wanting to travel. Way back in 2004 (doesn't that seem so long ago?) I had just started seriously writing and submitted a few poems to InkPot, a now-defunct literary magazine. To my surprise, one of them actually got published and became my first piece of published writing outside of zines and the college paper. It was a very small lit journal, and I got paid in copies. But the thrill of seeing my name in print that fall was enough to keep me writing, even through the many hair-pulling nights of writer's block that came after.
Between my day job and freelance writing nowadays I don't have much time or mental energy for poetry anymore, sadly. (Maybe someday.) In any case, since InkPot doesn't have my poem in its archives, I'm including it here as a tribute to all first publishings. However small the step, it's always a step forward.
Storyboard for the First Scene
