Alissa Nielsen

Noisy Foolishness: Kundera Quote

2009-03-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

I dug this quote up for a buddy (read the book years ago), and thought, it's so brilliant, why not post it?

from The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

(Afterword: A Talk with the Author by Philip Roth)

"I am wary of the words pessimism and optimism. A novel does not assert anything; a novel searches and posses questions. I don't know whether my nation will perish and I don't know which of my character is right. I invent stories, confront one with another, and by this means I ask questions. The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything. When Don Quixote went out into the world, the world turned into a mystery before his eyes. That is the legacy of the first European novel to the entire subsequent history of the novel. The novelist teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude. In a world built on sacrosanct certainties the novel is dead. The totalitarian world, whether founded by Marx, Islam, or anything else, is a world of answers rather than questions. There, the novel has no place. In my case, it seems to me that all over the world people nowadays prefer to judge rather than ask, so that the voice of the novel can hardly be heard over the noisy foolishness of human certainties."

Ten Poems About Work

2009-02-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

(Continuation of Feb 20th post)

"Filling Station" by Elizabeth Bishop
"As Children Together" by Carolyn Forche
"3 A.M. Kitchen: My Father Talking" by Tess Gallagher
"The Nurse" by Dorianne Laux
"You Can Have It" by Philip Levine
"Sole Custody" by Joe Millar
"Notes Between Swing and Graveyard" by John C Morrison
"I Want You Women Up North To Know" by Tillie Olsen
"Pickle Belt" by Theodore Roethke
"To Elsie" by William Carlos Williams

As always, I invite folks to add to this list . . .

Working Class Fiction

2009-02-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching expository writing with a thematic focus on The Working Class and I've compiled a couple lists. We've been reading from an excellent book titled Literature, Class and Culture, by which many of the following titles were found.

Ten novels about work:

Well by Matthew McIntosh
Yonnondio by Tillie Olsen
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Daughter of Earth by Agnes Smedley
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cane by Jean Toomer
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Ten stories about work:

"Mama" by Dorothy Allison
"A Wagner Matinee" by Willa Cather
"Life in the Iron-Mills" by Rebecca Harding Davis
Edison, New Jersey" by Junot Diaz
"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner
"His Own Society" by Gish Jen
"Mint" by Craig Lesley
"The Apostate" by Jack London
"The Tartarus of Maids" Herman Melville
"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen

Also Rebel Graphics has an amazingly comprehensive list of Working Class Literature: fiction, nonfiction and poetry. A great resource.

I invite anyone to add to this list, I could use the suggestions.

More to come (10 poems, essays, memoirs, zines and songs about work) . . .

Grammar Stuff!

2009-02-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, every nerd must have these!

Artist, writer, and high school teacher Lee Knapp is taking the battle to preserve American language to the kitchen by creating these wonderful grammatically correct mugs, plates, and greeting cards.

My new grammar plates and mugs arrived yesterday and I LOVE them! I totally just ate an omelet on my "Lie or Lay" plate. It was glorious.

Grammarstuff.com

Festivals

2008-11-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

WORDSTOCK
Portland, OR

Tons of events going on: IPRC Text Ball, Oregon Book Awards, First Thursday gallery shows, Poetry slams, the whole she-bang, check out wordstockfestival.com.

Wordstock book fair at Portland Convention Center November 8th and 9th.
Amazing line-up this year. I'll make it easy and tell you who you should see: Aimee Bender, Andre Dubus III, David Guterson, William Kittredge, John C Morrison, Stewart O'Nan, Ann Packer, Paulann Peterson, Kevin Sampsall, Peter Sears and Leslie What.

Cartoonists rule Wordstock: Alison Bechdel, Derek Kirk Kim, Spain Rodriguez, and Lynda Barry. Signings at the Dark Horse table, go meet Jesse Reklaw. I think some other amazingly talented cartoonists will be signing there as well.

Stop by the Silk Road/Pacific University table and talk with Julie and Kyle. I won't be there because I'll be attending . . .

The Kenyon Review Literary Festival

NOVEMBER 6-8, 2008

GAMBIER, OHIO

Featuring: Richard Ford, Fred Andrle, David Baker, Gerald Duff, Holly Goddard Jones, Derek Mong, Margot Singer, Lynne Thompson, Jan Wagner, and G.C. Waldrep.

2:00-3:00 PM

Panel Discussion: Breaking into Publishing
Moderator: David Lynn, editor, The Kenyon Review; Panelists: Karen Craigo, editor, Mid-American Review, Jerry Kelly, publisher, XOXOX Press, David McNamara, publisher, sunnyoutside press, John Walker, editor, Silk Road

Peirce Hall, Bemis Music Room

So, if you're in or near Gambier, stop by the CLMP table to talk with me about Silk Road Literary Journal, or just talk to me . . . I get lonely.

Midterm: On and On and On

2008-10-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

On taking an extra semester:
I've decided to take an extra semester: so I'll be graduating in June, instead of January. During my essay semester in Pacific's MFA program my writing went through a pretty large transformation. I think this is largely due to what I learned while writing the essay. I ditched all my old drafts from 1st and 2nd semester and started fresh mid-way through 3rd semester. I kept thinking, since I had some time off at the beginning of 4th semester, I'd have enough time to polish up these newer drafts. Wrong. I think my thesis would've been passable, but I wanted to see these stories through. Reflection: Patience, sister, it all takes time.

On Revision Strategies:
Notes on my short story drafts have increased significantly. I'm writing summaries, revision strategies, character sketches, meditations. Mostly these consist of questions I ask myself . . .

Summary:

What is this story about?

Why is it important?

What's the protagonist's existential dilemma?

Revision Strategy:

What's not working? [List methods/strategies for improvement.]

What is working? [List why it's working.]

Analysis on feedback from workshop/adviser: Does the feedback make sense with my vision? Why or why not? [Usually I make a list of what I need to change, whether it be simple clarity of a sentence or larger story concerns.]

Are your summaries (what the story is about, why it's important, existential dilemma) clear within the context of the story? Why or why not?

Character Sketches:
These are fun. Usually, I write from the 1st person perspective of all the characters . . . sometimes they're not even a part of the story, but are important in my understanding of back story. I've been working on mapping a character's emotional progression throughout a story (this way I can see spots where I need to slow up). But mostly, these are just fun free writes: interviews, diary entries, letters to another character, whatever I need to get a better understanding of where someone is coming from.

Meditations:
Free writes about abstract concepts within the story. So, if the story is about loneliness what are specific, concrete and meaningful details that I (or the character) associate with loneliness? Sometimes the meditations have nothing to do with the story, but are more about my understanding about these concepts.

Too much analysis? Yeah, maybe you're right. But, I don't really like to analyze while I'm working through the story . . . I just like to play. So separating the play (organic, intuitive, the heart) from the work (structure, the mind) is helpful for me. Sometimes it works.

Big shout-out to David Long (most of the strategies listed above were his suggestions).

On Reading:
I need to read more. What I have read this semester has been largely influential on my work, especially the books Something Happened and Last Night at the Lobster, and Dubus' short story "The Pretty Girl." Mrs. Dalloway, of course.

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space.
Bozzini, George and Leenerts, Cynthia. Literature Without Borders.
Cheever, John. The Collected Stories.
Dubus, Andre. Selected Stories of Andre Dubus.
Ford, Richard. Vintage Ford.
Gillespie, Sheena and Singleton, Robert. Across Cultures: A Reader for Writers.
Heller, Joseph. Something Happened.
Long, David. The Falling Boy.
O'Nan, Stuart. Last Night at the Lobster.
Schulz, Bruno. The Street of Crocodiles.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own.
Woolf, Virginia, Et Al, The Mrs. Dalloway Reader.

On Being Discouraged:
While you're feeling through the dark, unaware of what's ahead, knowing that even if there is anything good, it still won't be easy --what keeps you going? In the face of self-doubt and self-worth, devoid of inspiration -- what inside yourself will be steady enough to hold you up? These are some of the questions I've been asking myself lately. For me, routine has suddenly become ritual. Always returning to the computer, no matter what: devotion, patience, mindful work. Even during the tough times, even with jobs I hated, I've found a tremendous amount of satisfaction in hard work. So, I'll keep working at this, the craft, until -- I don't know -- I die, or it stops making sense.

Three readings in three days

2008-09-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Powell's had a good line-up of readings last weekend, so I slept under a desk in their cuddly rare book room for three days (shhh, don't tell).

Paul Auster : Friday, September 19th

7:00 pm. Geez. Standing room only? (I shuffle to the back near two annoying people) (they do not move) (. . . three points if anyone out there gets that joke . . . three more if someone calls me annoying for attempted literary humor)

Auster read from Man in the Dark, opening with the first page . . . "I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness." Pretty good first line, yeah? It was a fine reading, but a little odd because the bulk of excerpts Auster read were two characters (Katya and August) discussing films. The reading ended up being mostly film commentary. Perhaps if I'd read the book I'd understand its significance to the story, but I left Powell's more excited about renting movies than cracking open the book. Auster refused to do Q&A, which bummed me out a bit (I don't know, though, it's more miss than hit with Q&A, so maybe not a huge loss). But, all and all, it was an interesting reading.

Chuck Klosterman: Sunday, September 21st

6:45. Yes! Found a seat on one of the side benches next to a guy who later told me I had a contagious laugh (three points for me if that was a compliment, minus three if he was really saying my hee-hawing is so loud it embarrassed him into a spazzy chuckling fit)

What can I say? Chuck's funny. Pop-cultural journalist and writer of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself To Live, Klosterman's first book, Fargo Rock City, was what caught my attention (Note: Klosterman worked at The Forum while I was still living in Fargo. Met him once at a party . . . my friend was all, "Wasn't that the guy who writes the weird hip section in The Forum? Yeah, he totally sucks.") (Aside: I wonder if Klosterman has been nominated for Rough Rider award . . . seriously, NoDak has a "Rough Rider" award!)

Klosterman read from his first novel, Downtown Owl, which is set in the fictional rural town of Owl, North Dakota, and follows three very different characters -- Mitch is a high school quarterback, Horace is a 73-year-old widower, and Julia is a newly arrived social studies teacher. The selection he read cracked me up, and I wish I had a quote but when I laugh my eyes squint too much for me to see, and therefore I cannot write while I'm laughing and therefore I cannot give you a quote, and for this I am sorry. Anyway . . . the Q & A was equally awesome because Klosterman just bantered on about interviewing Marilyn Manson, how Steely Dan rocks (and shut up they do so), writing fiction vs. nonfiction, his book's appearance on the OC, how 1 out of 3 girlfriends like his books, and about his look ("Some say I look like an aging lesbian. Others think I look like Sally Jessy Raphael"). Nice.

Irvine Welsh: Monday, September 22nd

6:45 Arrived with my friend Neva Feva after scarfing down some yellowish rice at Whole Foods. Wonderful Emily joined us after 7.

Welsh read from, Crime, a novel set in Miami, featuring a return for Detective Inspector Ray Lennox from Welsh's 1998 novel Filth. Recovering from a cocaine-and stress-induced breakdown, Lennox finds nothing but more corruption in the Sunshine State.

Welsh's American accent was awesome, he sounded just like John Wayne.

Final Tally
Me: 3
Sally Jessy Raphael: zilch-o (Ha! In your face Sally Jessy!)

Oregon Literary Review Reading & Oregon Book Awards

2008-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Julie Mae Madsen organizes and hosts these readings. The last one was great and the next reading will surely be fantastic:

Free Reading October 1st: Craig Lesley, Primus St. John and Diana Abu-Jaber
Oregon Literary Review co-hosts First Wednesdays, a series of readings, performances and wine-tasting at the Blackbird Wine Shop, 3519 NE 44th off Fremont, 7-9pm. Readers and performers interested in participating should contact Julie Mae Madsen at maemadsen@gmail.com with an expression of interest and sample work.

Also, big big congratulation hugs to a couple of my favorite writers who were just awarded Oregon Book Awards : Molly Gloss, Judith Barrington and John C. Morrison. All great books!!

Paper Fort

2008-07-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Literary Arts of Portland launched their new blog Paper Fort with an interview of Sid Miller, founder of Burnside Review, and some thoughts from Monica Drake (Clown Girl) about good writing days (the first in a series of posts about Oregon authors and good writing days). Go check out Paper Fort's amazing list of links to Oregon Authors Online, Presses and Magazines, and Oregon Literary Links.

New Poet Laureate

2008-07-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Kay Ryan

From Poets & Writers: Kay Ryan was born in California in 1945 and grew up in the small towns of the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. She received both a bachelor's and master's degree from UCLA.

Ryan has published several collections of poetry, including The Niagara River (Grove Press, 2005); Say Uncle (2000); Elephant Rocks (1996); Flamingo Watching (1994), which was a finalist for both the Lamont Poetry Selection and the Lenore Marshall Prize; Strangely Marked Metal (1985); and Dragon Acts to Dragon Ends (1983).

Writers' Rooms

2008-07-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Viewed all these writers' rooms on the Guardian website. I can't get enough of this.

I work in a walk-in closet. It's . . . cozy. Thought I would post a couple pictures of it here and invite friends to reply with pictures of their writing space.

That's our cat Cora. She likes the computer, which would be endearing if it weren't for her tail whapping me in the face as I write.

Me and my buddy, the computer. My buddy and I.

Fly on the wall, to the right, is done by one of my favorite artists Renee French. Old photos are my great grandmother, my grandfather and a couple strangers I found at an antique shop. It sometimes gets warm in my closet, at least I have the little fan atop the tower of books I'm currently reading (check out that tangling mess of cords at the bottom, yeesh).

Silk Road : Vol 3, Issue 1

2008-07-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

I am so proud to say that we just released our new issue of Silk Road, A Journal of Writings on Place Volume 3, Issue 1. I worked as fiction editor for this volume and will continue working on Silk Road for 2008-2009 as managing editor.

Silk Road Vol 3, Issue 1
Featuring work by Xu Xi and Pete Fromm as well as writers from Bangladesh to Escanaba, Michigan, the newest issue of Silk Road raises the stakes in the cross-cultural dialogue. “Where are you from?” has become a more complex question to answer. Works include poetry, fiction, nonfiction, international writing, translations, and visual artwork.

read excerpts
submit
buy Silk Road
read a review of Silk Road, Vol 2, Issue 1

Back Home : June Residency

2008-07-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a 10-day residency at Pacific University in Forest Grove. The readings, craft talks, and workshops all went very smoothly . . . a nicely run residency. The new influx of writers/advisers created a refreshing diversity within the craft talks and readings. Brady Udall, Denise Duhamel and David St. John were wonderful. Nice to catch up with friends on their challenges and successes, and great to meet some amazing and motivated new students.

I'm excited to continue working with David Long for my thesis semester. It will be a busy six months. I am unemployed until August, so my schedule everyday in July looks like this: Get up, coffee, read for four hours, write for five hours, watch a movie, sleep. It's paradise for a month.

Here are a couple notes I took during the craft talks . . .

Presenter: Claire Davis Title/Topic: The Habit of Art

The residency began with Claire Davis's talk on creating a habit and habitat for writing, and her words stuck, surfacing within our conversations throughout the week. Davis discussed the daily ritual of writing: sitting down at the desk, setting goals for page/word counts, creating a space in which to enter into the unknown with a certain mindfulness, to not allow for email or other distractions . . . “the real business is to write,” she reminded us. But Davis warned us to not isolate ourselves from the world, “It's a solitary life,” Davis stated, “but that doesn't mean it has to be a hermitage.” Creating an environment in which you can work yourself back out keeps the writer connected to the world in a deeper sense. With the daily business of life, we are often deceived into thinking that we've accomplished something, constantly preparing for the next day, but as writers we must move our art into the moment. Throughout her talk, Davis weaved in lush descriptions of place, coupled with stories about friends who've influenced her to think more deeply about the craft. In short, we must create an external and internal space which will allow us to practice being aware, to look closely at our writing (“beyond the first, second, third, fourth detail, into the fifth or sixth detail”) and to, as Davis said, “imagine . . . now imagine more deeply.”

Presenter: David Long Title/Topic: Line Editing for Dummies

David Long outlined the many different components of line editing: cutting, substituting, adding, arranging, punctuating, correcting. I found Long's suggestions on substituting helpful—change a word/phrase for another when it is: too abstract, wrong in tone, exactly what we expect, dull, or a word/phrase you just used. Long noted that “Good writers often 'physicalize' abstractions so we will have something to see,” and then gave an example by Stefan Zweig from Beware of Pity: “You can't dispel illusions as easily as you shake down the quicksilver in a thermometer.” Long went on to say that a paragraph is not “a sack to throw things in” but a “designed assemblage of statements,” often beginning with a topic sentence, and ending with “your punch line, your final bullet, your saved-for-the-last thing,” and many times setting up the turn in the next paragraph. Long reminded us to correct: check spelling/grammer, be consistent, check your facts, watch for internal contradictions with characters.“The manuscript you turn loose on the world is your avatar,” Long stated, “a physical manifestation of your pride and authorship. Make sure it brushes its teeth and puts on a fresh shirt [oh, and clean underwear—you never know . . . ].”

Presenter: Judy Blunt Title/Topic: Truth and the Damned Lies—The Ethics of Life Writing

“Yes, I am wise, but it's wisdom born of pain,” Judy Blunt began her talk on the ethics of life writing. There were several questions that Blunt posed that kept me up all night:

Why are so many books being published as memoir, when they're clearly fictional? Why aren't publishers doing their research?
What does the public think of fraudulent memoirs? What is our responsibility as readers when we notice fraudulent memoirs?
Why can't we write stories as fiction which illicit the same response as nonfiction? When did readers stop trusting fictional characters?

There are lessons to be learned in all of this, as Blunt stated:

“It is wrong to appropriate the pain of others for personal benefit.”
“Write what you write and call it what it is. If you are questioning whether the book is fiction, than it's fiction.”
“What is true lies between you and the idea of you—a friction between the fact and the fiction.”

Blunt gave a handout of “The evolution (or not) of nonfiction disclaimers” which included very interesting, entertaining disclaimers from writers whose nonfiction work has been questioned . . . such writers as Booker T. Washington, Ernest Hemingway, Tobias Wolff, Michael Finkel, and David Eggers.

Presenter: Ellen Bass Title/Topic: Poem of the Moment

“The poem of the moment is rooted in one time and one place,” Ellen Bass began. The beauty about the poem of the moment, as Bass pointed out, is that it is harder to be vague and abstract; it is a “nudge to a clearer language.” To write a poem of the moment you have to stay in the moment, you must slow down to really enter the moment deeply. This, often times, will allow us to experience the world differently, on a smaller scope, or as William Blake said, “Infinity in a grain of sand.” Bass showed us how the poem of the moment has rising action which leads to a “surprising and inevitable” resolution. In using the examples of Sharon Olds's “Summer Solstice, New York City,” Dorianne Laux's “The Lovers,” among others, Bass reminded us to: slow down, go for accuracy over lyricism, and to be wary of abstractions.

Last day at Literary Arts

2008-06-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

I concluded my 6-month marketing internship at Literary Arts last week. It was so nice, everyone wished me a fond farewell .

I learned a lot about marketing within an arts organization over the last couple months. I was given various projects, the most fun of which were recording/producing a pilot literary podcast and a creating a sample Oregon Book Awards blog.

This internship has been a hugely rewarding part of my graduate education. My time at Literary Arts has helped me feel more grounded, an inside look at ways I can support myself as a writer—from grants, fellowships, awards, and Writers-in-the-schools, to the important organizational work of administrative arts, event programming, marketing in nonprofit, and grant writing.

It's been a good experience for me. To have had this opportunity, to have seen how there are many different paths a writer can take when choosing a career, has been a profoundly rewarding.

Reading : Richard Bausch

2008-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

A windy, stormy gray day in Portland. On the way to Powell's, a large tree limb fell on the hood of my Buick, but it did not deter me.

Richard Bausch read from his new novel Peace, which is about three WWII soldiers who are sent on a reconnaissance mission up the side of a mountain, during a terrible winter in Italy, 1944. Bausch dedicated his book and reading to George Garrett who, years ago, encouraged him to write Peace.
I just have say, it's been a while since I've been to a prose reading this good. I think there are several reasons for this (apparently, I not only have an opinion about writing, but about readings as well):

1.) The excerpts chosen were a perfect sampling of the book. Bausch read us a scene containing the central image of the story and then read scenes where the image reoccurs, he provided a bit of character background, startling details about the environmental surroundings, and the description at the end of chapter one is shocking and memorable and just incredible.

2.) The Q & A was actually informative. I loved that Bausch talked openly about writing craft. Surprisingly, I rarely hear writers (at readings) talk about craft . . . even when asked they tend to steer clear of the questions about craft and process. I can't say I blame them, but it sometimes makes the Q & A dry and uninteresting.

3.) Spontaneous poetry. After a person asked Bausch about his friendship with poet James Dickey, Bausch not only provided a great anecdote, but also spontaneously recited a Dickey poem by heart . . . and is there anything more wonderfully endearing than that? I think not.

4.) And speaking of great anecdotes . . . this guy was full of 'em. From James Dickey to Eudora Welty to late night bowlers who used to live in the apartment above him, all wonderfully amusing. I let out a little chuckle in the car on the way home, they guy in the pickup next to me thought he'd made a friend.

"Trust in what the story tells you."
"Books are written a little bit at a time, over time."
"When someone asks if you're a writer, you say 'you're goddamn right I am!'"

Teaching . . .

2008-06-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Sunnyside
The creative writing class I've been teaching concluded with a poetry/prose reading just a few days ago. What a blast to set up a mic and amp at a coffee shop and have these kids wow their friends and family. Some of the students even read prose I hadn't heard . . . work they'd written outside of class. Having a chance to meet the parents, to see their enthusiasm and encouragement towards their kids' interest in writing and literature, was heart-warming.

This class met weekly . . . we looked at a range of writing examples (William Carlos Williams, Sandra Cisneros, Lucille Clifton, Ed Hirsch, Stuart Dybek, Pablo Neruda, among others), discussed these works, and wrote stories/poems aided by writing prompts. I have to say, it's a little tough letting this class go. I think there were some wonderful creative exchanges that went on . . . a constant trickling of inspiration, sometimes geysers.

Looking Forward . . .
I just received word that I've been awarded a teaching-associate position for fall quarter at Pacific University. I will be teaching a Literature and Human Concerns class. I'm very excited about this oppurtunity and look forward to the beginning of classes at the end of August!

Prague Writer's Festival, Ivan Klíma & Memories

2008-05-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go . . .

Prague Writer's Festival is scheduled for 1-5 June 2008. Tariq Ali, Homero Aridjis, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Slavenka Drakulić, Graeme Gibson, Natalia Gorbanevskaya, Jiří Gruša, Siri Hustvedt, Paul Kahn, Ivan Klíma, Petr Král, Günter Kunert, Antonín J. Liehm, Arnošt Lustig, Michael March, Michael McClure, Dimitris Nollas, Jiří Pehe, Igor Pomerantsev, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, Elena Schwarz, Ludvík Vaculík, Gary Younge.

I recently finished reading Ivan Klíma's Waiting for Dark, Waiting for Light. It's a novel that shows Czechoslovakia before and after the end of Communist rule in 1989, through the close third person point-of-view of Pavel, a documentary filmmaker. Pavel is a wonderfully indecisive character, constantly posing questions to himself and then half-answering these questions. Klíma is a master at weaving together the many strings of a story, fusing the imaginary world of Pavel with his sad reality. It's really a lovely book.

I was in Prague, for a summer ten years ago, studying Czech poetry and literature. During that time, the beloved poet and scientist Miroslav Holub died. That day all classes were canceled. I remember taking a walk to the market, to get some vegetables for dinner . . . everything was silent, all stores closed, no one on the streets, no one in the square or on the bridge, I was alone. It was eerie and beautiful and profoundly touching . . . out of respect for the life of this poet the entire town took a day of rest, of quiet. I'd never seen anything like it.

Cramped Hands Reading

2008-05-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

I've been teaching after-school creative writing to some young, creative geniuses. I'd like to invite everyone in the area to their end-of-school reading. *Blush* I'm so proud.

Sunnyside Environmental School presents . . .

CRAMPED HANDS
A poetry and prose reading Pix Patisserie
3402 SE Division St
Portland, OR 97214

Tuesday, June 3rd
5pm-7pm
free

The World We Live In

2008-05-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

Update: The Creative Work

2008-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to produce as much creative work as I would've liked these last five months (due to working on the essay, I guess). I've started two new drafts of stories and worked on revisions for two others—“Blue Like Babe” and “Under the Weather.” Working with David Long has been a valuable experience for me. His comments and suggestions were articulate, insightful and generous—notes on sentence craft, narrative voice, clarity and mystery within fiction, detailing, character description, symbolism . . . scribbles on books to read, authors to look up . . . comments on writing workshops and writing process—it has been a memorable semester. I think the old “show, don't tell” adage applies to teaching as well—David's comments and suggestions have very clearly shown me how to improve as a writer and that is the most meaningful, lasting, thrilling experience that a student of writing could hope for.

STORIES ARE COMING ALONG . . .

“Blue Like Babe” has gone through some very interesting revisions, starting with 1^st POV present, and reworking itself into 3^rd POV, past tense and reworking it back to 1^st POV, present. What the heck for? Well, this particular story had a rhythm to it that was tough for me to break . . . after I stepped outside of the character I was able to see the world around her differently. Unfortunately the distance was too far . . . I went back and rewrote, working in some of the good stuff that came from the 3rd POV draft. David's notes were all helpful, especially his comments on breaking up a pivotal scene into mini-stages, slowing the pace, and taking the time to really burrow down into what the story is about. A step in the right direction, I think. We'll see what I think in another couple weeks.

My early drafts of “Under the Weather” were written in 1^st POV present and changed to close 3^rd POV, past. In this case , the story dramatically changed—I think it smoothed out a lot, but lost quite a bit of its intensity in the process. David echoed this in his notes . . . he suggested I write from more "inside" the character. I've finished three new drafts of this story so far and writing from more inside the main character has created a wonderful discovery in the story that I didn't anticipate.

BOOKS
In my reading of fiction this semester, I focused on how writers hint at the subtext of a story. The books that most influenced me were all strong examples of how subtext within narrative tone and voice: Stuart Dybek's I Sailed with Magellan, Lorrie Moore's Birds of America, and Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Each of these books taught me the varying degrees point-of-view can offer: from the wonderfully rhythmic first-person monologues in I Sailed With Magellan to Ruth's sensitive, distilled outlook of her surrounding in Housekeeping, to the unique twist of third-person in Lorrie Moore's “People Like This Are The Only People Here,” this semester's reading has been intensely rich and has deepened my understanding of subtext and third- person narrative voice.

Other books I've read these last couple months: Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates, Waiting for Dark, Waiting for Light by Ivan Klima, Tell Me by Mary Robison, Heaven of the Moment by John Morrison, Blue Spruce by David Long, The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux by David Long, Fiction and the Figures of Life by William Gass, The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter, Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway, Billie Dyer and Other Stories by William Maxwell, What Is Literature? by Jean-Paul Sartre, The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo, and Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates.

Update : The Essay

2008-05-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

This semester at Pacific was my essay semester—I was required to "develop a polished work in literary analysis that demonstrates clarity of thought and expression of English prose" of 15-20 pages in length. The subject I chose was subtext in fiction; the instructor I worked with was David Long.

First, let me say, that this has been a memorable semester for me in many ways.When returning to my creative work, after a short hiatus of the essay, I suddenly began to see very clearly areas in my stories that needed improvement. I think this is the inevitable culmination of: 1.) all the info gathered from 1^st and 2^nd semester beginning to sink in 2.) working with an excellent instructor/writer 3.) clearly writing about the how and why a literary construct works forced me to look at my own writing with the same standards. 4.) being allowed time to look deeply into why I love literature & why I write.

The advantage of choosing the broad essay topic of subtext—I had a lot of room to explore. Having only five months (and only 20 pages) to work on that broad topic, well, that's the disadvantage. Still, I'm glad I stuck with it. Right off, I had problems with clarity and focus. David's advice to split the essay into subsections was a huge help. I nailed down a thesis statement, divided the essay into different subcategories, and then began working on revisions (which ranged from simple line editing to completely new drafts of sections). I spent so many hours working on the essay—reading, taking notes, writing, rereading, editing, revising. I have to admit, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But unbelievably worth it.

The single piece of knowledge gained? (It's not going to sound revolutionary, but it was to me.) To write well demands clarity and focus— and if your a mysterious writer, even more so—and if your writing an essay about subtext—even more so.

To sum up: it's been a deliriously gratifying semester.

Okay, here's a taste . . .

The poison ivy grew green and lush in the field behind our cabin. I was ten years old and bare-legged, sprinting through the sprawl of vines and tall grass, headed for water. It caught me, the ivy. Tiny red bumps started around my ankles and quickly spread up my thighs to my stomach and chest, growing into large welts and soon high fevers, chills and difficulty breathing. A severe allergic reaction, the doctor said. In bed, under damp towels, arms coated with the pink clay of Calamine, I summered alongside The Trumpet of the Swan, The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo, The Chronicles of Narnia and tattered copies of my mom's old Nancy Drews. The sheets below me felt like sandpaper; red light seeped in from the shades as if the whole room were poisoned and infected.

Years later, during my freshman year of high school, I read Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Instantly, I recalled my poison ivy summer, and became fascinated and mystified by how Kafka was able to evoke Gregor's feelings of isolation. Like many readers, I was intrigued with the concept of a man inexplicably turning into an insect, but came to realize the elements I was drawn to were far more subtle.

Charles Baxter defines subtext as “what propels readers beyond the plot of a novel or short story into the realm of what haunts the imagination: the implied, the half-visible and the unspoken” (3). When a writer communicates the thoughts or motivations of characters through implication, rather then explicit statement, she is using subtext. By exploring how writers use subtext within setting, detail, voice, comparison, dialog, and omission, I will illustrate how words whisper, hint, linger and tug at meaning just below the surface.

Your Life Work : The Librarian!

2008-05-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

"It's a blue book and it kind-of gives the whole story, ya know?"

Reading : Tobias Wolff

2008-04-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Left an hour early to hear Tobias Wolff read at Powell's last night. Arrived to four silver-haired, mustachioed men sitting patiently. "Bizarre," I thought. "I'll never win this look-alike contest." I took a seat, and the crowd quickly filled out.

Wolff read two stories, "Say Yes," and "Her Dog," from his new collection, Our Story Begins. He was funny, composed, and very gentlemanly.

Afterwards, during the Q & A:

Wolff talked about memoir; discussing how memory is a matter of perspective: "Put it this way," he said. "Imagine you are sitting around a table reminiscing with your family. You begin your story and immediately you're corrected. That's not how it happened, your mother blurts out. Everyone contradicts your story." Wolff went on to say that we all think of ourselves as the main character of a story; an event may seem different to these many different perspectives. Wolff also talked about using small fabrications as a "binding agent" to hold the story together.

One person asked him to recount an anecdote about Raymond Carver (I can't imagine having a famous friend that people always want to hear stories about. It made me wonder if this drives him crazy, if he likes it or is rather indifferent.) Generally, the story went like this: After Ray quit drinking, he became addicted to expensive Swiss chocolates. One Halloween, my boys and I went over to his house, trick-o-treating. Ray's shades were shut and the house was dark, but I knew he was hording the good stuff. My boys and I screamed until finally Ray came out and gave up his stash.

There was a touching moment where a man in the crowd stood up to thank Wolff about an article (Sorry, I can't remember which article. If it was fictional or an essay, I'm not sure) he wrote surrounding the Vietnam War. The man said it was the truest account he ever read. He clipped the article and reads it weekly.

Numbers

2008-03-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing from the New York Times Book Blog Paper Cuts

poignant: Something you read may affect you, or move you. That doesn’t mean it's poignant. Something is poignant when it’s keenly, even painfully, affecting. When Bambi’s mom dies an adult may think it poignant. A child probably finds it terrifying.

100 Best lines from novels from American Book Review

37. P.S.

Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise.
–Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America (1967)

Fives from David Long

11. Five short story collections:
Vintage Munro, Alice Munro, 2004
I Sailed with Magellan, Stuart Dybek, 2003
Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson, 1992
Billie Dyer and Other Stories, William Maxwell, 1992
Ellis Island and Other Stories, Mark Helprin, 1981

Ninth Letter Arts & Literary Journal Podcasts featuring Richard Powers, Ron Carlson and more.

MIRACLE FRUIT WRITING WORKSHOP

2008-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

THE BLANK PAGE

Saturday, March 22nd
Noon-2pm
at Tandem Coffee House
3041 SE Division St. Portland, OR
Sliding scale fee $15-$30
(no sign up, just stop by, space is limited to 10 people)

You long to write. But for some reason, when faced with the blank page, it's hard. That's okay. In this workshop we will work on various prompts to jump-start our wild imaginations through the music of words. Open to everyone, you will leave this workshop with a wealth of ideas, examples of great writing and, best of all, pages of promising words.

About Miracle Fruit: Miracle Fruit is a West African berry that, when eaten, causes bitter food to taste sweet. Like the complexity of this bitter-sweet berry, Miracle Fruit creative writing workshops are designed for anyone hoping to examine the succulent, acrid, spicy tartness of life through creative writing. For more information please visit miraclefruitworkshops.blogspot.com

About the instructor: Born in North Dakota, Alissa Nielsen has studied at Charles University in Prague and is a graduate from The Evergreen State College where she earned her BA with a focus in literature and creative writing. Nielsen has published in literary quarterlies such as The Raven Chronicles, Ellipsis and Slightly West. She has taught numerous creative writing workshops in schools and arts centers in Oregon and Washington and has past experience as a freelance writer, tutor and editor. Currently she is working on her MFA in fiction at Pacific University.