So, I have been checking out the short stories on Emerging Writer’s Network because Dan Wickett is featuring short stories. I just finished reading “The Duct Tape Brother” by Daniel Torday and found myself LOLing at his sheer awesome creativity. In short, a boy decides he wants to create a duct tape brother, so he does. They, of course, participate in several brotherly antics, until one day the duct tape brother gets bitten by a beagle and starts to unravel. The plot thickens, as they say, at this point, and the duct tape brother goes through several periods of sickness, including a hospital stay and some surgeries. All the while, the non-duct tape brother and non-duct tape brother’s parents remain vigilent. Essesntially, the story is structured similarly to any short story about a child who might have a fatal illness–same consequences, same thoughts/questions/emotions. The only difference is that said child is made of duct tape.
Oh, and he likes to pick his nose.
And just because of that… you should go read “The Duct Tape Brother”, compliments of Daniel Torday.
P.S. The link to his FB page is here: http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Torday/553411463, though I have no idea whether or not he is the FB friendly type or not. So, add at your own risk.
May 4, 2009
Right now I am reading “Wreck on the Highway”. Just finished “I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down”. After this, I need to read something more… female.
April 18, 2009
… on my blog yet. Just to cover all of the bases.
(LOL’s at own baseball pun. Back to work on grading student papers.)
Reading Alice Munro. And Brandon Tice. Can you say, way awesomer than baseball?
April 17, 2009
… is something I do a lot.
One of my biggies (besides randomly coming into a heck of a lot of chash so I can pay off my school bill) is that all of my friends/family will come to Denver.
Well… in the light of this being AWP week in Chicago, I figured I would do a huge shout out to my prayer answerer in that next year… 2010… AWP is comin’ to Denver.
I am so excited! This makes me want to hug people. A lot. Eeek!
February 7, 2009
For everyone that held your breath waiting, you can stop now. Note that this is a compilation of conversations with other writers, awesome websites, and funny inside jokes that I tell myself. For example, on my third tier is a journal, The Shit Creek Review, that only accepts poetry. While I am not generally poetic, I think it would be humorous to include this on my repertoire of publications. But, then, maybe I am just sick and twisted like that.
Ah well.
Ideas, comments, negations welcome. The journals within the tiers are in no particular order.
Sarah’s A, B, C List
(I would give my right arm for Hobart, Glimmer Train, and Ruminate for personal, as well as public, reasons).
First Tier
- Zoetrope
- Glimmer Train
- Hobart
- McSweeny’s
- Denver Quarterly
- Failbetter
- Ploughshares
- Tin House
- Ruminate
- Image
Second Tier
- The Yale Review
- Indiana Review
- The Iowa Review
- Kenyon Review
- Mississippi Review
- elimae
- Other Voices
- Prairie Schooner
- The Yale Review
- Mid-American Review
- Relief
- A Cappella Zoo
Third Tier
- North American Review
- Michigan Quarterly Review
- Fairy Tale Review
- Alaska Quarterly Review
- Crab Orchard Review
- The Harvard Review
- Toasted Cheese
- Zyzzyva
- Smokelong Quarterly
- Stickman Review
- Scruffy Dog Review
- Shit Creek Review
- R.k.v.r.y.
- Lemon Puppy Quarterly
- Juked
- Jacket
- H_NGM_N
- Ep;phany
- Chicken Bones
- 3 A.M. Magazine
January 5, 2009
Instead of a New Year’s Resolution list, I am going to make an A, B, C list. That is, I am going to create a list of journals that I will send to with A being the best, B being second best, and C being places that I will only send out to if I am kidnapped by a band of brain eating zombies.
I did this in graduate school, but I am not sure if I understood enough about myself as a writer or enough about the literary market to create an effective list.
After publishing a piece in an online journal that could have been accepted in a print journal (not that one is really better than the other what with technology becoming amazingly awesome), I am a bit frustrated with myself.
If I am going to write seriously, then I need to approach it seriously. I have just been sending out to journals that I know about via various writing consortiums. And while my system is okay, it could be better.
I must admit that I am slightly scared. Creating an A, B, C list means that I really need to focus my writing based on the journals I am sending to. I sort of like the freedom of being able to send wherever. Maybe I will still allow myself that freedom every now and then, but, for the most part, I will only submit to A, B, C.
I will keep you all posted on how this goes.
January 3, 2009
