Writer, indie publisher, et cetera
Writing
Published For a Day – June 7
Jun 3rd
I wanted to publish my unpublished novel for a day. Other people wanted to do the same with theirs. A birthday project is formed. Free books for me will make for the best birthday ever.
Oh noes! End of Eyeyshot
Jul 25th
Lee Klein’s brilliant Eyeshot is coming to an end after 10 years on the internets. (via HTMLGIANT)
Eyeshot was definitely a big inspiration for me as Word Riot was getting started, so I’m sad to see it go.
New story at dispatch litareview
Jun 3rd
…called Low Tide Gurgling Against the Breeze (title courtesy of dispatch litareview editor P.H. Madore).
The piece is an excerpt of the novel manuscript I’m working on now. I’m tentatively calling the novel Fine Creature. We’ll have to see what it becomes.
Thinking about all the awesome books I should read next term. I’ll be studying under Amy Hempel. Rock.
Goals
Feb 10th
I have to submit a creative writing packet of 20-30 pages each month for Bennington. I’ve been using the good ol’ 300 word a day minimum routine I set for myself in Haverford when I was working on my first novel (‘At the Slaughter’). The plan has been working well. I’m getting a lot of work done on the novel I’m writing now. I’m calling the thing ‘Fine Creature.’ (I can pick a good short story title by my novel titles are always lame.)
There’s a decent amount of dirty Jersey politics in this book. I needed some distance from the intense reporter days to really reflect on the politics so as not to let it subsume the other elements of the book or correlate too closely to actual events. I think I’ve acquired that distance. At least, I hope I have. I’ve got a little under 25k words to the book so far. I’m aiming for 60k though it looks like this will wind up being longer. I’m hoping to have a first draft done by the end of the year.
Workshop
Nov 12th
I start Bennington’s MFA program in January. I have to get 25 pages into them by Dec. 1 for workshopping. It’s going well. I’m going to send a novel excerpt, which is probably dumb, but all the promoting for The Suburban Swindle has left me drained and wanting to back off short stories for awhile. I kind of disappear into a novel when I’m in that writing headspace. I like that. I know I’m getting into the right tempo when I start forgetting whether or not an event happened in real life or in the book I’m working on. Those kind of non-memory memories are wonderfully redeeming. If I can trick myself, maybe I can trick y’all.
I haven’t done a workshop session since college and never on any substantial work. Anybody want to scare me with workshopping horror stories or links to horror stories? Just trying to expel the demons.
Oh, and Word Riot Press got name-checked in GalleyCat for picking up Nick Antosca’s Midnight Picnic. I keep wanting to call it Midnight Panic for some reason. I don’t know why. At least one person found Word Riot by googling “Nick Antosca” and “Midnight Panic” so I’m not alone.
Reading in Baltimore
Jul 24th
510 Reading Series
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Minás Gallery
815 W. 36th St.
Hampden (Baltimore), Maryland
5 p.m.
Readers: Larry Doyle, Jackie Corley and Linda Franklin
The 510 Reading Series is hosted by Michael Kimball (author of Dear Everybody) and Jen Michalski (author of Close Encounters).
50 Word Story
Jun 19th
I did a super-short story and an interview for Nick Ostdick’s site. It was a lot of fun.
Check it out.
Nick edits RAGAD, a literary broadside and online magazine.
Suburban Swindle blurb
May 12th
“Sharp, bold, and deeply affecting, Jackie Corley’s stories are like poetry made from the gritty stuff of hard-scrabble life. Dead garden snakes and forgotten video games, gravestone statues that seem to dance in the night: in Corley’s able hands, the mundane, even the ugly, are transformed. The young men and women who struggle through her slim, piercing collection, stay with you long after you’ve finished reading; tough-talking and scarred, tattooed and tender, they search Corley’s dirty, sparkling New Jersey streets for something always just out of reach.
“A fiercely original debut. Corley is a talent to watch.”
-Scott Snyder, author of Voodoo Heart
Everybody go to Pilcrow
Apr 30th
The Pilcrow Lit Fest takes over Chicago from May 22 – May 25. I haven’t been this excited for a lit festival since the 215 Festival, circa 2003.
I think Amy Guth is some sorta marketing genius (in addition to being a fantastic writer). The list of attendees is a who’s-who of the small press world. Pilcrow is probably going to grow up into some mega festival in years to come, so I decided I have to be there when it all goes down in ’08. (I’m going to be on a couple panels at Pilcrow, so drop by if you’re in Chicago.)
There are so many writers and publishers I can’t wait to meet. A lot of us know each other through email, Facebook, web sites or whatever but haven’t gotten a chance to meet face to face yet. I’m really looking forward to that.
Donate to Pilcrow:
—
While in Chicago, I’m going to be doing a reading with Kevin Sampsell (Future Tense Publishing) and James Stegall (So New Publishing) at Quimby’s. Check it out.
Sampsell, Stegall & Corley Read at Quimby’s
We’re not just publishers. We actually write stuff too.
Date: Saturday, May 24, 2008
Time: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Quimby’s Bookstore
Street: 1854 W. North Ave.
City/Town: Chicago, IL
Recent Comments