...I have two new stories:
--"Wicked Water" @ 52-250 A Year of Flash
--"The Musketeers" @ Retort Magazine
Both are also up here at "Words Under Print."

...Yes, it happened again. Another rejection from PANK. This time the electronic form letter. No, "I didn't get this poem" or "good job, but." I am not a quitter. On the contrary, I often should give up when it's clearly in my best interest. I have one more story in the well I'll try. It's a piece that feels PANK-like. If that gets tossed back, then I'll bow out. I do love the magazine and its writing. To me it feels different than most of the others out there. So, that's been my main impetus for trying. Plus it's the whole playing-hard-to-get/challenge thing. And Roxane is editor, so there's that. And in my initial rejections I got lots of positive feedback, which has fueled my drive to get in print there. But hey, if it's not to be, it's not. I understand that places like PANK get deluged with subs and I know that any particular piece might be good, yet not be fully aligned with a lit mag's asthetic. I get it, I do...

...Well, I saw "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" and loved it. I was happy to have just finished the book a week prior. Like "An Abundance of Katherines," (a fantastic read), "IKOAFS" is a teen cross-over novel. The movie was funny and dark and fun and odd. I had a blast. It's a little sad, however, to see that the new inane (granted I have not seen it myself) Katherine Heigl film opened a gazillion dollars higher. Doesn't seem fair. Anyway, go see "It's...Funny Story." You'll be glad. It's not just for teens or teens who read teen novels.

...I've been asked to write an open letter to the city of Los Angeles. How strange is that, right? Evidently they saw my writing and liked it. This so-called letter will be handed out to 10,000 people. (Holy crap!) And I can write about anything. This is one of the more unusual undertakings I've had and it has not been easy. When I'm done with the letter-thingy, I'll post it, so even if you're not one of the few pedestrians trundling the streets of LA, you can read it, too.

..."I don't think style is consciously arrived at, any more than one arrives at the color of one's eyes. After all, your style is you." - Truman Capote