BANANA GRABBERS DOT COM

I'm incredibly jealous of writers with their own fonts. I need to get on that shit. Comic Sans, perhaps?

No one wants to go to your conference. The snow has nothing to do with the low enrollment.

Flash Fiction: for those moments when you realize you'll never be a poet, let alone a good one.

I was reading an essay about Charles Olson today, and found myself scribbling a William Carlos Williams note in the margins. Naturally, I used the WCW shorthand rather than the full name. I then reflected that ten-year-old John would have been amazed that I was doing graduate school work on pro wrestling.

I usually only look at my blog stats to see what hilarious Google searches bring people here, so I have no idea what my (very small) readership is like. On the off-chance that I have any Rhode Island readers out there, however, I wanted to note that my piece "Short Story Outline" is being printed in the forthcoming issue of Interrobang‽ Magazine. There will be a celebratory unveiling at Ada Books (117 Westminster Street) in Providence on December 3rd at 8 pm.

I will not be in attendance, sadly, but they may be reading an excerpt from my piece. If the story title sounds familiar, it's because I've blogged about it before.

If I do somehow have a Providence audience, let me know. Because that would be weird.

Usually when I haven't blogged in a few weeks, I always opening with an apology.  Not this time.  I've been legitimately busy for once.  Since I threw up that blurb from the excellent Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I got married, went to London and split the rest of this month between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Yes, it's been a busy few weeks.

But I'm not blogging today to catch you up on my whereabouts.  No, I'm happy to report that I came home last night to my author copies of Philly Fiction 2, the new collection of local fiction from Don Ron Books.

The sequel has been a long time coming, and I'm excited to be a part of it.  You can find my contribution ("Baby Blue") on page 120.  There may be some readings or promotional events in the area this summer.  I'll be sure to post about them here once I know more.  Come to think of it, I do know of one: pre-release copies will be on sale this Saturday during the 2nd Street Festival in Northern Liberties.  I won't be there (back to D.C., I told you I was busy), but look for the Don Ron folks if you're there.

Otherwise, you can look for the book in stores after July 1st, or purchase it online now.

I'm going to be reading twice this weekend. They will both be so brief that I'm not writing this to say you should come and see me; but they're both cool events, and I hope to see you there if either intrigues you.

On Friday (tomorrow!), I'll be participating in the Writers House's marathon reading of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It's a great book, and should be a great read. Last year, we read Lolita straight through, and the year before that we tackled On the Road. The reading starts at 3 pm. There may even be some open slots when you arrive, so you can not only take in the book and devour book-appropriate snacks, you may also be able to read for a few minutes!

On Sunday, I'll be at Robin's Bookstore for the 13th Annual Poetry Ink event. I'll be one of more than one hundred poets reading their work for 3 minutes or less. The event begins at 1 pm. The readers are scheduled alphabetically, so I should be reading my poem between 1:30 and 2:30 pm, depending on the timing of others.

Yes, it's a weekend of lengthy marathon readings. Hope to see you there.

This is my thousandth post.

Yikes.

In lieu of a properly constructed post, here is a list of things I like, as of today:

-- Swaptree: It's amazing the good stuff people will give you in exchange for your bad stuff. Seriously, this service is fantastic, and all you need to do is pay for the postage of whatever item you send. Go join. Now.

-- Vintage DHARMA ads: I'm sorry if these are old news. I just found them. Well, 5 of them -- I had seen that cigarette one a while ago.

-- Photojojo: I've just started receiving the newsletter, so I can't comment much on that, but if it's half as good as their store (oh how much money I wish to give you, store!) or Time Capsule (which will be amazing help with the photoblog), I'm sure I'll be pleased.