New Year's Resolutions, Part the Second.

The funny list. (Funny to me, anyhow.)
The quirky list.
My resolutions, continued.

1. Acquire the ability to read the minds of clients.
2. Have a fling with Strunk & White's Elements of Style.
3. Tell the Chicago Manual of Style where to go.
4. Become less of a grammarian, more of a post-post-modernist, with a sprinkling of modernist sensibilities and a dash of formalism for good measure.
5. Make plans to attend AWP (in 2011).
6. Read more Heidegger.
7. Consume the entire bodies of work of T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Flann O'Brien, and Neil Gaiman. In the sense of brain consumption, not ingestion.

New Year's Resolutions.

Without ado:

1. Take GRE
2. Apply to grad schools
3. Get scholarships (many)
4. Continue raising fundage
5. Use said fundage to apply for federal nonprofit status
6. Get grants to make excellent things happen
7. Publishing, publishing, and more publishing

Expansion of brain and business looms on the horizon.

The Vol. 3.4 and Holiday Post. Thingy.

Whew...Oh wait. I start to breathe a sigh of relief and then catch myself. Not yet, Reeser, not yet. So the new issue launched today, hoorah. Vol. 3.4 is large and lovely here. Being that it's Christmas Eve Eve, today was spent, post-launch, doing things related to Christmas, including but not limited to contemplating the purchase of a last-minute tree and then deciding against it (why break with the tradition of the last 3 years). So this evening is set aside for the posting of new art to the galleries (six new artists to add), and the sending forth of the newsletter out into the electronic universe.

I am proud of the new issue, and even prouder of my editors for helping make it happen. Their hard work, dedication, and brilliance (wait, does this sound familiar to you?) make it all come together. I just can't stress that enough. I am lucky to have such a wonderful team. Sometimes my editors leave me (I'm talking about you, Scott Bowen!) but then they go do things like starting their own journals (ref. Divine Dirt Quarterly) and call me things like "mentor" and "juggernaut" (that last one made me smile for a long time). So everything's okay, really. I've got an amazing crew and I'll stop embarrassing them now by harping about how wonderful they are. 'Cause they are. Seriously.

This will probably be my last post before the big tree and Jesus day, you know, so merry holidays & co. In the most non-religious of senses, peace be with you all.

~

Fabulous Friday, a post in which I brag about people I know

I'm dubbing today Fabulous Friday. Following will ensue shameless bragging about my friends. And that's all it is, so stop reading here if you're not interested.

Who has the best editors? I do! Eric Weinstein, Erin McKnight, Anne Marie Rooney, and Tori Bradshaw are the best editors a 'chief could ask for. Their expertise, dedication, and brilliance (I'm not kidding!) are the backbone of every issue. I am so lucky and happy to have the opportunity to work with them.

Up at the 'naut (that's Fictionaut) is an interview with yours truly on Prick of the Spindle. Nicolle Elizabeth asks the best questions. Read it here.

More bragging (I told you!): Finnegan Flawnt, whose reading voice is near-unrivalled, reads my flash piece, "Invasion." Thank you, Finnegan. If you are not a voice actor, god only knows why. Sir, you need to go to Hollywood.

Is this the holiday spirit? Who knows. All I know is that these wonderful people, and several others whose work I'm reading and loving right now (see: When the Cats Razzed the Chickens by Mel Bosworth), are making me feel really cheesy right now, saying silly things like, they're the spark that's feeding my energy to launch the next issue and make my second book deadline mere days afterward. You. Guys. Rock.

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Galleys and the State of Pre-Publication

I'm happy to be going over the galleys and making corrections for my upcoming chapbook with Finishing Line Press, Light and Trials of Light. Editor Leah Maines has been wonderful to work with, and I appreciate her professionalism and her work ethic. I am proud to be publishing my first chapbook with Finishing Line Press.

Did I mention I'm open to being interviewed?

And if you haven't ordered a copy of Light and Trials of Light, please support my first chapbook by visiting Finishing Line Press's New Releases and Forthcoming Titles page. Be sure to scroll to "Reeser," as titles are listed alphabetically by author's last name. The book ships January 22, 2010.

My book on children's publishing should also be released sometime around the end of January from Atlantic Publishing. I'm in the midst of writing the book on Kindle publishing, and turn in the final manuscript in mid-January. I anticipate that book might be published sometime around April. That's three books in 2010...so far.

With the new issue of Prick of the Spindle due out on the 23rd, and still edits to finalize and reviews to write, the holidays feel like a blip on the far horizon; they will catch me off guard again this year. I know this, and I accept it.

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Passing Thoughts, Part the Second.

When Editors Become Psychiatrists: The Revisionist.

"Come in, sir, and tell me what's bothering you."

"Well, you see ma'am, I'm feeling really depressed."

"Let's talk about that and see how we can fix it--you know, on a structural level."

"Okay, well, my wife is seeing someone else, I think my son is doing drugs, and my doctor just told me I might have a lung disease."

"No, no, that's all wrong. You need to be more specific here--your wife isn't just seeing someone else, she's having a passive-agressive reaction by sleeping with one of her co-workers--the intern, because it implies a need to regain power. Your son should be doing, let's see, cocaine, because it makes things more interesting, don't you think? More dangerous that way. And your doctor, well--"

"I'm sorry, wait a minute. That's not what's going on--"

"Okay sure, but your story won't sell. It needs work."

"Excuse me? Sell? Story?"

"Don't you think it would be more interesting to everyone if we added touches of magical realism here and there?"

"Uh, I'm sorry. I don't understand."

"Listen, this is your story and you need to take control of it. But not too much control, you know, let it develop organically. It should build up to a nice arc and then wrap up--not too neatly, mind you--and have a few little bumps at the end, to show the main charac--um, to show that you--have really learned your lesson."

"My lesson? Uh, listen...I should...I should really be going."

"Okay, but when you come in next week, think about the elements we discussed. And remember--show, don't tell."

~

Passing Thoughts

If editors became cops:

"Drop your caps! That's it..."

"What'd I do?"

"Put your modifiers where I can see them!"

"Ma'am, I've done nothing wrong."

"I'm charging you with the apposition of justice and two counts of comma splices. You'll be spending some time in the state periphrastic, buddy."

~

New Discovery

This is a question for writers. Have you ever accidentally discovered that a story or poem or essay or what-have-you that you submitted somewhere way back was actually published? I would argue that it beats finding forgotten money amongst your belongings any old day. I just discovered my story "Sanctuary" (the only story I've ever written on the subject of faith/doubt) up at Liturgical Credo. A warm, albeit belated, thank you to Colin, the editor, for publishing this.

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Upcoming Publications

Making (re: forcing) the time for writing and submitting is starting to pay off. I am tremendously excited to have had a flash piece accepted for publication in the Metazen Christmas Book, "Down in the Grotto, We Break Bread Together." Metazen is doing a wonderful thing: helping those who really need our assistance. Dona­tions go to the Sun­rise Children’s Vil­lages Orphan­age in Siam Reap, Cambodia.

The debut issue of Artifice Magazine is scheduled to hit the presses in February; I can't wait to see it. It includes a terrific line-up of authors, including Susan Slaviero, Kyle Hemmings, Blake Butler, and Roxane Gay. My two pieces, "alt img 3" a poem written in html, and "Story (Prepackaged)" a graphic story (of sorts) will appear in that issue as well.

And...I'm looking forward to having @picfic stories appear on Dec. 23 and Jan. 10. Twitter fiction is a demanding little form! Who knew? It's like poetry condensed, except with a petite narrative thread. If you haven't tried it before and are up for the challenge, I encourage you to play around with the form and see what you come up with. It's demanding, but fun.
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