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Writing, Reading, Far to Go
Thanks to Len Kuntz and all the editors at Metazen, the itty bitty story I mentioned in a late June post, "White Stripes," has been nominated for the 2012 Best of the Net. Who says art doesn'tmake for more art? Thanks Meg and Jack!
That little turntable is spinning and so am I.
Last week when I wasn't looking, the online magazine, Metazen, published a little bitty story I wrote a few winters ago. Happy to be there with the many other sweet little stories!
Here's a sample of White Stripes:
Note in January 2015 : Sadly, the magazine has gone the way of many online literary gems. And so… here's hoping the story finds itself in a print collection someday.
Music is the background for many writers as they wind their ways through novels, short stories, memoirs, sonnets and villanelles. The characters in my novel-in-stories each have their own particular musical preferences, from Johnny Cash and Wanda Jackson to Elton John and Cream, and one sings songs from popular musicals to his daughter as lullabies. But in these cases, of the writers and of those they've written, the music remains in the background, coming forward only to add color or dimension to a scene or to enliven a character.
In my next book, a collection of stories, the music will bellow and beat in the foreground, for each piece will recall an aspect of a country song. Who can resist writing about broken-down trucks, broken marriages, and runaway dogs? So thinking on the past twelve months, I can’t help but laugh a little. The soundtrack of 2011 is certainly the inspiration for that of 2012, and out of the bend of notes come stories, each with a unique rhythm and framework and narrative voice.
January – The Black-Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling”
February – The White Stripe’s “Jolene”
March – Paul Simon’s “Rewrite”
April – Cream’s “White Room”
May – Wanda Jackson and Jack White – “Thunder on the Mountain”
June – John Prine and Iris Dement’s “In Spite of Ourselves”
(written by J.P.)
July – Steve Earle’s “Every Part of Me”
August – Steve Earle’s “This City”
September – Emmylou Harris’ “Wrecking Ball”
(written by Neil Young)
October – Townes Van Zandt’s “To Live Is to Fly”
November – Steve Earle / Emmylou Harris – “Goodbye”
(written by S. E.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ctDVZditHzY - S.E. – album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr2IY8q687I&feature=related - S.E. & E.H. – live
December – Emmylou Harris – “Sweet Old World
(written by Lucinda Williams)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUHrFo4aPGI&feature=related
And just because I’m from New Orleans and believe in baker’s dozens and lagniappe, here’s one more!
Wanda Jackson’s “Sparklin’ Brown Eyes”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=HvnWcb6mu4Q
Snow-encrusted walks
Reading
Plane ride over the Sierra Nevadas
Bittersweet goodbyes to The White Stripes
Sun over Alcatraz
Writing
Wintertime workers’ rights demonstrations before the Ohio Statehouse
Revision, revision, revision
Hannah's 21st!
Paul Simon’s “Rewrite”
Nancy Zafris on Flannery O’Connor
Kentucky Derby
Roses
Heat
Stop ‘n’ Go
Friends
Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont
Writing alone and together and at dusk when the hummingbirds are searching the wide-open flowers for some answers
Secrets
Wide-plank floors
Sex with a one-armed man
Surprises
Concessions
Patience
Live Fast, Die Young
Hunkering
Lighting candles
Giving thanks
Jeni's ice cream
Walks with Atticus
Wrapping
Hannah - all grown up and saving China!
Zak's 18th!
Thinking
Considering
Congratulating
Sleeping
Thunder & Lightning - Flora - Kauai, 2008 - by Karin Cecile Davidson
