Remington Roundup: Stay Connected
#Reading, #Writing, & #Listening

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriterWith winter days and shorter days and the holidays, it’s easy to fall away from our usual reader/writer patterns and find ourselves feeling detached. Here’s your December roundup of links to#reading, #writing, & listening so you can stay connected despite the busy weeks ahead.


#Reading

Looking for your next great book? Kim Suhr debuts her collection of short stories, Nothing to Lose, out from Cornerstone Press this month!

cover image for Nothing to Lose: foggy view of lake from prairie shorelineDrawing on the rich complexity of the American Midwest, Kim Suhr peoples her debut book of fiction with characters that we know, carved out of the Wisconsin landscape and caught between expectation and desire. An Iraq war veteran stalks the streets of Madison. Four drunk friends hunt deer outside Antigo. A mother tries to save her son. A transplanted New Yorker plots revenge against her husband. A man sobers up and opens a paintball range for Jesus. A woman with nothing to lose waits for her first kiss. Personal and powerful, Kim Suhr’s Nothing to Lose shows us a region filled with real people: less than perfect, plagued with doubts, always reaching.

As Director of Red Oak Writing, Kim has championed many a writer across the state of Wisconsin and beyond. I cannot wait to celebrate her own wonderful work during her next reading at Boswell Books on Tuesday, December 11th, 7pm! Read more about her book and watch the trailer.


#Writing

Even if the cold, short days may keep you close to home and out of the writing circles, there are plenty of ways to keep your pen moving and your ties with other storytellers strong. Once a month, I meet online with a group of writers for Study Hall: #AmWriting, where we talk craft, read essays and excerpts from stories, and tackle at least 5 prompts. All in an hour and a half. It’s fast moving and fun. The next meeting is Sunday, January 6th, 3:30pm CST. Register HERE. I’d love to see you!

If you’re looking for a longer structured class experience, Flash Nonfiction I: an introduction opens for registration today. This 4-week course runs from Feb. 3rd-Mar. 2nd, 2019 and is packed with flash nonfiction examples, tips and techniques, and (because I love them so) prompts. Seats are limited in this course, so sign up early! Registration closes Feb 1st.


#Listening

woman facing away from camera, wearing headphonesAs always, story podcasts are my favorite thing to listen to when I need to decompress or am in search of a little inspiration. If you like short fiction, try these:

  1. Levar Burton Reads, “The Best Short Fiction Handpicked by the World’s Greatest Storyteller.” All of the stories are read by Levar Burton himself–a bonus!
  2. The New Yorker podcast, The Writer’s Voice, where you can listen to authors like Zadie Smith and Tommy Orange read their own short stories published in the New Yorker. As you’re running around gathering presents for family and friends, let these two podcasts be the gift to yourself.

Whether you’re reading, writing, or listening, I’m wishing you the best of the season!

Remington Roundup for #Readers & #Writers

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriter

It’s been a while since the last Remington Roundup, but that doesn’t mean there’s been little to share. Here are links gathered over the last few months for readers and writers.


Roundup For #Readers

Fiction in Solstice Magazine: Middle-Aged Woman Rethinks Her Sexual Orientation While Breakfasting at a Cafe by Mia Caruso

You don’t have a sexual orientation, you realize. You were just swept along, without ever having a chance to know. Awkward is your sexual orientation.

Nonfiction in Carbon Culture: Unanswered Questions by Julia Poole

Roundup pic of old window with barsTime was limited. People like Ralph, the men, and women who had lived during WWII, would soon be gone. I didn’t want their stories to die with them. Sites of remembrance, including concentration camps, are part of their stories, part of history not to be ignored or forgotten. Such places act as persuasive and effective teachers. Are people still willing to learn?

Must-Read Books by Indigenous Authors (post by Kaitlin Curtice)

Roundup pic of young girl reading with light coming out from the pages of the bookI’m constantly asked for resources on how people can move forward learning about Indigenous culture, and I’m often repeating the same thing: read books. . . . Indigenous peoples cannot do the work for you. You must dig in and learn yourself, and the best way to do that is lean into our cultures. Learn about us. Do your research, and then we can have a conversation that isn’t a one-sided history or cultural lesson.


Roundup For #Writers

On Publisher’s Weekly, Writing Tips from Barbara Kingsolver

Roundup pic of typewriter surrounded by cup of coffee, open book with blank pages, and penWriters work successfully in so many different ways, I never assume that what works for me is best for someone else. But if a common denominator exists among us, it might be attitude: the enterprise of writing a book has to feel like walking into a cathedral. It demands humility. The body of all written words already in print is vaulted and vast. You think you have something new to add to that? If so, it can only come from a position of respect: for the form, the process, and eventually for a reader’s valuable attention.

An In-Person Workshop: Diving Into the Details

Roundup pic of statue of swimmer about to dive with sky and puffy clouds in backgroundDetails play a significant role in our writing, whether we write poems, essays or novels. Details build story, deepen story, and provide more ways for readers to connect with story.

Meets Saturday, November 10th, 9:30am-noon. Come read examples of authors who master details and practice technique with several writing prompts. Register through Red Oak Writing.

Or an Online Meet-Up at Study Hall: #AmWriting

drawing of paper and pencil surrounded by symbols of three people and the internet symbol…with space, an invitation, and a gentle push from another writer facing similar challenges, we are more likely to show up at the table and set pen to paper. We are more likely to encourage the writer across from us and–together–create more art.

Our next Study Hall meets Sunday, November 11th, 3:30-5pm CST. Register by Friday, November 9th!

An Updated List for Flash Nonfiction Submissions curated by Erika Dreifus

…a guide to journals and magazines that publish flash nonfiction/micro-essays.

Because after all that writing you’re doing, you’ll be ready to submit!

 

#AmReading Ted Kooser: poems, nonfiction, craft

The Poetry Home Repair Manual (2005)

stack of Ted Kooser books: The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Official Entry Blank, and The Wheeling YearPoems that change our perception are everywhere you look, and one of the definitions of poetry might be that a poem freshens the world.

. . . .

But how do you come up with ideas?

You sit with your notebook, and after a while something begins to interest you. The poet William Stafford described it as being like fishing: you throw out your line and wait for a little tug. Maybe all you get is a minnow, three or four words that seem to have a little magic, but even that can be enough to get the writing started. And a minnow can be pretty good bait for bigger fish.


Official Entry Blank (1969)*

From “Man Opening a Book of Poems”

Turning a page as if it were a rock, / he bends and peers beneath it cautiously, / Waving its wet antennae to the light, / a poem in its narrow, ambling track /  stops dead and lifts its mossy mouth to him.

(* This one’s out of print, so check your library.)

The Wheeling Year (2014)

From “January”

Part of my morning ritual is to put on my shoes without sitting down, and by this demonstrating to myself that I am not so old as to topple over into a steaming heap when trying to balance on one leg.


What are you reading these days?