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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!

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Tiny Essay: Fruit on the Vine

raspberry fruit on the vine, one nicely ripened redAt first weedy and full of needles unseen, it’s easy to mistake the raspberry bush for a nuisance, the way it pushes through the neighbor’s fence uninvited and spreads woody roots across your tiny garden space, shading the basil, threatening to overpower the tomatoes. The tomatoes fight back though with their own wild smell and sinewy vines. Still, the bush remains a source of contention, cut down almost in full last spring. It came back stronger, offering promise underneath its leaves regardless. I poke at the plant now, curious and amazed at its resilience, pick the berries one by one, imagine all they might become: buttermilk scones, ice cream toppings, dressed-up granola. Something offered; something shared. A peacemaker, this fruit on the vine.

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#PenToPaper: In the Distance

Last week I posted on writing prompts and putting pen to paper. Practice what you preach, they say. The Prompt: in the distance.

image of lake with fog in the distance, which is the writing prompt: "in the distance"

A swallow returns to its nesting place, a salmon returns to the mouth of the river, and she returns the same through waves of memory, back to the beginning. There is a place: a rooftop at midnight, an open window. She will take a blanket, step over the sash, her bare feet on shingles still warm from the heat of the day. She will say, Room for two, and he will follow, though the blanket is for her alone. She will take in the scent of wet grass, the glow of a crescent moon, the silhouette of trees marking a break in the horizon. She will breathe in the burn of his cigarette smoke as if it is the oxygen she needs and wonder at the comfort of him there. She will study the shape of her feet, the wear in his shoes. They will talk as strangers do, about nothing, about anything, until the mosquitoes drive them back inside. She will say something forgettable, but he will laugh true. Thank you for the smoke, he will tell her, then he will look her in the eye, keep a polite distance, smile. And leave. He will not ask for anything more. At this, she will be surprised and relieved. She will fall asleep to a sense of quiet she has not known for a long time. In the morning she will shed old skin; in a year she will move out, move on. But she will not forget: the open window, the silhouette, that simple moment in the distance when the tide shifted.