Random Tidbit for you about MFAer, Daniel Darling

S Something to know… Dan Darling, Blue Mesa Review Production Editor and Fiction MFAer, is also a teaching wonder. This summer, he taught a lesson using the Cartoon Network’s Aquateen Hunger Force in his English 102 class. Believe it or not, Ripley, if you have cable, watch it this Saturday night. Apparently, he’s getting a good ole fashioned cartoon network shout out. Stay tuned for more information.

Watch a clip from the random cartoon by clicking on this blog posting…

Wanted: CNF

Jelly Bucket, the literary journal of the Creative Writing Program at Eastern Kentucky University, is accepting submissions for its premiere issue through August 1, 2009.

I’ve read several calls for Creative Non Fiction…  so polish up those manuscripts and get them in the mail!

The journal will appear in November 2009.

Check their website for full details –>

BMR and Dawn Sperber hang with the Alibi

Hello folks,

It may be summer, but don’t think your literary magazine is slacking off. This past Sunday, your fearless advisor Marisa P. Clark and I (plus undergraduate extraordinaire Randi Beck) represented at the Alibi’s first Flash Fiction Contest Reading (the contest has been going on for some time now), where winners of the contest, local celebrities, and the Blue Mesa Review participated in an open mic night of free food, beer drinking, book give-aways, and literature loving that was also a benefit for the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy. It was great fun.

I read a couple of 119 word piece scratched together for the event–a fun writing exercise that I think everyone should try (and then submit to the contest next year.) Dawn Sperber also read twice!  (Marisa and Randi, however, did not–though Marisa contemplated reading her notes….)  It was a really fun and free thing we had here and if you are around next summer, I highly recommend going (and reading). I’m often struck at these things with how happy some people are to read their work aloud and how MFAers and other literati types are so bogged down with a need for perfection we don’t share enough. Let’s break the chain, people. Break it like it’s never been broken before (or.. well, i’m sure it’s been broken before, but break it like YOU’VE never broken it before…)

For those who don’t know, every year, the Alibi holds a 119 word Flash Fiction contest. Last year’s winner was our very own Dawn Sperber. This year, Dawn came in second. We should aim for a UNM take-over!. Check out the article and read the stories here:  http://alibi.com/index.php?story=28147&scn=feature

Special thanks to the Alibi’s Erin Adair-Hodges who allowed us to give away some magazines and spread the word about BMR to the locals.

Tweet your True Stories

The Great Twitter Experiment from Creative NonFiction magazine email newsletter:

As the genre matures and evolves, and technology and the popularity of social networking expands, we at CNF have become increasingly interested in different forms of creative nonfiction.

We’re wondering if it’s possible to tell true stories, well, in 130 characters or less. Think you could write one hundred CNF-worthy tweets a day? Go for it. We dare you. Submitting is easy. Simply tag your 130-character creative nonfiction tweet with the trending topic #cnftweet, and then hit “Update.” That’s it.

We’ll scour Twitter on a daily basis, re-tweeting the best of the day. And who knows? If this goes well, you may even find your tweet in an upcoming issue of Creative Nonfiction.

I’ve been hesitant to jump on the twitter bandwagon, even though I’ve been on twitter since 2006 (the result of attending a BlogHer convention). I just don’t quite see the point. This project, though does sound like fun… especially since I’ve been accussed of being too concise in my writing, of not wallowing on the page enough. I may just have to try this out as it may be right up my alley! Hope you’ll join me!

Check out Creative Non Fiction on Twitter–>

or better yet, Subscribe to Creative Non Fiction–>

You Must be this Tall to Ride Anthology

Editor B.J. Hollars writes:

I am an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama where I’ve served as nonfiction editor and assistant fiction editor for Black Warrior Review. I’m writing in regards to a new anthology I’ve just completed entitled “You Must Be This Tall To Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside the Story” published by Writer’s Digest Books. Essentially, it’s 20 literary coming of age stories, 20 original essays by the authors explaining how they initially wrote the stories, as well as 20 writing exercises from the authors. It features work previously published in Best American Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Pushcart Prize anthologies, among others. Steve Almond, Aimee Bender, Judy Budnitz, Dan Chaon, Stuart Dybek, Michael Martone, Antonya Nelson, Peter Orner, Benjamin Percy, and Brady Udall are all contributors, just to name a few.

I don’t stand to make any money off of this endeavor (I divided the advance among the contributors) and I’m contacting you on behalf of these stories and essays simply because I think they might work well at the University of New Mexico.

I encourage you to check out the website, www.YouMustBeThisTallToRide.net and see for yourself. I’ve also started an online magazine related to the
book, and submission guidelines can also be found on the same site.

Thanks for taking a peek and helping to spread the good word.

Take care, and again, I appreciate your help. Feel free to contact me any time.

Yours,
B.J. Hollars