Sunday Morning

First off, I must say that my favorite part of Obama's State of the Union was where he launched into the lobbyists staying the fuck away from politics -- and the whole room went quiet.

Do you use music when you write? I don't mean listening to music while you write. I mean specifically crafting soundtracks to use when writing certain projects? I do. Started when I utilized the soundtrack to Requiem for a Dream for She Bears a King. And for my current project, You Know Me, Etc., I've spent the last few years building a playlist tailored to characters and also Chicago itself.

Need to get going on my piece for CLASS, the upcoming issue of Cliterature. Can't decide between two completely different ideas, but must commit and race with one in time for the deadline.

Blogging Rehab

I find myself in a self-induced paradox whereby I intend and really want to blog about my writing and my work with Cliterature, but I'm too busy writing and working on Cliterature to get around to the blogging. From now on, I'm taking blogging like alcoholics take rehab -- one day at at time.

Update on You Know Me, Etc: finished with chapter six, trying to dive into number seven. Up to 150 pages now, but not even halfway through the story. In too deep to jump out now, but the end is far from in sight. If I was Harry Potter, I would have just been selected to participate in the Wizard's Cup.

Speaking of which, I want t re-read the Harry Potter series. Some of them I haven't read in years. Same with Lord of the Rings. Instead, I'm currently stuck on an 800 page biography of Alexander Hamilton. Most of it is boring and dry, but there are certain similarities between us that keeep me from putting it down.

Nerd Alert!

First of all, technology is amazing. When I started Cliterature three years ago, I had no idea how long it would last, or if there would even be enough interest for a second or third issue. As the word spread, I've tried to add things to it to make it more fun and interesting for readers. After Cliterature went solely online in 2008, it took me a while to figure out how much more I could do with an online journal that a print version can't. Archives are available starting with the very first issue, so that anyone can read not only the current issue, but any contributor from any previous issue. With RULES, there's a new option for people to e-mail feedback about the individual works and have it posted up alongside the work itself. Facebook has been incredibly helpful in connecting with people who like Cliterature, whether they are submitting, contributing or just fans of the journal. 

What I'm getting to is something I only learned about recently but am already very exited about. Have you heard about Google Analytics? It gives you an HTML code which you paste into each page of a website, and then in 24-48 hours you can start looking at reports about visitors, content, traffic, etc. Two of my favorite reports are which pages are looked at most frequently, and a map that shows you where people are visiting Cliterature from. I knew it was being read all over the United States and maybe in Canada. Imagine my surprise when I saw visitors from Ireland, South Korea, Italy, Algeria, Germany, and South Africa! Not to mention the most visits from a single city came from London! I can't wait to see what other information this service produces. It's just amazing. 

It Begins

Begun research on my next big (book-sized) project, to be written after I finish You Know Me, Etc. Here's what I know about it so far:

• It's a memoir
• Focused on my brother's story, but must also tell my family's story to do so
• How my brother changed my outlook on life, authority, and family and shaped me as a person
• Statistics, odds, and risk play at least a minor role, possibly major

For now, I think of it by its dedication, "For him, of course."

New Cliterature Issue ~ RULES

The summer volume of Cliterature went live last night. RULES is huge! Sixteen contributors, and the manuscript is almost 50 pages. Makes me glad I made the decision to make it just online, because printing it could have bankrupted me. But I can do it as big as I want on the Internet, just have to put in a bit of extra work. 

I contributed a piece of my own, "How to Survive a Zombie Holocaust, and Other Things I Learned in My Twenties."

Chapter Four and a Font

Finished writing Chapter Four of You Know Me, Etc. last week. This summer marks the third year I've put into this novel. Much longer than anything I've ever attempted before. I had a working draft of my first novel in under a year. And there's still so much further to go, a total of fifteen chapters. It took me so long to prepare and research and lay out the plot. Now I'm aiming to be done with a first draft by spring of 2011, and that seems so long away. 

Today I chose a font for the new Cliterature logo: Berlin Sans FB Demi. I put in two hours deciding on it. I hope it's worth it.

Tee Hee!

Cliterature received 69 poetry, prose, criticism, and artwork submissions for the summer issue, RULES. Can't help but take that as a promising sign!