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May 17 2012
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performance calendar, poetry, publication news, self assessment, Uncategorized

Matryoshka

When it comes to getting my name out there as a writer, I’ve always taken the shotgun approach, where the theory is that the more I appear, the more I put out, the more I tour, the more people will come to me, read my work, buy my work. I’m realizing this approach isn’t working like I thought I would.

Case in point: I performed three times in the same city a couple of weeks ago at three distinctly different venues. I sold a total of seven or eight books. I sold none at my AWP readings in Chicago (and I read three times at three distinctly different venues). I know writers who hardly tour (or never tour or read) and their work sells quite well and I think part of it (other than the quality of the work) is that they hardly/rarely tour or read in public and that adds to the importance, the gravity of their appearances. I’m not Bruce Springsteen or The Cure, who can do multiple shows in one city and sell out every single one, tickets and merch wise.

For me to get to the next level, it’s time for me to start becoming a little more reclusive, a little more selective to when I read, where I submit my work, how often I read in a single city. I think making myself a little more scarce from a performance perspective will be better overall for everyone.

***

I am so proud to announce that the first issue of NAP that had me as the Falconer of Fiction is out and it is so good. Diana Salier, my poetry editor counterpart, and I, put together this really kick ass issue that you should enjoy here.

If you are in Orlando tomorrow, Friday, May 17, there are two shows you need to see.

  1. Page 15 put out their first collection of stories called Wars Are Dumb and the book release party is tomorrow at Urban Rethink starting at 6 pm. Check out the literary future of Orlando. (Learn more about the project and the show here.)
  2. The Orlando Fringe Festival is in full swing and I’ll be in the Fringe Toast-Off tomorrow night at 10pm at the outdoor stage. These things are incredibly fun and fucked up thanks to the combination of wits and alcohol. The best part is that this is free! (Learn more about the show here.)

I contributed “On Writing ‘On How An Autobot Sunk The Titanic‘” to the Toasted Cake podcast. I don’t normally enjoy hearing other people read my work but Tina Connolly read it really well. For my trouble, I got $5 in cash and this nice card in the mail.

You’re welcome.

Finally, I have a poem in the May issue of Word Riot, which you can check out  here.

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Apr 29 2012
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performance calendar, performances, poetry

The Portlandia Invasion Begins

This week, I fly out to Portland for the first time and I’ll be doing three shows while I’m out there. I assure you that no setlist will be the same so you will be handsomely rewarded if you come to one, two, or all three of my shows. And here we go.

Thursday, May 3 @ 9 pm – Broetry Night at The Treehouse – this is an open mic house show that is free but donations are accepted for the feature (which I would appreciate the food or booze money)

Sunday, May 6 @ 8 pm - Portland Poetry Slam at Backspace – my first slam feature since 2010 and my 33rd birthday. I might be doing the Sharpening the Pen workshop beforehand, which would also be cool.

Tuesday, May 8 @ 8 pm – Small Doggies Readings Series at Blue Monk - surprise! I’m featuring here, but will (hopefully) be able to host the best of There Will Be Words on Skype (since I’ll be three hours in the past at the same time).

Between those dates, I’ll be hanging out, working on the novel (almost 39k by the way), seeing The Avengers, and doing other adventurous stuff. See you soon.

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Apr 03 2012
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performance calendar, poetry, publication news

I Wish I Was Special

It’s been ages since we’ve talked. Ages. Let’s get down to business.

The first five hundred words of Jesus Christ, Boy Detective and The Royal Flush of Fate is up over at Unshod Quills. You should read it here.

The novel is just a hair under the 33,000 mark. I think this weekend while I’m out of town, I’ll make some serious progress (hopefully).

This is why I’ll be out of town this weekend by the way.

Yes, Atlanta, that’s this Friday. This will be my first time reading in Atlanta since July 2010, while I was in the process of my divorce. Come witness an emotionally unfettered J. Bradley do things with literature that will make you go ass to ass with a stranger for it by the end of the night (ass-to-ass).

I put together a page here on my We Will Celebrate Our Failures release party two weeks from this Thursday, which you can check out here.

There is a good chance that while I’m in Portland, my novella through HOUSEFIRE will come out provided everything goes right and I want everything to go right so badly. They released another promo still today, which you can check out below.

I don’t normally talk about upcoming poems coming out in a magazine, but this one is worth mentioning. Last Thursday, I got a poem accepted into Prairie Schooner. To say this is a major win is accurate. I work my ass off as a writer and I know my style of poetry is unusual at times and not conducive to everyone and that could be said with writing or art in general. When I got the acceptance, yes, there was a girlish scream, and drinking of almost a full bottle of $3 wine to celebrate. Then I got four rejections but so what. The secret to this game we call writing is acknowledging that you will die one day. When you accept your mortality, you become very motivated to get shit done.

The sequel to Drive came out and I bought it and read it on my Kindle this morning. Enjoyed it tremendously and am reading it again. I am hoping, hoping they adapt it into a film because it deserves to be seen on the big screen. Ryan Gosling knows how to be heartbroken. Not giving y’all spoiler alerts, though, but seriously Driven is so good (and I’m listening to this I write this paragraph).

That’s it from me for now. Hope to see you this Friday in the ATL.

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Mar 05 2012
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performance calendar, performances, self assessment

Obligatory Post 2012 AWP Post

I’m sitting in my living room for the first time since Tuesday night and already, I hate the silence, that I lack wine and a store in which to get wine at this time of night.

My second year at AWP was good overall, partially because AWP was in one of my favorite cities (Chicago) and partially because I get to hang out with writers I’ve met and meet writers/editors I work with through the Internet and I met quite a few folks, including my bosses over at NAP and Specter Magazine. I also didn’t get to see some folks based on my schedule and budget at the conference and I hope to see them sooner rather than later.

What I dislike about AWP is that you don’t get what you pay for from an official perspective. You pay for AWP to gain access to the panels and the book fair. During the one and only panel I attended, I liveblogged about the concept of panels. I almost went into another panel about building literary communities on a dime then removed myself from it because I’ve done that in Orlando for eleven years and didn’t need to be lectured on it by strangers. Other than those panels, I didn’t go to any others while I was there. If you’ve seen a lecture based panel, you’ve seen them all. The book fair is my favorite part of the conference because you get to network with so many presses from all over the country. It’s just a shame that for all the money you pay to go, you only get a tote bag. If I could pay a book fair only pass fee, I would gladly. Next year, I will find a way a table at the fair and/or actually make a panel but approach the panel concept from a fresh perspective.

For the first time, I co-hosted an offsite reading with Lindsay Hunter, a combination of Quickies and There Will Be Words called There Will Be Quickies and it was a blast working with her and Mary Hamilton. Most of the offsite readings are meat markets, shoving a lot of readers in your face and this format can be very hit-or-miss depending on your readers and your venue. The Quickies rules unmercifully make writers stick to a four minute time limit. Failure to adhere to this time limit gets you whistled off the stage. It was quite the breath of fresh air. I’m already planning another offsite show for 2013, hopefully working with Burrow Press, Specter Magazine, and NAP in putting it together, just not in the Quickies style.

I was in three offsite readings this year and I read fiction only, two stories from the latest collection (available through here), and then one as my Teen Paranormal Romance Novelist persona, J. J. Curry Ford. All of the readings were great and even though I got to read with Chloe Caldwell, Joseph Riippi, JA Tyler, and Daniel Nester, the Happy Dog Mom Lit Journal Reading was my favorite because it was incredibly talented writers so self-aware at what bad writing really is, all of that bad writing really shined.

Another big highlight was catching Amelia Gray and John Jodzio on Saturday, John especially. He’s twisted, brilliant, funny, and a wonderful reminder literary fiction doesn’t have to be all serious and full of dead babies and broken marriages, dying leaves falling everywhere.

I miss you all already.

The novel is now over 26,000 words. Holy shit.

I’m doing this deal where you can get three chapbooks from me for $17 while supplies last. The chapbooks are The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot, How Esmeralda Estrus Got Her Revenge, and We Will Celebrate Our Failures. They all come signed and I might treat you to a bonus or two. PayPal the cash over to senryujournalist at gmail dot com and I’ll get it right out to you.

This Saturday, I’ll be here. You should come see me.

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Jan 26 2012
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performance calendar, performances, poetry, publication news

This Is For Fighting, This Is For Fun

Ronald Stowers was nice enough to record my poem during the slam I was in this past Tuesday. You can watch “The Genealogy of Irvine Welsh” below.

I’ve been working on my longest project yet and I don’t really have a deadline for it, taking it 500 or so words at a time. The current word count for it is about 15,540. Unlike some of the fiction I’ve written, I’m not mining anything from my life and surrounding it with out there concepts. I’ll be glad when I get the first draft done and start combing through it.

The project I’m currently working on spun out of a flash piece called From Jesus Christ, Boy Detective: Everything Must Be Slashed and WordPlaySound was nice enough to pick up the audio version (while red lightblubs picked up the text version). You can listen to it here and then I recommend listening to the rest of this podcast.

My boss over at PANK, Roxane Gay, wrote this incredible article about running her micropress Tiny Hardcore. Read it. You’ll learn a thing or fifteen.

I won’t even talk about the bullshit shut out of Drive. I enjoyed the book tremendously and am actually not mad how the movie revised the story to a degree. The movie is gorgeous and one of the few movies I have bought on the day it comes out on DVD. (There Will Be Blood is the other).

Next week starts a deluge of shows. Here they are, linked for your pleasure.

January 31 - 15 Views of Orlando Release Party

February 10 – Culture & Cocktails

February 11 – Our Hearts Are Power Ballads (Workshop on writing love poems)

February 14 – There Will Be Words #10

(All but the February 10th show is free)

Finally, you’ve got until January 30 to vote for the best of the first year of There Will Be Words. You can vote here.

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Dec 13 2011
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fun with audio, performance calendar, poetry, publication news, Writing

Feeling Hood Rich Famous

Earlier, I got an e-mail from someone asking if I was the poet who wrote this poem (“Gute Natch”). I didn’t remember the line he quoted until he pointed me to this Google search where it’s been reblogged and quoted like mad for two days. I did some digging through Tumblr and found where it began. I am incredibly honored and floored at the amount of attention this poem has gotten, so much that I tweeted a thank you to the person who quoted it and started this craze.

I finished a draft of the third novella, Dancing With Steinbrenner. It’s clocks in at 12,000 words. I’m letting it breathe a little before I go in and start playing with it. I’m proud of accomplishing this on many levels. I feel myself building up to something bigger. 2012 is going to be a very interesting year.

Speaking of big, I’ll be part of a big Vouched Presents show in Atlanta on April 6, 2012, featuring Matt Bell, Tyler Gobble, Brian Oliu, Christopher Newgent, and Melysa Martinez. This is going to be a goddamn epic. More details to come.

I read my poem “The New Year” for Orange Alert. You should listen to it here.

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Aug 01 2011
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performance calendar, performances

No Glove, No Love

“Excessive Force” is the second piece of non-fiction I’ve written and it hits close to home about the possibility of fatherhood. After the last breakup, I’ve realized that children are probably not going to happen for me, and that’s a choice I find myself that I’m pretty happy with. I do wish that more parents would teach their children the importance of protection and birth control and not just abstinence because abstinence doesn’t prevent curiosity or ignorance. I would also like a reality television show rewarding me for my good choices, but that’s just me. Then again, a show about me going to work, paying the bills, and condom shopping would be really, really boring. You can keep your $80,000 a season, seriously. Read the piece here. Listen to the piece here.

Later I’m at Urban ReThink. I will be reading Part 1 of Bodies Made of Smoke and poems from my Gentlemen chapbook that will be coming out later this year. The fun starts at 7pm over at 625 E. Central Blvd and it’s free. Here’s all the details (kind of).

I’m proud to announce that Blasted Press will be publishing Once, I Was An Angry Penguin in the fall. This chapbook will be the final in a trilogy of chapbooks (A Patchwork of Rooms Furnished by Mistakes, Our Hearts Are Power Ballads). Blasted Press makes some beautiful books. I can’t wait to see what mine will look like.

For those in Orlando, hope to see you at 7pm tonight.

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Jul 30 2011
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fun with audio, performance calendar, performances, publication news

There Will Be Smoke

This Monday at Urban Rethink, I’ll be reading with Ashley Inguanta, Jonathan Kosik, and Rachel Leona Kapitan. This will be the first time I read any part of Bodies Made of Smoke to a live audience. It’ll be a dress rehearsal for the BMoS tour I’ll be doing later this year. Show starts at 7pm and the address is 625 E. Central Blvd and it’s free.

I read “Excessive Force” on this week’s Orange Alert podcast. This piece will come out on August 1 on Specter Magazine. You can (should) listen to the podcast here and I say should not because I’m in it, but because each week, you get to hear things you wouldn’t normally hear anywhere else. If you haven’t listened regularly, you can get caught up.

Also, here’s a little something over at Seedpod Publishing.

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Jul 13 2011
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performance calendar, performances, poetry, publication news

England, I’m Coming

The Jujitsu of Macking is out. I’ll do a video for it later this week. Check it out here.

I am 1642 at the constantly evolving For Every Year. You can check that out here.

The first installment of I Am Trying To Break Your Sex Laws is up. You can check that out here. I could use your questions that you need answered about sex and/or dating so I can continue writing this column. My e-mail is on the bottom of the column.

I am proud to announce that I will be opening up for Gregory Sherl during his Heavy Petting book release show in Orlando on Friday, September 16 at Stardust Video & Coffee, my old stomping grounds as a poet in the local slam circuit. More details to come but I am incredibly excited about this.

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Jun 08 2011
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performance calendar, publication news

This Is What It Feels Like To Be Collected

Monday, my recent relationship ended. We both talked a big game about futures and life changes but both of us couldn’t deliver in the end. It was my second amicable break up in a row.

I realize that I have not been single for more than five months since the separation. I also realize that when it comes to my emotional health and well being, I need to be real and stop breaking promises that I make to myself. Let’s see if I can keep this one.

I’m reading this Friday at the MOPE Designs presents Full Frontal Lobes show (The Cameo Theatre 1013 E. Colonial). Ashley Inguanta has put together one hell of an anthology published for the show and some of the local writers will be reading, including myself, at the show. My piece from The Encyclopedia Show is in it, without the exposition. It’s $5. Come check it out and us out (readers will include Ryan Rivas, Tod Caviness, Chris Wiewiora, among others).

I have fiction out at Wrong Tree Review, which you can check out here.

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