My replacement iPod arrived on Wednesday, so I've been catching up on all the podcasts I've missed. Good thing, too, or I might have missed my StarShipSofa debut. My flash fiction story, "Tech Support," is included in StarShipSofa's Aural Delights #49, which also features work by Samantha Henderson ("Hungry," a poem), Cory Doctorow (an essay called "SF Is The Only Literature On The Internet People Care To Steal"), and the incomparable Gene Wolfe (Lawrence Santoro's audio adaptation of Wolfe's "The Tree is my Hat"). Needless to say, I'm humbled to be in such talented company. So click on through, download a podcast (or three), and enjoy!

Or just click here to download Aural Delights #49.

A few days ago, I referred to the SFSU class for which I TA as "The Bad Advice Business of Creative Writing class." I should probably clarify this statement.

One of the rules of thumb by which I live my life is this: "Be wary of the advice given by successful people; they don't crave company." Likewise, one should exercise caution when considering advice given by the less-than-successful, particularly those people who affect a pretence of expertise and authority in any given field; not only do these people crave company, but there are generally good reasons why they are less-than successful.

Sure, it's a cynical weltanschauung, but it's served me well. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

The specific bit of bad advice that prompted my comments comes from statements made by a panel of speakers, all editors of San Francisco-based (non-paying) literary and poetry journals (a couple of which you might even have heard of, so I’m not naming names). These well-meaning folks essentially recommended that the students take to carpet-bombing editors with their material, ignoring all restrictions against simultaneous submissions.

While this may very well be the expectation within the realm of poetry, that sort of behavior doesn’t cut it in the real world. But it’s not my class, so what can I do but bite my tongue, grit my teeth, and write haikus on my PDA while bad advice is freely dispensed?

Amateurs give bad
advice. Sure, they've got mags, but
ain't like they send checks.

Giving poetry
away for free is a piss-
poor buisness model.

And it’s not like the class is all bad advice, all the time. Most nights are quite informative; last night, for example, Jennifer Joseph of Manic-D Press was one of our panelists, and she had some great things to say about the financial realities of small press publishing (and she wasn’t shy about giving her co-panelists, one of whom was essentially nailing poems to trees, plenty of food for thought). It’s just that the class is more about Selling the Dream (Kinda like Oprah!) than it is about the essential things students should understand about the business end of the creative writing field, things like manuscript formatting, cover letters, proposals, editing, and presenting a professional image. Ah well, I guess that’s all stuff to go into my syllabus.

Spotted while out walking this afternoon…


"198 Knows Your #."


As seen on a newspaper machine: Portrait of Emma Goldman.


"The model police state: of Petaluma." Maybe it used to say "City?"

( More graffiti (and poetry) behind the cut. )

What do little dogs
think of, crashed out on the floor?
could it be... goats?