Thanks to Donna Hilbert author of the new poetry collection The Congress of Luminous Bodies (Aortic Books) for tagging me in THE NEXT BIG THING

What is the title or working title of your book?

Tripwires and Trigger Fingers.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

For my first book, Teacher at Point Blank, I explored about how we can work and live under bizarre, unhealthy conditions that encourage a certain amount of denial. As I was waiting for the book to be published, I had to keep revising the last chapter because it began with a litany of rampage shootings at schools, and for about five years I had to keep adding names and dates to the list. It was a hideous feeling. It’s still true that every time a drastic event happens, we tend to treat it like something from Mars. But there I was, facing that list in my book. I wanted to examine that phenomenon of denial on a larger American scale, connecting different public performances of “mass violence” we have buried or forgotten about–starting with UT Austin in 1966. 

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s a collection of essay meditations—lyric as well as narrative. My inspirations are Sei Shonagon, Jamacia Kincaid, Susan Griffin, and Nathanael West.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Oh dear. Because this collection will deal with ten distinct events, we might need ten casts. I’d be happy if Helen Mirren just played me lurking around archives and trying to get people to share info in email or on the phone, doing Freedom of Information requests, and taking road trips to places like Moses Lake and Tucson, or Austin and Olivehurst.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

What don’t we talk about when we talk about mass killings?

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I’m halfway there, have about two years left. Much of this work involves site visits when I can afford it (and in those windows when I’m not teaching) as well as deep study of artifacts and historical context. I’m an associative writer—so I gather a great deal together for constant percolation as I write through the material.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

It interests me that exposés about public crimes often take a kind of conventional view—aspiring to a sense of  “pure” chronology that assumes all of the messy bits can be stripped clean from a sad or tragic story in order to separate Them from Us. I want to know about the messy bits, the loose ends, the odd juxtapositions. The traditional framing for stories of violence has traditionally reflected a self-image right back at readers—and avoided deeper, more challenging questions about ourselves.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Princess Diana makes an appearance.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-publication, no. I am currently looking at different possibilities, including a Los Angeles publisher who is doing amazing work: Writ Large Press.

My tagged writers for next Wednesday, March 6, THE NEXT BIG THING are: Joshunda Sanders, Ruben Quesada, and Lloyd Aquino.

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What have you made from scratch lately–whether it’s something to eat, wear, use at home, or give away? We may live in a world that often feels prefabbed, but there are plenty of opportunities for us to contribute pieces of ourselves to make things better or more interesting. Tune in to the Writer Ninja Podcast, available on iTunes and on this site. Then post your ideas in the comments section below!

Also listen to Jo’s interview with four smart writer-editor-artist people–John Brantingham, Ann Brantingham, Elder Zamora, and Scott Creley–who came together to organize The San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival from the ground up.

Then join Jo at the festival as she reads among an amazing lineup of poets, novelists, and nonfiction writers–including James Brown, Aimee Bender, Eloise Klein Healey, Donna Hilbert and Stephanie Hammer: February 15-17, from noon to 9 PM in the West Covina Civic Center, 1444 West Garvey Avenue, West Covina, 91791. All events are FREE.

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You may have missed Stephanie Barbé Hammer’s fabulous reading from Sex with Buildings (Dancing Girl Press) at Riverside Arts Walk September 6, but it’s never too late to visit her website, Magically Real.

Also catch our chat about genre bending and blending on the latest Writer Ninja Podcast, available on iTunes and on this site.

Recommended books from this episode include:

Short Takes, edited by Judith Kitchen

Flash Fiction Forward, edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas

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Looking for the perfect blend of literature and community? Visit the San Gabriel Valley Litfest, coming in 2013.

Meanwhile, as promised, here are links to the most recent books recommended on the latest episodes of Writer Ninja Podcast. Check them out!

From Episode Four, “Mothers and the Others”

Bearing Life: Women’s Writing on Childlessness, edited by Rochelle Ratner

The Mommy Myth, by Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels

Misconceptions, by Naomi Wolf

From Episode Five, “The Gift of Consent”

East of Los Angeles, by John Brantingham

Building a Character, by Constantin Stanislavski

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott

You Already Know, by Aaron Henne

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Episode Five, “The Gift of Consent,” now available on iTunes and on this site. Jo asks for your thoughts on how important consent is to any authentic learning experience, both inside and outside traditional learning situations. She also interviews writer John Brantingham, author of East of Los Angeles (a poetry collection), and professor extraordinaire of English and Creative Writing at Mount San Antonio College.

Brantingham is also the current coordinator for the San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival, planned for Winter 2013.

Recommended links for readings will appear shortly: Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott), You Already Know (Aaron Henne), and Building a Character (Constantin Stanislavski). Also check back for information on the Mount San Antonio Writers’ Weekend coming up soon!

Happy new year, everyone!

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Episode Four, “Mothers and the Others, ” now available on iTunes and on this site.

What does a happily married woman with no kids have in common with a happily married mother of three–who’s now expecting her fourth child? More than you might think. Drop your stereotypes and listen as Jo chats with Lindsey Frandsen, founder of Thinking Moms in Riverside, California.

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As promised on Writer Ninja Podcast Episode Three, here’s a thought-provoking set of insightful tools for thinking about that “block” you keep having. Maybe you’re clinging to it! Let go!

The toolkit appeared online in early 2011 in the New Yorker. Therapists Michels and Stutz have been getting a lot of media play recently for their work with helping creative folks get back on the wagon of writing/producing/acting/developing.

Thank you to John Cusack for the great Twitter tip-off!

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Working writers and artists share their commiserations about life on the Z-list.  Jo sent out a call for funny, snarky, and sometimes sad stories.

Each contributor finished this sentence: You know you’re on the Z-list when…

Susan Straight‘s latest novel is Take One Candle Light a Room. “When you finish your reading at the ________ Public Library and find out your overnight accommodations are in the librarian’s house, in the bedroom of her son gone off to college, and the wallpaper has baseballs and bats, which make you miss having a brother.”

Orville Stoeber, Venice musician, “found” object sculptor, and performer. He most recently composed, arranged, and performed the soundtrack for Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Year of the Flood. “There is a fine line between funk and bleached cat shit,” he says. “I’ve been on the Z list for so long, I didn’t know there was another list. My first review in New York was ‘the music by Orville Stoeber is lousy.’ That was Variety 1969, the Ronald Tavel play, Boy On The Straight Back Chair.”

Long Beach poet Clint Margrave has recent or forthcoming work in The New York Quarterly, Ambit, 3AM, Pearl, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, among others, as well as in the recent anthology Beside The City of Angels: An Anthology of Long Beach Poetry (World Parade Books).  ”You know you’re on the Z-list when you work in the bookstore you’re reading at.”

Judy Kronenfeld‘s third book of poetry, Shimmer (Word Tech Editions), will ripple into the poetry world in early 2012.  “You know you’re on the Z-list when your poetry reading audience is 80% people you know plus a clutch of winos who wanted in from the cold.”

Cati Porter is the editor of Poemeleon and the author of several poetry collections that don’t suck. “You know you’re on the Z-list when you’re giving a poetry reading and someone in the audience begins to snore.”

No matter the struggle, Zen on the Z-List means freedom!

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What music, art, or artists inspire you as a writer? as a thinker? as a human being? Who–or what–gets your imagination unstuck?

What is the “Z-list” (whatever your field of expertise!)–and how can you claim your zen there?

Check out Epidode Three of the Writer Ninja Podcast on iTunes or here at the site.

Jo shares some of her creative influences–with a special thank you to John Cusack–and invites you to name your own names. You’ll also hear Jo talk about the Z-List with author and publisher Chiwan Choi and share info about a great tool kit from creativity gurus Barry Michels and Phil Stutz.

[Special bonus: thoughts on creative freedom from the German alter-ego of novelist Stephanie Hammer.]

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Now available on iTunes and on this site. In Episode Two, “Making Labor Visible,” Jo invites you to share what you do for a living–or for a life. Next, in a short conversation on MyND Talk with Dr. Pamela Brewer, Jo talks about how the labor of teaching first became visible to her–and how too many people point fingers while glossing over the realities of human lives on and off campus. Finally, Jo introduces the inspiring Austin Kleon, “a writer who draws.”

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