Ethel Rohan

The goodness continues at The Lit Pub and I remain humbled and delighted by the wonderful attention Christopher Newgent is giving this month to Cut Through the Bone. Thank you, Christopher!

The discussion threads at The Lit Pub continue to be lively, engaging and fruitful, thank you to every visitor and participant. Which brings me to my latest giveaway.

In the running today to win a copy of xTx’s Normally Special, Shome Dasgupta’s i am here And You Are Gone, and a signed copy of my Hard to Say are:

Erika Moya

Thom

Mark Cugini

DK

Samuel Snoek-Brown

Elizabeth

Cook

Susan Rukeyser

Jordan Blum

Nora Nadjarian

Dawn West

And the WINNER is: Susan Rukeyser

Congratulations, Susan! Please email me your address at [email protected] and I’ll get your books to you soonest.

Laura Adamczyk has a wonderful, moving guest post over at The Lit Put today which you can read here. Thank you, Laura. Laura has bared her heart and I’d love you to visit and comment. And if you do, yes, yes, YES, there’s another book giveaway. Sick of me yet? The goodness up for grabs this time around:

Gary Lutz’s, Stories in the Worst Way, Calamari Press

Shane Jones’s, A Cake Appeared, Scrambler Books

Ethel Rohan’s Hard to Say (signed), PANK

Everyone who comments on Laura’s post through midnight PST on Sunday, June 12 will be entered in this free draw and books mailed out same-day. Thank you.

Lastly, on this lovely Friday, I reviewed Irish author, Bernie McGill’s, first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, over at PANK.

— xTx’s Normally Special, Tiny Hardcore Press

— Shome Dasgupta’s i am here And You Are Gone, Winner of the 2010 Outsider Writers Chapbook contest.

— A signed copy of my just released, Hard to Say, (PANK)

How to get all three books FREE?

Go to Chris Newgent’s latest, moving and excellent post at The Lit Pub and share your thoughts. Everyone who leaves a comment today through midnight PST Thursday will be entered in this free draw.

Winner announced Friday and books mailed out same-day.

Good luck everyone and thanks for participating.

To quote from one of Lidia Yuknavitch‘s comments at The Lit Pub, ‘We ARE the readers and the buyers.’ Let’s seize our power.

Thanks to everyone who visited The Lit Pub and in particular those who participated in the discussion thread that follows Christopher Newgent’s most recent excellent post “What Is a Man’s Literature?”

I entered everyone who left a comment in response to the above post yesterday into the drawing to win a copy of Lindsay Hunter’s excellent Daddy’s and a signed copy of my Hard to Say just released from PANK.

The list of the fine folks who raised their voice follow:

Corey Beasley

Dorothee Lang

Christopher Allen

Victoria Barrett

Jordan Blum

Dawn West

Tim Jones-Yelvington

Dennis Mahagin

Amber Sparks

Jesús Angel García

Don Antenen

Doug Paul Case

Kyle Winkler

And the Winner, chosen at random by my blindfolded, spun-three-times, dizzy husband, Is:

Victoria Barrett

Congratulations, Victoria, I’ll get both books in the mail to you today. Please email me at [email protected] with your address. Thanks again to everyone who participated. And stay tuned throughout June for more giveaways that relate to the remarkable work happening at The Lit Pub.

Would you like to win a copy of Lindsay Hunter’s excellent Daddy’s and a signed copy of my Hard to Say just released from PANK? Yes? Easy.

Please visit Chris Newgent’s provocative post today, “What Is a Man’s Literature” over at The Lit Pub and sound your voice. All comments left through midnight PST today will be entered in a free draw. Winner announced tomorrow and books mailed same-day. And, yes, I’ll ship international.

So far in the running we have Dorothee Lang, Corey Beasley and Christopher Allen.

Good Luck, and thanks for participating.

Our cat, Jameson, threw up twice in the past couple of weeks. I think it’s more than hairballs but nothing too serious (maybe he ate too fast) and so I went to the internet to do some research.

Armed with said research and recommendations, this morning I laid out wet food and fresh water for Jameson. Thankfully, he devoured the wet food (normally he couldn’t care less),  but wasn’t so interested in the water. Article after article cautioned against dehydration in cats and so I thought in my early morning, pre-cup of tea haze, “I should Google how to best get cats to drink water.”

Then I thought, “Isn’t the internet bloody brilliant.”

Then I thought, “Maybe the internet’s not so bloody brilliant. In the old days (yes, I actually thought ‘in the old days’ ) people would have phoned a friend or a sibling or a parent to answer such questions and share such concerns, but now Google is the go-to.

Then I thought, “I wish I had a mother I could phone to ask questions and share concerns with. To say, hello. Hello, I’m lonely, hello, I’m scared, hello, I need you. Hello, I’m happy, hello, I’m great, hello, I love you.

Then I remembered, after I emigrated to San Francisco and before the onset of my mother’s Alzheimer’s, I would phone my mother and make-up questions, ‘how do I know he’s the ‘one?” ‘how long should I roast the beef?’ ‘ is three hours too long for the baby to nap?’ ‘what can I do for M.’s colic?’ I wanted her to feel needed. I wanted to pretend I counted on her. I wanted us to have that kind of mother-daughter relationship.

Then I re-remembered, after my mother had already had several nervous breakdowns and before she would be diagnosed with schizophrenia, the family doctor came to our house and examined my mother, and then talked with my father down in the kitchen. The doctor said, “she needs to feel needed. Do whatever you can to make her feel needed.”

I write about my mother a lot. I don’t know how to not write about her. I think this is how I keep her with me. How I sort through the pain. My mother’s still alive (in her twelfth year of Alzheimer’s and recently diagnosed with uterine cancer) but she’s been long gone. And I miss her so. I have always missed her. And I still need her. You were always needed, Mammy.

Then I thought about V.S. Naipaul and how much he’d hate this post and decided ‘far cue, Mr. Naipaul,’ I’d rather write out of my heart than talk out of my arse.

Here’s Jameson. Tell me he’s not gorgeous:

To have a Gordon Lish aka mentor.

To be part of an active writing group.

To have jumped from The Bristol Prize’s Longlist to the Shortlist.

That you enjoy my brief interview over at Nuala NiChonchuir’s Irish blog.

To be Matt Bell for one day. Here’s a snapshot of the staggering work Matt did in May championing the short story and its writers. Be sure and get his free ebook!

To do well at my two readings this month, the first in Healdsburg, CA with Lauren Becker and the second at Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA.

To arrange a couple of readings during my stay in Ireland this summer, July 18-August 14.

That Molly Gaudry, Christopher Newgent, Erika Moya and every other wonder behind the newly unveiled The Lit Pub reap the support, recognition and rewards they so richly deserve.

That Christopher Newgent of Vouched Books knows how deeply thrilled and honored and humbled I am that Cut Through the Bone is his featured pick over at The Lit Pub alongside Molly Gaudry’s featured choice, Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water and Mike Young’s featured choice, Ofelia Hunt’s Today and Tomorrow.

That Hard to Say, shipping from PANK this week, will be well-received.

That Siolo Thompson knows how much I love both my book covers and how hard I admire her.

That I can hold it together in September during my time at the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Festival because I’m going to be very emotional and absolutely terrified. The Longlist went live yesterday.

To be better.

To do better.

That the writing life wasn’t sometimes so hard.

That today’s hospital scan doesn’t mean my dad’s cancer has returned.

That my mother can let go and be at peace.

That life wasn’t sometimes so hard.

Welcome to my new blog and website, a move I’m ridiculously happy about. I hope you’ll stay a while and check out the home page and my other pages and links. Creating the site has been quite the labor of love and I owe huge thanks to my web designer, Bryan Cronk. Please enjoy!