Tribute

I recently designed this Alfred Hitchcock tribute. I've been a big fan of Hitchcock for years, and now that my new novel is loosely influenced by his films, it was fitting that I started working on this piece. The piece was also inspired by a chapbook cover I designed recently that I'm excited to show when the writer and press start promoting it. In the meantime:

This design is available at Society6 as art prints, phone skins and t-shirts!

Also, there's a poem from a new chapbook manuscript up at Thunderclap's website for National Poetry Month. It's called "Tinder." READ IT!

Fun With Statistics

Monday. Code for Failure tweet day. follow @rwrkb

Little tidbits:

The most visited link to one of my stories or poems is "Like Swimming" one of the Alaska stories, up at Atticus Books. This is consistently my most visited story, even months after it was originally posted. I don't know why, but I'm taking it as a good sign.

Second most is the excerpt from Code for Failure that ran at decomP. Also, a good sign, I think.

Tied for the most visited links overall are to my design site and Thunderclap's page for my chapbook, Aquarium.

Most visited link to something I didn't write is THIS blog post by xTx which I liked a lot.

18.4% of visitors spend over an hour on my blog. Weird.

7.5% spend between 30 seconds and 5 minutes.

Six countries tie with .2% of my readership. Indonesia, Australia, Italy, Denmark, India, and South Africa.

34.6% of visitors use Firefox.

16% use an Apple OS (Computer, iPad, or iPhone). This number was less than I would have guessed. Maybe I'm biased, being a mac user.

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All that said, I'm always curious about readership, sometimes I think probably no one reads this. Other days I am proved incredibly wrong when I look at the "statistics." Being a sports nut I've always liked stats, and I can get very analytical about them. I don't know what any of the above stats mean, but I find them intriguing.

Happy Easter

A Few Small Things

My eyes are dilated right now. Soon I will tell you things I've been doing. For now:

I review Kat Dixon's chapbook, Don't Go Fish at Cow Heavy.

The new Wigleaf playlist is up. The theme is un/happiness. I picked a song for it.

New interview with xTx.

More More-ness

First off: Don't forget today is Monday, which means I am tweeting a line from Code for Failure today. Follow @rwrkb

As you've no doubt noticed many of my posts lately have just been links. I feel like I have very little to say currently. I do my best not to use this space to gripe or whine. So when I feel like I have to reach for positive things to say links come in handy. They allow me to share things that have brought a little bit of positivity. Soon I'll do one of my "state of the manuscripts" posts, and I'm sure things will start popping up that give me something more to say, in the meantime I hope you'll enjoy the links I post here.

So, without further ado:

The latest installment of John Dermot Woods' Animals In Midlife Crisis is up!

A great conversation with Ben Tanzer about You Can Make Him Like You, which continues to rock socks all over the place.

And there's a plethora of xTx going on. I know a lot of my links have been xTx stuff and, well that's her fault for getting so much stuff published. She's one of those writers I just want to read everything from, that I can't get enough of. Which I guess makes it a good thing she gets so much damn stuff published (and rightfully so)! So, here's some links: DOGZPLOT, Wonderfort, and also a roundup of two poems and two stories I somehow missed at The Legendary. And, as a bonus, at 10 Everywhere interview!

Ulcer Week

Wow, it's been a stressful week. I interviewed for a job last week and have been waiting and waiting and waiting. 3 months of being unemployed, 250 jobs applied for, 2 interviews. I feel insanely burnt out and mentally broken. The rejections that come with being a writer could never make me feel as much of a failure as this real life stuff does. But I continue to try and keep the ol' chin up. So, here's some positive things:

I have completed about half of my Pablo Neruda The Captain's Verses rip-off/homage. It will be called The Waiting Tide. Hopefully by the time it's complete someone will have picked up one of the other two full-length poetry manuscripts I've got sitting around.

Scott McClanahan's Stories V! came and I read it immediately. It's the closest his books have come to matching his style of performing live. Really something to behold.

I posted a small reading list for National Poetry Month over at Big Other.

Chelsea Laine Wells kills it at PANK.

More xTx = more awesome.

Novel & Neurosis

I got the third blurb for Code for Failure yesterday. I've never been through this process before. Closest thing was getting feedback from the writers I worked with in my MFA. It's a nerve wracking affair. To be honest, when I came up with the list of people I wanted to ask it was sort of a gamble. I picked writers I had at least had some contact with before, sure, but also whose writing really blows me away. And I was pretty certain none of them would like the book. Not because I doubt the book, but more that I like their writing so much that I felt like that old Woody Allen quip about not wanting to be a part of a club that would have me as a member. Yes, I'm that sort of neurotic.

Anyway, three blurbs have come in and they've been amazing. They far surpass me and my expectations. It's humbling, and a bit nauseating at the same time. There's a year before the book comes out and it's hard to keep the blurbs to myself, but I don't see the point in revealing them yet. I haven't even sent them to the publisher yet. Right now they are a little secret I'll look at now and then to re-read the words of my idols and peers, to keep myself bolstered in this adventure of writing.

Other than that:

I review Paul Maliszewski's collection, Prayer and Parable at The Nervous Breakdown

Here's the latest installment of John Dermot Woods' ANIMALS IN MIDLIFE CRISIS!

And here's a most awesome clip of The White Stripes being quoted on the Congressional floor:

A Little Reminder

Don't forget tomorrow is Monday, which means I'll be tweeting a line from Code for Failure! Follow @rwrkb!

Also, so this post isn't totally shallow, check out this awesome interview I stumbled on yesterday. It's with one of my mentors/writing idols, Jack Driscoll (whose new collection is due this year and I can't wait!). CHECK IT OUT!

Stuff I Forgot About

The second installment of John Dermot Woods' Animals In Midlife Crisis is up!

There is a great article about Ben Tanzer and a couple other Chicago writers, which proves Tanzer is quickly becoming a celebrity.

There is new Roxane Gay at Monkeybicycle.

I noticed yesterday that my chapbook, Aquarium is on sale at Powell's for National Poetry Month. And all their copies are signed from my reading there in January.

The debut issue of Sententia is now marked down to $6! With free shipping!

A Little Grab Bag

Another great video from the Poetry Everywhere series. This time the always amazing Dorianne Laux:

Watch the full episode. See more Poetry Everywhere.

Annalemma is one of my favorite literary journals because it's the whole package, great writing and great design. And Christopher Heavener, the brains behind Annalemma is the type of guy I wish I lived in the same city as so we could hang out. Right now Annalemma needs help to continue, and they DESERVE to continue. We NEED them to continue. Not just because I am determined to make it in one of the print issues eventually, but because the world of literary journals needs people who love writing and design and the folks at Annalemma do. GO HELP!

In other news, a couple friends in Portland have a band called Magic Punches and they just found out one of their songs is on Hollister's "Early Summer Playlist" which means the song gets played, in rotation, every hour and a half in all Hollister stores currently. Pretty huge for an indie band. CHECK 'EM OUT!

A Little Bit of Something

The story that leads off the Alaska collection is up now at Wigleaf. It is called "The Pit Bull's Tooth." READ IT! It is an incredible thrill to be included at Wigleaf, one of the best online journals around. Many thanks to Scott Garson for liking the story enough to run it. If you check out the story make sure to give a look see to my Dear Wigleaf postcard! A lot of people seemed to be reading this sucker yesterday, so I hope this at least finds a few of you who haven't yet.

I wish there were more to tell you. If you read the story I hope you like it. I'm still holding out hope for the collection even though things have been quiet.

Preparations

A year from this month my novel, Code for Failure will be released. It's still a long way off, but it's halfway from when I first found out. I don't always know the best or hip-est ways to promote this sort of thing, but I've been thinking for a while that it might be fun to use Twitter to "tweet" lines from the book leading up to the release. I kept telling myself it was a silly idea, but every writer I ran it by seemed to think it sounded fun. Or at least they didn't say I was being stupid. So, I joined Twitter (after some friendly pestering) and starting today I will tweet a line from the book every Monday (hopefully) until it is released next year. Follow @rwrkb to get in on the fun. I'm also using the hashtag, #codeforfailure2012 to make it easy to catch up or re-read the lines as this experiment progresses.

Things Happen On Saturdays

Important things, like a new story from xTx. And it is killer. Not that this is surprising in the least. xTx doesn't know how to write a disappointing story, only how to go for the jugular. GO READ "THE SMALLEST SUPERMAN."

You should also check this out, one of my favorite poets and people reading one of his many awesome poems.

Watch the full episode. See more Poetry Everywhere.

If you watched that you now know you should pick up Joe's books. Seriously.


Also, yesterday I forgot to mention that during the month of April, in honor of National Poetry Month, Artistically Declined Press is offering 25% off Rose Hunter's collection, To The River. What with the free shipping already included that's just $6.75 for 90+ pages of killer poetry, in what is one of the most beautiful books you'll ever pick up. If I do say so myself. And I do. Click the image below to go get yours!

Everywhere and Everything

If you liked that cover design for Thunderclap! 5 it is now available as an art print, t-shirt, and phone skin from my Society6 store. CHECK IT OUT!

The awesome BL Pawelek, who curates the 10 Everywhere interview series is on the move. That is, 10E is moving to a new home at Monkeybicycle! I had the great pleasure of re-designing the 10E logo for the move:










Also, the force of badassery behind Thunderclap Press, Amanda Deo is the featured poet at Negative Suck right now. GO READ!

It's now national poetry month. People are doing a "NANOPOWRIMO" where they write a poem a day all month. I'd participate, but I already write a poem a day. For April I'd like to at least get to a halfway point on the new novel. That would be nice.