I Will Work Harder

Yesterday, I felt like a rock-star teacher. We held revision camp in two of my classes, both college-prep composition courses. I cheered students efforts, challenged their fledgling skills, and knocked a few proverbial home-run lessons about showing/telling and waste words out of the park.

Writing for publication--and all the effort involved--has made me a better teacher. A far better teacher. Thanks to each and every editor who has given a minute or two to push my words through the meat-grinder.

I'll have a few words and some numbers about The Big Experiment soon, but for now, I feel pretty good about this:

As of this writing, it's #9 at Amazon UK under Horror>Short Stories.  Books above it? M.R. James, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Tim Burton.  I'm humbled.

And this is okay, too:

As of this writing, it's #11 at Amazon US under Horror>Ghosts.

Thanks, readers. I will work harder. I will keep writing. I will work harder.

Great Books: Of Mice and Men

I love teaching Steinbeck's short novel (go ahead, call it a novella) of friendship and dreams during the Great Depression. Students tend to love it, too--at least those who read it.

And at just under 30, 000 words*, most students will give it a try.

Steinbeck's language is beautiful but straight-forward, his dialogue and voice spot on. Of Mice and Men is a great vehicle for teaching characterization, foreshadowing, and theme.

I love this book, and I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to read it every year.

*How would Steinbeck have pitched a 30K novel in today's publishing world? Would he have self-published on Kindle because the big 6 were looking for 100K novels? Sorry--couldn't help myself. But just think of the gap in American literature if Of Mice and Men never saw print.

WIP Wednesday: Seeking Advice

So...October looms.

I love the month, of course. I love being an English teacher during October. I love the camp, the cobwebs, the creepiness of it all. For one month, overwrought horror tropes are okay: spiders and skulls and moldering tombs...

I've rearranged my teaching schedule to squeeze in a little more of the macabre this year. We always read a little Poe, a bit of H.P. Lovecraft ("In the Vault" is pretty accessible to high school students), and the occasional monkey's paw, but I need a few more stories, nothing which might find me out of a job, but something the kids might like to read.

So...suggestions? Anyone have a great ghost story we should tackle? Something delightfully dark yet more camp than vamp? Maybe I could throw in a little M.R. James or E.F. Benson. Public domain works tend to be a little less risky (because of their age, not the copyright status). Of course, I'm always open to something a little more contemporary...what are your favorite short works of terror and the supernatural?

The Big Hazy Rejectometer...it's GOOD!

Speaking of looking for an agent in 2010, literary agent Janet Reid breaks down a number of rejections on her blog (all after requesting full manuscripts). Scary.

As an English teacher, I'm well versed in the haze of writing well. Some of Ms. Reid's stats are very helpful (structural problems, starts too slow, characters are caricatures...). Then we have "Just plain not good enough".

What, exactly, does "good enough" mean?

Good is uber-subjective right? We all know when we've read something good. Of course, I often read the Year's Best collections (at least skim each story, looking for the real gems), and think "Really? That got in here?"

So how do you know good? Do you have the internal compass to "know"? Can someone be taught how to recognize "good"?

I score high school students' papers with a rubric called 6-traits. Each trait--voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, ideas and content, and organization--receives a number rating (usually from 1-5). We can pretend that it's math, only it isn't math. It's still subjective.

Sure, I can quantify further. Five grammatical errors = 3 in conventions, etc. But, in the end, subjectivity creeps in. (How do you quantify voice?)

So, I really want to know: what defines good, at least in your opinion?

WIP Wednesday: I Need an Intervention

Just as I wrapped up edits on my flash pieces last week, just as I thought it was safe to delve into full revisions of Loathsome...another short story idea seized me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I blame it on American Fantastic Tales, a new two-volume collection from the Library of America (more on this in the future).

So I'm writing one more short story while limping along with Loathsome. Call this one "Guarding the Dead":

Sometimes, when I dream of gates, I imagine one wrought of iron, heavy and black with hints of rust where the bars cross. To either side of my dream-gate, square blocks of limestone form pillars seven feet high, only a foot taller than the length of the spine-topped stone wall. The gate is the weakest point, the only threshold for me to guard.

When I wake, I remember the yard, the setting sun, the dark shapes that form and un-form in the shadowed but wall-free perimeter around the house, and I reach for my gun.

One little WIP note from school--one class engages in a creative writing endeavor I've simply titled The Monster Project wherein pairs of students create a mass of news reports, eyewitness accounts, video, audio, and physical evidence for an imaginative monster (think Bigfoot but totally original). I plan on posting the best bits to my school blog when they're done, and I'll add a link here, too. It's quite fun to watch them conjure beasts from their imaginations.

Have a lovely Wednesday, and add "In the Bag" by Ramsey Campbell to my list of favorite short horror tales. Thanks for all the suggestions, too.

Sometimes, the Words Come Out Wrong

A student made a rather humorous mistake on a persuasive project today. His assignment was to convince people to move to his hometown (boost the tax base and all that). One line from his pamphlet:

"We open you with welcome arms!"

Where did my mind go...well, let's just say one of these was involved:

100 (Big) Words

If anyone at school ever asks me what "Duotrope's Digest" is, I'm simply going to say a research tool. Not that I spend too much of my plan time or lunch surfing the web, but it's been known to happen.

Sometimes, the writing world collides favorably with what I am paid to do (at least more than writing).

See, my students are lazy about revision and rewriting. I even had one student tell me, rather matter-of-factly, that professional writers don't revise. So, after I'd replaced my dangling jaw and secured it with copious duct tape, I started thinking. Dangerous thing, thinking.

The best teaching methods, especially for high school, are those I call guerrilla tactics. If the students don't know they're learning, wow, you can really make progress.

Enter the 100 word essay, a new assignment that I've modified from various fiction markets that publish stories of exactly 100 words (my personal favorite being Necrotic Tissue). You can't write a 100 word anything without revision. No one lands at exactly 100 words on the first try. No one uses just the right words on draft one.

Revision? You bet...serious writers, professional or amateur, fiction or non-fiction--they all revise. I can't wait to see what my little angels have for me when they turn in the first batch later today.

(insert evil laughter here)

True Confessions of a Word Hater

I mentioned how much I hate the word stuff.

Yesterday, I spent the day scoring state writing assessments (each paper receives two local ratings before being sent to the state office), and the process reminded me of my all-time least favorite word:

Get.

Possibly the weakest verb on the planet, but one to which my students have a rather unhealthy addiction. To make my point, I have been known to write "get" on a piece of paper, tear it into several pieces, and stomp on the remains. One student started calling me "Fuzzy Grammar" and said I should take the show on the road as performance art.

Yes, stuff ires me. Get makes me see red. When I write, I only allow "get" into the prose during dialogue. People say "get" all the time; I say "get" from time to time. But when you write, is that really the best verb you can use?

Fahrenheit 451

I'm so glad that it's time to teach one of my favorite books.

When a student said, "that's the most horrible thing I've ever seen." My response was: "Not as bad as your classmates who won't even read a word of the book."

A Sonnet, or Why I Like Teaching

I've complained about teaching before, but sometimes it is a real joy.

Occassionally, a student will turn in something like this (reprinted with permission):

A Sonnet

It's hard to concentrate on my homework
with all the things stressing me out right now.
My sister's in my ear, going berserk
and I'm so hungry I could eat a cow.
The chair I'm sitting in feels like a rock
and I still have some calculus to do.
My Facebook friends keep urging me to talk.
[Sister's] shooting Nerf darts at me too.
Seriously this homework really sucks!
I want an ice cream sundae, right now please!
I'm thinking hard but I keep getting stuck.
All of this stress is weighing down on me.
And worst of all, when I'm done with this here,
Mr. Polson's making us read Shakespeare.

Ah, assignments like this warm the cockles of my heart.

2008 In Review: Blah, blah, blah

I'm starting to think about goals for next year, but I can't properly move forward without giving a nod to the past.

My first published story (not the first acceptance, but that's the way of publishing) saw the light of the interweb last February. "Rock Gods and Concrete Altars" is a vignette of small town life, dreams, and tragedy. Any regular reader will notice a similarity between that title and the title of my NaNo effort this year. That's not all they have in common...

My favorite published story to date is a two-way tie between "Reciprocity" in the September issue of The Battered Suitcase, and "Catalog Sales" in Necrotic Tissue #4. "Reciprocity" received unexpected but highly appreciated praise from the blogosphere; "Catalog Sales" features my favorite character to date, a hobo-bookseller from the great depression. I have several forthcoming pieces I'm stoked about, but that's another post.

With an old buddy of mine, I started a small publishing company, Strange Publications. We launched our flagship 'zine, Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales, last Spring. Ed agreed to be the editor because, at the time we started accepting submissions, I had yet to be published. I guess I was afraid of having my name out there, I don't know, but Ed's having a hell of a time and won't give up the reins...yet(and that's good, I guess). Since the 'zine's inception, we've also published Tainted: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural and are currently working on Fifty-Two Stitches.

We started Strange when I was feeling the blues about my writing. I've learned too much to quantify/qualify, and Ed has learned more than he probably wanted to. Hopefully we've helped some good stories find some good readers.

That's about it for the writing/publishing front...I've had other adventures this year: Owen is in kindergarten, Max is chatting up a storm, Aimee started a new job, my high school students achieved "Standard of Excellence" on their state reading assessments. Writing has made me a better teacher of writing (and reading).

As far as what genre I write? Looking back at the four stories I mentioned, one is literary, one is more magical realism, one is dark fantasy, and one is just plain goofy (clockwork rabbits who don't know they aren't real?). I like Cate's comment on my previous post. I like odd. Sometimes the lights go out (spooky); sometimes they don't.

Peace all.

English Teacher in Hell

My life is a perpetual slushpile. If you've read my blog before, you know I don't like that word, "slushpile".

But the work my students turn in...slush. Too much of it, anyway. I'm in the middle of grading essays again. Slush. This, dear readers, is the real horror story of my life.

I spoke with a few colleagues about it this week; we all found irony in education. Band teachers are usually musicians themselves--folks who really love music. Art teachers love art. English teachers, this one at least, love(s) literature. I happen to enjoy writing, as well. (crazy me)

And then we surround ourselves with teenagers who could care less. Okay, maybe only 99% of them could care less.

I guess we keep at it for the 1% that care.

Addendum: I'm really not that mean at school. Or nasty. Just a bad string of papers. Fresh air helps. Really.

The Haunting (1963) and ESP Cards

One of my favorite movies (and one of the scariest movies with a 'G' rating here in the States) is The Haunting. Yes, Robert Wise did direct this seminal spook film and West Side Story. Go figure.

The film is remarkable for the use of light and cinematography to create discomfort--none of this modern schlock for cheap thrills. Combined with the oddly haunting (bonus word choice) score, the film has plenty of genuine fright to go around. It doesn't hurt that the basis for the movie is Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House--the classic haunted house novel (in my humble opinion).

Anyway, I teach Hill House every other year, and this happens to be my lucky year. I always have the students test their psychic powers with Zener Cards (indirectly mentioned in the first chapter background info about Theo). Remember the cards at the beginning of Ghostbusters? Just like Dr. Venkman, we don't conduct a very sound experiment, but it is fun.

You can print your own Zener Cards and test your friends. I prefer to print them on heavy paper or cardstock, rather than cut 'n' paste. C'mon, it's fun and a nice little game for October.

On Rejections

The issue of rejections has circulated in a few blogs of late. As a teacher, I can't help but see the similarity between the role of editor and that of teacher.

While studying for my education degree, I took a class on methods for the language arts (English) classroom. One of our liveliest debates centered around how to provide feedback on student writing. Some were in favor of as much positive reinforcement as one could provide. Others felt that only constructive criticism should be offered--we were future teachers after all. Still others thought that a grade was enough: let the student know how they did, and then they can sort out the mess later--in my opinion, those individuals needed to seek other forms of employment.

Although it isn't the job of editor to teach, some do. Some don't have the time to. (I can't imagine personal feedback for every story rejected at Cemetery Dance). Some pile on the positive with "not right for us" tacked on at the end; some leave us with constructive criticism. Others simply give us the grade and move on.

I've had rejections that made me feel better, in some ways, than simple acceptances that left me wondering what they liked. Tim Manning at Black Ink Horror writes some of the best rejection letters. Of course I always prefer acceptance.

I'm indebted to those kind editors who took the time to provide some constructive criticism. I also try to be understanding when they don't. Ultimately, the editor is not bound to provide a detailed explanation for a rejection...but, like the best teaching, it can be a fine gift when they do.