Cati Porter's Blog

Recently I wrote about my reaction to the movie Mrs. Robinson. Find out more here:

https://www.ladylibertylit.com/single...

can be found here:

http://www.pe.com/2017/10/22/typewrit...

Today in the Whether Here, we're back with Part Two of The First Sentences Project that I'm participating in with Eric Schwitzgebel, Rachel Swirsky, Aliette de Bodard, and Ann Leckie. If you missed Part One in the last post, here's a little background about the project from Eric:

How much can you predict about a story from its title and first sentence alone?  Aliette de Bodard, Ann Leckie, Cati Porter, Rachel Swirsky and I aim to find out!  We have taken the first sentences of five stories from July’s issue of Lightspeed Magazine [link] (kindly provided to us in advance by John Joseph Adams) and attempted to predict the plot of each story.  [Note: Ann and Rachel attempted to predict based on the first sentence alone, while Aliette, Cati, and I also looked to the title for clues.]

Our first story was “Magnifica Angelica Superable” by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz.

Our second story is "The One Who Isn't" by Ted Kosmatka. The first sentence is:

It starts with light.

Go visit Eric's blog to read our guesses!

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Happy day after Independence Day!

I hope you made it through unscathed. Last evening my family celebrated our independence by eating at El Torito, and I celebrated my own by being the only drinker at the table, because who can eat chips and salsa without a margarita? We then watched the big fireworks display over Mt. Rubidoux (also dubbed "The Annual Mt. Rubidoux Fire") and ate watermelon and played frisby in the parking lot and made tiny sparks of our own with the only legal "fireworks" allowed in our city, purchased at Target, though if the parade of fire engines and dog howls throughout the night were any indicator, we weren't the only ones who made our own, independent sparks. 

Today, I celebrate the day after without a hangover and with some fun writerly news to share.

For some time now, I have been very occasionally helping a friend with his short fiction. While I have not to date written what I consider a successful short story (let alone published one) I have always enjoyed short stories, especially ones that might be considered speculative or magical realist. My poetry often ventures far out into the realms of the unreal, and I even devoted an entire issue of Poemeleon to that broad category of poetry, so reading and commenting on his short fiction has helped me move toward my own goal of writing publishable fiction.

Flash forward to AWP in Los Angeles. There were lots of panels and readings that I wanted to see and people I wanted to meet, but because I was there representing Inlandia, I didn't get away as often as I might have if I hadn't been tethered to a table. Add to that that I was also co-in-charge of the WordTech table, the press that published my last book, and you can see how my hope to do anything other than meet and greet might vanish. Given all of that, I had a great time, and I still was able to get out and do a few things. One of those things was to attend a panel discussion on Women in Speculative Fiction, where I met Rachel Swirsky, author of some very cool stories like Tea Time, Grande Jete, and If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love. I was a total dork and had a picture of us taken together. Her husband very kindly obliged.

Flash forward - again. After that auspicious meeting, and after we became friends on Facebook, and after after having inquired of her if she'd ever be willing to make a trek to the I.E. to be a part of a Women in Speculative Fiction event I'd like to host here, maybe as part of UCR's Eaton Conference, an idea was hatched.

Rachel posts a lot about process, and she wrote something on her blog about analyzing her own first lines. The very next day, she posted a follow-up analzying the first lines from other stories she'd read. This was then followed by her analysis of what first lines can do. Meanwhile, these links were being shared via social media, and my aforementioned friend, Eric Schwitzgebel, suggested that maybe a fun project could be analyzing just the first lines, without any knowledge beforehand of where the story might go. They both thought that was a great idea and recruited a few others - myself, Ann Leckie, and Aliette de Bodard. Rachel contacted the editor of Lightspeed, and received the go-ahead to use the July issue's stories, released incrementally for free online throughout the month. 

Today, the first of those stories went live: Magnifica Angelica Superable.

Simultaneous with the release of each of the stories whose first lines we analyzed, a group post of our guesses and some ensuing analyses will be posted on The Splintered Mind, Eric's blog.

Here's how Eric has framed the project: 

How much can you predict about a story from its title and first sentence alone?  Aliette de Bodard, Ann Leckie, Cati Porter, Rachel Swirsky and I aim to find out! We have taken the first sentences of five stories from July’s issue of Lightspeed Magazine (kindly provided to us in advance by John Joseph Adams) and attempted to predict the plot of each story. [Note: Ann and Rachel attempted to predict based on the first sentence alone, while Aliette, Cati, and I also looked to the title for clues.]

Our first story is “Magnifica Angelica Superable” by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz:

A woman from the street came in laughing from the cold.

From these eleven words (sixteen if you include title and author name), do you already have a sense of tone, character, setting? Are you already starting to form a conception of how the plot might go? I’ve pasted our guesses below. But first, you might want to make your own guess.

At the end of this post I’ll link to the story (available for free online), so you can see how the story actually unfolds. 

This has been a super fun, enlightening project. I enjoyed imagining where the stories might go based on that first line alone. This story in particular feels especially apt for an Independence Day post. I hope you'll take a few minutes out of your day to go guess with us! 

Hello, stranger!

Do we know each other? Probably not. I've been around, but not here. A quick synopsis about me and my work is covered in my bio, but here is the brief history of my (erratic) blogging:

My first blog post went live on Blogger somewhere around 2005, back when blogging was a relatively new thing. Even my sons got in on it, creating their own blogs Jacob is a Crazy Frog (remember that "Crazy Frog" song?!) and Bradley is a Fish Head, where the only post states My brother is dume.

I blogged for a while, and enjoyed it. It was an outlet during a period where I was largely a stay-at-home writer-mom going stir crazy for some adult form of communicaiton. Eventually I migrated to WordPress because I liked the templates better. When I decided I neded an actual website, I moved to Squarespace, where I have hosted the Poemeleon lit journal since its inception in 2006, and migrated the blog again, where it is still hosted today.

I loved the format of the blog, where I could post musings on anything from motherhood to poetry to what I had for dinner, but I began slowing down after joining Facebook and connecting with others there. Then, I slowed way down around 2013, when my work with a local nonprofit, Inlandia Institute, intensified. My blogging here dropped off entirely, replaced by a more public blog for Inlandia. But that too has gone by-the-by with several changes in ownership of the local newspaper, where our blog was hosted. (The columns still run, though, so if you'd like to check them out go here.)

I miss this type of writing, and don't really care how many visitors I might get because it's still fun even if no one reads it! So, pulling this "blog" thing out of cold storage and starting again. I hope to keep this up and use this space to talk about my work as a writer in the face of other challenges, like raising teenage boys and running a nonprofit.

Things that have changed since I last blogged: I've now published a few books, I've been named Executive Director of the Inlandia Institute, and my children have gotten a lot taller. I've also gone from being a vegetarian to not being one. (That was a huge decision and a long time coming.) I've been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, a hypothyroid condition where the body's immune system attacks the thyroid, had my thyroid removed, and in the process discovered micropapillary carcinoma; I write about that whole experience and then some in my book, The Body at a Loss, forthcoming from CavanKerry Press.

Also, when I'm not writing poetry or running a nonprofit or taking care of my family, I've been dabbling (really, if you can even call it that) with speculative fiction. I love stories that blend the real and the unreal and admire authors who do so with ease. Current favorites: Kij Johnson, Kelly Link, and Rachel Swirsky, the latter with whom I'm involved in a fun project analyzing the first lines of a set of short stories in the current edition of Lightspeed. (Come back July 5 to find out what that's all about!)

If you've found your way here, thank you! Hopefully we can stay better in touch this time.

~ Cati

Hey. So, if you haven't noticed, I'm not hanging around this blog much anymore. However, I AM blogging over at the Press-Enterprise/Inlandia Literary Journeys blog.

To find my posts, GO HERE.

Or to find more literary-centric posts by Tim Green, Judy Kronenfeld, Gayle Brandeis, and many more, check out the Meet the Authors page.

See you on the other side.

The Next Big Thing is a blog-tag of writers answering a series of questions about their next book/writing project.

***

Ren Powell, who I’ve known now since I first joined the WomPo Listserv and through our various collaborative editing enterprises - Poemeleon & Babel Fruit, ProtestPoems.org -- tagged me for this very cool Thing. She is so accomplished and smart that I can hardly stand it sometimes, and I am so grateful to have her as a friend and an inspiration. I am anxious to read her next book, An Elastic State of Mind, and remember it as she was exploring it through animation. And now as a novice runner, I am excited to see that she has been writing about her experiences running in Norway and I look forward to hearing more about that project as it moves toward publication.

And now, on to the Official Questions and some information about my current projects...

What is the title of your book?

The Way Things Move The Dark

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Hm. Well, in Newport Beach, at a place called The Fun Zone, there used to be a cheesy sort-of carnival, and one of the rides, which I’ve never ridden, was called The Scary Dark Ride. I’d say that this book, albeit short, is the printed equivalent of The Scary Dark Ride.

What genre does your book fall under? 

Poetry.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The Way Things Move The Dark is actually an excerpt of a longer work that is searching for a home (four semi-finalist nods and an honorable mention- always a bridesmaid, never a bride). The full collection, titled My Skies of Small Horses, was written as my MFA thesis, and is therefore heavily influenced by the writers I was obsessed with at the time. When I started the MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles, I had already published a first book, Seven Floors Up, which was much more conservative in terms of themes and writing strategies - I wrote many of the poems in form, and it was very domestic; no, not just domestic but domesticated. In pursuing my MFA, one of my goals was to move away from that. During that period I gave myself permission to be wild, to not make sense, or to make a different kind of sense. I wanted to push myself. But I also still had this impulse to write about domestic subjects. This is my attempt to do so from a different direction, while also honoring my impulse to explore the more surreal aspects of domesticity.

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

About two years, with another two going through the submission-rejection-revision process.  

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Most of what I read while pursuing my MFA fell under what has been dubbed a “Gurlesque” aesthetic. I think these poems were a direct result of reading all of those kick-ass women poets.

Who will publish your book?

dancing girl press, a kick-ass independently run feminist press based out of Chicago.

What other works would you compare this book to within your genre? 

I wouldn’t draw any direct comparisons, but I was definitely influenced by works by Lara Glenum, Matthea Harvey, Brenda Shaughnessy, and of course Sylvia Plath.

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

Marion Cotillard. Because I think she can pull off beautiful, scary, and complicated. And she's very lovely, and the French accent is nice.

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

Well, I suppose there are some interesting tropes, some used overtly, some used covertly -- the keyboard differences on Mac vs. PC as a sort of allegory, the traditions of the Persian fairy tale, and the idea that we should all tell our stories “slant”.

Also, my amazingly talented sister Amy Payne is doing the art for the cover again! I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

***

Thanks again to Ren Powell for tagging me.

And... This is where I am supposed to tag five people. But: I’m not going to tag anyone new. I suspect this blog-tag has hit nearly if not everyone I know (I know, I’ve asked) but if you see this and it interests you enough to pursue, consider yourself tagged!

Instead, go read these other poets who've already participated in The Next Big Thing, women I would've tagged if someone hadn't already beat me to it:

My editor, Kristy Bowen

Sheila Squillante

Laura Madeline Wiseman

Clare Martin

Amanda Auchter

It wouldn't be National Poetry Month without some free poetry-love going around, in the form of Kelli Russell Agodon's Poetry Book Giveaway. (For a link to everyone who is participating, or for information on participating yourself, click here.)

This year, I would like to focus on the chapbook, and will be giving away a couple of chapbooks that I love as well as one of my own.

My interest in the chapbook as an art form began when a good friend in my poetry group published an abecedarian series of poems, all based on unusual or resonant words taken from the dictionary. She called this collection Dictionary Poems. Later I would be so inspired by this project that I would take on something similar of my own; it was not exactly abecedarian but arranged so, and each poem was inspired by a fruit-related word from the dictionary. This became my chapbook small fruit songs. Both of these chapbooks were published by the amazing Pudding House, which seems to be in the midst of some reorganization right now, but is a lovely and longstanding press run by Jennifer Bosveld.

The process of writing a series was fun -- sort of like a mini novel-in-verse, except more like a lyric sequence, in that the narrative arc was less about plot and more motion-by-emotion (a term I am borrowing from Jenny Factor). In fact, I found I so enjoyed writing the series that I did it again... and again... resulting in a series about desire personified as Desire, as well as my series after Modigliani's nudes.

So for this giveaway, I would like to celebrate the chapbook. I have recently become acquainted with two other women-writers who also have explored this mode and created cohesive chapbooks that tackle gender-oriented themes, and it is those chapbooks, as well as a copy of my own (al)most delicious, that I would like to offer for this year's Poetry Giveaway: Laura Madeline Wiseman's My Imaginary and Sheila Squillante's A Woman Traces The Shoreline, both of which will likely surprise and delight you. Also, all of these books are available from Dancing Girl Press for the staggeringly cheap sum of $7 each including shipping, so if you miss out on the giveaway and still want them, it shouldn't break the bank. In fact, editor Kristy Bowen has two different "bundles" wherein you get either a.) five chapbooks of your choosing -- this is the DGP Book Bundle; or b.) five chapbooks of *her* choosing -- surprise! -- which is called the DGP MixTape. Either of these options will set you back a whole $25. (Incidentally, this is how I am acquiring extra copies of the above chaps, as well as a few others that I've been wanting to read.) Or, if you're *really* decadent, you can SUBSCRIBE, for either a full- or a half- year. Very cool options.

If you would like to have your name thrown into a hat to possibly win one of these three lovely chapbooks, please leave me a comment below and at the end of the month I will randomly choose three names.

Happy poem-ing!

Hello fellow poets & poetry lovers & lovers of poetry lovers & even lovers of lovers who don't love poetry --

Welcome to the cruellest month, aka National Poetry Month, aka National Poetry Writing Month, aka the month where some of us attempt to write a poem a day, and others of us, well, um... don't. We LOVE and ADMIRE all of you that are keeping up, and hope that you can forgive those of us are not.

Like, um... me.

Yes, I have not yet written one new poem. But the month is just warming up, and I have been reveling in the poetry of others, as well as revising and reconfiguring a couple of my own manuscripts and flinging them back out into the world.

Also, I have been working hard promoting and providing feedback on the literature of others and generally making the world a better place.

Various things that I have been accomplishing lately include consultation work as Inlandia's Publications Coordinator, and leading my multi-genre Inlandia Creative Writing Workshop, which has been ridiculously fun and has introduced to me the work of some very talented women (yes, somehow we have morphed into an all-female group). I am currently preparing my syllabus for the next workshop session, which will begin on April 12. And I have also been trying to corral my administrative-oriented literary endeavors (and therefore increase my productivity by reducing, um, distractions -- like Facebook, laundry, and hungry and bored kitties and kiddos) by implementing OFFICE HOURS. Generally speaking, I am available for all things Inlandia-related on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-12, with only the occasional emails and other urgent matters answered in-between as needed.

I'm also very excited as always by the Big Poetry Giveaway that Kelli Russell Agodon coordinates. I will be posting very soon with my offerings, and can't wait to start clicking around to see what everyone else is doing. But here is a hint: I've been thinking a lot about chapbooks lately. In fact, I was recently interviewed by Laura Madeline Wiseman about my experience publishing my electronic chapbook, what Desire makes of us. Also -- and this is not exactly timely, but no one has ever accused me of me being punctual -- a poem and illustration from what Desire makes of us was recently featured on The Nervous Breakdown, along with their signature self-interview.

In other poetry news, while I've been waiting for a press to pick up the entire My Skies of Small Horses manuscript, I have been playing around with a shorter version of it and am preparing to send it out into the world. This condensed version contains my poem "Miss Carriage", which won me a prize last year, as well as other poems that have appeared in No Tell Motel, wicked alice, and Crab Creek Review. So I hope you will all keep your fingers crossed. I love the chapbook as a form because of the way reading one can become such an ethereal experience, and am finding that this iteration of the manuscript makes the strangeness of these poems all that much more apparent. (Hopefully that's a good thing.)

And speaking of chapbooks (still, and again), in getting ready for my upcoming reading which is happening on May 20, at Beyond Baroque, as part of the Hitched reading series alongside friends Judy Kronenfeld and Lavina Blossom, I realized that I am just about out of books. So, I have just placed a fresh reorder from Dancing Girl Press for more copies of (al)most delicious so that I will have some on hand during the reading.

Nude with Coral Necklace by Amedeo Modigliani

When I submitted work to The Nervous Breakdown, I sent them a group of poems that included the centerpiece (centerfold?) from this collection, "Nude with Coral Necklace", which they *loved* but ultimately turned down because the formatting was too complex for their website's platform. This made me sad and a little bit frustrated, because in a perfect world a poem's format should never be what makes or breaks an acceptance, but the reality is that that is how the publishing world works sometimes, says she-who-has-nearly-torn-her-hair-out-tyring-to-format-poems-that-she-loves-which-she-has-accepted-for-publication-but-now-is-stymied-by-how-hard-that-formatting-has-become-now-that-it-has-to-be-recreated-in-html.

So, rather than submit it elsewhere for now, I will satisfy my urge to get it out into the air by reading it at Beyond Baroque. Unless I chicken out. (It's a long, complicated poem.) But in honor of the chap, here is one of the poems that appears nowhere else on the web, and hope to see you at Beyond Baroque.

Draped Nude by Amedeo Modigliani

Draped Nude


The spotted and striped rug
grounds me; the dark walls recede

Foregrounded flesh
softened like fruit left on the sill:
I will never spoil

This white cloth he has placed across my hips
a demure sash
that merely draws the eye

designed not to conceal
but to enhance
so that your eyes may linger
briefly
at that dark tangle

then lift
to the bent waist
ripe nipples
the shrugged slight shoulders
        leaning gently in your direction

Somewhere amid the strands of my hair
is one of his, lost
in the damp paint
as he leaned in too close

You are leaning in too close

even as you are pretending to
look away

Just passing along two great things to do in honor of Black History Month: Poet Nikia Chaney is leading a free series of workshops at the Fontana library (the first started last Friday, but if you missed it there will be another tomorrow) AND award-winning novelist Susan Straight will be giving a talk on race, gender and familial relationships at the Perris library. See the flyers below.