Rarely Likable

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AWP Wrapup Linkbucket

Here is a collection of recaps of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference, which was held this year in Chicago.

MANY of the bloggers below have multiple posts, and I have tried (though likely not always succeeded) to choose the first one.

Please comment with any I have missed, or point out horrific errors. I'm sure there are both.

Deborah Ager (32 Poems) (includes photo of my hotel's lobby)
Avery (I stopped by their table, they're very nice)
Barrelhouse (right across from the upstreet table, where I sat a couple of times)
Colin Bassett
Lauren Becker (who I hung out with some, and who is all around great)
Blake Butler (he is very gracious, by the way)
Erika Dreifus (who in turn links to some recaps)
Clifford Garstang (I would have thanked fangirlishly for his New Yorker fiction roundups had we met.)
FC2
Molly Gaudry (who, upon hearing a forthcoming NR plan, seemed amused...whew! heh)
Barry Graham (DOGZPLOT) (#32 = proof I was there. Also, best all-category-of-conference swag ever.)
Indiana Review
Shane Jones
Tayari Jones (Fangirlish thanks for her writer tips not in the cards this year, ah well.)
Paul Lisicky
Sean Lovelace
Gena Mohwish (HTMLGIANT) (the tiny helicopter? AWESOME)
Ploughshares
Publishing Genius (Bonus: Debit card purchases.)
The Three Ps of Post-MFA (agree about the gulag, the change from Tuesday to Wednesday was scary)
Virginia Quarterly Review
Dan Wickett (Emerging Writers Network) (Modded one of my favorite panels. Recap mentions Rock of Love Bus!)
Eileen Wiedbrauk
Kevin Wilson (I had a similar Matt Bell Experience(tm))

On NOT attending AWP:
Edan Lepucki (The Millions)
Missouri Review
Laura Ellen Scott (who is correct and incorrect)

Bucket addendum.

Read in this order: Conversational Reading, The Mumpsimus, Condalmo. I deal with similar geographic predicaments, which are exacerbated by the fact that my book-buying budget has shrunken considerably in the last year. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that I think about these issues every single time I click "Buy" or walk into a bookstore -- sometimes to the degree that it doesn't let me enjoy the experience.

An experience that was enjoyable: Posting the latest Northville Review installment. We should be back on a weekly schedule now. If you'd rather be notified when new content is up, you can follow on Twitter, keep an eye on the Facebook group, or join the mailing list. All details are on this page.

Linkbucket!

As always...check the sidebar. Sometimes I post good stuff there. It's all very capricious.

Next up after this: AWP Linkbucket!

Next up after that: Me yammering about giant metal sculptures, obsolescence, and Mickey Rourke.

After that, stretched out into likely eternity: AWP swag.

And now, on with the bucket:

Office Space cast reunites for 10th anniversary screening. Click and find out what TPS actually stands for.

Craigslist Missed Connections fiction.

I am delighted that soon I'll have something to say about this...but right now? Patience!

Nova reminds us what's important.

The spectrum of nerdage, explained.

Diane Lockward lists online journals she admires.

Save this link for a bad day.

Thoughts on Roddy Doyle's short film, "New Boy." And another film of interest. (latter via)

This is not likely to make anyone snicker but me -- that's a long story. But it IS informative. (via)

I've read exactly one book on the Tournament of Books list this year. I strongly suspect this is because I've been reading a LOT more short stories than in previous years. Max is one of the judges!

Reviews of short story collections!

"Trader Joe's is kind of the Old Navy of food."

Matt Bell mentioned Matthew Simmons' CAVES on Facebook earlier today, and I am so glad he did. It's absolutely worth the read and I will be downright obnoxious about this if you talk to me in person. Consider yourself warned.

Project Novelist! (via)

Someone I know needs to put this on a wedding registry.

And finally...have you seen this dog?

Aaaand I'm back. Sort of.

Want to read about AWP? Holy crow, go read Molly Gaudry's wrapup(s). Whatever I end up posting won't even come close to that level of detail or entertainment. Seriously.

Really quick, from Chicago

I took a photo of today's haul, but Flickr must be creaking under the weight of thousands of other people taking pictures of their AWP hauls because it's not up yet. So here's a picture of Cloud Gate that I took a few days ago. I love it. I wish I could shove Cloud Gate in my bag with all of my AWP crap and take it home with me and put it in my front yard. Ideally, with the AWP crap stored inside it.

It's really too soon to do any sort of wrapup or summary post. One thing, though: If you are waiting on Northville Review responses (or probably any other literary publication, for that matter) nothing's going to happen until later this week. Thank you for your patience. Believe me, you do NOT want me mucking around in any of that at the moment. My brain is fried, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Next week

I'm getting ready for AWP. So far, that consists of figuring out which black no-iron items go into my luggage, reloading the Chicago 10 day forecast every so often, and realizing most of what I know about the city I learned from watching John Hughes movies.

Since I don't have any immediate obligations on either side of the conference dates and I hate flying (thanks, Fearless!) , I decided to take the train and I sprung for a sleeper. So I've been reading up on that experience and learning there are a LOT of passenger train nerds. They all say to bring duct tape on the trip.

While I'll have my laptop with me, I'm not sure how often I will be able to perform my customary social networking tasks. Predictably, this is both a concern and a relief. (Note to those submitting to Northville Review: I anticipate some delay in response time.)

Yesterday I realized I will be missing the Rock of Love Bus episode where Bret brings in some new girls and the old ones get really mad. Which got me to thinking: What percentage of AWP attendees will be able to fill me in on what happens? Gut feeling: A higher one than I think.

If you're going to be at AWP, and you see a large disheveled woman with glasses and no-iron black clothes? Please stop me and say hi. I'll be so happy to meet you in person. I like readings more than anyone should, but *you* are the reason I'll be there.

Link Sippycup

First of all, apologies if there are any technical issues with this post. TypePad has inexplicably reverted me back to the old editor and I have not yet found my way back to the newer version. I also desperately need to reorganize my Google Reader, which is why this isn't a true Linkbucket.

-- I'm starting to think I bookmark stuff about cell phone novels because I want to write one.
-- Myfanwy Collins on Last Night at the Lobster. Short, but absolutely dead on. (Both the review and the book, actually...)
-- I really want the new Sesame Street book.
-- Over at HTMLGIANT, Justin Taylor on George Saunders. Also there: Mike Young on litmag databases. There are some things I could say about the latter, but they'll have to wait for another time.
-- The 500 worst passwords of all time.
-- Elizabeth Alexander's inauguration poem, which I like much more on the page. Yes, I understand why poets often read their work like she did. But there's a big difference between an audience of twenty graduate students and one third of the entire planet.
-- Visiting Hours is on my list of books to look out for next week. I'm bringing an extra piece of luggage just for books.
-- And finally...for some reason, I bookmarked a lot of funny pictures. And one that someone, somewhere, needs to work into a story. Please!