So it’s almost the end of the semester, and I’m trying to get all my writing in order. Along with the piece I wrote for Digital Media Theory, I’m going to have eight full length pieces I need to submit in the fall along with three pieces of flash fiction. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeee-sus. The amount of time it takes to research journals–I submit each piece to 10 different places–is astronomical. Especially considering the odds. Did you know that landing a story in The Paris Review is far more difficult than getting a novel published? Maybe you did, but it’s certainly something I didn’t start thinking about until recently. So as I revise and prepare for this summer, I’m also going to be working on novel length projects as that’s where my skills more naturally gravitate toward anyway.
So along with reading a plethora of journals to see where my fiction will fit, I’m also going to be doing some research for the novel projects and of course, reading a ton of fiction as it’s one of the best ways to learn. With that in mind, I thought I’d share my incredibly tentative and undeveloped summer reading list. Feel free to add your own or chime in on mine.
Orson Welles Biography (Anyone know the definitive one?)
Some brief history of Pittsburgh (Same question as above)
October Light – John Gardner
Long for this World – Michael Byers
A Widow for One Year – John Irving
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz
Whatever Happened to Anna K.? – Irina Reyna
Fortress of Solitude – Jonathan Lethem
The Coast of Chicago – Stuart Dybek
Last Night – James Salter
Burning Down the House – Charles Baxter
Twilight of the Superheroes – Deborah Eisenberg
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline – George Sanders
Of course, what I’m missing are the old standby’s. So I’m going to have to add those as I go. But yeah, let me know what you’re planning on tackling in the months ahead.
