Hey all my new followers!

Great to see sooo many people coming over to the blog. The problem is this isn’t where I blog anymore! I’ve chosen to self-host my blog. Same old blog, same old WordPress, just better, with a new name.

Follow this link: http://collegelackey.com and subscribe via email or your favorite RSS reader. The name of the blog is College Lackey Writes a Book. Hope to see you there!

Coffee or Tea?

Writers are usually synonymous with coffee. You see writers at Starbucks and Borders and Barnes & Noble all over this great United States, laptop in tow, pounding the keys of inspiration. This post is just another introduction for the writers that may stop by. I am a hot, flavored green tea drinker, since school and my job and volunteering for school publications prove to be stressful events. The green tea soothes me. But in the morning there is nothing better than coffee. So writers. What’s your drink of choice?

What Do You Write?

Let me say this straight away- I write literary fiction. We can go on and on about it’s death, but it is still my passion. That does not mean I value style over plot. I think plot is essential. Theme? I use it. Symbolism? I love it. But I’m not about to plop a couple dozen different symbols into the middle of my story. My name is not F. Scott Fitzgerald and I could never write “The Great Gatsby” but there are uses. I find deeper subjects worth exploring because I have lived in a sea of deep subjects, people, places and have seen a lot of tragic things. It is part of my psyche to want to get to the root of an evil or bring out the best of someone’s humanity through trauma and tragedy. But it isn’t for everyone. And it isn’t for everyone to read. Junot Diaz and Ian McEwan are the masters of modern literary fiction, Diaz having won the Pulitzer Prize (and on his first novel at that. He wrote a collection of stories, first) and McEwan having a movie made out of one of his novels. But, as we know, attention spans in this country are heading towards mass Ritalin production and a surge in private practice psychiatry, so this type of novel, if not written in those two authors’ styles, will quickly fade.

So, you know I write and read literary fiction (with the occasional guilty pleasure) and most anything that is going to help me as a writer. What do you write?

Subject Matter

I have quite a bit of unpublished fiction, lulling about on my computer, begging to be submitted. I am a member of Megan’s Closet, Fictionaut, and Zoetrope Virtual Studios; I get critiqued quite a bit. However, the last thing I posted to Fictionaut has not been well received. I fear it is because of the subject matter- a boy of about 15 discovers his mother’s underwear and well, the rest is up to the imagination.

I addressed this topic because I know of someone who has some issues with sex since a very young age. This person was rather close to me though not so much anymore. Meg Pokrass who I esteem very highly for her excellent flash fiction and for her sparkly personality said I was a good writer- and brave.

When you write about something that is so distasteful and so taboo, sometimes you want accolades for just trying your hand at writing about the subject and when there are several views and no comments to be found, no critique of your work, no “that’s brave”, you start to get the feeling like your effort wasn’t worth it. I know no writer is supposed to write for accolades but it helps. It helps you to know that it wasn’t all bad and to keep going.

Is it worth it to write such things that you know might be a little off-putting to other readers? The Oedipus Complex, which this is essentially, saturates other works. However in this instance the boy finds and “uses” his mother’s underwear and I wasn’t going for shock value. I wrote it as a catharsis and to spark the minds of readers. It happens. This I know as fact. But when you get double-digit views and no comments and a seemingly chilly reception to your endeavor, you start wondering if you should have. Is it rewarding to get into the “you shouldn’t have gone there” for the sake of awareness or is it better left unsaid. I don’t know. Just sayin’.

Some Things About Me

Ok. So, I have this blog and I’m trying to attract attention to it but my maintenance slips on the daily. So that’s one thing you know about me (I am trying to correct this, busy, busy!). I am a Creative Writing student in Pennsylvania, an older undergrad, though still young. I know. An oxymoron, but if you split up the oxy and moron you get moron and this rambling I’m doing fits that bill. In any event, let me continue.

I’ve been studying Creative Writing as an undergrad at a two-year college, which means that there are few classes to hone your skills. I want to transfer out of that college to the lovely University of Pittsburgh, where one of their recent MFA student just won the Dzanc Book Prize for outstanding work in literary fiction. Literary fiction is, so I’ve heard, the most depressing two words of the English language, spoken by David Hare, an English writer on The Guardian website. I write literary fiction. It’s ok to send me prozac.

My goal is to get an MFA and, of course, write for a living. Now that I’ve just fallen out of my chair laughing at that delusion, I’ll tell you that editing would be more of the traditional choice. Oh wait. The publishing industry is in the toilet? Think I’ll change my major to botany. I wouldn’t have to read ten 300 page manuscripts a week and, hey. It’s plants. Everyone loves plants. Just ask this gal.

In all seriousness, my love of words and books is, ultimately, what led me to editing and I’ve always been a writer. Like it says- dipping the pen since 1985. I may have been a little girl but I had a wicked imagination.

That stuff is all writing related. Any other juicy tidbits?

I am 6’1 3/4 tall.

I love to play basketball.

I am published in a small journal, er, my school’s journal. Nothing national.

I love peanut butter smoothies, especially before or after a workout.

No, I am not fit. Trying to get there

I like it when men dress in flannel, wear goatees and smell like tools.

I am a really lackadaisical blogger so bear with me.

Anyone want to tell me a few things about themselves?

You and I

You and I are on the same team. We’re writers, looking to strike up that deal that will have us on a yacht and hobnobbing with the who’s who of politics, lit, and film. We know how to roll with the punches- no thin skin if you want in this business. You find the right agent, strike up a deal, in comes the riches. So what happens next? You win a Pulitzer. How did you get there. Here’s where I come in. We are going to walk through this together because I know just about as much as you do about this biz. I’ve got an idea and I’m trying to develop that idea amid work, school, and home life. Yes, *lowers eyes* I’m in school for Creative Writing but that doesn’t necessarily give me an edge. It’s one part talent, one part hard work, two parts luck. I want to reach out to other writers. I feel your pain. Where does time go? If you’re anything like me, which a lot of writers are good people, it goes to others who need you for one thing or another. But I’m here because I need some accountability. I’m hoping to hobnob with YOU. Writers of all genres, stop by so we can cry together. And perhaps meet up for drinks. Lots.

Until Then….

I have to wait until I have my domain for 60 days until I can transfer my registrar. So until then, I will post regularly, as time permits. I’ll have some new content tomorrow. Am sick tonight.

Meanwhile, I’m going to try and get to know WordPress, migrating from Blogger. Please! Please! Forgive!