a book is not a baby rehash

i was talking to my eds (via email cos my eds live in the UK & mama lives in the South) & i ♥ my eds cos they care about art & artists & the state of the world but they're not all pedantic & shit, yo, plus they published mama's novel, which means they rock on top of that. anyway... they suggested an alteration to the book is not a baby contest

recap:
in the original, mama wanted you to like her book more than you liked other people's babies. maybe mama shouldn't have called attention to the fact that peeps never like your babies as much as you do... my bad, yo. mama also stated she'd give away a free copy of Homegirl! to the 100th person who liked her book on FB.

now:
mama's eds have suggested that mama do a random drawing of all the likers of Homegirl! once the likes = 100.

so:
baby = book = Homegirl! likers < 101, but > 99, = free book giveaway to any of the book-likers, yo!

here is the link in case you didn't get it:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Homegirl/201060176620513

lovs from the bottom of my baby♥,
ryder

Hashtag: Occupy Writing

So, I have been following the Occupation of Wall Street from the safety of my home office. As I graded student essays this weekend, I clicked between essays and websites, looking for information about the protests; I wanted to see who was covering it and what they were saying. I clicked on HTMLGIANT and We Who Are About to Die as well, because I like to read their posts on what's going on in the independent literary world and in art and their takes on the intersection of literature and art with US society today... & I have been thinking about the reactions to these protests and protesters, and what most disturbs me is the non-reactions...

I thought the Giant might do something like this, at least:

I'm not trying to pick on the Giant or WWAATD, but their silence on these protests left me questioning, why? Why do the writers and commenters of the Giant bemoan a society where the bottom line is money, where art is not valued for art's sake (whatever that is), but for how much money it makes, yet do not even acknowledge a social event that has the potential to disrupt this corporatization bottom-lining of the US? That has the potential to disrupt the value systems that says only this (take your pick: bestsellers, new shoes, Lexus, mcmansions, American Apparel, etc.) is important because it reflects how much you are worth. That equates the number of books sold to the worth of the art. That says there is no place for cutting-edge, avant-garde, or experimental writing (or art) outside the academy (or even in, sometimes...)? That says there is no place for poetry?

Forgive me, if my thoughts are jumbled or if I come across as too earnest and not ironic enough... I'm not trying to attack the online independent literary community. I consider myself a member; I write and I publish online and I enjoy very much the discussions on the big lit blogs. I am just wondering, like Lily Hoang did during the Egyptian uprisings (& yes, I know this occupation is much smaller, but it is spreading...), why a lot of the writers seem to be saying nothing about Occupy Wall Street. There have been a few: The Rumpus has been keeping an "Occupy Wall Street Round-up" and Tao Lin tweeted this:

Why does the online presence of the independent literary community seem so complacent? Is it because we're all jaded? Too cynical? Too worried about legitimacy and authority so we don't want to be linked to "hippies" and "gutter punks" and "optimists" and those pilots(!) because then no one will take our art seriously? 

Mama's thinking we all need to re-examine our roles as writers. I'm not saying we have to write political works or anything... I'm just saying when we live in a society that devalues art, we should definitely consider supporting people who want to change the things that perpetuate this devaluation. I'm not trying to create a manifesto here. I am trying to say, as writers, we need to observe and we need to think and we need to interact and we need to make art and we need to acknowledge, in our communities, the possibilities of change.

To quote the last line of a  blog post by Christopher Newgent (about the BlazeVox "controversy") that was linked through the Giant: "You have to stop believing that this is 'the reality of poetry publishing.' Because it’s not. Because even if it is, it doesn’t have to be. Stand up."

As part of the writing community, I suggest we widen this sentiment to: You have to stop believing that this is “the reality of the US.” Because it’s not. Because even if it is, it doesn’t have to be. Stand up.

Internet Poetry do not be hating or feuding me

cos mama just wants to share this tweetered poem tout suite & mama doesn't know how to share the jing links cos mama's lucky she hasn't lost fingers or blown up entire acres making her mash moonshines, yo

A book is not a baby: Homegirl! giveaway

So mama's on twitter cos that's the newfangled way to know when the ATF's coming for the backyard still. & mama sits on her porch with her shotgun and her jug and her beastyhounds & it is hot & it is hard to read the screen & mama's got one of those convertible laptops with a keyboard & touchscreen & sometimes she hits  the screen with her drunk fingers accidentally and then she's watching the porns on her front porch so she doesn't even notice the chilluns playing some kind of chillun game all over her lawn. She doesn't even run them off.

Mama's almost hit 100 followers on twitter & she doesn't know if she should be sad that she has so few followers or happy that she has so many or all existential that it doesn't really matter either way. She's leaning towards the existential, yo. If mama didn't have a book out she loved like a baby, mama'd be sitting on that porch with her houndybeasts & her weapons & her jug & no twitter and no facebook and no bloggy and okay, yeah, probably some kinda porn or at least her stories...

Mama loves her book like a baby tho mama knows a book is not a baby. Maybe mama doesn't know this, maybe mama just thinks she knows this... but mama knows she can bring her book into a bar & accidentally leave it there & it will still exist & she will not be charged with negligence. Mama can leave her book on top of the car or in the middle of the fucking road, yo...

& mama's baby's already been gestated & nurtured. & mama's baby won't grow up not to love her or be all creepycreepy dependent wanting to call every day and wanting mama to wash their clothes & comb their hair & tuck their shirts in to their underwears still...Mama's book'll never call her a cunt & mama'll never hafta exert herself to shove the ivories soaps into metalbraces mouths. Mama'll never hafta play niceynice with her babydaddy's family even after she heard them talking about how between her moonshines & her masturbations they were tots surprised she wasn't blind.

What mama's trying to get at, in her roundabout alabamaz stills-induced way, is that she wants you to like her book. She wants you to like her book more than you like someone else's baby. In fact, she will give away a copy of her book-baby to the 100th person that likes the Homegirl! page on the facebooks... (mama'll be tot checking that shit, but in case her fingers drunkenslip again, be sure to comment here or post on her fb wall if you are #100).  So far, there are about 40 people who like it... so if you wanna be all sneakysneaker & like it now and then wait til it gets up to 99 & unlike & then like, well mama's distracted easily by the whiskeys & the drunkenslips & the stories & the lizards crawling across her house walls.

yours all existential & shit,
ryder

this is my new obsession

Fuck me like fried potatoes.

why is this "bad"

i think it is awesome. better than velvet elvises any day, yo.

thanks, you up against the garage doors of the world peoples

mama wants to thank all the people, influences, supporters, friends of Homegirl!:

HonestyPublishingPress:ChrisDanielBogdan,SleepSnortFuck:ChloeCaldwell,Juked:JohnWang,BastardsandWhores:AmandaandJoe,Fixitbroken:GregDybek,TheMethLab:NewambaFlamingoandFrankieMetro,FreakyFountainPress:CatherineLearyandRobinWolfe,StaciaMFleegalandDanNowakforfeedingmamathegoodfoods&forreadingthedrafts,TheSugarcubes,JeanGenet,TraceyParker,GoodGirlArtGallery,Tubesocks,HenrideToulouseLautrec,Bukowski,spittyprofessorswithfakeaccents,TommotherfuckingWaits,yo,bowling,TheB52s,52/250,CometCafebeforeitwasarestaurantfeaturedondiners,driveins,&diveswaybackwhenwhentheonlypeopledrinkingtherewasthestaff&smartpeepswithflasks,PABSTmotherfuckingBLUERIBBON,sexting,balaclavaedanarchists,NeilYoung,grindercore,ThomasPynchon(notreallybuthedoesgetamentionbutsodoesSlayer),sexings,wreckingballs,Texaswhorehouses,veganBenedicts,BreathlessCaddyshackForKeepsTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles,theexMarine,moleskines,poorboys,JeanPaulSartre,PlannedParenthood,divebars,Riverwest,thewhiskeys,danandstacia'scoffeetable(notreallyaninfluencebutthanksforthememories),mangosteens,repressionrepressionrepressionrepression,SidandNancy,merrywidows,callingmyselfmama(reallyhasnothingtodowithitbuti'mobsessed),babies,unbabies,babyishthings,unbabyishthings,garagedoorsbutnotgaragedooropenerscostheywouldinterferewithupagainstthegaragedoorsoftheworld,toodrunktofuck(thesong,duh,mamadon'trolllikethat,yo),peanutbuttersandwiches,bartenderswipingdryhighballglassesonsnowynightsthatmakethewindowsallfoggyinside,frogsandcatsandbighearts,meta,glocks,glockenspiels,punkboys,yo.

there are probably manymany more but mama doesn't wanna give it all away the first time; even mama likes to keep a couple tricks in reserve...

mama will thank you, too, if you like Homegirl!

yours full of thanky-thanks,

ryder

Pre-order mama's novel, yo

Homegirl!'s about to drop & you can get in on all the familyfungoodness at amazon

okay, there is no familyfungoodness in mama's novel unless you count 1980s genderneutral fragrances, braces, fathers with addictions a la cheever, & bowling in the darkness...

etcetera etcetera

& mama forgot to mention she's going touring with Homegirl!


here is one stop

mama's tour is gonna be all wonky; mama's tour's gonna be all askew; mama'll drive & drive with books & bourbon & the lines'll waver & the lines'll be crossed & mama'll pass out after the show & she'll wake up with her face plastered to the acknowledgments page & her tongue divining fortunes for all around her...

it will be real. it will be good.

so get in on the action quickquick & pre-order that good shit now cos mama's possibly coming to a town near you & she's gots the penchants for the good lits & the making-outs & the falling downs & the making-outs again & the goggling & the googling & the grog & the punkboys rocking & garage doors & all of us ups against the world, yo

yours,
ryder

a blog is a strange thing

& this blog is feeling existential-crisisy cos what is a blog & what is this blog & what does this blog wanna be let alone who is this blog's audience & where does this blog fit in with all the other litbloggies out there who are barking louder & pissing harder & are in heat ...

mama was gonna write a letter to the independent lit peoples of the US

mama was gonna somehow acronym them to lic but mama forgot how..

& lic is in a tiz cos of the blazevox but if you read the giants, you know all about it

& mama holds no ill will against anyone, not lic (let's go beyond the speed-datings - the in-out, in-out in < 5 minutes; that was gonna be in my letter to you), not blazevox, and not the giants. only the truckers who offered her a cab & whips & cheez whiz & only gave her the cheez whizs or maybe even just gave her an empty jar or a urine jar

& mama's not trying to deceive with the pictures of her book... it's not for sale, yet, smurfs & smurfettes... mama will let you know

you will probly get sick of mama letting you know, if you haven't already. or maybe you want mama to let you know more and more and school you already; you're all like, mama, i know you sit there on your porch in the alabamaz sun with your bourbons & shotgun but you were probly a schoolmarm b4 the rents had to sign for the spankings... do you still have the paddle, yo?

& feisters, did you think that was a pic of mama's book on her kitchen counter in mama's last posty? did you think mama'd have flowered wallpaper or a froggy oven mitt? or wallpaper or oven mitts? or even a kitchen?

yo.

mama went to the Decatur Book Festival yesterday, tho, & even tho she doesn't have oven mitts or a kitchen counter, she met a lot of nice peoples... some very nice people were at the Vouched table, for reals.

cos mama does not blow the smoke up the asses; but if you want a fist there just ask...

luvs,
mama

Cava in a jelly jar times...

But when isn't it, yo?

Here is what Homegirl! will look like after you purchase it and unwrap it from the its dull packaging (if you buy it, but, hey, no pressure, mama'll still love ya...
maybe.)

 The editors at Honest Publishing Press fucking rock! So does the cover artist, Nick Thompson. Mama'll drink the cavas to these blokes across the ocean. They may be sleeping now; they may have cava dreams all crisp and sparkly and jelly-jarry. Or they might be at work. Or playing rugby or eating chips. Mama gots no sense of time differentials... but she do know a good-looking book when she sees one.

Just like she can spots the good-looking mens way down the dirt road from her front porch in the direct alabamas sunlight...

MMMMMMM...

Yours,
ryder