The editors over at Nerve have included my “Sushisexuals” essay in their Best Nerve Essay of 2008 competition. That means, dear Internet user, that you should go vote for me:
If I win, my self-esteem will skyrocket, thus giving me the emotional fuel to embarrass myself again with a brand new piece. And isn’t that what we all want, really?
From an Agni Online interview with Chinese-American writer Ha Jin:
I read something you said in an online interview [at collectedstories.com] that intrigued me. Basically, you said that to become a writer you must embrace failure. What did you mean by that?
The more ambitious you are, the stronger the sense of failure, because there are so many [laughs] great books that have been written. When I was at Emory University I often taught a story by Kafka: “The Hunger Artist.” That story explains the psychology of a writer. Very often we write not because we want to achieve—maybe there was that desire, but so much has been accomplished. We can’t do anything better. On the other hand, you have to go on and continue. That’s why I think some sense of failure is essential to a writer from the very beginning.
Does it free your writing students when you tell them that?
It doesn’t matter. People should be discouraged. There are a lot of professions that are perhaps even better than writing. I don’t believe that people can’t live a much better life if they don’t write. There are great professions that can make you happy as a person and more useful to others. Writing is not a great profession as a lot of writers proclaim. I write because this is something I can do. Another thing—very often I think a lot of writers write because they have failed to do other things. How many writers can’t drive? A lot. They’re not practical. They are not capable in everyday life.
Over at Nerve, my essay response to StuffWhitePeopleLike.com has been published:
I also just noticed it’s been linked to from Jewcy.com, where Izzy Grinspan relates it to a discussion of intermarriage (another issue that confuses and angers me, but that I didn’t touch on this time around). Very flattered to be link-worthy.
Hola from Buenos Aires.
The SF Chronicle just published the last piece I wrote before I left the country. (Finished the morning I flew out.)
Enjoy:
I finally got around to scanning in my recent Paste book review. For some reason, it was never uploaded on the magazine’s website. Click the above image if you want to see it nice and big and readable (as a pdf).
You’re welcome.