The Weekly Atticus (05/26/2018)

Summon the Inner Creative Spirits | The Weekly Atticus

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

Dear ,

When I go to a reading, I always ask the same question: What are your writing habits?It’s a thing I nerd out over when it comes to writers – the ritual, the formula, the incantation that a writer may use to summon the inner creative spirits. It’s a small way of really indulging in that faux mysticism of the creative process when we all know in reality how mundane, rote, and workmanlike it can be.And that’s the thing: I don’t really have any favorites to tell you about, or any I follow myself, or look to for inspiration. There are so many examples: night vs. day, coffee vs. tea, what type of desk, music or no, the list goes on.What I’m most interested in about writing habits is what they reveal about the authors themselves. Every semester, I tend to reach for Haruki Murakami’s essay The Running Novelist, where he essentially talks about his writing process by talking about everything around it: the baseball game that inspired him to write, the jazz club he managed while writing his first two novels, the way he started long distance running as a way to bring structure to the otherwise unstructured job of being a “novelist.”Our writing habits and rituals force us to prioritize what is important. For Murakami, it became clear that the whiskey and cigarettes of the jazz club weren’t good companions for the sedentary work, so he became more active.For me, I’m using this summer between teaching semesters to get back into gear with a languishing novel. As of this post I’m only really one week in, but it’s a steady habit – up by 4:30 or 5:00 AM, brew a strong tea, and sit at the computer, hopefully not having reflexively checked any social media or email. I’m groggy and having trouble typing the right keys, but it helps fixate my brain into writing, and I try to do nothing else until about 9 or 10.The last part of my current ritual is to record the day’s writing experiences into a podcast that I’m posting daily. I can’t imagine who’d be interested in listening, or what they’d get out of it, but it feeds this ongoing nerdery about the process. I talk about what kind of pace I kept up or what hurdles or road bumps I hit during the day, but also what music I had playing or what things I was reminded of as I wrote.It’s possible this habit won’t last past the summer. But cultivating a writing life, not just a habit, but a day-in/day-out way of being, takes interesting shapes. In his essay, Murakami writes, “My readers would welcome whatever life style I chose, as long as I made sure that each new work was an improvement over the last. And shouldn’t that be my duty—and my top priority—as a novelist?”Writing can often be a sluggish chore, and the longer you’re stuck in the thicket of a particular chapter or scene, the more you may have to draw on the habits that keep you hacking through the brush. The reader might never know about all that stuff. For now, whatever gets the word on the page — onward.Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Aditya DesaiBook Reviews Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

HAVE YOU SENT US YOUR CNF?We're now accepting submissions for our first Annual Flash CNF Contest, judged by Sarah Gerard. Send us your best CNF under 1000 words. First prize is $275, a copy of our Print Annual, and publication in Atticus Review. SUBMIT NOW

ATTICUS AUTHOR NEWS: MAY 2018Here’s the latest from Atticus Review author alumni, including Genia Blum, Alice Kaltman, Bleriana Myftiu, Gary Powell, Elliott Turner.READ ON

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: PRESIDENTS STAY ON EARTHA review of MARS by Thea SwansonReview by Alice Y. Lu"humorous and dark" ... "an allegorical quality reminiscent of The Alchemist"READ ON

FICTION: LEFTOVERSby Jacqueline Doyle"So first he says, I had to stay late at work."READ ON

POETRY: TWO PIECES OF YESTERDAY: TWO OF CUPS, REVERSEDby Emily Carrfrom "Name Your Bird Without a Gun: A Tarot Romance-in-Verse""Lord Liberty thinks it is so easy: to say someone loved you. Pawnedhimself, limb after. Pulled his spent pronoun through.Light, at his back."READ ON

CNF: THE AMERICAN DREAM SEQUENCEby Stephen J. West"I didn’t raise my hand. But after Greta’s eager arm shot up, awarding her the title of Crew Commander and one of two keys required to launch the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, I wished I had."READ ON

FILM REVIEW: METICULOUS REINVENTIONA Review of FIRST REFORMED directed by Paul SchraderReview by Emily Moeck"...an important watch..." and "...might be the best two hours I’ve spent in a theater all year"READ ON

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