The Weekly Atticus (07/07/2018)

Make Your Own Luck | The Weekly Atticus

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

Dear ,

In my tender twenties, before I’d ever published anything, I had the good luck to win a coveted “waitership”(work-study scholarship) to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, where I served meals to famous writers and their children in exchange for an affordable workshop fee. One afternoon I found myself in an Adirondack chair in a sunny meadow in Vermont, talking with Julia Alvarez about my story. I remember her exact parting words as she held my hands in her warm grip: “You have talent. Now I wish you luck.”I clung to that first sentence, silently screaming in my own mind, Omigod, Julia Alvarez thinks I have talent! Squee! The memory of those words sustained me through many bouts of writerly self-doubt. But the second sentence, the real blessing, is the one from which I’ve learned the most. There are so many talented writers in our world. I was reminded of that recently while screening entries in our first annual creative nonfiction contest. Our small team carefully read every essay, sometimes multiple times, and we wrangled with each other and ourselves as we culled the work. Fewer than ten percent of the entries went on to our judge. You could say those were the lucky ones, but only a handful of those will be recognized publicly. I’m still eagerly anticipating Sarah Gerard’s decision at the time of this writing, but given the strong pool of essays we forwarded, I am certain that the named winner and finalists are both talented and lucky. Though “luck” is often equated with random chance, that definition doesn’t serve here. If it did, we could have thrown all the entries into a hat and drawn our winner. Clearly, the finalists wrote essays that demonstrated a strong sense of structure and scene, language that was precise, nuanced, able to move us to feel and think anew. Much of what brought those essays to our attention and kept it was within the writer’s control, i.e. not random at all.But some aspects of luck really are out of our control, i.e. you can’t control for an editor’s or judge’s tastes or the particular life circumstances from which they’re reading. I once worked for an editor whose own divorce seemed to unconsciously drive final choices, and I know we passed up strong work that was simply not meshing with the editor’s worldview. (I’ve never forgotten that one of those rejected stories eventually won a Pushcart Prize!)Still, I believe that the greater part of “writer’s luck” is a force over which you do have considerable control. You will not be lucky if you don’t write. You will not be lucky if you don’t send work out. You will not be lucky if you don’t keep sending work out. You will not be lucky if you don’t apply for residencies and grants and waiterships. My mom always said, “God helps those who help themselves.” She trotted that one out to shame me in my whiny, lazy moments, but it’s a useful reminder, whatever your spiritual perspective. Substitute “the Universe” or “Luck” for God. The fact is you will never receive blessings from the writing angels if you don’t keep wrestling them.  I’m grateful for all the writers who sent their work to our first creative nonfiction contest, and I’m truly excited to celebrate the winner and finalists. Please check our website on Monday, July 16! And like Julia Alvarez, I wish you luck, both the random, out-of-the-blue kind, and the kind you make for yourself every day.Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Chauna CraigNonfiction Editor

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: GRIEF AS MOVING AS MUSICA Review of WHISKEY & RIBBONS by Leesa Cross SmithReview by Tyrese Coleman"Cross-Smith breathes life into this first novel of hers with lyricism and beauty..."READ ON

FICTION: CALIFORNIA by Kate Wisel"Niko wiped sweat with his collar, then left me with the tattoo guy who slid a stool under his legs. My nose was broken for the third time. Everything I saw—and I saw everything—contained the swelling’s shadow."READ ON

POETRY: AMERICAN FREIGHTby Kai Carlson-Wee"The Cloudmaker tells me the name of the train,the number of engines to look for,the exact bush to bury myself in shade.You know by the speed and direction it exits,the number of minutes it waits."READ ON

CNF: WHERE I FIND YOU, OR ELSE I WAITby Sutton Strother"In my earliest memory, you’re a horizon we are chasing. Mom’s shoulder is my pillow as she carries me across the dark lawn to the passenger side of our Sunbird."READ ON

FILM: THE GIFT OF CERTAINTY: HOW NETFLIX’S CRIME WAVE WINS US OVER by Alison Lanier"There’s a kind of weighing that goes into watching this: you can’t sit back without an opinion. The nature of a narrative is to lead toward a resolution or at least a culmination of its various facets, and where the narrative is only composed of clues and hints and impressions, the viewer must be active in shaping that amorphous narrative as well."READ ON

MIXED MEDIA: A GRAPHIC STAINA videopoem series by R.W. Perkins"This series is about an America I know, one that is not spoken of in sides, but in familiar landscapes, music, and phrases." - RW PerkinsREAD ON

SUPPORT ATTICUS!

When you

, at the Developer level and above, you'll get our Atticus Review Print Annual. 

You can also

.

We are funded entirely through voluntary contributions from writers and readers.