I started this blog in November 2010, as I was in my second year of a three-year graduate program in creative writing, fiction, at San Francisco State University. I think three years for a grad program is perfect, particularly at a state school. I wrote about the program here. The first year you are learning new ways of seeing and trying out new ways of making. The second year you commit to a project and may end up changing your focus. The third year you are totally committed to the last idea on your plate and work hard to finish. The last semester of the third year you are writing and revising. And then you submit your thesis.
My first thesis was going to be about performance art. Since I hadn't experienced any of the performances firsthand, I researched them and tried to make them the center of some short stories. After writing about ten stories, I realized they didn't have much emotional interest for me. They were intellectually fun to write, but they weren't from the heart. At the time, I was also knitting little brightly colored rectangles to try a new way of felting. Staring at this pile of textiles I wondered, if these had been sweaters who would have worn them? Each one seemed to have a personality. That was the catalyst for a series of short stories set in a fictional town called Snake, located near Lake Havasu in the California desert. It would end up to be 297 typed pages. I graduated.
When I was finished with the Snake stories, I put them away. Five years later, I'm taking them out again, seeing what heart is in them, if they need revision or should be sent out in the world as they are. One of them, "Kumi's Light" is about a young couple, how they met, and what each must accept about the other. It is being published today in the online magazine, Every Day Fiction. I don't usually ask, but if you like it, please give it some stars! You can find it here.
After I had completed the knitting project, I built a little bureau for the sweater fragments. It stands 12.5" x 8.5" x 9.5" tall. I forgot I had also made sachets with cloves, embroidered with words or initials related to the stories. I think O.K. stands for Octavio and Kumi.
My first thesis was going to be about performance art. Since I hadn't experienced any of the performances firsthand, I researched them and tried to make them the center of some short stories. After writing about ten stories, I realized they didn't have much emotional interest for me. They were intellectually fun to write, but they weren't from the heart. At the time, I was also knitting little brightly colored rectangles to try a new way of felting. Staring at this pile of textiles I wondered, if these had been sweaters who would have worn them? Each one seemed to have a personality. That was the catalyst for a series of short stories set in a fictional town called Snake, located near Lake Havasu in the California desert. It would end up to be 297 typed pages. I graduated.
When I was finished with the Snake stories, I put them away. Five years later, I'm taking them out again, seeing what heart is in them, if they need revision or should be sent out in the world as they are. One of them, "Kumi's Light" is about a young couple, how they met, and what each must accept about the other. It is being published today in the online magazine, Every Day Fiction. I don't usually ask, but if you like it, please give it some stars! You can find it here.
After I had completed the knitting project, I built a little bureau for the sweater fragments. It stands 12.5" x 8.5" x 9.5" tall. I forgot I had also made sachets with cloves, embroidered with words or initials related to the stories. I think O.K. stands for Octavio and Kumi.
Read "Kumi's Light" here.
You can comment on it there as well.
Comments
I am also very much enjoying your blog here. I’m interested in book binding, and have taken some wonderful classes at Austin Book Arts Center. Having such clear instructions here, along with good pictures, is very motivating. Thank you again.
You are welcome! and thank you so much for your comments and for reading both the fiction and the nonfiction!