Interview with Bonnie Jo

 

So, I just interviewed and went to a reading from the excellent author Bonnnie Jo Campbell.

In addition to writing a book that just got nominated for the National Book Award (American Salvage) Bonnie also claims such diverse credentials as having worked for Ringling Brothers' Circus, having led bike tours of central Russia, and possessing at least one black belt in the very intimidating art of karate.

Her books tend to focus on rural Michigan, especially Kalamazoo where she grew up and now resides. Her characters cook meth, build fallout shelters for the millennium, and generally act with an exciting eccentricity that is not at all surprising once you've met Bonnie, who is herself an exciting and eccentric person.

From the interview I have culled a large number of fascinating anecdotes, which will be made available through the Rough Copy blog as soon as I get done transcribing this thing.

Interpolation on transcribing: Transcribing interviews is a HUGE pain in the ass. It involves just the right mixture of labor and tedium required to drive a person absolutely insane. My personal recommendation on the subject: avoid entering a career where transcriptions are frequently necessary, or, failing that, get an intern to do it.

Back to the meat of this: Bonnie was incredibly friendly and fascinating. She has what my grandfather would refer to as "horse sense." I enjoy talking with authors as the lack of funds involved with creating their art generally means that they have to live a much more "down-to-Earth" existence than most artistic folk. They have to work menial jobs, live in run-down, uneducated towns and deal day to day with a wide swath of the human mess. As a result they often possess (in addition to the intelligence and curiosity necessary to be an artist) a sense of humor and a realization of their own limitations that makes them far more pleasant human beings.

But anyway...

Bonnie told me some curious things about her process (she never outlines anything, not even novels) and some curious tidbits related to her life (when a horse dies you have to bury it with the feet facing up, as she apparently learned the hard way).

But check out the blog for all of that. In the meantime keep waiting with what I can only assume is handsomely baited breath.

Labor bears fruits

So, here's the first of my the interviews for the Rough Copy blog. Check it out!

As mentioned before I emailed back and forth with sculptor/photographer/all-around artiste Mary Mattingly and she had some interesting stuff to say, which you can now share in and (please) comment on.

It turned out pretty good if I may say so myself.

More info

Marty Mattingly has gotten a hold of me, fortunately (I guess she was indisposed by sickness) and the info I'm getting is very interesting. Apparently there are plans to revive Waterpod and all that lovely junk, so that's going well. I'll probably email back and forth with her a couple more times to solidify the information and then post it to the web. It's refreshing to find an interview subject who's so excited and approachable, though at this point I shouldn't really be surprised by either of those things as I think they're more or less essential to a career in the arts.

Also, it looks like Bonnie Jo Campbell is having a reading in Portland (might have already mentioned this) on the sixteenth of this fine month and I'm going to try and get a hold of her while she's in town and meet up for a beer and quick chat. This will mean I will have to transcribe the interview, which is one of the most obnoxious things in the known world, but that will be okay because she is bound to have some interesting info and it will be a good excuse to do some quality drinking. I hear that just before she was nominated for the National Book Critic's Circle Award she was more or less set on quitting writing so I'm definitely going to ask her about that one (I've long held that the one essential trait of a writer is stubborness).

And speaking of writers and stubborness...Rough Copy has just launched it's first annual fiction competition. The prize is a modest $100 but hopefully this will pull more submissions to the magazine, so I'm helping spread the word on that one. Inform the interested parties.

Anyhow, that's the update. As usual, further bulletins as events warrant.

And we're off...

So, I've had a couple meetings with the folks at Rough Copy and things are coming along nicely. I've ironed out a couple projects that I will pursuing over the term. How about I tell you what they are...

Rough Copy is undergoing a couple large enterprises in the coming months and I will be helping with most of them. First, there is the anthology of the magazine's work that I'm going to have a hand in making a reality. Having featured several authors who are now pretty hot shit (Bonnie Jo Campbell was nominated this year for the National Book Critics Circle Award, eep) it has become a priority for the whole Rough Copy crew to make a physical record of their efforts. The original reason the magazine decided to publish online as opposed to print is because of the costs involved and cost is still the main obstacle to the anthology, but part of my project will be researching publishers and finding a good way to bridge the gap between cost and quality. Also, I'm to start spreading my attentions to local designers who might be a good fit for the anthology's design aspect. I'd really like to see the anthology follow the stellar lead of Tin House and create a literary outlet that actually takes design seriously. There are a couple friends with whom I've had the pleasure of working who might be good for this project so I'm going to get in touch with them.

The main thrust of my project with Rough Copy will be to work on the blog associated with their magazine. Executive Editor Janet Freeman (currently in absentia while writing in Phoenix, but with whom I am corresponding via email) is interested in keeping the magazine's readership going in between the actual publication dates by creating a blog that will give a steadier stream of content to interested bibliophiles. Having amassed a decent amount of experience in print and web, I am to spearhead this effort.

The blog will focus on several things, ranging from interviews to essays to reviews. First and foremost my job will be to conduct some interviews with artists and authors and put these on the interweb. The first interview I will be conducting (curiously enough) will be with Mary Mattingly. Mattingly, as it turns out, is a childhood friend of Managing Editor Ashawnta Jackson and I've been put in touch with Ms. Mattingly to ask her some questions about her life and work. I will then transcribe these, write an excellent introduction and post it to Rough Copy's blog. From preliminary conversations I've had with Mattingly and from research I've done it seems like this will be a very fascinating project. Our conversation has been trending toward a discussion of the modern role of artists and what it is that makes someone an "artist" in this day and age. Good stuff!

After interviewing Mattingly I am going to interview several more authors (including Bonnie Jo Campbell) and post these interviews to the web as well. I will also be facilitating the community calendar on the blog and trying to make Rough Copy a community hub for Portland writers, something that will drive the magazine's viewership and help draw the Portland writing community closer together (hopefully...maybe). In addition to all this I will be soliciting essays and reviews from contributors to place on the blog.

This April will see the fifth edition of Rough Copy hitting the internet and yet another of my tasks will be to help facilitate the launch party for this occasion. Rough Copy's previous launch party took place at Powell's and was met with widespread attendance and an enthusiastic response so I've got to work on ways to one-up that. Eep.

Anyway, I am thoroughly in the thick of this now, as you can plainly see, and my work is coming along at an appreciably hectic pace. Further bulletins as events warrant.

Welcome to the mess

So, for those of you interested (and if you're reading this I assume you're interested) this blog has been set up to chronicle my work with Rough Copy Magazine in Winter/Spring 2010. I'm undertaking this project as part of my Senior Capstone at PSU, but I also have the great pleasure of working with the staff of Rough Copy for the simple reason that I am a humongous fan of their magazine and would love to help in its production. Is this awesome? Why yes, this is totally awesome, and let me  tell you why.

Rough Copy is an online literary magazine making its initial forays into the printed world (this will partially be my task when working with the magazine, helping make this a reality). Have you clicked that link yet? Because if you haven't then you should. Rough Copy has the unique advantage of not only providing a well-rounded and methodical crop of literary offerings but also of making these offerings free to the public, something literary magazines have been slow to do for a number of reasons, all of which Rough Copy seems to have happily surpassed.

If you're so disposed, I would check out "The Countdown as Seen From 2000 Feet Above" by Sandy Tanaka, "The Power of Fiction" by Benjamin Chadwick, and "Our Problem" by Molly Giles. All of these stories are from people working at the top of their form and together they should give a nice impression of the alternately experimental and traditional material being published by the magazine.

In addition to fiction, Rough Copy offers an excellent selection of poetry, non-fiction, and just a little bit of art, which I recommend you check out as well.

My job in all this is still being defined, but like I said, from early talks with the magazine's editorial staff it seems like I will be focusing on the compilation of an anthology of the magazine's works as well as on the release of their fifth issue, due out this Spring. As their past issues have been accompanied by readings and other community projects it's a safe bet to say that this aspect of my work with Rough Copy will fit well with the "pedagogical art" side of this class.

My contacts at Rough Copy are Ashawnta Jackson, managing editor and talented poetess, and Janet Freeman, executive editor, talented writer, and currently in absentia while she works on the above in the spacious wilds of Arizona (I think...I might have to double check that). In any case, most of my work will be done with Ashawnta, whose talent and hard work I am eagerly waiting to be a part of.

Further bulletins as events warrant, may everyone have a lovely time between now and then.