Ouch!

I love a good literary fued and this writer is starting a war. He lists 15 of America's Overrated Writers. Click here.

Your thoughts?

Asian American Journalist Association--AAJA

I'd been attending the AAJA conference this week, learning all the neat things that journalists need to know to get by. I went to a workhop on "search tools" and got caught up on this OPENBOOK thing. Click here.

Essentially, it shows how unprivate Facebook is. Unless you have privacy settings in place, anyone can search your profile--even if they're not one of your "friends." Try it out. Plug in a topic of interest like "Prop 8" or "Obama" or "Lady Gaga" and it shows you what people (you) are saying about the subject.

Um...

I had a good discussion with my agent. He gave me feedback on the first 50 pages of my new novel. In a word to describe the first 50 pages: useless. Well, maybe I'm being too harsh, but he didn't think those first 50 pages should start the novel. He said it was all exposition. Start with action, action, action!

The funny thing is I know this. This was the same note I got with my last novel. These are "throat-clearing" pages. Now, that it's clear, maybe I could start anew. Here is the first paragraph that I wrote this morning.

Chapter One

"It was never my intention to be a father, let alone be a father to a sick child. My wife wanted a baby and I’d do anything for her. Through my ups and downs as a writer, she’d stuck by me. Now, she wanted this. She wanted to be a mother. We adopted because we can’t have any of our own. If I’d known our son would be sick, I wouldn’t have done it. Frankly, I wanted to give him back."

Kind Rejection

I got my first rejection for my short story collection this week. It was truly the kindest rejection I'd ever gotten. The editor said he was familiar with my work and he enjoyed my last book, but he chose to pass on this project.

Libraries in the News!

(Writer Naomi Hirahara speaking her mind)

I hosted a press conference on the library cuts in Los Angeles. The LA Weekly covered it. Read here.

It also made the news. Here's the video (with me getting a little ticked).

Un-Slam

Un-Slam The Doors-Keep Our Library Open: A Protest Rally at Central Library

Where: Central Library Fifth Street Entrance When: Monday, July 19th at 9:30 AM

On Monday, July 19, for the first time in our library's history, the Los Angeles Public Library is ordered to shut its doors on Mondays to our patrons, including our city's children. Because of the Mayor's budget cuts and layoffs, a two year hiring freeze, and retirements, our library is now reduced to five days a week service (Tuesday thru Saturday).

This Monday closure is a historical, unprecedented cut to the library and is the first sign of the Mayor and City Council's sweeping blow to the rest of our city services.

In protest, city workers and library supporters of all ages are staging a rally, demonstration and program at Central Library on the first closed Monday of the budget cuts. Distinguished speakers and local slam poets will be featured. We are united in our call to city leaders: Restore our library's hours! Restore our library's services! Restore our library's programs!

I'm hosting this baby! I'll be there with D'Lo, Imani Tolliver, Naomi Hirahara and more!

It Begins...

My agent started sending out my manuscript to publishers. Breathe in...out.

Linda!

I had the pleasure of visiting Linda Smith's studio. Her work is colorful, overwhelming, loud. It is both a ballad and a scream. "Breathtaking" is on overused descriptor, but I finally understood the meaning of that word when I saw her art. I walked through her studio, a place that held canvasses from the 1980's, and felt a sense of awe.

It is always a pleasure hearing how an aritst creates and why. The above video is only a glimpse of the two hours that we shared eating, talking and laughing.

Check out her website here.

Look at what I found...

This hobby is really making me happy...and broke. Seriously, I'm really seeing all of the beautiful things in the world and how people just give them up. Or get tired of them.

I found one lovely painting and on the back read, "For my honey, Happy Birthday, I Love you!!!"

Perhaps there was a break-up and this source of beauty became a source of pain. It was discarded, and now I have it. I have their moment, when times were good. I framed it.

I have another painting that reads: "To: My 'Precious' friend Vicky. Love Always Holden." It's dated 1920. Decades later, I wonder about Holden and how he still loves Vicky. Always, he wrote. That's a very long time.

Done!

Made revisions. Sent another draft to my agent. Let's see what happens.

Recent Art Saves

These amazing paintings were "saved." My apartment is getting stacked with art. What to do?

John and Me

Promising on June 11: Riffing on Pride

On June 11, Queers writers will riff on Pride. On the eve of Gay Pride Weekend, nine amazing writers will explore Pride—all sorts of PRIDE. True creativity will shine as writers read work that exemplifies Pride’s meaning. This could be discussing civic Pride, an analysis of Pride and Prejudice, a description of a Pride of animals, the Deadly Sin of Pride and, of course, gay Pride.

Contributing to the fray:
Hailed as one of “the top 5 up and coming solo artists” by Music Connection Magazine, ALEX DAVIS is a transman to be reckoned with. In 2004, he began touring local venues in LA, leaving audiences awed and moved by his phenomenal talent and raw emotion. With influences such as Elliott Smith and Kurt Cobain, he's apt to be driven. Check him out at http://www.luckyalex.com/

ALISON DE LA CRUZ is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist and community-based cultural organizer. Whether working in theater, film, arts education, administration, music, or arts and culture, De La Cruz is always exploring something.

Described as a “jolt of creative and comedic energy,” D'LO is a Tamil Sri L.A.nkan-American, political theatre artist/writer, director, comedian and music producer.

LARRY DUPLECHAN is the author of five novels, including Blackbird and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got ‘til it’s Gone. His hobbies include playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs.

DAVID FRANCIS' first novel Agapanthus Tango was published internationally in seven languages and then in the United States as The Great Inland Sea. His second novel, Stray Dog Winter won the American Library Association Stonewall Prize. http://www.straydogwinter.com/.

JACKY GUERRERO is an award-winning journalist in Los Angeles.

HANK HENDERSON curates the monthly reading series homo-centric. His first solo show, Stories From the Fugue State, will be performed at Highways this July.

RIC MONTEJANO is a writer, director, actor who has proudly had his work performed at Highways Performance Arts Space, Wordspace in Los Feliz, Stories in Echo Park, the West Hollywood Book Fair, the Village and various venues around the state. He has always been a proud gay man

IMANI TOLLIVER has been honored with a Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles for her work as a promoter, host and publicist in support of the literary arts in Southern California. She also served as the 2007/2008 Poet Laureate for the Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Promising Series will take place on Friday, June 11 at 7:30pm. Skylight Bookstore, 1818 North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90029, (323) 660-1175.

A Viable Collection--Oh, Joy!

My agent had been slowly giving me feedback on my collection of shorts, Laconic Messages of Love. I was worried that he'd say this book isn't quite ready with these stories, maybe you should write a few others. Imagine my relief when I got a stash of revisions with a note stating that this is a "viable collection." I jumped for joy! I hope to send him a final draft this month, which means Noel goes into hibernation for the next several weeks.

In his note, he said that this collection might be easier to sell if I had a "promise of a novel" to go with it. Of course, I have a novel. And I promised him the first fifty pages in July, which means Noel goes into more hibernation.

I think I was a bear in a previous life.

Literary Psyche Up

I submitted a story to a liteary journal, one I had been rejected from before. It took so much mental focus to actually mail the story off. I had to fight the voices, the ones that said I'll probably get a rejection letter, ones that said it costs too much time, effort and money to mail something off that'll probably get rejected, one that said you should be doing other things (like laundry) rather than preparing a story the editors probably won't like anyway.

I got it to the post office and will try my best to forget about it. What else can I do?

Art-Save of the week!

I found this nude (and a few others) at a thriftstore in West Hollywood. This was behind some other paintings. I simply fell inlove with it. That red just drew me in. I guess the artist of this painting recently passed away. Other paintings and drawings of hers are still available at the store. Alas, I only have so much money to save art. I'd suggest you go to the Out of the Closet in Weho, on Santa Monica Blvd.

The artist was Mary Retting. She did lovely work. She may be gone, but her creativy lingers on. Thank you, Mary. Your work lives on. I'm sure it'll provide me with wonder for years to come.

Skylight Reads!

If you're around on this Memorial Day Weekend, please join staff at Skylight Books as we read from our work! It'll be this Saturday. More here.

Art-Saving in our thrift stores

Last year I was in Goodwill buying a shirt. A painting caught my eye. It was an abstract painting in varying hues of orange, sunset colors really. After staring at it for awhile, I saw that it was really a painting of a butterfly. I smiled because the art transformed right before my eyes, as long as I was willing to see it in a different way. Of course, the concept of transformation, change is often represented in a butterfly and, perhaps, that's why the artist chose it as a motif. I was moved by the painting because it depicted chyrsalis and the burnt orange made me sigh.

The painting was $50, which was something that wasn't in my budget. I was there for a $5 shirt, not a painting. My pragmatic side kicked in and I decided to think about it. When I returned to Goodwill, I discovered that the staff had placed several pictures on top of the painting. The corners of the pictures dented the canvas, ruining it. Management took notice and repriced the piece at $9.99.

I didn't buy it. I left angry. I felt like a beautiful person had been defaced and I was mad at myself for not buying it when I had the chance. In the last year, I'd "saved" several pieces of art from thriftstores. Below are some of them.






This piece I'm particularly proud of saving. It's by Linda Smith. Her website here. Her work sits in Madonna's private collection. Ironically, I e-mailed her about this piece and we have mutual friends. I plan to attend a group show that she's a part of in June.

Support New Orleans

I just returned from New Orleans. I'd never been to this city and I'm certainly going back! After New Orleans, I believe I'd seen the trifecta of Eurpean colonies in America. New England has its British roots, Southern California has its Spanish roots. Well, New Orleans gave me the point of view of our French Colonizers. Mon Dieu! I learned alot. There's a lot of history in New Orleans: the first colonists were the unwanted of France--thieves, murderers and whores. The French seemd to be the most civil with their slaves--if you want to call owning slaves civil--but the Noire Code, forbid the beating and killing of slaves. In addition, Slaves were allowed to have second jobs in order to buy their own freedom, leading up to Louisiana having the largest number of wealthiest blacks in the South. African Americans were allowed to assemble, which led to the birth of jazz.



Of course we know New Orleans had seen some tough times. Katrina had devasted the city, something the city hadn't quite recovered from. The oil spill in the Gulf threatens wildlife and fishing in the area. This is why anyone reading this blog should flock to New Orleans and support its residents. They desperatly need the commerce.

What I loved about the New Orleans is that it so supports its artists. Buying local art is tax free. There is an array of literary festivals worth attending: the Tennessee Williams Festival, the William Faulkner fest, and Saints and Sinners, the LGBT lit fest.



I was there for the Saints and Sinners conference, a place to talk about writing and develop our skills. I went to accept the James Duggins Award for mid-career artists. This is me with fellow winner Lee Lynch. I dressed as a jass musician to honor the city.



On Sunday morning, the day before I was supposed to leave, it rained. It was quite lovely.

Happy Birthday, Highways!

I went to the Highways 21st Anniversary Party and had a blast. In the lobby, they had programs from the last 21 years, including the above pic (taken with my blackberry). This was back in 1999. Trust me, I went all nostalgic looking at the past photos. I also remembered the anxiety and joy of putting on a show where I wrote and performed it all.

Back then, the only way I knew how to speak, make a statement about the world, was on the stage. Now, I do it through books or essays or short stories. I'm somewhat satisfied with being heard this way. I always said that I'd go back to the stage when I have something to say that need theatrical conventions. I have some ideas brewing but nothing concrete. My last show at Highways was in 2002, so I'm worried that I hadn't developed a how in nearly ten years!

I'd been wondering about other ways to get my point across. I'm thinking about visual art or conceptual art. Hmmmm. Maybe I can do a show incorporating that.

Read more about Highways here.

Hollywood on Broadway

The Tony nominations are out, and it looks like Hollywood has invaded Broadway. In the 1990's, I was in New York seeing plays. I didn't recognize names of most of the actors. There was something cool about that. With theatres struggling to stay alive, it seems casting movie or tv stars is a way of insuring an audience.

It just means that well-studied actors dedicated to their craft might lose a role to someone who was on a season of Survivor.

Click here.

Run to the Nick Cave Exhibition

If you haven't been to the Nick Cave Exhibit at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, you'll kick yourself. It was STUNNING! More here.

I was simply floored with what he was doing with fabric and beads and faux fur and sequence. It really is something to experience. It ends May 20. Go!

Supporting Our Teachers

I went to a fundraiser for 826LA, a remarkable organization doing fine work. Read about them here. It was a group founded by author Dave Eggers. There were celebrities there, like Jimmy Kimmel. Regardless, I was honored to meet Jose Navarro, California's Teacher of the year. He wanted something from Mr. Kimmel, and well, I think he should get his wish. Don't you think? Let's make teachers the cool ones!


Another person I met there was film director Judd Apatow. I asked if he wouldn't mind appearing on my blog. Imagine my surprise when he agreed! I could barely contain my excitement. He got some life-changing support in school.

My Bathroom Interview with Stephen Elliot

Last Friday, I attended the Granta party in Los Angeles. For those who aren't familiar with the magazine, it "was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University as The Granta, a periodical of student politics, student badinage and student literary enterprise, named after the river that runs through the town."

The party launched the sex issue. More here.

It was most fun, especially when I interviewed author Stephen Elliot in a dark bathroom at the party. Believe me, there were people whispering when two men exited the bathroom and one was holding a camera.

Thank You, Mr. Duggins

James Duggins was a professor in San Francisco, and currently retired. He loves books, specifically gay and lesbians books. Each year an award is given in his name at the Saints and Sinners Conference in New Orleans. It honors "mid-career" authors. This year, I won. I share it with lesbian writer Lee Lynch.

I am honored and humbled. I really am. More here.

Places I'll Be

UCLA Career Week, Tuesday, April 20

I'll be at Career Week to talk up the writing life and my work doing Communications in my nonprofit world. It's called "Write On! Writing and Communications Careers."

More here.

Smartgals Annual Poetry Slam, Sunday, April 25th



6 Dead Poets, 3 Celebrity Judges, 2 Teams, 1 Winner! Smart Gals Speakeasy Presents:U.S. vs. THEM: The Axis of Poetry Speakeasy

Sunday, April 25thth7:00 – 9:00pm
Mt Hollywood Underground
4607 Prospect Ave., Los Feliz
Admission: $15.00


More here.

Skylight Books

Monday, April 19, 7:30pm, to host Joanna Rakoff and her new book "A Fortunate Age."

Friday, April 30, 7:30pm, to host David Vann for his collection "Legend of a Suicide."

More here.

Me and GQ

This is Ron Darling, the first Asian man on the cover of GQ, waaaay back in 1986. We need more! Check out my Huffington Post Piece: Hey, GQ! Put an Asian Man on the Cover, Will Ya?

Losing It All and Gaining More

I remember when Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez got a shitload of money for her first book, The Dirty Girls Social Club. Ms. V-R and Dirty Girls were supposed to be the Latina version of Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale. I wondered what it must be like to get that kind of cash. Now, all these years later, she's broke and looking for a job, any job. Read it here.

It's beautifully written and I became extremely sad. It seemed it took her losing it all to realize that she had it all in her friends and family. She and I are about the same age, but she didn't see the extent of AIDS that I saw. Life is precious; people can go, like that! Something I learned from that terrible time is that life with family and friends is really all the joy you'll ever need.

Her essay was really a look at degrees. Her writing about Latinas may not be as accessible as she'd hoped, but trust me, her writing will get more notice than a writer trying to tell tales of Latina lesbian life.

I was bothered by some points in her essay, particularly about how she felt she didn't get the kind of support she hoped for from her community. She stated her initial success as a reason why no one took to her. She went as far to say that a book club curator that promotes Latino/a authors "hates" her because she's successful.

What she didn't realize is that she WAS (and STILL IS) successful, and for every writer like her, there are fifty who didn't get a publicist with their book deal. I curate a literary series and try to get the word out about unheard of writers. Some more prominent writers seem to wonder why I hadn't asked them to read. Well, because they read all the time, everywhere. They don't need my little literary series that meets ups quarterly. (Frankly, I've seen little known writers just ecstatic at reading at a bookstore like Skylight and I've experienced NYT bestselling authors who show no gratitude at all.)

In reading Ms. V-R's essay, particularly about how she's struggling to get by, I thought: oh, she's become like most of us trying to make ends meet. She wrote, "I lost my car this week. I simply gave it back to Lexus because I can’t afford it anymore." It's hard to get my sympathy when you drove a Lexus. I drove my beat-up jeep for seventeen years, then bought a used Chrysler. I still take the bus, especially when gas prices rose to nearly five dollars a gallon. I plan on taking the bus today.

Regardless of her downfall, she's still more publishable than most writers that I know. Most writers I know don't have movie options of any kind. She may get a small advance for her books, but something tells me that it's still larger than mine. (And mine was larger than a friend who got her book published by a university that didn't give her an advance at all.)

Always stay grateful. There are always those doing better than you and those doing worse.

(Thanks Los Angelista for giving me a heads-up about this article.)

Full Circle on E-bay

It's no secret that I'm a big Monty Clift fan. Every once and awhile, I'll get on e-bay and see what kind of Montgomery Clift memoriabilia is available. There were times that I had multiple bids on photos, books, magazine covers with my favorite actor's mug on it.

Well, things have come full cirlce, as I've been listed among all the Monty Clift stuff on e-bay. See here.

I'm tickled actually.

Atwood's Tale

There was a time in my writing life when Margaret Atwood was all I read. Bodily Harm, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace were books that captivated me. She wrote in first person with a goal of exploring the lives of women in Canada.

At the time, I was getting a grip on writing a book length project in first person and her work served as a model. I saw her give a talk at Dutton's in Brentwood (the line was loooooong) and was surprised at how physically small she was.

There's this interesting article on Atwood and her use of Twitter. Click here. It makes me smile to know that she's still at it, still connecting with readers.

Political Erotica

Guess who wrote sex scenes. I thought this was hilarious. I actually warmed to these people. Writing sex scenes is hard. Read this in Huffington.

New York, New York

I'd been reflecting on the last several days. I went to New York for the purpose of dropping off my manuscript and reconnecting with my agent, Al Zuckerman, a man I hadn't seen in five years. He's the founder of Writers House, a literary agency. We talked about work, which seems to be going well for Writers House, a place that saw the wild success of two of their authors: Stephanie Meyer (The Twilight Series) and Michael Lewis (The Blind Side).

Then the conversation turned to me and my collection of short stories, which even Al had to admit would be a hard sell. Yikes. I'd been through this process before and know the dance. This dance might be a little harder to move to. The publshing industry has been hit hard by the economy and they're more picky about who to place into print. I know finer writers who didn't get their books published in the last two years and, well, that's just the reality.

My book will be read by my agent, then returned to me. I revise, then back to my agent. He reads it again, and more revisions. This process could take a year. Maybe by then the economy would have improved. We'll see.

Regardless, I had a blast in the Big Apple: sight seeing, catching a play on Broadway, hanging out with my friend Stephen (who was kind enough to host me--Thanks, Sir!). I hadn't been to New York in several years and was blown away at how Times Square has turned into Las Vegas. It was rather overwhelming. Hence, my expression in the photo.

Something tells me I'll be back in that town sooner than later.

Lammy Noms Are In!

(Above, Lambda Lit. Executive Dirctor Tony Valenzuela)

Congrats to the Lambda Literary Award Noms! Click here. The Lammy's is one of my faves when it comes to award season. It basically mentions some of the best LGBT work that came along in the last year. I'm always amazed at how many books I didn't know about. That, in itself, is why such awards exist: to give publicity to books that so desperately need it.

I was happy to see that a few of the books that I realy enjoyed were nominated (Blue Boy, Salvation Army, Silverlake). I judged one year and know how hard it is to come up with finalists. There was obvious junk in the pile of books I was asked to read, but there were some really great stuff. I was given 22 books to read in my category. Of those 22, there were 8 or 9 books that were really great. Unfortunately, there were only five slots. My peers went back and forth, back and forth and settled on five titles we seemed to agree on.

It's a hard job, but I guess that's why it's called "judging."

Buy Beads

Halie Kampman, a young entrepreneur, started this really cool company: Beads for Development. It's cool because it helps a community in Africa become more self-sufficient.

Here's their Mission Statement:

The mission of Beads for Development is to help women play a role in the development of Saint Jean. Through the sales of traditional West African beads, Beads for Development aims to increase global awareness and cultural exchange.

More here.

Rush!

One week from today I'm going to be giving a draft of my short story collection to my agent. This book, tentatively titled "Laconic Messages of Love and Other Stories," will have eleven pieces that I'd been working on for years. About four of them are published, but most have never seen the light of day.

Of course, there is always that one story that won't allow itself to be finished. It feels like I'm nearly done. But I've been saying that for weeks.

I won't let myself even think about how hard it is to sell a short story collection, particularly now in this publishing climate. All I can worry about is getting this mother done!

The Power of Art

ART BEYOND BARRIERS
Live Art Petition to stop human rights violations in the Philippines
FREE the 43 health workers! Never Again to Martial Law!

barrier – a structure that prevents or hinders movement or action

We would like to invite you to share your images, movement, rhythm, and voices to break beyond the barriers and take action to stop human rights violations in the Philippines.

In an ongoing assault on human rights by the Philippine government, 43 health workers were illegally arrested and detained on February 6, 2010 in Morong, Rizal, Philippines. They are still illegally being held at the Philippine Military Camp Capinpin and have endured three weeks of continuous ill treatment and torture in the military camp. This situation is critical. Each day that the 43 health workers are not released, it is one more day they have to endure pain, fear, and torture.

Please join us in the movement to demand freedom through art by participating in this Live Art Petition to demand the immediate release of the 43 health workers, Stop human rights violations, and to say Never Again to Martial Law in the Philippines.

The first Art Beyond Barriers Live Petition will be held after the convening of the “Never Again to Martial Law in the Philippines” Coalition for Southern California.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
Southern California Never Again to Martial Law Convention, 3:00 pm
Live Art Petition will begin at 5:30 pm

Fernando’s Hideaway
519 S Spring St (between 5th St and 6th St)
Los Angeles, CA 90013

This project will tour North America. More information will be forthcoming about other cities and countries where the Art Beyond Barriers Petition will tour.

About Art Beyond Barriers Live Art Petition:

A coming together of concerned artists, communities, and human rights supporters to create a movement for change through music, voice, dance, images, and words created during the Art Beyond Barriers collaboration.

You don’t need to be an artist to participate and all ages are welcome.

Participation in the Live Art Petition means you support the movement to stop human rights violations in the Philippines, support the call to Free the 43 health workers, and to say Never Again to Martial Law in the Philippines.

Support of this movement is in support of a global movement to uphold and defend human rights.

What to bring with you:

A passion for making art in all forms whether it be through music, song, dance, spoken word, written word, images, and collaborating with other artists and non-artist to create a movement for change.

Art materials, instruments of all kinds (you can be creative and bring found objects; anything that can make a rhythm), movement, voice, poems, and anything you would like to share with others in this experience.

This project is in collaboration with Melissa Roxas, poet, human rights activist, and survivor of abduction and torture in the Philippines; and Habi Arts, an artist collective that promotes political and artistic empowerment to inspire and mobilize people for progressive social change (habi-arts.org).

"Brief" Recommendation

I just finished The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.

This novel delves into the importance of Memory. Think of all of the people you encountered in your entire life, even the nameless ones. They exist in the after-life as long as we remember them. That is the premise of this novel, and a brilliant one at that.

The book packs in a lot in a mere 250 pages. This can easily be read in a weekend and it caused me to ponder. Remembering the Dead. Isn't that why I write? Who will speak for those who couldn't speak before? Millions of people died of AIDS--each of them deserves a book dedicated to their memory.

What I most enjoyed about this book is that it inspired me to write. I write regularly, but reading a book like this stirred my love of stories and characters and plotting. If you can, pick up Brockmeier's novel.

More here.

I Can't Stop Watching this Video

Aftermath

I'm still high from my last weekend. I had a great time performing and reading. After my reading at USC, I taught a quick writing workshop (students above). What was interesting about my reading at USC was how I was able to fill time. I had one hour to present work. Earlier in my career, I would have wondered how the hell do I fill up that amount of time. I read from two novels, presented work from two plays, three short stories and one essay. The time went by quickly. I had some friends read excerpts from short stories (Thanks John, Giovanni, and Rebecca). That way I didn't have to bore everyone with the sound of my voice.

Last weekend, I also did a reading from an anthology I was in and performed for Smartgals. All went well and I was truly grateful to be a part of the festivities.