Got Awesome Editor Feedback on My Story Collection!!!

That's all the blog needs to say today.  Ja ja ja.  Seriously, I got some great feedback on the first short story, "Down South where the Water Is Warm," from Adam Gottlieb who Karen Lewis recently called "a good Jewish boy".  Based on his awesome analysis, I am definitely going to look at the pacing and side stories.  To me, the pacing is fine for a short story, but the side stories I know get annoying or could get annoying for others.

I honestly don't know if it's a Latino thing or how my weird brain works.  In my family, we can't tell a story without embedding a few more.  In fact, my mother is the queen of annoying tangents.  That's why I'm never going to run out of material.  Every time I go home or to visit family, the stories are often weirder than fiction.  

Maybe that's why white people don't like us.  

Anyway, I also worked on my novel and am filling in the narrative more.  I've been very dialogue heavy, and have been introducing too many characters, so I am going to focus on the ones that I have established.  Right now, the draft is at 174 single-spaced pages, but I suspect the chapters are too short for chapters.  That really is up to me.  Chapter conventions don't really matter, and I don't even think the length needs to be uniform or consistent.

Speaking of not giving a shit about norms, I am going to see Junot Diaz this Friday!  I missed him last time he came to Chicago.  I don't want to hype it up too much, but I love his work!  I will try to take pictures, maybe even get a book signed, if I can find a clean copy of one.  (Oh, that is funny cuz he curses like a Brooklyn whore in his work.)

Screw conventions.  #Resist 

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