My first review for this fabulous site is now up here; I'm pleased to be starting up as one of their regular reviewers. I haven't been reviewing on a regular basis since I left Publishers Weekly a few years back. (Good lord, how many years was that? Don't check; better not to know.) Over those (uncounted) years, I reviewed a few books here and there (for Rain Taxi and American Book Review, plus some scholarly journals), but I wasn't really connecting with any particular place, or else I was just too tired to start back up again as a regular reviewer.
But as the years passed I found I missed reviewing more and more. This surprised me a bit, after my burn-out at PW. But part of what's nice about reviewing for Bookslut is choosing my books. I always got top authors to review at PW, but the twice-a-month schedule was a bit brutal. Plus I kept that twice-a-month pace with few breaks for two years. (The schedule was hard, but when Reed, who owned PW, downsized many of the review staff and cut our pay for reviews almost in half, it really got old.)
For six months now, I've been sniffing around at a number of different places, thinking about getting back into it. I thought at first that I would like to write for Bookforum. The book review editor there is a really nice guy. He suggested I start out by writing one of their book syllabi for them. So I pitched my syllabus on fantastic lit that I have posted on this site (it's the Monday, 11/15/10 entry on The Literary Fantastic) and the editor gave it a go. I wrote it up, but then he didn't feel it fit with their format. Okay, I thought, I haven't yet taught the class on which I based that syllabus. (I'm teaching it now: it's called "The Sacred and Profane in the Secular Realm: Fantastic and Postmodern Contemporary Novels.") So I pitched another syllabus, this time basing it on a class I had finished teaching (it was called "The Other: Literary Outsiders"). The editor didn't like the first pitch on The Other because it sounded too academic, so I re-wrote it, using language that was more slangy. But that version didn't work for him either. So I pitched another syllabus on novels that portray life in the theater world. Never heard back from him.
I was puzzled at first. The book editor was kind and seemed encouraging, even while nixing my projects. Each time he'd compliment me and say he thought we would find something that would work. I wondered if I was being politely blown off, but then thought, well, I'm a professional; he's got to know that he can just tell me if what I'm writing doesn't work for him. He knows I'll be cool with it. And since he continues to be encouraging, it must be because he does think I can do something for Bookforum, I just have to find the right tone and/or subject.
I think, in the end, Bookforum and I didn't fit each other. It was a mini-lesson for me in the difference between the world of professional publishing and academia. As a teacher, over the years I've developed the ability to give hard, precise criticism to my students, and to be firm in telling them what doesn't work. (I like to think: tough but fair, but at times I'm sure students want to weep.) However, professional interactions are different. Out here in the world of publishing, no one wants to hurt your feelings, even if you say and act like you can take it. I continue to admire and respect Bookforum, and honestly, I should have been more astute about my own tonal preferences and aesthetics. I realize now that I really turn on the earnest enthusiasm, the moral intensity, leavened by maybe a soupcon of puppyish playfulness. In contrast, Bookforum articles are wry and hip and have a kind of New York knowing that I don't have. I probably didn't have it even when I lived in that city. I really admire the urban communal identity, and sometimes wish I could align my own sensibilities with it, but nope, I can't.
So, I am now a bookslut. I am really happy with where I've landed, love Jessa Crispin and Michael Schaub, Bookslut's smart and witty guiding lights, and (can you tell?) really enjoy getting to call myself a bookslut. And who doesn't like the outsider cool cachet?
But as the years passed I found I missed reviewing more and more. This surprised me a bit, after my burn-out at PW. But part of what's nice about reviewing for Bookslut is choosing my books. I always got top authors to review at PW, but the twice-a-month schedule was a bit brutal. Plus I kept that twice-a-month pace with few breaks for two years. (The schedule was hard, but when Reed, who owned PW, downsized many of the review staff and cut our pay for reviews almost in half, it really got old.)
For six months now, I've been sniffing around at a number of different places, thinking about getting back into it. I thought at first that I would like to write for Bookforum. The book review editor there is a really nice guy. He suggested I start out by writing one of their book syllabi for them. So I pitched my syllabus on fantastic lit that I have posted on this site (it's the Monday, 11/15/10 entry on The Literary Fantastic) and the editor gave it a go. I wrote it up, but then he didn't feel it fit with their format. Okay, I thought, I haven't yet taught the class on which I based that syllabus. (I'm teaching it now: it's called "The Sacred and Profane in the Secular Realm: Fantastic and Postmodern Contemporary Novels.") So I pitched another syllabus, this time basing it on a class I had finished teaching (it was called "The Other: Literary Outsiders"). The editor didn't like the first pitch on The Other because it sounded too academic, so I re-wrote it, using language that was more slangy. But that version didn't work for him either. So I pitched another syllabus on novels that portray life in the theater world. Never heard back from him.
I was puzzled at first. The book editor was kind and seemed encouraging, even while nixing my projects. Each time he'd compliment me and say he thought we would find something that would work. I wondered if I was being politely blown off, but then thought, well, I'm a professional; he's got to know that he can just tell me if what I'm writing doesn't work for him. He knows I'll be cool with it. And since he continues to be encouraging, it must be because he does think I can do something for Bookforum, I just have to find the right tone and/or subject.
I think, in the end, Bookforum and I didn't fit each other. It was a mini-lesson for me in the difference between the world of professional publishing and academia. As a teacher, over the years I've developed the ability to give hard, precise criticism to my students, and to be firm in telling them what doesn't work. (I like to think: tough but fair, but at times I'm sure students want to weep.) However, professional interactions are different. Out here in the world of publishing, no one wants to hurt your feelings, even if you say and act like you can take it. I continue to admire and respect Bookforum, and honestly, I should have been more astute about my own tonal preferences and aesthetics. I realize now that I really turn on the earnest enthusiasm, the moral intensity, leavened by maybe a soupcon of puppyish playfulness. In contrast, Bookforum articles are wry and hip and have a kind of New York knowing that I don't have. I probably didn't have it even when I lived in that city. I really admire the urban communal identity, and sometimes wish I could align my own sensibilities with it, but nope, I can't.
So, I am now a bookslut. I am really happy with where I've landed, love Jessa Crispin and Michael Schaub, Bookslut's smart and witty guiding lights, and (can you tell?) really enjoy getting to call myself a bookslut. And who doesn't like the outsider cool cachet?
