November 23, 2009

Give us your Creative Nonfiction!

If you write creative nonfiction, the following might change your life (or just help increase the amount of work you’ve published):

Of the three genres that the Blue Mesa Review accepts, creative nonfiction is the one that receives the fewest submissions. That means that if you write meditative essays, humor, memoir, travel essays, lyrical vignettes, literary journalism, hybrids of the above, or anything else that can be called “creative nonfiction,” we like you and want you to send us your work. So revisit those old computer documents, put the finishing touches on what you’re currently revising, or put to paper the writing idea that you can’t stop thinking about–we’re waiting to read your nonfiction creations.

Please direct any questions about submitting creative nonfiction to bmrnonfc@unm.edu.

November 17, 2009

Margaret Atwood Gives Great Love/Life Advice

Margaret Atwood and her life partner of 40 years Graeme Gibson read from their latest works at UNM this evening: The Year of The Flood, and The bedside book of beasts. Margaret kicked off the night with some music by Orville Stoeber, (who got his hands on Margaret’s manuscript through her literary agent Phoebe Larmore) that was directly inspired by her original hymns in The Year of The Flood. Margaret  continued by joyfully reading some passages from her book that depicted a future full of questions about natural resources, biohazards , and the eating of meat! (Margaret is strictly Veg!) Margaret took to the mic with authority as she read to the audience: “Do you want to eat, or be eaten? Kill or be killed? Hunt or be hunted? Give or take? Because you see all these questions are the same.”

Graeme then took the stage reading passages from his book, which concerned itself with  precisely the question of  hunter and hunted, and natural law.


The floor was then opened up for questions, and Margaret and Graeme took turns answering. It seemed that most questions revolved around matters of the heart and politics: How will we renew our fallen natural resources?, is civilization killing the planet?, Is it possible to have a relationship and be a writer?, How do we motivate people to conserve and do more? (Margaret called this the question of hope.) This all made me ask myself “why are we looking to fiction authors to answer our questions of the heart, and our concerns about the future existence of our planet?” But then I realized we’ve always looked to them for answers, by reading, and letting them imagine our futures and heartaches for us. Is it possible, that by reading into Margaret Atwood’s fictional future where Texas is no longer apart of the US, it can leave room for us to make the future different? By reading The Sorrows of Young Wurther do we not learn caution in romantic obsessions?

When one brave audience member raised her hand and asked: “How do you make Love work?” Margaret thought for a bit, and said

“If you’re looking for the stuff in perfume ads, we’ve past that point (though it’s a good place to start), but when it come to getting along everyday it takes a lot of patience.” Graeme then took the microphone,”And I’m known for having lots of it.”

Margaret opened her reading by saying that people have raised questions about the pessimistic future she portrays in her novel. She said she always tells them, “This is a book, it has a front cover and a back cover, and when you close it, all that stuff stays inside the book. Keep it a book, and your life will be much happier.”

We’re with you Margaret.

-The Editorial Board

P.S. Wish Margaret a happy birthday on Wednesday!

P.P.S Visit Margaret Atwood’s Tweets! and her blog!

November 16, 2009

BMR Congratulates Issue 19 Contributor Lori Ostlund

Blue Mesa Review wanted to take the time to congratulate Lori Ostlund on the publication of her first collection of short stories, The Bigness of the World, which won the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and was published by the University of Georgia Press in fall 2009. Her stories have appeared in New England ReviewBellingham ReviewThe Georgia ReviewThe Kenyon ReviewHobart, and Prairie Schooner, and her story “Nobody Walks to the Mennonites” was published in issue 19 of the Blue Mesa Review issue.

In 2009, Ostlund was one of six emerging women writers honored with a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She has a B.A. from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a M.A. in English from the University of New Mexico, and currently lives in San Francisco with her partner, the novelist Anne Raeff, where she teaches developmental English and story writing at The Art Institute of California–San Francisco.

Lori has won readers’ hearts with her wonderful sense of place, intricate and thoughtful characters, careful beautiful prose, and of course her exquisite storytelling.

Congratulations Lori!

-The Editorial Board

November 15, 2009

Creative Writing Panel in Santa Fe

Last Sunday, 3 BMR editors (Samantha Tetangco- Editor, Melanie Unruh-Fiction Editor, and Suzanne Richardson-Managing Editor)  took a trip to Santa Fe’s Collected Works Bookstore to talk to a local writing group about the publishing process from the magazine’s perspective.

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We were on a panel with a bunch of knowledgeable locals who were also in the New Mexico literary world. We were joined on the panel by:  The Santa Fe Literary Review (based out of Santa Fe Community College), a local graphic zine called String that is based out of 7000 BC comics, just to name a few.

The panel was arranged by  writer and workshop teacher Katie Merher, who was looking to arrange an open forum panel for writers to ask local magazines questions about the publishing process.

It was great to see what other magazine’s processes were, and in a way it allowed us to articulate to readers what we really look for a in a manuscript! Here are a few things we talked about:

  • Fiction: We are looking for pieces that at the sentence level compel us to read further, and we are looking for a story that takes us somewhere, and surprises us.
  • Non-Fiction: We’re looking for unique stories, that reflect inward with purpose.
  • Local Authors: We accept submissions from all over, and have published authors from all over, as long as the writing is good, we’re interested in it. We always enjoy stories with a strong sense of place, and if that place happens to be New Mexico that works too! We enjoy New Mexican writing, but are not looking for New Mexican writers to the exclusivity of others.
  • Length of Manuscripts: We don’t have a page limit, but if your piece is 30 pages, make sure its earned the page count with craft and good story telling.
  • Common Mistakes in Fiction: Falling flat on the ending, main characters dying at the end, waking up and the story is all a dream, stock characters, older man has an affair with a younger woman, and a story that doesn’t go anywhere.
  • Common Mistakes in Non-Fiction: Aimless self-reflection, lack of self-reflection.
  • Is it a good idea to publish in Lit Magazines before you try to publish with a large publishing house? Yes, having multiple pieces published in many different Lit Mags will show a publishing house that you’re not as big a risk to back. There are many stories of writers who consider themselves to be “slush pile” writers, who’s writing has repeatedly been chosen out of slush piles for Lit Mags all over the country.
  • Do you read with cover letters? No, here at BMR we do blind readings where we file away all cover letters, and pick pieces based on the merit of the writing alone.
  • Self Publishing, is it a good idea? Self publishing can work for some people, and when it comes to graphic novels, it can be a way to gain readership. There can be a danger in self publishing when there is a lack of outside input, and one is just writing and writing, without editing. There are  ”best self publishing” contests that can also help self published individuals find distribution, which can be challenging for self published authors.

We really enjoyed our candid conversation at Collected Works! A big thanks to Katie Merher for arranging it, and it was wonderful to see other publications, and their processes.

Keep the submissions coming!

November 14, 2009

BMR Issue 22 Release Party Follow-Up

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Hello All our BMR Issue 22 Release party was a blast!

We had a great time reading from issue 22, and with Sam as our MC we were able to inform our fans of  some great BMR history, and fun facts. Join us in the spring for the issue 23 release party! Until then, happy reading, writing , and of course submitting!!

The Editors

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We're all ears

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Issue 22 for sale!

Issue 22 for sale!

October 28, 2009

A Conversation With Steven Ramirez

Steven Ramirez PicYour short story, “The End of the Mayan Calendar,” which was the Blue Mesa Review 2009 Fiction Contest winner, is a blend of history and myths, as well as a tale of the struggles of modern society.  Can you tell us a little about how you conceived of a story with such a wide, and ultimately successful, scope?

I broke my own rule when writing this story. Usually, upon sitting before the blank screen, I remind myself that my job is simple: tell a story. Period. Don’t worry about the grand social or political or cultural implications—just tell the stupid thing, as if you were saying it all out loud to a stranger on a park bench. However, with “The End of the Mayan Calendar,” I had the themes before I had the story. I knew I wanted to address the news outlets’ sudden obsession over violence on the El Paso/Juarez border; I knew I wanted to personify the media’s entrance into a chaotic realm that, quite frankly, has always been there and will always be there, long after Dateline NBC. Also, I wanted to explore my own experiences crossing the border and finally, I wanted to address this ancient fear that we humans are, once again, on the cusp of the end of civilization. And suddenly, I recalled a moment from my past that would eventually become the first full paragraph. It was the perfect opening: immediate and violent and hyperbolic and yet so completely stupid. The themes, I knew, were already at work.

Where do you find inspiration for your writing?

Going back to my original philosophy, I think of events in my life—people, places, and moments—that beg for exploration, a kind of re-telling. Usually this will allow me one concrete image, or, if I’m lucky, a first line. For my current collection of short stories, my hometown of El Paso, Texas is my inspiration: the good, the bad, the ugly. I was going to say that I’m sure anyone can fill a book with stories from their hometowns, but forget that: El Paso is the strangest place on this planet. There I said it. And I wouldn’t want to call any other place home.

Do you predominantly write short fiction?  Do you work in other genres and/or formats?

Currently, I only write short fiction. I’ve been committed to completing my collection of short stories for close to two years and I’m happy to say there’s light at the end of the tunnel. But more importantly, with each new story, I learn something about the short form, which makes for a very dynamic process. I credit the fiction workshops in which I’ve participated the last few years—both as an undergraduate at USC and at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop—as the reasons I view writing as a very vibrant, alive, and slithery process, one that warrants great human interaction and cultural noise—as opposed to the popular image of the “lonely writer working all alone because he’s so sad, sad, sad.” Back to the question: I do plan on writing novels eventually. But first things, first.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

I was in high school and I had a very wonderful Creative Writing teacher named Mrs. Gladden and one day I turned in an essay that castigated Jesus Christ for being a no-good commie (I think I was being sarcastic) and Mrs. Gladden asked me to read it aloud in class. Maybe she was just being nice but the point is, I attended a Catholic school and I made a lot of people mad that day—except for her, Gladden was laughing her butt off. That was the first time I felt like I had done something really, really right.

What authors have inspired you?

Sherman Alexie, Dagoberto Gilb, Oscare Casares, T.C. Boyle, Lorrie Moore, Raymond Carver, Ethan Canin, Kevin Brockmeier, Aimee Bender, and Rick Zollo. Oh, and Alvin Shwartz because I think I only read the series, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, from ages 10 to 17. Let me just say that authors that can make me laugh out loud as well as remind me that the world is a big, fat place full of big, fat mysteries are pretty much going to punch me in the gut each time. Sherman Alexie is somewhat of a God to me, though I’d be afraid to hear his response to that.

What book or author is your guilty pleasure?

Probably anything by Erich Von Daniken. At heart, I believe I’m just a big sci-fi nerd waiting for to be abducted.

Are you a full-time writer or do you have a “day job?”

I am very fortunate to teach at several colleges around the Chicago area, mostly Literature and Writing-oriented courses.

Do you find it’s hard to balance the teaching with writing?

My job allows me plenty of time to sit down and write, so I am lucky in that sense. However, that’s not to say I can’t still find ten-million ways to procrastinate. I make sure to write each day, same time, same place, come rain or shine. I think Flannery O’Connor had some rule about that. Or maybe it was Vonnegut. Or maybe everyone’s said the same thing about sitting your butt in a chair and not moving for however many hours.

What percentage of your time would you say writing makes up (actual writing time, as well as daydreaming about your work, mulling, etc.)?

When I actually, physically sit down to write, I usually draw from the twelve-plus hours I’ve spent daydreaming the previous day. In Chicago, I spend a lot of time in traffic, which allows me plenty of time to just think things through. In bed, before I fall asleep, I like to think of one sentence that’s going to go on paper first thing, the very next morning, so at least then I know I will be writing something come that scary moment where it’s just me and the blank screen. I remember this is what happened with “The End of the Mayan Calendar.” I thought of a line and while I didn’t know where I would take it, I knew it was going to be the opening line and the next morning, I wrote it down and then I think I let it sit for a few weeks before something else came to me but after that, the whole story took maybe a week to write. It was a thrilling experience.

How many drafts would you say that you typically go through on a short story?

I revise as I go: word by word, sentence by sentence. So rarely do I finish a story and go back and make major structural changes because, by then, the changes have been made. This means I work slower. I may spend an entire week on the same paragraph, writing and re-writing, reading it aloud, again and again, tweaking a word, a comma, the use of a semi-colon, until it sounds, and looks, and feels right. Only then can I go on. So to answer your question: around ten-thousand.

Do you have a first reader or readers?  Do you find that constructive feedback helps your revision process?

I’m used to finishing a story and then having a table of nine or ten incredible writers take it apart piece by piece. I’m a product of the workshop process. And you’d think this would make me tougher, but I’m still as scared as ever when I know someone is reading my story for the first time because I take constructive criticism so seriously. I can’t even be in the same room as someone reading a draft because I’ll read too much into their body language. Now that I am out of the workshop environment, my fiancée is my first reader. She’s a great reader. I think that I write with one goal and that is to probably entertain her.

How did your time as a student in the Iowa Writer’s Workshop affect you as a writer?

Iowa was a dream. For two years, I lived and breathed the written word. I developed relationships with an incredible faculty that I knew would tear apart my story as quickly as they’d leap to praise it. What can I say? Not just the Workshop, but all of Iowa City loves its writers, and it’s nice to have your ambition validated and challenged like that, all at the same time. At Iowa I also maintained several mentors that instilled in me a strong, if not militaristic work ethic. I mean, you have so much time on your hands at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, that just you have to write; otherwise, what’s the point?

Did you find that the program lived up to all of its hype?

Absolutely. A famous writer/alum once came to speak at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and I remember someone asked him a similar question and he said: “Enjoy your time here. Never again in your life will everyone around you—everyone—care this much about you and your writing.” At the time, I thought it was a pretty witty and “writerly” thing to say and I might have laughed, but now I think I get to spend the rest of my career realizing how right he was. The program is unlike any other in that the faculty and staff only expect one thing from you, and that is to produce. They will do anything in their power for you to achieve that goal. People have their opinions about the Workshop but here’s the one inarguable fact: for two years, your one and only job is to read and to write. And when you’re not reading or writing, you’re talking about reading and writing. This will earn you that coveted degree. So. For better or worse, the author was probably right: never again in your life.

What was the best rejection letter you ever received?

They all start to look the same after a while! Really, I think the tenant in my old apartment in Iowa City is probably still receiving rejection letters addressed to me. He or she must be thinking, “Wow this guy really sucks!” But I think the best rejection letter I have ever, and will ever, receive is the first one I got, about four years ago, from a particular literary journal. Nothing crazy. Your basic rejection letter. But I remember being really proud of it, just like how little boys will strut around, showing off their first bloody noses, kind of like, “What this? Nah, this ain’t so bad.”

What’s your opinion of Kindle and other emerging electronic literature mediums?

I’m an old man wrapped up in a twenty-seven year old body, so I tend to be a bit grumpy about these types of technologies. Listen, I love books. I love the look of them, the feel of them, the smell of them, and I believe books are some of the few things that actually look better when disorganized and messy and smelly and coffee-stained. How revealing, right? But I also taught 8th grade English in Las Vegas for two years and I remember feeling my heart warm whenever I’d happen to see one of my students reading—I don’t know—the back of a CD. Anything that gets people reading of their own free will is good in my, uh, book.

What do you hope that your readers will get out of your writing?

In Sherman Alexie’s recent novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, one of his characters says: “The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don’t know.” I want my writing to be about these smallest parts. That’s what I’m interested in.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Reading books aloud to my wife and kids and acting out all the parts and making them laugh and groan and roll their eyes all at the same time because I remember my own parents doing that to my brothers and I growing up and I always thought that was the way to be.

October 28, 2009

BMR Myth Busters!

Hello folks, your friendly neighborhood poetry intern here. I wanted to take the opportunity to put on my “myth-buster” cap and clear up some of the misconceptions, put to bed some of the rumors that have been floating around about Blue Mesa Review. So here we go:

     1: “I didn’t know BMR was still around.” If this were the case, I wouldn’t be posting this, and this blog wouldn’t even exist. We do not read or conduct business during the summer, simply because nobody is on campus at that time. Additionally, our website went down in July, which probably lent credence to the rumor. However, our website is back up, we have amassed a small army of readers, and we are now chugging along—full steam ahead.

      2. “What’s the difference between ‘multiple submissions’ and ‘simultaneous submissions?’” I’m glad you asked. Actually, nobody asked, but I’m pretending someone did, ‘cause there seems to be a lot of confusion about this. “Multiple submissions” means that you are sending us more than one submission at a time. Blue Mesa Review does not accept multiple submissions. We ask that submitters wait for a response before submitting again. “Simultaneous submissions” refer to a submission that is sent to more than one magazine or journal at the same time. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but ask to be informed right away if your piece is accepted anywhere else.

      4. “I sent in a story a few weeks ago. Has it been entered in your Fiction Contest?”  No. Our fiction contest is separate from our usual reading.  We accept manuscripts all year, though the ones we receive in the summer will have a longer response time. These stories get placed in the bottom of a large stack of manuscripts and are read when our volunteer readers get to them (Now that we’re past the summer backlog, this waiting time is about 6-8 weeks). If they are accepted, they may appear in the next issue, or be held over for publication in a future issue. Fiction Contest entries, on the other hand, will get a guaranteed reading before press time, and the winner is assured of a prominent position in the next issue of Blue Mesa Review (not to mention the $1,000 prize, the kudos, the accolades and all the frills that come with having won a literary award). 

     5. “What’s this I hear about BMR ‘flipping out?’” If you missed an earlier post, you may not know that for issue 23, we are bring back our very successful “flip issue.” The idea is that one side of the magazine will be consist of literature that is  traditional in it’s structure, form or subject matter. Please do not confuse “traditional” with “boring.” The emphasis for the traditional section is on interesting, exciting and well crafted manuscripts. Our emphasis on the expremental side will also be on well-crafted writing, but with a much broader range of experimentation.  This includes experementation with blending visual and written art, stories told from unusal points of view, or any other expirement with literature you’d care to try. The only limitation we have is that we can only print black and white.

     6. “What happened to question #3?” Nothing. I just wanted to be sure you’re paying attention.

Well, that’s all for now. Happy writing!

October 1, 2009

Blue Mesa Review Issue 22 Release Party! October 9th

Flyer for Posting

September 25, 2009

BMR Fiction Contest Comes Early This Year

Some of you may recall that in past years the Blue Mesa Review fiction contest deadline was in the spring.  This year, we’ve moved our schedule around and all  contest submissions need to be postmarked by December 31, 2009.

You’re probably asking yourself, why should I enter this contest? Aren’t there hundreds out there?

For starters, the winner of the contest gets $1000.  Not bad for a single short story. Additionally, it looks pretty good on paper not only to say that you’ve been published, but that you’ve won a literary prize.  Another good reason to enter the contest, which may or may not have crossed your mind, is the chance to become affiliated with a literary magazine that is in a truly unique position.  Blue Mesa Review was founded in 1981 at UNM by a talented group: Rudolfo Anaya, Gene Frumkin, David Johnson, Patricia Clark Smith, and Lee Bartlett. We are an established literary magazine built on a foundation of great movers and shakers in the literary world.  Now, as we move towards publishing our 23rd issue, which is the 3rd student run issue, we are simultaneously embracing tradition and driving the magazine towards newness and innovation.  People are going to be talking about Blue Mesa Review, and by extension, the authors that we publish.

We want to publish the very best, such as Issue 22’s contest winner Steven Ramirez’s The End of the Mayan Calendar. Steven’s story was topical (dealing with border issues), well-crafted, and his unique sense of language and storytelling made for a compelling read. We want more writing in this same vein, writing that sticks in our minds long after we’ve put it down.  So surprise us, inspire us, send us something that makes us say I wish that I had written that!

Here are the specifics if you’d like to take a stab at this year’s contest:

All unpublished fiction manuscripts of 7000 words or fewer will be considered.

The winner will receive $1000 and publication in Blue Mesa Review Issue 23.

This year’s judges are Summer Wood and Susan Fox Rogers (more info forthcoming).

Please mail submissions with $15 entry fee to:

Fiction Contest
Blue Mesa Review
Creative Writing Program
University of New Mexico
MSC 03-2170
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Checks should be made payable to UNM-BMR

ENTRY DEADLINE: POSTMARKED BY DECEMBER 31st, 2009

Melanie Unruh, Fiction Editor

September 21, 2009

BMR Will Flip Out Again…Over Innovation!

Let me say this first: Please Excuse the terrible pun in the Subject line.

Now, an AWP story:

At last year’s AWP conference, the Blue Mesa Review sold out of Issue 20/21.  This magazine was, by accident, what soon became called, the “FLIP ISSUE.”  We were promoting it as the embodiment of the transition from a faculty run magazine to an entirely student run one as issue 20 was the final faculty issue, and Issue 21 the first student one.  In truth, the merging of the two magazines happened as an accident.  Issue 20, through the complications of the transition, was delayed.  When the first student run board came to power (run by Skye Pratt), they were faced with two challenges: finishing Issue 20 and putting together Issue 21.  Rather than simply combining the two issues, they came up with the flip issue.  For those of you who have not seen the issue, it is two issues in one.

The flip accident was an unexpected AWP success.  People came up to our table asking if we were “the folks with the Flip Issue?”  We sold every copy we brought with us.  It was innovative; it was fun; and more than this, it was wonderfully tactile.  In an age where reading has become increasingly web-based (and where things like the Kindle are taking the book out of books), I was struck by the way the flip issue forced people to react to the physical page.  As they walked past, they did double takes–is this really one issue?  They not only flipped through the issue, but they also flipped it around and searched for its center. 

The 2009-2010 Editorial Board wants to create this effect for Issue 23.  The front side of Issue 23 will be much like the beautiful cover of Issue 22 and its contents will be full of the latest and greatest from our submissions pile.  The flip side of the magazine will be a changing theme. 

This year, along with the usual traditional work we publish, we are having an additional call for work that is innovative and experimentational, whether it be in terms of content, structure, form, or invention.  You can interpret the theme in whatever way you see fit, in whatever genre you desire, whether it be fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.  We even want innovated book reviews, interviews, and graphic novel excerpts.  As long as it can be printed in black and white, we’d love to see it!  

Questions, please email me at bmreditr@unm.edu.  I look forward to seeing your work!

Samantha Tetangco, Blue Mesa Review Editor