Pussified poets, Chaos Muppets and more

By Nico | June 29, 2012

Oh, man. Where did the month go? Never mind that, where did the year go? All the years?!

Two years ago this month I quit my job. Some things have changed in that time – I’m getting more poetry acceptance letters, I’m slowly starting to creep out of my writing cave and meet other people who write on purpose, and I’m starting to get more involved with other bookish websites and organizations. But a lot has remained the same, too. I still don’t have a completed manuscript, I still struggle to write anything decent, and I’ve yet to see a short story of mine in print.

It’s a process, I get that, and I get that I’m not one of those people for whom these kinds of things come easily, but the massive deadline that’s been looming over my subconscious is, well, making itself more conscious: in exactly a week I turn 30. I am not ready for this.

Hey, look! Distracting linkage!

This Tumblr has it all: Canadian Poets Petting Cats. Done.
The 49th Shelf has created the 100 Mile Book Diet, tagging books that take place in Canada and abroad. You can add titles, and check out the cities and towns you love, find out who’s writing about them.
Speaking of, check out Mark Milner’s piece in the Toronto Review of Books on Leacock’s Orillia, and Lucas van Meer-Mass’s review of Full Frontal T.O.
The Globe and Mail‘s James Adams reports that Mavis Gallant’s private journals will be published. Want.
Thomas Gebremedhin on his literary hero, Anne Beattie, in the Paris Review.
In the Telegraph, Elaine Sciolino explains why bookstores in France still work.
Amidst the controversy surrounding the article Jonah Lehrer recently published NewYorker.com (and it turns out it’s not the first time), Dianna Dilworth wonders if writers should be allowed to recycle material. It some sense it’s inevitable, but when drawing on one’s own work for inspiration, it’s usually common to put a footnote in referencing the other piece.
Sina Queyras on not winning awards. It happens to more people more often, and can still be made of win.
Kerry Clare has a great post on Pickle Me This about self-promotion done right.
I can’t help but disagree with Alison Flood in the Guardian.co.uk, it’s not ok that kids think Aslan is a giraffe. Seriously, WTF? Parents, read to your children.
Dahlia Lithwick over on Slate.com has a unified theory of Muppets. My partner’s an Order Muppet for sure, but what am I? Sure, I have blue hair, multiple piercings and several chaos-themed tattoos, but am I an Order Muppet underneath it all? Ok, I do alphabetize everything, but surely that’s just an expression of my book fetish? I always pictured myself more Swedish Chef than Bert. A Faux Chaos Muppet?

Now that I have a shiny new Muppet-themed identity crisis I’m off to cry myself to sleep. Way better than worrying that I’ve accomplished nothing in my life as I’m turning 30, right? Right.

Nico is a bibliophilic reader, writer, editor, reviewer, poet, blogger, hat wearer and kitten tickler. Nico's work has appeared most recently in Broken Pencil, The Antigonish Review, and Carousel, among other journals. Nico tweets as @plutopsyche.

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Category: Books & Literature