Let\u2019s be real, first: I didn\u2019t publish much this year. Not for lack of trying, but also, I didn\u2019t try too hard. That said, I\u2019m beyond thrilled at what I did publish. <\/p> Also, let\u2019s be really real, second: my kid\u2019s got the entire week off of school for Thanksgiving<\/em>. Are you serious. Anyway, this is about all I got time for this week, because we\u2019re hosting at Casa de Corlew, and I need to go make pies. <\/p> Short Fiction<\/strong><\/p> \u201cRemodeling,\u201d published in <\/a>Whisk(e)y Tit<\/a>. <\/em>Y\u2019all (awards people) wanna read a ghost story I wrote? <\/p> Novel-In-Stories<\/strong><\/p> Vine<\/a><\/em>, co-written with Brendan Johnson, self-published at storiesfromvine.com<\/a>. Look, I don\u2019t know if there are awards for a self-published novel-in-stories you wrote for fun with your best friend and self-published because going through the submission hoops would take the fun out of it. But it\u2019s a full, 76k word novel, and we think it rips. Which brings me to another point. <\/p> Awards Are Cool But Also, Like, <\/strong>It\u2019s Cool<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Don\u2019t get me wrong, if I got nominated for or God forbid won<\/em> an award, I\u2019d be pretty insufferable about it. \u201cHello and welcome to The Line Break<\/em> podcast, my name is National Book Award Winner Chris Corlew, and with me as always is my friend and co-host, Bob Sykora. Bob, won any awards lately?\u201d That whole shit. But idk. Our world is small, and that\u2019s not just the presses. This is a scene fueled by weirdos and artists and True Believers, and honestly? The rest of humanity thinks we\u2019re pretty weird. <\/p> I will never forget the way Dustin, Kitchen Manager at the Chili\u2019s on Grand & State in 2011, looked at me when I said my favorite writers were Aimee Bender and Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez. I don\u2019t remember that look because Dustin was especially dismissive, or blank-faced, or condescending. Dustin\u2019s cool. I remember that look because it was the time I decided to stop telling people who my favorite writers were. It was the time I decided to stop saying anything beyond \u201cI want to be a writer.\u201d It was less than a year out of undergrad, and too many coworkers had already given me that look. No one knows or cares about us, fellow writers. <\/p> When I started writing for Cracked<\/em>, I felt some validation, like, \u201coh, I\u2019m a writer, I write for Cracked dot com<\/em>, you know that one, the place that just laid off Daniel O\u2019Brien and Robert Evans with a straight face.\u201d And it is validating! To work with editors, to have an editor course-correct you, assign you something just to push you, or simply go to bat for you as much as I know Logan Trent and Cyriaque Lamar and Chris Pauls did for me\u2014that rules. Still\u2014and as I type this, I realize it\u2019s as much for me as it is for You, The Reader, but\u2014find your own validation. <\/p> Sure, I want a published book. I want a book that I can hold that has my name on the cover. I want about 12 of them, honestly, but let\u2019s not get greedy. Other than that? <\/p> I feel like a fucking writer, dudes<\/em>. <\/p> I\u2019ve written so goddamned much this year, the people in my life are still asking where I find the time. I write this blog twice a week, the one person who kept me tethered to the lit world during my burnout phase (and tethered to his ass boxing me out for rebounds) now records a The Line Break<\/em> with me once a month, my Literary Bestie has asked me to work at a sick journal with other people I absolutely adore, and my best friend since I was eight years old and I started a \u201ccompany\u201d that is an excuse for us to write novels and records together. <\/p> I write because it\u2019s fun, I write because I don\u2019t want to do anything else, I write because I feel physically possessed <\/em>by my stories and songs and poems and they need to get out of my body, and yes, I write because one day I think I\u2019ll be paid and lauded halfway handsomely for it. But that\u2019s the order: fun, hatred of other work, demon possession, then<\/em> desire for money and plaudits. <\/p> As long as I\u2019m getting the work done, I could give a fuck about an award. <\/p> waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait shit AWARDS PEOPLE! YOU\u2019RE NOT SUPPOSED TO READ PAST THE VINE<\/em> COVER! IS IT TOO LATE TO GO BACK AND CHANGE IT? *touches ear* <\/em>I\u2019M BEING TOLD THERE\u2019S NO DELETE KEY. AWARDS PEOPLE, HEY! DON\u2019T READ THAT OTHER STUFF, JUST READ \u201cREMODELING\u201d AND VINE<\/em>!<\/p> Sorry you got an email, <\/p> Chris<\/p>![\"a](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/516d83d8-e1ec-497c-9293-2456c3be06a5_3024x4032.jpeg\")
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