An Index of 2017 Author Guest Posts

Posts with the most: Karen Shepard, Louise Marburg, Geeta Kothari

Last year, for the sixth straight year, we invited every author of a book entered for The Story Prize to contribute a guest post to this blog. Forty-seven of them chose to participate. Since 2010, the TSP blog has featured 499 guest posts from 482 different writers (some have contributed in more than one year).

According to Blogger's statistics, most 2017 author guest posts received 400 or more page views. The most popular post, "Karen Shepard: How to Make Intermittent and Erratic Progress as a Writer, in Twenty-Eight Easy Steps," has so far drawn more than 4,500 page views—the sixth most of any TSP blog post. "Antonya Nelson's Ten Writing Rules," the post with the most all-time views, currently has more than 14,000 of them.

The 2017 author contributions with the second and third most hits were "Louise Marburg Offers Ten Pieces of Writing Advice," with nearly 1,200 page views, and "Geeta Kothari Takes Her Time," with more than 1,000 page views to date.

The two posts with the largest Facebook reach were "Edie Meidav Urges You to Fail" and "Describe Your Reading Habits: An Interview with Deb Olin Unferth."

Many of these offer insights into the writing process or practical advice, serving as mini craft talks. Others get more personal. And several are simply very funny. Here then is this year's complete index, in alphabetical order by last name.

A-C

Frederick Luis Aldama and the Active Transformation of Culture
Henry Alley Finds Inspiration in His Archives

Jacob M. Appel on Being a Good Literary Citizen
Josh Barkan Starts with Oddities
Emily Bieniek's New Year’s Resolution: To Devalue the Hero’s Journey
Jennifer Caloyeras Reluctantly Joins the Family Business
Olivia Clare on Accountability
Lee Conell on Spotting the Extraordinary Among the Ordinary

D-K
Rob Davidson Finds Inspiration in Images
What Cynthia Flood Has Learned
Tim Gautreaux's Ten Pieces of Writing Advice
Terry Griggs on the Little and the Large

Daisy Johnson Plows Ahead
Jeffrey N. Johnson Builds on His Training
Siel Ju and the Suitable State of Mind
Michael Knight on a Literary Touchstone
Geeta Kothari Takes Her Time

L-O
Matthew Lansburgh Finds Time to Feed His Soul
Peter LaSalle: The Short Story vs. the Novel
Becky Mandelbaum's Four Simple Pieces of Advice
Louise Marburg Offers Ten Pieces of Writing Advice
The Drawings on Juan Martinez's Office Door
Edie Meidav Urges You to Fail
Timothy O'Leary Weaves Fact Into Fiction
Adam O'Riordan and the Impulse to Write Prose
Orlando Ortega-Medina Taps Into His Subconscious

P-S
KL Pereira on Lost and Missing Mothers
Matthew Pitt on Making a Memorable Impression
Zach Powers' Thoughts on (In)visible Prose
Bill Roorbach's Freaky Fridays
Michelle Ross Asks: Is a Story Ever Finished?
David Rutschman on Moving Between Distance and Intimacy

Sofia Samatar’s Ten Favorite "Quotes" About Writing

Scott Loring Sanders Pulls Flotsam from the Ether
Joseph Scapellato and the Story’s Intention
John Shea Gets Started
Karen Shepard: How to Make Intermittent and Erratic Progress as a Writer, in Twenty-Eight Easy Steps
Caitlin Hamilton Summie's Office with No Door


T-Y
Susan Tepper Keeps At It
Douglas Trevor on Toni Morrison and Subjective Histories
Describe Your Reading Habits: An Interview with Deb Olin Unferth
Samrat Upadhyay: Doctor or Engineer? Neither!

Lee Upton on Obsession, Denial, and No-Guilt Naps
Anthony Varallo's First Story

Katherine Vaz on Taking Notes and Making Box Art
Tim Weed and the Ecstasy of Influence
Josh Weil and the Scent of Sagebrush


Past indexes of guest posts:
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012

The Story Prize Long List for Collections Published in 2017

Here is a list (alphabetical by author) of other books we read in 2017—beyond the three finalists and The Story Prize Spotlight Award winner—that particularly stood out for us:

• What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nnekah Arimah (Riverhead Books)
• Large Animals by Jess Arndt (Catapult)
• The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead by Chanelle Benz (Ecco Press)
• Difficult Women by Roxane Gay (Grove Press)
• I Was Trying to Describe What It Feels Like by Noy Holland (Counterpoint)
• The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Her Body and Other Stories by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press)
• Five Carat Soul by James McBride (Riverhead Books)
• The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
• The Tower of the Antilles by Achy Obejas (Akashic Books)
• The Girl of the Lake by Bill Roorbach (Algonquin Books)
• A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma (W.W. Norton & Co.)
• Kiss Me Someone by Karen Shepard (Tin House)
• Wait Till You See Me Dance by Deb Olin Unferth (Graywolf Press)
• The Mountain by Paul Yoon (Simon & Schuster)
• Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang (Lenny)

In 2017, The Story Prize received as entries 120 books published by 93 publishers or imprints. As difficult as it is to choose three finalists, it is in many ways even more difficult to narrow the field down to a long list of other notable story collections—especially when the number of excellent books is as high as it was. Easily more than a dozen other titles we read this past year could have been on this list, but even a long list can only be so long.

Anyone who published a short story collection last year accomplished something significant and deserves an enormous amoount of credit. While, subjectively at least, short story collections seem to be garnering more space in major book reviews, too many of them still get far too little attention. And that means too few show up in end of year lists. So, please, if you're looking for something good to read, consider these and other recently published story collections.

So strong was the field this year, that to narrow it down, I decided to put aside a handful of books by stalwart short story writers so skillful and accomplished that they could easily have been finalists or made our long list. In fact, two have been finalists for The Story Prize before: Tessa Hadley and Jim Shepard. You can't go wrong with these short story collections (or hardly any of the stories in them):

• Living in the Weather of the World by Richard Bausch (Alfred A. Knopf)
• The Relive Box by T.C. Boyle (Ecco Presse)
• Signals by Tim Gautreaux (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Bad Dreams by Tessa Hadley (Harper)
• DIS MEM BER by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)
• The World to Come by Jim Shepard (Alfred A. Knopf)

Keep in mind: We'll announce the winner of The Story Prize at an event co-sponsored with The New School's Creative Writing program at the auditorium at 66 W. 12 Street on Feb. 28. At the event, finalists Daniel Alarcón, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Strout will read from and discuss their work. You can buy tickets in advance online or that night at the box office. And in the days ahead, be on the lookout for an index of 2017 author posts that appeared on this blog.

A Few Highlights from Past Story Prize Events

Here's a short highlight reel we've put together to promote The Story Prize event on Feb. 28 at The New School. That night, authors Daniel Alarcón, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Strout will read from and discuss their work onstage before we announce the winner. (You can order tickets here.)

This video includes excerpts from George Saunders, Adam Johnson, Lorrie Moore, and Adam Johnson. Sometime soon, we hope to create a longer video featuring more highlights of author readings and interviews from past Story Prize events.

Thanks to the Creative Writing Program at The New School, which co-sponsors our award events and arranges to have them recorded each year.

Subcortical by Lee Conell—This Year's Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award

Beyond naming three finalists each January, we also present The Story Prize Spotlight Award to a collection of exceptional merit. Selected books can be promising works by first-time authors, collections in alternative formats, or works that demonstrate an unusual perspective on the writer's craft. The winner receives a prize of $1,000.

We're pleased to announce that the winner for books published in 2017 is Subcortical by Lee Conell (Johns Hopkins University Press), a collection of sixteen incisive, distinctive, and superbly crafted stories—a skillful and self-assured debut collection. One of the pleasures of reading for The Story Prize is discovering books like Subcortical. 

Author Lee Conell, winner of
The Story Prize Spotlight Award

This is the sixth time we've given out The Story Prize Spotlight Award. The five previous winners are: Drifting House by Krys Lee, Byzantium by Ben Stroud, Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor, Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine, and Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar. 

Congratulations to Lee Conell and John Hopkins University Press for winning The Story Prize Spotlight Award for short story collections published in 2017.

The Story Prize Finalists: Daniel Alarcón, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Strout

We're pleased to honor as finalists for The Story Prize three outstanding books published in 2017, chosen from 120 entries representing 93 different publishers or imprints. It was a deep field with a lot of worthy story collections—more so than usual. The finalists are:

Authors extraordinaire: Daniel Alarcón, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Elizabeth Strout

• The King Is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcón (Riverhead Books)
• Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)
• Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

The King Is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcón portrays citizens struggling to belong to or hoping to escape from an unnamed South American country. The stories in Ottessa Moshfegh's Homesick for Another World unflinchingly depict women and men seeking meaning in off-kilter circumstances. Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout navigates the bleak terrain of a rural Illinois setting, depicting the haunting effect of the past on the present lives of its characters.

This year's judges—author Susan Minot, author and critic Walton Muyumba, and librarian Stephanie Sendaula—will decide the outcome.

The annual award event will take place at the New School’s Auditorium at 66 West 12 Street in New York City at 7:30 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 28. Tickets cost $14. That night, Alarcón, Moshfegh, and Strout will read from and discuss their work on-stage. At the end of the event, Julie Lindsey will announce the winner and present that author with $20,000 along with an engraved silver bowl. The two runners-up will each receive $5,000. The Creative Writing Program at The New School co-sponsors the event.

In the weeks ahead, we'll announce this year's winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. We'll also publish an index of guest posts from 2017 authors and a long list of other exceptional collections we read last year.

Olivia Clare on Accountability

In the 47th in a series of posts on 2017 books entered for The Story Prize, Olivia Clare, author of Disasters in the First World (Black Cat), discusses the value of tracking her writing time.

On this New Year’s Eve—on an uncharacteristically chilly day, writing from a cottage in St. Francisville, Louisiana—I speak in praise of accountability. I sing to it. For it. I cherish it.

Am I a disciplined writer? How does discipline relate to artfulness and less easily accessed moments of insight? Does disciplined writing result merely in artificial products, lacking grace and sincerity, or artful, delicate creations that try to live and breathe?

Accountability can feel like a boring, dry thing to write about. But I’ll tell you: it’s kept me going, especially this past year. I believe in it so much that I have several ways to track my accountability. Some of those ways are for my eyes only. But I am also (seemingly, at least) accountable to others: I track my writing time every week in a spreadsheet with a group of colleagues, and I do the same with a group of friends. I also track my writing time in my own private document. I count the minutes, let my goals be known, and write down what I’ve written that week.

I’ve always craved structure, more than that which I can get from structuring sentences and verses. When studenthood ended, and the ready-made structures of student life vanished, accountability to myself became a challenge. I graduated from graduate school in May of 2016, and I started my first full-time teaching job that fall. My editor, Corinna Barsan, keeps me going with a sui generis combination of friendship and insight. My internal writing engine—located, I have to believe, somewhere inside my inner heart—keeps me going.

And for some reason, simply writing down the number of minutes I’ve written for the day keeps me on track. Like crossing out the passing days on a kitchen calendar, the visualization of time spent and words earned drives and inspires me. It lends gravity and significance to the art of writing and the writer’s life. Here’s to the new year!