Interview Sundays are back. And Knee-Jerk sublimeness.

So happy to have Interview Sundays back in the house. Doubly happy we are the interviewee. Self-absorbed we know. Triply happy for said mostly-magical interview to appear in the always awesome Chicago-based Knee-Jerk magazine. And fourthly happy that said interviewer is the always lovely Lauryn Allison and that in fact this is quasi-part two to our earlier interview in the Barrelhouse. That's a lot, and yet, there is one more thing you should know, Knee-Jerk's 2011 Essay and Chapbook Contests are nigh, and upon us, so get on it, submit, feel the Knee-Jerk love, and maybe, just maybe change you life. Nice, right? Way.


Mine too. I went to school for writing and the community was very tight, so there was this sense that a success for one was a success for us all. But I always felt like it was important not to lose sight of the fact that it’s a competition on some level too.

It is a competition. It’s funny you bring that up because it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. It is absolutely a competition, but I think we can use that as a springboard. For example, Alan Heathcock, whose short story collection Volt came out about a month or so ago and has just fucking blown up. It’s really hard for me to articulate how excited I am about that, even though I hardly know him. To me, he’s a guy who was swinging at the fences for a long time and writing great stuff, and now he’s getting national recognition. So, top of the list: that’s awesome. I’ve met him and he’s great, so that makes me even more happy. He’s a dad writer, so you know—