Exercise in Futility

• Go to your local Borders with your 30% off coupon and look for books by Antonya Nelson, Mary Gaitskill and Donald Antrim.

• When you can't find these authors in the alphabetical listings, squint, look around for a stool and drag it over. Step on stool and feel around on top shelf to ensure you haven't missed anything. Sigh. Step down.

• Schlep to Customer Service area. Perform a search on the Borders computer system to ensure you haven't somehow overlooked the obvious.

• Note that NOT ONE of these authors has a single book in the store.

• Curse under breath.

• Go home and order from Amazon.

Antonya Nelson

Speaking of subscriptions (see yesterday's post), I also regularly receive Writers Ask, a Glimmer Train publication, wherein various writers interview other writers on topics ranging from point of view; editing; endings; publishing; and the writing life.

Andrew Scott, of Ball State University, interviewed Antonya Nelson, a professor at the University of Houston and author of several novels and short-story collections. "What do you find most difficult about teaching?" he asked. "Is there anything you find yourself stressing over...that students don't seem to grasp?"

Antonya said, "The commitment to the first draft, that's the most tiresome thing about teaching students. When they say, 'I want it to be confusing. I want it to be ungrammatical. I want it to be a big freaking mess.' Well, I don't. You get an F."

I laughed out loud over this, loving her sensibility. And because I appreciated her straightforwardness, I wanted to read her work -- something I've not done before -- so I ordered her short-story collection NOTHING RIGHT from the library. Alas, there's a waiting list, so I may run to Borders, see what's on the shelf (taking advantage of my 30% off coupon. Woo-woo!).

If you've read Antonya, let me know what you think.