Friday, February 20, 2009
Lives
My essay "Winter in Tennessee" will appear in the "Lives" section of this Sunday's New York Times Magazine. It's a little piece about a dead deer and a body of water and home ownership. My wife is in there too. And a pair of boots. Basically, it's got everything you'd want in a compelling narrative.
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Thats awesome! So was that an actual event? I have a hard time envisioning you pulling a dead dear out of your pond, but on the other had, if you did, that sounds exactly the way I'd envision you pulling a dead dear out of your pond. =)
Methinks this sounds like your Wigleaf postcard?
This was an actual event. And, yes, the Wigleaf postcard was the first step in writing this essay.
Stranger still, yesterday, after driving to the Golden Gallon in Monteagle to buy a copy of the NYTimes, Leigh Anne and Griff and I went for a walk to feed the goats. We then went down to the pond and discovered a dead raccoon floating face-down in the water. He was right at the edge, so I could move him with a stick, which was much easier than the deer. He looked like a big teddy bear that you'd win at the fair. Our pond loves to kill animals.
Oh, and I have a story coming out in the South Carolina Review about a guy and his son finding a dead deer in his pond. I'm squeezing every last bit out of that moment in my life. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had found a human body in the pond? I would have written a novel, a screenplay, and a rock opera by now.
Love you, Man!
What a pond. Remind me never to buy a place near a pond. Good luck with that.
But, hey, congrats on all the stories / writing!
Sorry, this is off-topic, but I just read your story in Word Riot and had to write some fan mail.
"I felt like if we didn't sleep together that night, my whole life was going to be a failure."
This is the best sentence I've read in 2009. And I've read 14 books so far this year.
There isn't one wasted word in this story. Not even an article or a preposition. It's one perfect athletic move.
Charles Yu
Charles, good lord, thanks for that. That was very kind.
That piece for "Lives" was fantastic. Flash fiction at its universal finest. (Flash non-fiction, I guess?) Regardless...Great piece.
I just read "Dear, there's a deer in our pond" in the International Herald Tribune here in Egypt. I am homesick for those hills and you made me feel as though I were there for a moment. (I lived in Coffee county for 10 yrs.) I came to the Internet to find more . . . so get back to the typewriter. Fabulous work. Now I'm going book shopping.
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