Dear Tiny:

I’m a geeky bookworm, so I don’t attract guys. But lately my other bookwormy friends have been getting attention from boys. What can I do to have them notice me too?

- Easy Reader

(Via)

(I’m totally copying Bookslut in this entry.)

~ Joy

How come no one celebrates my alcoholism like John Cheever’s?

You know, seminal American author John Cheever and I have a lot in common. He needed to drink a fifth of scotch before he had the courage to utter a word to another human being, and so do I. Much like Cheever, I’m completely blotto by 10 a.m. because of a deep, withering fear that my family will eventually discover my bisexuality. And, to top it all off, we were both born in Wollaston, Massachusetts, if you can believe it! But just because he’s one of history’s finest short story writers, Cheever’s epic benders are considered delightful, whereas I’ve just got a “serious problem with alcohol.”

What a bunch of horseshit.

~ Joy

Narrative Magazine is looking for first-person fiction or nonfiction, 8,000 words or less. The magazine hopes “find the most necessary, most intimate, most personal stories made universal.”

Entries will be accepted through the end of July. Do it! I know you have a first-person story, so send it already. First prize is $3,000. All entrants get a six-month subscription.
Link

For the rest of 2008, our meeting schedule is:

July 15

August 5

August 19

September 9

September 23

October 7

October 21

November 4

November 18

December 2

December 16

We are going to be revamping this website. Stay tuned.