My first reading...

So, the folks over at Quad City Arts invited me, so I might as well get over my phobia and finally do a reading of my book. Hope everyone can make it.

Here's the press release Ryan made up:

WHAT: Brian Krans feature reader at MWC’s January Out Loud

WHEN: Thursday, January 31, 7pm

WHERE: 3rd Floor Conference Room, Midwest Writing Center, 225 E. 2nd St. Davenport, IA (in the Bucktown Center for the Arts)

Brian Krans will be the featured reader at Out Loud January 31

The Midwest Writing Center’s Out Loud reading series is back! 2008 is our fifth year, and to mark the occasion, we planning to have featured readers —both poetry and prose— following the open reading part of the evening, which starts at 7pm. Our first feature is Brian Krans, author of A Constant Suicide.

“Brian Krans attended Winona State University in Winona, MN, where he initially majored in criminal justice but graduated with a degree in journalism… In 2004, Krans took his journalism degree to the Quad-Cities to begin covering police and courts for The Rock Island Argus/The (Moline) Dispatch. He’s covered numerous presidential campaign stops, traveled to the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast area, and the trial of a teen charged with the brutal murder and dismemberment of a fellow classmate that garnished national media coverage… In his non-fiction writing, Krans has interviewed everyone from lifelong prostitutes to BMX biking legends. From police detectives on the scene to convicted murderers in prison… A Constant Suicide is his first novel. He’s currently working on a second.” (from www.aconstantsuicide.com)

This will be his first featured reading and it promises to be a great evening. So come to Out Loud, read some of your own work and then take in the high-intensity work of Brian Krans, our first Out Loud featured reader of 2008!

Inspiration

My favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk, offered words of advice to writers that goes something like this:

Did you ever sit down to take a dump, but knew you had nothing to push out? Did you ever just sit on the toilet and push and push and push? No, of course not. If you don't have to go, you get up, get something to eat, and go about your day. When you have to crap, you crap. Writing should be the same way. Why waste time forcing something out when it's not ready?

It's just great advice. Why try to write when you know nothing will come of it?

And that's where I sit (pun not intended). After finishing my grad school application, which came after the disastrous laptop crash, I felt like I wasn't ready to delve back into the second novel quite yet. Something was missing.

I say it was inspiration.

With complete scenes written out in my trusty Moleskine notebook and a pile of books and articles read for research, something was missing to get me to start tapping away at the book. A few times I tried, but it felt like I was just pushing and straining in futility.

So I stopped. I got something to eat. I spent some time with my favorite people, namely one person in particular. We had some crazy fun times, but we also had a lot of down times. It was a great opportunity for me to clear my head and realize what was important in my life.

(I'm still a fan of the thought that real people are better than imaginary ones.)

So, in the weeks that passed -- holidays included -- I unknowingly got my main character, who currently goes by the name Jake, into perspective. By getting inside my own head, clarifying some thoughts and emotions, I was able to see what could make him tick, what would drive him.

I hadn't felt like a writer in a while because I haven't been writing. I was so wrong. I was writing non-stop, but in my head.

Last night when I sat down to write, I knew what needed to be said, what could be ignored and how to go about it. That's not because I sat at my computer and pushed it out. It's because I spent a good deal of time relaxing, thinking and enjoying life.

In essence, I feel like a writer again, not because I wrote, but because my head is clear.

Thanks Erica.