BSG Interview

Brandon Scott Gorrell accidentally sent me an email of an interview meant for someone else. I know it is not my property, and I know that it was meant for some place else on the internet. So without the permission of the involved parties, I am going to post the interview on my blog too. I think that it is a funny situation because it involves mix-ups and high jinks. I know that no one reads this blog. I am pretty sure this will accomplish two goals.

a: allow for there to be a greater variety of posts for the unlikely visitor to read.

b: have there be more things on ther internet with his name on it, in one sense helping him to 'get his name out there.' I don't know who the blog that interviewed Brandon is. I also am going to post my response to his emails and his response to my response.

Here is some more back story to me and him. I submitted a short story to a short story contest that he hosted on his blog. Maybe next post I will put that story on this blog. regardless of the outcome of that decision, I did not win said contest, Toa Lin won through a surrogate, but i was not mad. Nadim Damluji let me use his paypal account and paid for two dollars of the entry fee. I still owe him the two dollars i believe, but i digress, later I 'facebook friended' Brandon Scott Gorrell. I also friended Noah Cisero, they all three were in that article on 'cool bloggers' in nylon, also have presence on html giant, and also on muumuu house. I facebook chatted with Brandon Scott Gorrell a couple times. He is a very personalbe guy.


"the person's name was 'peter richter'

i kept sending it to peter richards

i was confused

i hope to see you at the reading, that sounds cool

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 4:53 PM, Brandon Gorrell <brandongorrell@gmail.com> wrote:
jesus, totally sent interview to the wrong person, i am sorry

jesus

no don't proofread it

sorry

damn, cant believe it

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 4:52 PM, <richarpw@whitman.edu> wrote:
Brandon,
Thank you very much for sending me this interview, the several times you have, I think it reflects your experience as a writer from a different perspective than your blog, but maintains the 'vibe' and 'spirit' of it. Do you want me to proof read it or something? Because i don't remember 'interviewing' you. Also, I don't feel 'qualified to'/'comfortable with' proof read(ing) it for you. Did you mean to send this to another person? If this is in reference to our 'facebook chats,' then I intended that to have been for the purpose of creating a friendship with you rather than a 'business relationship.' I hope you are well, and am excited to see your reading in Seattle.

All the best,
Peter



Quoting Brandon Gorrell <brandongorrell@gmail.com>:

i'm confused by google docs

i'm copy and pasting it to avoid loss

sorry for double email

*What do you consider 'During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to have a
Biographer Present' to be about?*


A 24-year old male in Seattle, Washington exploring a specific range of
emotions while he works as a copywriter in an office environment, develops
relationships over the internet, walks on the sidewalk, involuntarily wakes
at 4 AM and can't get back to sleep, fantasizes about things like love, sex,
death, 'the apocalypse', and aliens, and other situations.



*Your poems often have a distinct attitude. Is this an attitude that
reflects your own personal emotions or an attitude that is developed for the
purpose of your poetry?*


I think the attitude in the poems I have written reflect how I wanted the
poem to 'feel' when they're read, as if the 'attitude of the poem' was
another tool I could use to influence how the poem is perceived. A lot of
the time I don't feel the way that my poems 'feel'. Some of the time I do.




*How long did it take you to write 'during my nervous breakdown I want to
have a biographer present'?*


8 or 9 months.

* *

*How long does it take you to create a poem? How long have you been working
on During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to have a Biographer Present?*


It takes between 15 minutes and 3 months for me to create a poem. I worked
on DURING MY NERVOUS BREAKDOWN for 8 or 9 months.



*A lot of your work has been published online. How valid do you feel online
publications have become with the diminishing emphasis on print
publications? *


It seems, in the sense that you ask, that the validity of any publication is
measured by how much 'literary street cred' (a general consensus of
'respect', typically attained through certain powerful actions or behaviors,
such as publishing the most unique, highly relevant literature on a regular
basis or publishing the newest literature by the 'up and coming' writers
with the most 'reach' (i.e NOON)), how much 'literary street cred' its
editor has, how much 'literary street cred', generally, the contributors
have, how 'good' the publication looks, the publication's 'reach', and
whether or not it's associated with a university or non-profit. It also
seems to me that the 'mainstream', for the most part, associates
'literature' with 'books/print', rather than 'e-books' or websites.



*How did you actually get to know Tao? How did that help with getting your
poetry book published?*


Two years ago, maybe, I found Tao’s blog. A couple weeks later, I had a very
short thing published at 3:AM Magazine. I emailed Tao saying that I got the
thing published. Then I think we started emailing each other and eventually
Gmail chatting and 'became friends.' Our friendship probably helped get my
poetry book published because, I think, Tao prefers to publish his friends.




*Have you ever written a title and thought “that is too long” and shorten
it?*


I can't remember ever doing that.



*Often writers feel as though they get more feedback through online
publications as opposed to print, how do you feel this influences your work?
Do you feel you get to know your readers on a different level than most
because of your online availability? *


Feedback on the internet is generally negative, lately, and sometimes it
upsets me. I think it influences my 'work' in such a way that I get more
critical of it, because I start feeling, when I'm writing, that I don't want
to give people 'shit to talk shit on' anymore. Concurrently, I sometimes
know that certain things will piss certain people off (i.e. NERVOUS ASSFACE,
or the short story contest I held on my blog), and feel okay about it,
because I generally assume that that type of attention (intense negative
shit talking) helps to further define and reinforce my internet/literary
persona, provides 'angles' for journalists, influences people to think about
me at a higher frequency than they had before, and increases my 'reach'.
Whether negaitve feedback upsets me or not is usually situational; if I'm
happy and feeling validated by success or attention I'm getting on the
internet or in physical realty, or feeling, maybe, 'zen' about things, I
usually don't care. If I feel depressed, or see other people 'doing better'
than me, there's a higher chance I'll feel upset by negative feedback. I
generally feel good about receiving positive feedback.


I feel that I know my readers on the same level as other writers that use
the internet the way I use it. I don't know how my relationship with my
readers compares with writers that don't use the internet the way I do.


*What was your favorite part about the book publishing process?*


Creating and editing THE BRANDON BOOK CRISIS.


*If you could change anything about the publishing process, what would it
be?*


I wouldn't change anything about Muumuu House's book publishing process.


*How is the book tour? What's the wildest or most interesting thing that has
happened so far?\*


The book tour is good. I'm almost finished. I felt very interested in almost
every person I met in San Francisco; my interest level was higher than it
had been 'in years', in terms of people, I think. These people included, but
are not limited to, Mike Young, Chelsea Martin, some of Chelsea's friends,
Reynard Siefert, Jimmy Chen, 'Emily Hendrix', her friends, Clayton Banes,
Josh Klienberg, and some other people.


*What are your future plans on furthering your writing career?*


I'm not sure right now. My novella, MY HAIR WILL DEFEAT YOU, was rejected by
Melville House. I feel like there's a 70% chance I'll 'end up' editing that
some more, then trying to get it published elsewhere.


*What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word 'blog'?*


Jeffrey Brown's drawing of a line in my book."



That was the interview between peter richter and Brandon Scott Gorrell. I feel that his correction is a very appropriate correction. I am also sorry for the interference in his literary carreer that my name has caused.