1/17/2024 0 Comments Lama rod owens portland oregonMy immediate reactions after receiving these notes, because I am human and capable of being wounded, included: “Cowards.” “You don’t know how to market something like this? Isn’t that your job?” “Fuck you. “We admire the work you do in the literary community but regret that this isn’t the book for us.” “This is a stunning work, and this is not a judgment on your talent or the merit of the work, but we wouldn’t know how to market something like this.” “I’m afraid the writing is a bit too esoteric for my taste.” “I loved the premise of this novel but found it to be too philosophical and lyrical.” And many of the more substantial responses included versions of the following language: Many did not respond at all, even after I followed up. Many indicated that they were especially interested in work by women writers of color. So I submitted to numerous agents and publishers (both big houses and large indies) that claimed they were interested in innovative or experimental work. Because of how much the book meant to me, I wanted to believe that what my friends were telling me was true. In fact, it had felt like it had taken the entirety of my body, my heart, and my life experience to write. Much of my own personal trauma was wrapped up in this book. This novel wasn’t like anything I had written before: a depiction of the cycles of abuse and trauma in a prolonged end-time, the novel examines the ways in which our pasts envelop us, the ways in which we justify horrible things in the name of survival, all of the horrible and beautiful things we are capable of when we are hurt and broken, and the animal (and plant) companions that ground us. What I heard from these friends was: “This next book is going to be your breakout.” “This one’s the big one.” “It’s definitely time to move up and go with someone bigger.” “You earned it.” “You deserve it.” “It’s time.” But also, as the daughter of Korean immigrants, I have had ingrained in me a particular work ethic that is intertwined with both an inherent sense of self-worth and survival.Īs a “mid-career author” in my thirties and the author of 5 books, many of my writer friends, with the best of intentions, encouraged me to submit Imagine a Death to their agents, editors at big publishing houses, and much-admired independent presses. As an editor and small press publisher myself, I have always recognized the importance of community organizing and radical alternatives to the conglomerate machine of mainstream publishing. That is, I want to talk about the challenges I faced in looking for a publisher for my new novel, Imagine a Death, and how this process forced me to examine my own beliefs and wounds around linear ideas of success and to begin to work towards healing and freedom from a limited imagination.Īs a female writer of color working in hybrid forms and across genres, I have always had an intimate relationship with small press publishing. I want to talk about the struggle of returning home. Shambhala, 2004.Books Are Not Products, They Are Bridges: Challenging Linear Ideas of Success in Literary Publishing An anthology of 25 Years from Turning the Wheel: The Journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Not Turning Away: The Practice of Engaged Buddhism. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press 1st Edition, 2019. Wisdom Publications, 2019.Īmerican Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War. Parallax Press, 2019.Įcodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. Williams, angel Kyodo Owens, Lama Rod Syedullah, Jane. Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out. Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism. Parallax Press, 2019.īlack and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom. True Peace Work: Essential Writings on Engaged Buddhism.
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