To celebrate the impending 100-episode mark, I’ve put together a mix-tape of songs related to the writing life over at Electric Literature. (Big thanks to Elissa Goldstein & Julia Jackson!)
An excerpt:
7.) SONG TO LISTEN TO SHORTLY BEFORE GIVING A READING TO THREE PEOPLE, ONE OF WHOM IS YOUR MOM, AT A BARNES & NOBLE BOOKSTORE IN TEMPE, ARIZONA. “THUNDERSTRUCK” – AC/DC
As you pace the “backstage area” of Barnes & Noble like a caged panther under fluorescent lights, try to remember what it took to get to this moment. The alarm clock going off at 5 a.m. The long summer Saturdays at your desk. The shattered relationships. The endless rejection letters. The Adderall addiction. The pain. Pause for a moment. Take a sip from your bottle of lukewarm Dasani spring water. Turn your gaze to Thomas, the Barnes & Noble (Tempe) Author Relations Supervisor, who is really just another cashier. When he smiles and asks you if you’re “ready to roll,” give him a quasi-homicidal look that says: I’ve been ready for this my whole life, motherfucker.
To read the full track list, and hear the songs themselves, just click right here.
