The Resident Redneck (or a Southern Writer in San Francisco)

by Jason Sanford

Dustin Wells has written a fascinating article about being a Southern writer in San Francisco. The article, published in SoMa Literary Review: New Voices From San Francisco's Subculture, focuses on the publication of Dustin's short story "Mom Didn't Want Her Girls Playing With Guns" in the current issue of storySouth.

Without giving too much away, Dustin writes about the trials and tribulations of being stereotyped as a Redneck in that most liberal of West Coast cities and the ironies of MFA programs which preach inclusion but don't want anything to do with his short story. Read the article and pass it on.

September 5, 2006
| Comments (1)



COMMENTS



Comments policy: storySouth invites comments from its readers. The comment period for postings in this forum will last for one week. We will publish one comment per reader, with exceptions in special circumstances. The editors will respond to comments, if appropriate, after the comment period is over.


I found the article to be somewhat full of anger due to the fact that his writing wasn't "acceptable" to those he desired approval from. It was a rant against the establishment. I consider myself a southern writer living outside of the south and I've had more than my share of rejections. But the art of writing is a subjective business. If one chooses to alienate himself by openly expressing anger every time his work is rejected by someone, then he's burning bridges along the way and ultimately will find himself isolated on some lonely island. No one will want to publish his work and he will have only himself to blame.

Posted by: Veronica at September 23, 2006 09:44 AM
Permalink