Q&A with Denver's Laughing Mouse Press

Typetrigger made its debut appearance in September, 2010, and it quickly left our circle of personal friends and found members in remote corners of the ether/planet. One of the earliest adopters and most intense supporters in those first months was NePlusUltra, a.k.a. Becky Hensley. We only later learned that she and another early Typetriggerer hauntologist Spencer Keralis are in the publishing world themselves, as founders of Laughing Mouse Press. Their interview blog, 12 Questions, asked Typetrigger founder Lily Pierson to participate not long ago, and we realized that we wanted to ask them a few things too. 

Spencer Keralis and Becky Hensley of Laughing Mouse Press/12questions

TT: What is Laughing Mouse Press? What do you do--and why?

 <Spencer> Laughing Mouse is a small press specializing in handmade books. The books are all limited editions and use a range of traditional binding methods from hand-sewing to your basic saddle-stitch. Some of the covers are hand silk-screened, others are digitally produced but hand-cut and bound. I'm a book historian by training, so I think keeping the book arts alive and meaningful by pairing handcrafts that are hundreds of years old with vibrant and powerful contemporary literary work is a significant and important thing. That said, we just started our first digital serial publication, 12 Questions. It's a questionnaire-based "blogazine" - so everyone, no matter how well-known they are or what field they're from, answers the same twelve questions. Eventually, I'd like to do digital editions of some of our print books, but we're not quite there yet.

TT: What genres is Laughing Mouse most focused on?

<Spencer> I'm most interested in poetry and short fiction. We've skewed heavily toward poetry in the last two years, but that's mainly because that's what I received as submissions. I'm very interested in work that combines text and images, and would be thrilled to see a proposal for a graphic novel or other image based form. I'm also interested in developing some 'zine retrospectives for long-time zinesters - where we combine their 'zines into one volume. I think that would be fun, and it's a good way to preserve ephemera that might otherwise be lost (again, the book historian speaking).

TT: How can small presses help emerging writers? Is there a big difference between small presses in what they can offer their authors?

<Spencer>The most important thing that LMP provides its writers is a supportive space to experiment with their writing. Several of my authors are working outside their principle media, so I have, for example, a photographer doing a book of poems. Becky likes to say that truly creative people are always "emerging" because they never stop pushing themselves to try new things. Traditional presses may be a little resistant to that kind of experimentation, but we don't have that hang up.

I think what I'm doing is different, though, from a lot of small presses. We're not making 'zines or simple chapbooks. Each book is a hand-made art object, but they also all carry ISBNs and are listed in Books In Print. So we're combining artisanal craftsmanship with the kind of professionalism you'd expect of a larger house. 

<Becky> I'm gonna throw in my two cents...
What Spencer says about traditional presses is true, but I think that another important aspect is the way that a small press can establish a invaluable relationship between the press and the author.
Intimacy regarding the direction of the writing and the presentation of the book as an art piece can only be achieved when the press listens and is willing to understand the author's intent - a collaboration.  It's really difficult to have any expectations of establishing that kind of relationship through a traditional press. 

TT: You guys are in Denver (right?), and seem to be working a lot in your community. What is the role of the local in the writing world? How does that differ from the globalism of online communities like TT?

<Spencer> I tend to privilege the local over the online in general. One of my best experiences as a writer was with a writer's group I had in Minnesota. We were extremely demanding of each other, and became very close as artists and as friends. You don't get that, or at least I don't get that, from online communities. There's a different dynamic between people you invite into your home for a meal, who also workshop your poems, compared to a virtual community of any sort. I don't think a virtual community can offer that immediacy and intimacy. I haven't found that sort of community in Denver, yet. But lately writing has been a very solitary, private activity, and I've been focusing more on scholarly work than on creative work.

12 Questions has given me a little bit different take on the virtual community, though. We've found that the respondents we don't know well, or who aren't local, tend to be a lot more conscientious about cross-promotion and sharing their posts with their virtual communities. A virtual community takes a great deal of care and feeding to make it work and grow. 12 Questionshas been a real lesson in how that sort of community can operate. We're only a few months old and already have an international reach - yay for Toronto! - which is amazing to me. That extended network is something I think local talent could benefit from.

<Becky> Hurrah Denver!

For me, finding a balance between the local and the global is where it's at. Denver has a vibrant scene of writers, artists and people seeking community and my focus is to reach out and include those people--supporting a local community is just the start! As you reach out you discover that it never just stops in your back yard.

Typetrigger has that small, but big, spirit! You might have your friends in the city that you live in reading your work, but then you have someone in Seattle, NYC, and Austin following you! I found, while using Typetrigger, that it feels small no matter the number of users. That kind of safety, especially when you feel shaky as a writer, is such boon to your writerly ego.

TT: NePlusUltra was one of the most pivotal early members on Typetrigger. How did you find out about TT and what made you such an advocate for it so early on? Are you always a promoter? 

<Becky> I was introduced to Typetrigger by a Twitter friend - someone I'd never met before, but who's opinion I valued.
She threw out that she had some invites and I grabbed one.
And honestly, I loved the name - Typetrigger.  That's what made me, initially, check it out.
I've always been one of those unsure writers - Never trusting myself or having the courage to call myself a "writer".
But Typetrigger gives you an outlet to practice...and practice is what makes a writer, a writer.
That's why I loved it!  It gave me a place to write that wasn't too huge of a committment, gave me prompts that got my creative juices flowing, and didn't expose me to the typical internet landscape of negative critique.

Am I always a promoter?  I don't know...it seems like this year has proven to me that I am.
I just like good ideas and I love supporting people who believe in what they are doing.
And I find that the more you support those doing good things...that your good things will get support.

TT: What do you like most about Typetrigger?

<Becky> Typetrigger creates a space for a writer to practice.
I've always wanted to be a writer my whole life, but I've never been disciplined enough to get up at 6:00 am and write before work.  With Typetrigger, you get the trigger, a convenient amount of time to attack it, and a place to publish it without regret.
It's a jump start and something every writer needs from time to time!

<Spencer> As I mentioned earlier, I've been focusing on my scholarly work - finishing a dissertation, in fact, and chunking out extracts for articles. What immediately appealed to me about Typetrigger was that it was a quick, finite escape from that other mode of writing. I think it's funny how on some of my earlier posts the fiction prose still has the cadence and tone of my scholarly writing, but later posts are more relaxed and a more creative voice comes through. Typetrigger's a great way to facilitate moving between those two modes of writing, and as an exercise in flash creativity I find it very effective.

Would each of you be willing to select one piece of writing on Typetrigger that you really enjoyed and tell us in a sentence or two what you liked about it?

<Becky> So, Praline was the person that introduced me to Typetrigger and her piece for the trigger "wish i had gone" resonated with me.  The anxiety of moving forward, making decisions or not, and dealing with what happens next is so relatable to me. It's brilliant when someone can verbalize what you can not.

<Spencer> carrotcarmen was one of my first "readers" on TT and I always try to reciprocally read her work. One my favorites was her response to the trigger "mother knows best." The economy of her language, especially when writing about a situation that could turn the best prose purple, is incredible. I found that post profoundly moving. 

Messaging Now Open!

You all told us you wanted to be able to communicate with one another more easily, so this week we opened up our messaging system. It is now easy to send a message to anyone you want. Here's how:

-From a person's writing. If you read a piece you like on your wall, or while browsing triggers, you can send a message directly. Simply hover over the writer's name and their avatar will pop up. Beneath the image, you will see SEND A NOTE. Once you click on that, you will be able to send a message while the writing is still on your mind, and when you are done you can continue with your reading.

-From a person's profile page. Under each member's avatar you will see that SEND A NOTE. If you have been catching up on someone's work from their profile, it is easy to tell them how much you have enjoyed their writing!

-From your message area. Simple click on New to write a new message, and start typing the name of the member to whom you want to send a note. We have an auto-complete feature there, so you can readily see the list of members and chose who you are writing to (nice not to have to remember exactly how a username is spelled!). 

A few other features have been added to our messaging system as well. 

-Blocking. If you are wary of another person's messages or intent, you can block them once they have sent you a message. Once you open the message you will see "Block User" in gray under their name. If you want to undo this at any time you can remove blocking through your Edit Settings Area at the bottom of the page. Simply check by their name and hit Save Changes. Please let us know if you are having issues with a particular user. We want this community to feel safe and spam free. And don't be a jerk. Be nice. We will love you that way.

-Message deletion. You can now unload the old stuff. Simply click on the gray "X" in the right corner of any message, sent or received. 

And now let the conversations begin!

Little Bee Triggers and Discussion

This week we are inviting our members to discuss the Seattle Reads book Little Bee. We are constantly reading together on Typetrigger, and this is our first experiment with off-site reading. 

We will post several triggers in the coming weeks  that with the text in some way, and we invite you to approach the trigger however you like: as a response to the text, a new line of narrative, etc. Please tag your work "Little Bee" if you are participating. Our first Little Bee trigger will go up at 10 a.m. PDT on Wed, April 27. The following triggers will be scheduled as follows:

Monday, May 2, 4 p.m. PDT

Friday, May 6, 10 a.m. PDT

Monday, May 9, 10 a.m. PDT

We also have a discussion board here on the blog, which we invite you to participate in. Let's see what happens!

Facebook Group for TT Writers

Many of you gave us great feedback about what you would like and what you desire on Typetrigger. One of the things we heard is that many people would like more interaction. 

Today we started a Facebook group for Typetrigger members to discuss writing, reading and mustaches. Note, this is different from our fan page, which is where you can find keep up with the latest news and current triggers. Join us!

Q&A with Chris Higashi of Seattle Reads

Typetrigger is excited to be involved with this year's Seattle Reads, which is a program of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library. From the reading guide for this year's program:

[Seattle Reads is] a project designed to deepen engatement in literature through reading and discussion. Each year the Library hosts an author for a series of free programs...We also host a series of programs, film screenings, readings, and other events around the themes of the featured work.

Our plan is to engage Typetrigger members in a conversation around this year's book, Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. We invite all members to read this book, and in coming weeks we will post triggers that tie in with the text, giving our writers a chance to respond to the events and themes in this novel. 

Little Bee is an intensely emotional tale of a young Nigerian woman, Little Bee, who is seeking asylum in London. Her connection to a white magazine editor, Sarah, is revealed as the story unfolds, each woman narrating a chapter at a time. The pace and intense subject matter bring the reader through a wide range of questions and feelings in quick succession. Whether you are gripped by Cleave's use of language or by the complex issues of refugees, Little Bee provokes.

Chris Higashi, the program manager of Washington Center for the Book, who started Seattle Reads with librarian Nancy Pearl, took some time to talk to us about how the program. 

Q&A with Chris Higashi 

In your experience, what makes a good book for reading in a group?

Good books for discussion tend to share certain characteristics: they explore basic human truths

and raise universal themes that readers can identify with; have three-dimensional characters

forced to make difficult choices in difficult circumstances, whose decisions don’t always make

sense to everyone. Ambiguous endings drive some readers crazy, but they’re great for book

discussion.

How is a city-wide reading program like Seattle Reads different from an individual book club?

An individual book club might have special interests and with the group’s members in mind,

focus on certain genres, authors, countries or cultures, make any number of choices specific to

them. A book for a city-wide program needs all the characteristics of a good book for discussion

and more: a book with sufficiently broad appeal to be read by a wide variety of readers; one

that’s relevant to the community (what works well here won’t necessarily be a good choice

someplace else); that raises many, many questions, enough to sustain a discussion.

Equally important for us – because hosting the author, putting the author before audiences

in settings, large and small – is an author who is willing to, likes to, engage with readers – is

comfortable talking with them, not just at them. Not everyone is comfortable interacting with the

public. Seattle Reads is a chance for readers and writer to talk with one another. You’ve mulled

questions about the book in your book group or as an individual reader, you wonder about a

character’s action, you want to know why the author made that choice. People come to events

having read the book carefully, thought about the issues raised, and wanting answers to hard

questions.

If the book chosen is not the author’s latest, is the author willing to go back and focus on an

earlier work? Not everyone with a new or recent book will want to divert attention and spend

time and energy talking with readers about something else.

How do you choose the book?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions: how does Seattle choose its title? My answer

is, it’s an organic process. I read all the time with Seattle Reads in mind. Independent bookstore

friends who are longtime partners to our project, the Library’s Reader Services librarians who

likewise are intimately familiar with Seattle Reads, and I share ideas, read, comment, reject

scores of books. I do research, talk to booksellers and programming colleagues to learn whatever

I can about the author. We make a recommendation to Library leadership, who typically bless

our selection.

To illustrate, let me describe how we came to our 2008 selection, The Beautiful Things That

Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Mengestu. In spring 2007, Mengestu did a reading at Elliott Bay Book

Co. Rick Simonson and Karen Maeda Allman (knowledgeable about Seattle Reads and also

aware of our Library’s initiative to serve Seattle’s immigrant and refugee community, including

East Africans) called to tell me about Dinaw. They had had a good crowd of 100, this for a debut

novel. He was charming, wonderful with the crowd and Q&A. They sent me an advance copy. I

read it and, oh wow. I gave it to the Fiction Department manager. She, too, loved it.

Meanwhile a library staffer sent me an email, saying “I think you should consider these two

authors for library programs,” and pointed me to two NPR interviews, one of which was with

Dinaw. Then two weeks later, a librarian told me she had read a review, bought the book, read

it over the weekend, and “I think you should consider this for Seattle Reads.” Yes, it was The

Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears.

I said, “Okay, the universe is telling me something.” If we had had a formal process, where a

committee meets, nominates titles, and votes, that would not have happened.

Little Bee is very provocative in part because the author is surprisingly unlike the characters that he so vividly creates. When you select books, do you feel like the author or the story is more important?

One is not more important than the other. I have long felt that even with a great book for

discussion Seattle Reads would fail without a friendly, charismatic, non-egotistical author. Over

the project’s 13 years, I’ve listened to authors answer the same question repeatedly, thoughtfully, with the same enthusiasm as if asked for the first time. Audiences sense and respond in kind to an author’s respect and gratitude for his or her readers.

What is gained by the community when a city reads together?

Seattle Reads and other One Book programs build community. They bring people together. They

foster deep conversation, among strangers as well as friends and family. I firmly believe there’s

no substitute for the face-to-face encounter. People are hungry to connect with one another, to

talk about things that matter to them. Meeting and discussing ideas in the context of a book is a

wonderful way to make those connections happen. Reading is richer when shared. We may all

read the same book, but we each read a different book – because we bring our personal histories

to the reading – and a reader’s appreciation for a book is often enhanced through a facilitated

discussion.

One Book programs expand community. When we feature books by authors of diverse cultures

and ethnicities, we work with community leaders – those tied to new groups we’re trying to

reach. We introduce readers to new worlds. We bridge cultures, and often generations. People

crave stories and conversations that help us make sense of diverse people, places, and events.