Jordan Blum

This week: Jordan Blum!

Jordan is an author of flash fiction (which I personally - I know, I'm behind the curve- just found out about! PS, it's very cool, and tricky to write). Take a glance over the comments Jordan offers us at The Writer's Pane!

Name: Jordan Blum

Website: thebookendsreview.com / JordanBlum.com

Social Media: Facebook / Twitter

Genre: Mostly flash fiction and poetry

Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly from my own life, and specifically, from the ways in which my anxiety, depression, and impostor syndrome affect my frame of mind and actions. It’s quite a combination haha. I also tend to filter social commentary into my work, and I always need to listen to music as I write to really pinpoint the emotions I’m going for. Actually, I naturally start writing poetry in my mind whenever I go for a walk and listen to music. Something about watching the sun rise or fall as I hear really impactful sounds and see other people dealing with whatever they’ve got going on, good or bad. It’s like what Koenig means by “sonder.”

Which character in literature do you associate yourself with the most?
Probably the narrator in Palahniuk’s Fight Club (which I teach every semester, so no surprise there). I’m never as outright nihilistic and heartless as he is, but I sometimes feel a similar sense of existential conflict and a lack of purpose. I relate to his inner conflicts since I, like him, am a thirty-year-old single white man who’s doing well for himself but still feels kind of empty inside from time to time. Luckily, I’ve also come to the same realization that he does at the end of the novel: that “We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens.” It’s like, you’re not bad or good; you’re both, and that’s fine. We’re all exactly who we’re meant to be and have what we’re meant to have at this exact moment. Just find solace in that.

Which piece of your writing was the most entertaining/enjoyable to write? Why?
Probably “Liverpugly” because I got to write about parts of London and make fun of Phil Collins (who ruined Genesis in the 1980s, but that’s another topic) while exploring my absurdist comedy side. It really is an unrestrained and surreal fever dream of a story with a strong—if kind of predictable—twist/punchline at the end. A lot of readers find it funny and imaginative, so that’s nice.

Was the first novel you published the first you ever wrote? What was?
Well, I’ve never published a novel, or even finished the one I started in grad school. As of now, I’ve only published various short stories, essays, and poetry, and I haven’t done that for a few years, to be honest (due to a blend of doing other things, insecurities, and laziness). I am working on putting all of those pieces together into a fiction/poetry combo chapbook, so hopefully that’ll see the light of day sometime soon.

When I’m not writing I’m usually…..
Teaching, publishing other people’s work at The Bookends Review, writing about music in some way (interviews, premieres, reviews, etc.), watching Netflix, getting exercise, hanging out with friends, or seeing family. Between all of that, it’s hard to find the time and motivation to write (which is what almost every creative person says, I know). I should push myself a bit harder to do it, for sure.

If you could tell or ask any character in literature or film anything, what would it be? (and where is the character from?)
(This is a spoiler, so if you haven’t seen the movie, you really should.) I’d ask Donnie from Donnie Darko if, at the end of the film, he was laughing in his bed because he thought it was all a dream, or because he found the answers he was looking for and accepted his purpose as a martyr. Like, did he know what was going to happen and decided to stay in bed and die, or not? I mean, that’s what fans have been discussing for nearly twenty years, so it’d be nice to have some answers, right?

If you had lived a different life, made different choices, what would you be doing now?
Probably working as a session musician—if not in my own band—in England. I’m happy with what I’ve done and where I am in life (for the most part), but I also kind of regret not focusing more on becoming a better musician and exploring that aspect of my creativity as much as possible. Also, I really want to live in England. I do write for a couple English music magazines, though, so that’s kind of a compromise, I guess. That has to count for something.

What are five things you couldn’t do without?
Music, literature, coffee, meaningful relationships, and introspection

What do few people know about you?
Probably that I deal with anxiety and depression from time to time. It’s never been diagnosed, and it’s gotten less severe and more infrequent, but it still happens from time to time. Then again, the best art is often fueled from such things, so maybe it’s a blessing and a curse.

Are you working on any current projects?
Yes, I’m working on that fiction/poetry book I mentioned earlier; I think I’m going to call it Mixed Signals. I feel like once all of those pieces are put together and published, I can move past them and start something fresh. It’s hard for me to have multiple things going on; I usually need to stick with one thing at a time and see it to completion.

What work of fiction made you want to be a writer?
Just one? I’d say Fight Club. Read it as a teenage male and felt a connection (I know, I’m a stereotype. I see it as criticism of toxic masculinity rather than an advocate of it, though). If I can offer more, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, American Psycho, “The Bet,” and Cat’s Cradle left their marks, too.

What tools do you use for writing, organization, marketing?
I write in Microsoft Word (Calibri 11 because fonts can affect how and what you write). I also use various plot and character development worksheets, and I try to keep to a calendar schedule whenever I get into one of my creative writing periods (which, as I said above, isn’t nearly as often as it should be). Outside of that, I use social media (Facebook and Twitter) to market both my own work and whatever we do at The Bookends Review. It can be a lot to manage at times, but it’s always worth it.

---
Author Bio: I’m the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Bookends Review, a creative arts journal founded in 2012. I have MFA in fiction and teach composition and creative writing at several colleges/universities. I’ve published creative and/or scholarly pieces in several places, including the following anthologies: Exquisite Quartet Anthology 2012, Strangers of Different Ink, and Scar Publication’s Need to Know Basis (redacted edition), among others. Outside of that, I’m an Associate Editor at PopMatters and a contributor to Metal Injection, PROG, Rebel Noise, Classic Rock Society, The Prog Report, Progression, and PopWrapped, among other places.