Newspapers and Magazines

I've written for many newspapers and magazines. This post will list and discuss some of the ones I've written for multiple times. I've included normal magazines and also literary magazines. This is an incomplete list. Maybe I'll add to it over time.

Vice (52 times from 2007 to 2014)

Most of these are from three columns I had. One was Tao of Terence (on Terence McKenna and psychedelics); one was iPhone Photos of Taipei (to promote Taipei before it came out); one was Drug-Related Photoshop Art. I was paid the most for Tao of Terence. They offered $350 per post and I asked if I could have $600 per post and they said yes. Tao of Terence was the first form of Trip. I never read Vice anymore.

Thought Catalog (39 from 2010 to 2014)

The founder of Thought Catalog offered me $500 to write something for them when they first started and I wrote about Marina Abramović. Later, I was paid less, but they let me write whatever I wanted, resulting in articles like "Critical Analysis of Four Shoppers in a Japanese Supermarket from the Perspectives of Their Disapproving, Estranged Mothers" and "Top 10 Reasons You Should Read This Article." They published long pieces by me on the novel Almost Transparent Blue (~11k words) and the gorilla Koko (~5k). I never read Thought Catalog anymore and don't know anyone who does.

The Stranger (6 times from 2007 to 2014)

The Stranger is Seattle's main alternative weekly newspaper. They paid $300 to $800 I think, which seemed good. They let me profile myself in 2010 and put me on their cover.

NOON (5 times from 2007 to 2020)

NOON published short stories by me in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2020. The stories from 2008, 2009, and 2010 were excerpts of Richard Yates. The one from 2020 was an excerpt of Leave Society. For each story, Diane Williams would edit me down by an average of, I estimate, 50%. She would also sometimes move one line to some place different. After one or two times of her edits, I would try to anticipate her edits, but she would still have more deletions. Her way of editing is my favorite way of editing: editing down by deleting.

New York Tyrant Magazine (5 times from 2016 to 2020)

My friend Jordan edits New York Tyrant Magazine's online magazine. I think the online magazine started in 2016. The print magazine which my friend Gian edits has been around seemingly forever.

Granta (thrice from 2013 to 2018)

My essay "Final Fantasy III" is the most I've been paid—around $2850—for one piece of non-book writing. The essay was for a while going to be the first chapter of Leave Society but now it's just mentioned in Leave Society and not included. The essay is about my first three times being stoned around my parents, though this isn't mentioned in the essay.

Mississippi Review (thrice in 2006 and 2007)

The last story in Bed, "Sasquatch," was first published in MR, and they published two things by me online. Their online magazine was later retitled Blip Magazine and then New World Writing. The archives are here. Mississippi Review was edited by Frederick Barthelme until 2010. He published many of my favorite writers—Ann Beattie, Bobbie Ann Mason, Raymond Carver. I think he just edits the online magazine now. This story by Curtis Sittenfeld is one of my favorite stories.

bear parade (thrice in 2006 and 2007)

My friend Gene made this site.

New York Times (twice in 2013)

I wrote an opinion piece titled "When I Moved Online" that I was solicited for, and reviewed the novel Nothing by Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon.  When I was asked to review the novel, and started writing the review, I felt a lot of internalized pressure to write a review like what I imagined a NYTimes book review had to be like—summary of the book, state the books' positives and negatives, give a clear judgment on whether it was good, bad, terrible, brilliant, or what. I somehow was able to avoid doing all that, and my review ended up not offering any value judgment, but was more just analysis. I liked this because I don't like to think of art in terms of good or bad, or promote a view of art like that, but I don't think they liked it, and they didn't ask me to review again.

New York Observer (twice, in 2011 and 2014)

I wrote about the future of the novel (Christian Lorentzen solicited me for this and provided essays that I should read for it) and profiled Knausgaard.

Poetry Foundation (twice, in 2009 and 2010)

Poetry Foundation paid really well for short pieces. I think they paid $800 for this and $500 for this. They contacted and solicited me on their own.

Alice Blue Review (twice, in 2006 and 2007)

I'm surprised this still exists. They published pieces by me titled Exactly What I Want and Lisa Jarnot.

Eyeshot (twice, in I think 2005 and 2006)

These were among the first stories I published—"An E-mail I Sent Lorrie Moore" and "The Shark Was Stubborn & They Both Starved." When I started publishing in 2005 and 2006, I submitted to online magazines that mostly published short pieces—Pindeldyboz, Hobart, Monkeybicycle, uber.nu. It was fun.