"So what's the Tequila Kitty project about?"

Enough people have asked me this question lately* so, since today is the official launch of the project, I figured an introduction was in order.

(*Actually very few people have asked me this question, but I wanted an excuse to write about and shamelessly promote the project. Pretending that people have asked me about it would give me an excuse and make this post sound much more conversational in tone. Anyway, I digress...)

The Tequila Kitty Project is an 'exquisite corpse*-type project involving 14 writers. The main character will be the cat in the above photograph.

(*I explain below what Exquisite Corpse is. I mention this technique as it allows me to be slightly pedantic**, and perhaps attract greater readership to this blog since I'm trying to sound all smart and literary and stuff. But I'm digressing again...)

(** Didn't you just say you wanted to make this entry more conversational in tone? Now you're saying it's going to be academic so you can introduce the 'Exquisite Corpse' technique and, by extension, show off how much you've read? Make up your mind!)


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The Exquisite Corpse was a technique introduced by the Surrealists in the 1920's by founder Andre Breton. One artist would start a drawing or a story and send it to the next artist/writer, who would add the next part, without being allowed to see what was written before it, or only being allowed to see the last page or paragraph, or, if it were a drawing, the last section. (Examples of surrealist Exquisite Corpse drawings can be seen here.)

(Okay, the pedantry/digressing* is over. This now returns to the little-read blog it has always been.)

(* "You just used the word 'pedantry'!"
"Actually, I thought he said, 'peasantry'."
"Peasantry?! That's class warfare. **)

(** Sorry, dear readers. I keep digressing. Welcome to the Tristram Shandy of blog posts. Back to the explanation of The Tequila Kitty Project...)



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Each of the 14 writers, myself included, will compose one chapter. We will only be able to see the previous chapter written. Each writer will have one week to complete their chapter and send to the next person on the list, but they will have full autonomy to create whatever they want, so long as it involves the cat above.

Also, over time, an interview/bio sketch will be posted with each participant of The Tequila Kitty Project in order to introduce each talented writer to a greater audience. *

(* "What if the project doesn't generate as much interest as you think it's going to? What if you don't follow through on your intent to post an interview of each participant?" **)

(**Hey, interior monologue! I'm not going to let you bait me into a hypothetical argument that will prevent me from finishing this blog post. It's not going to happen this time... Oh, damn. It just did. Anyway... Back to the subject.)

As the project progresses, I will be making more public updates to keep people interested, without exposing any of the work-in-progress. It
is scheduled to be completed in mid-February with dissemination of the final product yet to be determined. Some ideas have been proposed and, perhaps, we'll even pull in external/audience suggestions, make it a fully interactive project.

Stay tuned for more news on the Adventures of Tequila Kitty.


As always, thank you.


 
This is an announcement for a new feature, a new page on this website: Lines I Love. We all, as readers, have them, lines that make us laugh, reflect, cry; descriptions that make us cringe, pull our knees tightly together in fear and empathy, a visceral reaction to the material being read. Sometimes, in the middle of what might be an otherwise hapless story or thoroughly average novel, the writer weaves a phrase that so delights us, we have to re-read it in momentary praise and condemnation: praise and awe over the beauty of the emotions the author has captured and the way in which he or she said it, and condemnation for the fact that we didn't think of it first.
As this feature (and website) evolves I may include an explanation as to why I love these particular lines or passages. As of now there is no rhyme, no reason, no order. Feel free to visit the page and see what types of writing and phrasing tickles my arbitrary fancy. Feel free to disagree. Feel free to leave comments of some of your own favorite lines. Those submitted will be added to the page, with attribution.
I leave you lines from "The Origin of Love" from the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The lyrics near the end of the song, listed below, sums up the intentions of most writers, well, at least my intentions, better than I could ever hope to: to show the pain inside each of our characters (and us) and, hopefully, by showing that pain, to help them (and us) heal:

But I could swear by your expression
that the pain down in your soul
was the same as the one down in mine.
- John Cameron Mitchell, "The Origin of Love"