By Rachel Kuskie
Amanda Raczkowski, 30, and her husband Joseph Reed, 28, of Pittsburgh Pa Pittsburgh
Joe, you are planning to read on the faculty and alumni night of
the Writer's Festival, what do you intend on reading for it and what was
the inspiration for it?
J: I'm not sure exactly what the game plan is yet, but I'll be reading the
work of Caketrain contributors. I'm going through our latest issue with
post-its as we speak.
Tell me a little about your time at UPG and how it influenced you as
writers.
A: UPG had a large impact on my entire literary career. The faculty and my
fellow classmates were very welcoming and encouraging; a completely
different experience from the school I previously attended. I will never
forget the first day of Poetry Workshop when Professor Blevins said "Poetry
is a language experiment," and I finally felt like I belonged somewhere.
Each instructor I had at UPG encouraged us to submit to literary journals
and to look beyond the world of undergraduate work. I feel that this
attitude gave me a greater edge in the literary community.
J: My role today as a small press editor is wholly attributable to my time
spent with Judy Vollmer, who appointed me the editor of UPG's lit journal,
Pendulum, and encouraged me to explore the world of the small press and
establish my own parameters for what a literary journal should be. In my
time at UPG, I labored relentlessly over every aspect of Pendulum, from
selection to sequencing to cover design, layout and typography. It's thanks
to Judy that when we started Caketrain--which was founded in the same year
that we graduated from UPG--I had two good years of experience already
behind me.
So the two of you met at UPG, have you ever written about finding your
soulmate at UPG?
A: (laughs)I have written pieces that are somewhat based on our
relationship, but I never have written something directly about the start of
our relationship at UPG. Perhaps we should write a one-act play about our
budding love during our final semester?
J: Yeah, the set would just be, like, a bench and a façade of F.O.B.
Seriously, though -- and maybe a little sappily -- I'm so thankful to have
found Amanda. I couldn't imagine a finer collaborative partner and friend.
UPG is a terrific matchmaker.
How is it working with your spouse? Do you edit each others' work?
A: It is both wonderful and frustrating; it can be hard to separate the work
of Caketrain from our every day lives since Caketrain is such a part of our
every day lives, but we work at keeping the arguments to the appropriate
area. Joe is one of the best readers and editors I have ever had the joy of
working with. His editorial guidance was a large part of my book manuscript
and I value his opinion greatly. When we first starting dating, we posed a
little writing experiment to each other. Our task was to write pieces in the
other's style. At UPG I wrote very narrative, confessional work and Joe
focused mainly on language and images. This experiment really influenced my
future writing and without it, I do not know if I would have progressed in
the way that I did.
J: I love to edit. Sitting down with a promising manuscript and finessing it
into making good on that promise is the most rewarding part of our work. And
Amanda's work is no different, except, when one of her poems makes reference
to a real event that I was there to witness, it can be difficult to keep
that from informing my reading of it.
Have the two of you ever collaborated on any pieces before? If so, could
you tell me about a particular piece you are both proud of?
A: Everything with Caketrain is collaboration between the two of us, but I
think Caketrain Issue 04 is a defining moment for us because it was the time
when we exercised more of our own editorial control.
J: Absolutely. Caketrain started as a three-person operation -- the two of
us and a friend and fellow UPG grad, Donna Weaver -- and that structure
necessarily called for a greater willingness to compromise. Donna left
Caketrain in 2007 to focus on a career in journalism, and since then the
journal has been run by Amanda and I alone. It's a rather nice arrangement:
if one of us feels strongly enough about a particular piece, we can accept
it without consultation with the other. So we both have final say, in a way,
but neither of us is usually that certain about a particular submission, so
we're constantly bouncing work off of each other for a second opinion and to
look for opportunities for improvement through edits and suggestions for
revision.
What is your preferred genre to write? Can you tell me about one of your
favorite pieces of work?
A: I would classify my work as prose poetry/flash fiction, but genre
distinctions can be too distracting. I wrote a series of five pieces that
are included in my book manuscript that I am very keen on.
So, Caketrain is a literary journal and book publisher? How did you come
up with the name "Caketrain"?
A: Caketrain publishes one literary journal per year and with necessary
funds, three single author titles (two of which are the result of an annual
chapbook competition).
J: The name Caketrain was chosen by our former editor, Donna Weaver, who
just called me up one day and said, "I've got the title." It's not bad. Has
a nice ring to it.
How difficult was it getting Caketrain started? Can you tell me about
how you went about getting the word out about it and how it progressed as
a journal and website?
A: To be legally legit, there is a lot of bureaucratic nonsense that you
have to deal with. We started the journal with a website and an e-mail
address and solicited submissions from writers we knew and respected. The
amazing part was when we didn't have to solicit to receive amazing content.
J: From the very beginning, people in the literary community were very
supportive, especially on the local level. And since then it's just gotten
bigger and bigger through word of mouth. We've been content in the seven
years we've been operating Caketrain to let the project grow organically,
and slowly but steadily, it has done just that.
Do you personally prefer writing or editing?
A: I cannot imagine actively competing with some of the wonderful talents
that we encounter every day. Editing the journal requires a lot of time and
I feel to be able to produce a well-rounded issue, I need to focus all my
talents on editing.
J: I think that we are creating an even greater literary legacy for
ourselves and the writers we work with. And it feels good to be a champion
of fledgling writers, to give of ourselves to others in this way. It's a
reward that is, for me, much greater than the creation of my own work.
Where did the Caketrain Chapbook competition idea come from? Are you
always looking for a specific genre or does anything go? What are the
entries like?
A: The chapbook competition helps Caketrain remain independent and it also
allows us the opportunity to publish single-author titles. We look for the
daring and innovative - something that makes us question what can writing
do. We receive about 200 chapbook submissions each contest and the styles
vary greatly.
J: And to keep things interesting, we switch genres each year--from fiction
to poetry and back again.
What are some of the contributors to Caketrain like? Do you meet many
of them personally? Does anyone in particular immediately stand out in
your mind?
A: We have only met a few of our contributors, but all of them are wonderful
and we hope to meet more of them.
J: We're supposed to be meeting one of them later this year: her name is
Tina May Hall and she'll be in town to accept Pitt's Drue Heinz Literature
Prize. We published her first fiction chapbook last year, and I think she's
promised us a dinner date. (laughs)
Do you get more local submissions or national? How about international?
A: We receive a mixture of local, national, and international submissions.
When did you first notice Caketrain was becoming more than a local
A: We always wanted to have a journal that was part of Pittsburgh
necessarily defined by the region.
J: Yeah, we're not really regional, but we love being in Pittsburgh
terrific place to run an arts project.
Would you encourage UPG students to submit to Caketrain?
J: Absolutely. Don't feel as though it's too early. Be courageous. I think
the fact that we were encouraged by our professors to submit made the
process easier.
Where do you see Caketrain going from here? Where do you see your
writing careers heading?
A: I hope that we can keep Caketrain moving and that the last issue
(whenever that will be) will be edited by the two of us and be the best one
yet.
J: That's awesome. That's just what I hope for!
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