Smoking With Weike Wang by Gabe Durham Smoking With by Ashley Iguanta This last winter was the worst the northeast has seen in awhile. What did you do to stay warm? To stay happy?  I can't stand the cold, although I did grow up in Michigan.  This winter, I bought too many space heaters.  I placed them around my bedroom so that the room would feel like a sauna.  Then I lounged around like it was summer — shorts, t-shirt, flip flops.  Going outside was a bit tricky as my coat was not self heating.  So instead, I invested in many pairs of leg warmers that I also wore as arm warmers.  When it got really cold, I stayed in my sauna and watched the cold from my steamed up window.  To stay happy I drank skim cappuccinos in the morning.  I have this self sufficient cappuccino maker that has cow spots on it.  My boyfriend and I call it the courageous cow. When the pressure valve pops and the milk foams, the courageous cow gives off a mighty moo, an exclamatory release of steam — 'ah, coffee!' This story knows itself well. For instance, the invented word "lawnway" could only come out of the narrator's observation that the snow's too thick to tell the difference between the lawn and driveway. You're a big drafter, huh? Sometimes. I don't have a number in mind when drafting because I consider the whole process after the first 'draft' as one long revision.  "A Morning Routine" I actually wrote in one sitting.  Lawnway is what I call my driveway/lawn in Michigan in the dead of winter, so the vocabulary was very local.  I try to stay local with my stories but fresh at the same time.  However when I actually sit down to write, what's  'local and fresh' is not always so straightforward because when I sense myself reaching for something original rather than coming across it, my writing comes out plastic.   Is most of your fiction coming out this short right now? What else are you working on? Yes, most of my fiction is short. I have an easier time seeing the structure.  Also the short fits me better.  I can focus very well for a very short amount of time after that I lose much of my spontaneity. But I do want to write longer, more traditional stories, though I find that the longer I stay in the short form the harder it is to pick up a longer format. This summer, I plan on writing something longer but as of right now, I am still writing short shorts. A few times a week, I jot down phrases that I'd like to have in a story.  When I start a story, I pick a phrase and go from there. How does organic chemistry inform your fiction? I don't mix my science and my fiction well.  They demand different parts of my creativity and logic.  But organic chemistry does provide a distraction to fiction and vice versa.  I work best with some kind of distraction in the back of my head.  It adds a little pressure, hurries me along and reminds me to just write it out rather chew it stale. What have you been reading lately? Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (Recommended to me by my writing teacher a long time ago that I never got around to reading due to missing free time.) Slouching to Bethlehem (Birthday gift from a friend who enjoys nonfiction, thinks I should write nonfiction and asks me every time which essay I'm on.) Jane Eyre (A favorite that I'm continuously rereading for its lessons on beauty.) I worked coffee one summer and spent much of the first couple weeks pretty flustered. What might you tell the world's apologetic new baristas? New baristas should ignore impatient morning customers (like me).  They should also adopt a friendly level of friendliness. Too much sunshine and chatter is overbearing but a smile is always appreciated.  Read A Morning Routine. Issue Thirty-Two (June 27, 2011): Bible Camp by Wyatt Bonikowski «» Instead of the Glass by Randall Brown «» Sum of Her Parts by Katie Cortese «» Cotton Fever by Brandon Courtney «» Three Girls by Trent England «» Pebble in a Pool by Frances Gonzalez «» Elephants by James Greer «» All My Friends Are a Lot Like Me by Kyle Hemmings «» Marbles Loosed by Jac Jemc «» Twining by Donna Laemmlen «» On Becoming Women by Cynthia Larsen «» Belly of a Fish by Rachel Mangini «» After Stories by Dylan Mohr «» People Go to Jail for This by Dave Newman «» Gradius by Brian Oliu «» Last Sight of Land by Heather Peterson «» You Alone Are Privy to This Vision by Eliezra Schaffzin «» The Tycoon by Curtis Smith «» An 8mm Clip of Violence by Peter Stenson «» A Morning Routine by Weike Wang «» Interviews: Wyatt Bonikowski «» Randall Brown «» Katie Cortese «» Brandon Courtney «» Trent England «» Frances Gonzalez «» James Greer «» Kyle Hemmings «» Jac Jemc «» Donna Laemmlen «» Cynthia Larsen «» Rachel Mangini «» Dylan Mohr «» Dave Newman «» Brian Oliu «» Heather Peterson «» Eliezra Schaffzin «» Curtis Smith «» Peter Stenson «» Weike Wang «» Cover Art "Doll Parts" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editors Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.