Wednesday, August 10, 2011

I was hoping to get reviews going again here in August, but August has turned into a very very busy month, in some ways happy, in others ways... less so.

My husband and son and I may have to move out of the apartment and neighborhood that we all love in order to get my son into a school that we are all comfortable sending him to. Ben is a great kid and last year we had a very poor match with his school. He is smart and inquisitive and interested in learning (many of the books I read him are books about outer space and paleontology) and I fear that another year at a school that does not work well with him will lead to a stifling of that love of learning and a belief that school cannot possibly be a good place. So we may move. We will see.

In happier news, Kerouac Fest is right around the corner and I will get to be reunited with my undergraduate creative writing professor. He lives in Lebanon now, so I hardly ever get to see him and I can't wait. It is fitting that we will see each other right as my new chapbook, Letters from Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel will be coming out then, too - he is the reason I am no longer a terrible poet (oh lord, I was terrible - I'm rereading some of my high school era poetry for Scary Bush, and oh god...) and he's the one who first brought me to the Grand Midway.

Juliet Cook is doing an amazing job with Letters from Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel - when this manuscript was still in its fetal state I told myself that as soon as it was done if Blood Pudding Press was taking submissions I would send it there. Juliet is, in so many ways, the right publisher for this manuscript. I think she gets it more than any other editor possibly could have. Juliet recently did an interview with Women's Quarterly Conversation that is well, well worth reading. It is here.

Back to reviews soon, I promise - I've been reading a lot of really great books and chapbooks and I can't wait to talk about them!

4 comments:

Jenny Dreadful said...

Speaking of reviews . . . I have a chapbook coming out the 19th of August - if you're not too busy - would you mind reviewing it???

Thanks again for allowing me to contribute to Make It So - beautiful!


-Jenny Rossi

Margaret Bashaar said...

Jenny - absolutely send it along to me - do you want to send me na electronic copy or should I email you my address?

I'm glad you've enjoyed Make it So! The first print run is sold out already and I'm printing more now!

Jenny Dreadful said...

Woot! Congrats! It was a lovely edition!

Electronic copy would be great - what e-mail address would you prefer??


Thanks again!!!

Margaret Bashaar said...

if you could send it to myhyacinthgirl (at) gmail.com that would be perfect - can't wait to give it a read!!