I'm still playing catch-up with review writing and not doing a terribly good job with it, honestly. I read a lot, then I got really sick, and now, because being sick for 3+ weeks means I didn't exercise in 3+ weeks I'm in that emotional funk that, for me, goes with it being winter and not exercising. It's an amazing cycle that gets me watching multiple episodes of The Office in one sitting rather than doing what I ought to do which is get off my butt and exercise.
However! Yesterday I briefly got off my butt and exercised for about 40 minutes (and could tell that it had definitely been almost a month since my last spin on the elliptical machine because at 40 minutes I was sweating way more than usual) and I read Planchette by Juliet Cook (pretty sure this is the last chapbook of hers I own and still had to read) and Loba, Part 1 by Diane di Prima (it's a first edition and I found it at Caliban Books a while ago. Very exciting. It does not exist on Goodreads.)
I'm not really sure how to deal with the awful funk I get into when I don't exercise regularly. It's amazing how that exercise, though, is more effective than therapy or medication ever were - you know, presuming I keep up with it. As someone who sits at a desk for 8+ hours a day, I don't really get much in the way of exercise unless I purposefully pursue it, and while when I'm on a roll with the exercise it is extremely easy to motivate myself to stay in the habit, but when illness hits me, after I recover I'm usually a bit down, and with that and lack of exercise comes a lack of energy and a vicious cycle that I really end up clawing my way out out.
Okay. Enough complaining.
Loba, Part 1 by Diane di Prima (Capra Press, 1973) - Diane di Prima is one of the most well-known women of the Beat movement and more people should really be reading her/knowing about her. Her poetry is beautiful - Crystal and I have performed her "More or Less Love Poems" at Kerouac Fest and for The TypewriterGirls Save the Libraries, always with an enthusiastic audience response. I've been meaning to read Loba for a while now and honestly, am a bit embarassed to admit that this is my first dive into the series. This was a great chapbook to start off 2011 with. Lately, I've been drawn more and more into shamanism, mysticism, and earth spiritualities and these things are hard to find in poetry that I also feel is well-written. These elements are certainly present in Loba, Part 1 as di Prima follows the Loba, an otherworldly she-wolf, through the book. Perhaps my favorite piece, though, was the one that opened the chapbook, a poem to the speaker's "lost moon sisters" - all the women who have lost their way, their sense of self, who the speak has not met, who the speaker mourns for. Definitely a poem that I will force my husband to listen to me read aloud. I am very very excited to read the complete Loba which is sitting on my shelf, waiting for me at home.
Planchette by Juliet Cook (Blood Pudding Press, 2008) - anyone who has read previous mini reviews by me knows that I love Juliet's poetry, and of course Planchette was no exception. Perhaps my reviews of Juliet's work should simply read "It was Juliet Cook. What do you think?". But no, I will be more descriptive than that. In this collection, I was particularly impressed with how well each poem fit together with the others. The entire collection was pale and haunted. There were hauntings of the body, hauntings of food, hauntings of dolls, hauntings of furniture, hauntings of spiders, and yes, hauntings of homes. I enjoyed how poems would reference one another, yet not be dependent upon one another in order to be understood and appreciated. I felt as though I was being lead through a tour of quiet madness by someone who, themself, was quite mad. As is always a strength in Juliet's writing, there is beauty in the grotesque of Planchette, and, I feel, a strong feminist undertone to her writing about women made pale with blood made thin and fingertips snipped off (though Juliet herself has told me she's been called everything from a radical feminist to an anti-feminist by those who have read her poetry). You can purchase a copy of Planchette at the Blood Pudding Press etsy store, as linked above, and I highly recommend it.
I am working on what I think is the title poem for my full-length collection. As of right now, that collection is one of poems on women of spiritual power, but we shall see how it evolves.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Friday, July 2, 2010
Elliptical Poetry, furries, etc etc etc
There's been silence over here, but with good reason, I swear!! Last week I was deep in the throes of planning/rehearsing/freaking out over TypewriterGirls Gone Furry. All elliptical time was spent memorizing my lines. Pretty much all my time for about three days straight was spent memorizing my lines, really.
It was all worth it, though - in spite of some minor snags (which all shows have, really) the show went amazingly well. Pittsburghers appreciated it, furries appreciated it, Ohioans Mary Biddinger and Juliet Cook appreciated it, and my brother made a damn fine Sidney Crosby. Also, I wore a gorilla suit in 85 degree + weather and did not pass out. That was more or less an act of god. We had the largest turn-out that I believe we've ever had for a show, and at least ten people have approached me since the show to make sure we'll be reprising this performance for next year's Anthrocon.
Speaking of Anthrocon, I have to say, I do <3 me some furries. Every one that I met was nice and helpful and the ones in fursuits pretty much all let me pet their fursuit, pull their tails, and get pictures. I can't say I personally will be going furry any time soon, but I'll totally hang out downtown when they're back next year.
I'm finally feeling like I'm getting back into the creative swing of things a bit. I say that tentatively, because I haven't seriously worked on anything for so long that I was starting to question labeling myself "poet" (not really, but you know...), but some things have occurred that have pushed me back toward my writing space, which is a space that I need to be in. I love writing and am at my happiest when I am writing and creating. I wonder if my discontent over the past 6 months had more to do with not writing and less to do with any other factor in my life.
A chapbook project I've been working on off and on over the past 4 years is taking off in my mind again. I used to be worried about some of the content, but I'm not now. If you want a small preview of my new old project, check out the newest issue of Pear Noir! - it's got three poems in it from this project, and I'm pretty darned excited about them. With that said, I was on the elliptical machine for 50 minutes yesterday (in spite of Ben's best efforts to distract me) and I read some of that issue of Pear Noir!
Pear Noir! #4 (Summer 2010) - One really great thing that I must say about Pear Noir!'s fourth issue is that it has an amazing sense of cohesion. I find that to be a very difficult thing to find in a literary journal - they're usually much more scattered than, say, a single-author collection or themed anthology, but the folks over at Pear Noir! pulled it off. There's a gritty darkness to every one of the pieces I read (even one about baking a pie). There is some weird shit in here. There's a fiction piece called The Robot Vampire Lioness, and yes, it is odd, off, and borderline-ridiculous (okay, maybe it did a flying leap over the border), but I liked it nonetheless, in that "what the fuck am I reading? This is absurd!" kind of way, and isn't that the best way, in the end? Go get yourself some Pear Noir! and not just because I'm in it.
It was all worth it, though - in spite of some minor snags (which all shows have, really) the show went amazingly well. Pittsburghers appreciated it, furries appreciated it, Ohioans Mary Biddinger and Juliet Cook appreciated it, and my brother made a damn fine Sidney Crosby. Also, I wore a gorilla suit in 85 degree + weather and did not pass out. That was more or less an act of god. We had the largest turn-out that I believe we've ever had for a show, and at least ten people have approached me since the show to make sure we'll be reprising this performance for next year's Anthrocon.
Speaking of Anthrocon, I have to say, I do <3 me some furries. Every one that I met was nice and helpful and the ones in fursuits pretty much all let me pet their fursuit, pull their tails, and get pictures. I can't say I personally will be going furry any time soon, but I'll totally hang out downtown when they're back next year.
I'm finally feeling like I'm getting back into the creative swing of things a bit. I say that tentatively, because I haven't seriously worked on anything for so long that I was starting to question labeling myself "poet" (not really, but you know...), but some things have occurred that have pushed me back toward my writing space, which is a space that I need to be in. I love writing and am at my happiest when I am writing and creating. I wonder if my discontent over the past 6 months had more to do with not writing and less to do with any other factor in my life.
A chapbook project I've been working on off and on over the past 4 years is taking off in my mind again. I used to be worried about some of the content, but I'm not now. If you want a small preview of my new old project, check out the newest issue of Pear Noir! - it's got three poems in it from this project, and I'm pretty darned excited about them. With that said, I was on the elliptical machine for 50 minutes yesterday (in spite of Ben's best efforts to distract me) and I read some of that issue of Pear Noir!
Pear Noir! #4 (Summer 2010) - One really great thing that I must say about Pear Noir!'s fourth issue is that it has an amazing sense of cohesion. I find that to be a very difficult thing to find in a literary journal - they're usually much more scattered than, say, a single-author collection or themed anthology, but the folks over at Pear Noir! pulled it off. There's a gritty darkness to every one of the pieces I read (even one about baking a pie). There is some weird shit in here. There's a fiction piece called The Robot Vampire Lioness, and yes, it is odd, off, and borderline-ridiculous (okay, maybe it did a flying leap over the border), but I liked it nonetheless, in that "what the fuck am I reading? This is absurd!" kind of way, and isn't that the best way, in the end? Go get yourself some Pear Noir! and not just because I'm in it.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
National I-haven't-written-a-damn-thing-all-month Month
You know, I could make a million excuses about the AWP, about how Weave is in that period of crunch time leading up to our next issue's debut, about how I've got approximately eleventy billion TypewriterGirls shows this spring/summer starting this week (you should come to some of them!), about how I'm trying to spend more time with my long-suffering husband and child, but the truth is that I'm just a lazy fuck.
I have ideas - a plethora of ideas. Ideas are not poems.
I might be heading out to the Grand Midway Hotel this weekend. That usually forces me to write. Ah, old haunted hotel in a dead coal mining town - what would I do without you?
I have ideas - a plethora of ideas. Ideas are not poems.
I might be heading out to the Grand Midway Hotel this weekend. That usually forces me to write. Ah, old haunted hotel in a dead coal mining town - what would I do without you?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Reading in 2009
I've seen a lot of people making lists of their favorite books of 2009 and I was trying to think of what my favorite books of 2009 might be when I realized something a little bit depressing -- I didn't really get to do all that much reading purely for pleasure in 2009.
I did make sure that I sat down and read At Night, the Dead by Lisa Ciccarello, and this weekend I plan to give The Spare Room by Dana Guthrie Martin my full attention, but maybe it would be better to just list the books I read for pleasure this year. period.
I did a lot of reading a poem here and a poem there from books, so I'll really only be listing books I actually read cover to cover. Not all of them were even published this year. I am made of book reading fail.
- The aforementioned At Night, the Dead by Lisa Ciccarello from Blood Pudding Press
- No Water by Renée Alberts from Speed and Briscoe
- The Ice Lizard by Judith Johnson (one of the best books of poetry I've ever read. Judy Johnson is fantastic.)
- Inside Bone There's Always Marrow by Rachel Mallino from Maverick Duck Press
- Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York by Frank X. Walker (one of my top 10 favorite poets of all time. I gushed at him at AWP last year. Yes, I totally fangirled.)
- Horrific Confection by Juliet Cook (get your copy to hold in your hands while you can! She's running out!)
Oh dear lord, those might be the only books that I chose to read this year and actually read cover to cover. That is extremely depressing. This is one of the problems with being an editor and review writer - I am constantly reading books and work that are not necessarily of my choosing, and there seems to be a constant influx of this. I've actually fallen woefully behind on some of my reviews due to all the other craziness of the past few months, and in addition, there are many people who have been waiting for a response from Weave for a lot longer than I would like. If you're out there reading this, we haven't forgotten you!
To be fair, if I wasn't a review writer, I would never have discovered Frank X. Walker and there would have been no AWP fangirling.
If your book is not on the above list and I purchased it this year, do not be sad. I probably read it in parts and stare at it longingly as I dash from room to room of my apartment, either chasing after my son or trying to locate something that has gone missing at just the moment I need it. Or it is currently in the possession of one of the Weave assistant editors, waiting to have a review of it written. Joel just absconded with I think three more books. For the most embarrassing life of me I cannot remember which ones. I do recall being very happy about one of them, thinking, oh but it would be lovely if he wrote a review of that one!
I did a bit of writing on Tuesday. Not much, but I've begun, at least, to get myself back in the poetic head space.
My just-before-the-new-year resolution is to read more just because I want to. I will start this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.
I did make sure that I sat down and read At Night, the Dead by Lisa Ciccarello, and this weekend I plan to give The Spare Room by Dana Guthrie Martin my full attention, but maybe it would be better to just list the books I read for pleasure this year. period.
I did a lot of reading a poem here and a poem there from books, so I'll really only be listing books I actually read cover to cover. Not all of them were even published this year. I am made of book reading fail.
- The aforementioned At Night, the Dead by Lisa Ciccarello from Blood Pudding Press
- No Water by Renée Alberts from Speed and Briscoe
- The Ice Lizard by Judith Johnson (one of the best books of poetry I've ever read. Judy Johnson is fantastic.)
- Inside Bone There's Always Marrow by Rachel Mallino from Maverick Duck Press
- Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York by Frank X. Walker (one of my top 10 favorite poets of all time. I gushed at him at AWP last year. Yes, I totally fangirled.)
- Horrific Confection by Juliet Cook (get your copy to hold in your hands while you can! She's running out!)
Oh dear lord, those might be the only books that I chose to read this year and actually read cover to cover. That is extremely depressing. This is one of the problems with being an editor and review writer - I am constantly reading books and work that are not necessarily of my choosing, and there seems to be a constant influx of this. I've actually fallen woefully behind on some of my reviews due to all the other craziness of the past few months, and in addition, there are many people who have been waiting for a response from Weave for a lot longer than I would like. If you're out there reading this, we haven't forgotten you!
To be fair, if I wasn't a review writer, I would never have discovered Frank X. Walker and there would have been no AWP fangirling.
If your book is not on the above list and I purchased it this year, do not be sad. I probably read it in parts and stare at it longingly as I dash from room to room of my apartment, either chasing after my son or trying to locate something that has gone missing at just the moment I need it. Or it is currently in the possession of one of the Weave assistant editors, waiting to have a review of it written. Joel just absconded with I think three more books. For the most embarrassing life of me I cannot remember which ones. I do recall being very happy about one of them, thinking, oh but it would be lovely if he wrote a review of that one!
I did a bit of writing on Tuesday. Not much, but I've begun, at least, to get myself back in the poetic head space.
My just-before-the-new-year resolution is to read more just because I want to. I will start this weekend. I will let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Whirlwind
It's a wonderful week and it's a crazy week at the same time.
First, the happiest of news - my husband got his green card yesterday!!! Hooray! This is the most wonderful of news and overshadows any bad news/feelings. Seriously. One of the bad things that happened on Tuesday, thought, was that my car got towed (a $45 lunch for two turned magically into a $200 lunch) and I couldn't even really get upset about it.
Other happy news - two TypewriterGirls performances this weekend! The first one is this Friday at Remedy in Lawrenceville - Karen Lillis and Laura Davis will be reading, and there will be various other TypewriterGirl shenanigans. Doors open at 9:30.
On Sunday it's TypewriterGirls Save the Libraries! Doors open at 5:30pm at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland. It's for a good cause. You should be there. Sandra Beasley and Nancy Krygowski will read, Phat Man Dee will sing, Christiane D. will perform, Dave Doyle will balance things on his face, Moquette Volante will perform, and Crystal and I will be up to our zany antics with guest appearances from Sean Collier and Franco Dok Harris. You for sure want to be at this one.
My friend Kevin is coming out to Pittsburgh this weekend to see the TypewriterGirls shows and hang out in the city. I don't get to see Kevin too often and it will be very nice to have him around!
I've actually taken off work tomorrow to get ready for the upcoming TypewriterGirls shows. This is not the first time I've taken off for a show, but it's the first time I've taken off for show rehearsal.
Very Good Things are, of course, happening elsewhere in the poetry world, too.
- The lovely Rachel Mallino has just had her next chapbook picked up by Dancing Girl Press! Hooray and congratulations, Rachel!!
- My Weave co-founder Laura Davis has a new blog. Check it out -- it's all poetry-related and stuff
- The New Yinzer Presents has a reading coming up! I'm in it with fellow Weave editor Joel Coggins, the always-amazing Renee Alberts, and much much more!
- Juliet Cook has a new chapbook coming out from Slash Pine Press called Fondant Pig Angst. I have ordered it. You should order it, too.
- Dana Guthrie Martin's chapbook The Spare Room is out right now from Juliet's press, Blood Pudding Press. It's another one that I demand you go purchase right now. Dana's work is absolutely stunning. Always.
I haven't been writing as much as I should, but I have ideas and after this weekend I'll have a little breather. And that will be good.
Also - my chapbook from Tilt Press, Barefoot and Listening, should be coming out soon!!
First, the happiest of news - my husband got his green card yesterday!!! Hooray! This is the most wonderful of news and overshadows any bad news/feelings. Seriously. One of the bad things that happened on Tuesday, thought, was that my car got towed (a $45 lunch for two turned magically into a $200 lunch) and I couldn't even really get upset about it.
Other happy news - two TypewriterGirls performances this weekend! The first one is this Friday at Remedy in Lawrenceville - Karen Lillis and Laura Davis will be reading, and there will be various other TypewriterGirl shenanigans. Doors open at 9:30.
On Sunday it's TypewriterGirls Save the Libraries! Doors open at 5:30pm at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland. It's for a good cause. You should be there. Sandra Beasley and Nancy Krygowski will read, Phat Man Dee will sing, Christiane D. will perform, Dave Doyle will balance things on his face, Moquette Volante will perform, and Crystal and I will be up to our zany antics with guest appearances from Sean Collier and Franco Dok Harris. You for sure want to be at this one.
My friend Kevin is coming out to Pittsburgh this weekend to see the TypewriterGirls shows and hang out in the city. I don't get to see Kevin too often and it will be very nice to have him around!
I've actually taken off work tomorrow to get ready for the upcoming TypewriterGirls shows. This is not the first time I've taken off for a show, but it's the first time I've taken off for show rehearsal.
Very Good Things are, of course, happening elsewhere in the poetry world, too.
- The lovely Rachel Mallino has just had her next chapbook picked up by Dancing Girl Press! Hooray and congratulations, Rachel!!
- My Weave co-founder Laura Davis has a new blog. Check it out -- it's all poetry-related and stuff
- The New Yinzer Presents has a reading coming up! I'm in it with fellow Weave editor Joel Coggins, the always-amazing Renee Alberts, and much much more!
- Juliet Cook has a new chapbook coming out from Slash Pine Press called Fondant Pig Angst. I have ordered it. You should order it, too.
- Dana Guthrie Martin's chapbook The Spare Room is out right now from Juliet's press, Blood Pudding Press. It's another one that I demand you go purchase right now. Dana's work is absolutely stunning. Always.
I haven't been writing as much as I should, but I have ideas and after this weekend I'll have a little breather. And that will be good.
Also - my chapbook from Tilt Press, Barefoot and Listening, should be coming out soon!!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Of course, the real question here is why I can't get my husband to wear a skirt.
I sent out some submissions yesterday, something I haven't done in a few months. It feels good, primarily because submitting means that I have new poems that I'm happy enough with to send out into the world.
Worked on editing yesterday, so no new poem last week. I will write one this week.
I have (yet another) project idea bumping itself around in my head. The second chapbook manuscript I'm working on is taking itself in a different direction from where I thought it would go and is taking a much longer time to put together than I thought it would, so of course the best thing for my creative energies to do is to want to switch gears. Of course. Mid-project.
Perhaps (no, for sure) I should just be happy that my brain isn't devoid of ideas. I did go through a very brief period there where I had that terrifying thought of "oh god, what if I'm just out of ideas for poems?" It's funny, really, but because I'm not the fastest writer when I go through exceptionally long periods of poetic silence I do get that nagging voice in the back of my head. It's right up there with the "you're not really a poet" voice. Very silly in the light of day.
The TypewriterGirls' October hiatus is almost over and we will be coming out of it with a bang. Crystal and I are performing at the annual Chattering Bones party in Windber, and on the 10th we'll be taking our comedy to The Alternative Comedy Show at the Brillobox. Then, at the beginning of December we'll be holding a show as a benefit for the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh. Funding's been reduced and they're going through a difficult time, and we love an excuse to have a crazy show for a good cause.
I have decided to dress in drag for Halloween. It makes me quite happy, really, and Halloween is as good an excuse as any to do it. I tried to convince my husband to also go in drag and I almost had him, but he's decided against it, tragically. I swear, we would have been adorable.
Boo, husband. Boo.*
*not really. He's awesome.
Worked on editing yesterday, so no new poem last week. I will write one this week.
I have (yet another) project idea bumping itself around in my head. The second chapbook manuscript I'm working on is taking itself in a different direction from where I thought it would go and is taking a much longer time to put together than I thought it would, so of course the best thing for my creative energies to do is to want to switch gears. Of course. Mid-project.
Perhaps (no, for sure) I should just be happy that my brain isn't devoid of ideas. I did go through a very brief period there where I had that terrifying thought of "oh god, what if I'm just out of ideas for poems?" It's funny, really, but because I'm not the fastest writer when I go through exceptionally long periods of poetic silence I do get that nagging voice in the back of my head. It's right up there with the "you're not really a poet" voice. Very silly in the light of day.
The TypewriterGirls' October hiatus is almost over and we will be coming out of it with a bang. Crystal and I are performing at the annual Chattering Bones party in Windber, and on the 10th we'll be taking our comedy to The Alternative Comedy Show at the Brillobox. Then, at the beginning of December we'll be holding a show as a benefit for the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh. Funding's been reduced and they're going through a difficult time, and we love an excuse to have a crazy show for a good cause.
I have decided to dress in drag for Halloween. It makes me quite happy, really, and Halloween is as good an excuse as any to do it. I tried to convince my husband to also go in drag and I almost had him, but he's decided against it, tragically. I swear, we would have been adorable.
Boo, husband. Boo.*
*not really. He's awesome.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Catch up
My son will be spending the whole week in Cleveland and I have committed myself to doing some major catch up while he's away. There are many things to do;
It's good to know that even when I don't have a 4-year-old to worry about I can still run myself ragged.
Other Lovely Things
- Get issue 03 of Weave finalized and sent out to the printer (!!!)
- Work on my 4 drafted poems
- Write up an evaluation for one of my interns (this really should be the first thing listed)
- Do some housework. The husband would be so pleased.
- Read! I have a book on Allen Ginsberg's Buddhist poetry that I'm really enjoying, that whole literary theory thing to plug away at, and more poetry than I can realistically shake a stick at.
- Do my best not to go overboard purchasing books this week. I can only read so many at a time.
- Obtain cover art for my chapbook. Very important.
It's good to know that even when I don't have a 4-year-old to worry about I can still run myself ragged.
Other Lovely Things
- If you haven't done so yet, you should head over to the Tilt Press website and purchase their 2009-2010 chapbook subscription -- and not just because my chapbook will be a part of it!
- GUD is having a pumpkin carving contest. Had I any skills at all I would enter this. You may have skills. You could enter. You could win books.
- There's a nice review of Weave issue 02 up on New Pages.
Friday, October 2, 2009
The seemingly monthly update
And again it's been a Very Long Time since I last wrote. But I will persevere! Even in the face of clearly not being the best at keeping up with a blog I will continue to -- um -- write once a month?
In my defense the past 30 days have been a whirlwind of crazy. Weave closed for submissions, I've been working on layout, trying to write a little bit (failing mostly, to be entirely honest. It's not been a productive month in the world of poetry), I decided to give myself a crash course in literary theory (we're only up to deconstruction. It's clearly not going very quickly), and I had 3 TypewriterGirls events the weekend before last (yes! three!). And of course there's my 40-hours-a-week job that's got nothing to do with poetry/publishing and my child needs some attention, you know, every now and again.
Oh yes, and I'm sick.
Oh yes, and I'm sick.
And of course all is not doom, gloom, and lack of time to breathe! Many wonderful and awesome things are happening in the world!
First, this year's chapbook subscription from Tilt Press is now available and my chapbook, Barefoot and Listening is first up! My lovely friend Heidi is working on a cover design, about which I am very excited. I'd already been thinking to ask her when I mentioned the book to a couple other friends, both of whom said "Oh! You should ask Heidi to do the cover!". This is because she is just that awesome.
My lovely, talented, fellow TypewriterGirl, and all-around best friend Crystal Jean Hoffman was nominated for her very first Pushcart Prize by Goldfish Press! She is an amazing poet and it is a well-deserved nomination.
Also - how excited am I to see this? Very very.
In other fun news the new issue of Goblin Fruit is up and the fine ladies who edit Goblin Fruit are switching journals with the editor from Mythic Delirium and for one issue will be editting one another's journals.
Also, Pank has one more day left in their chapbook competition! Hurry! There is still time!
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Manuscript (again) and submissions
Still working on poems for the second manuscript. However, the more I work on it, the more poems I want to write for it, so in spite of having written two poems and drafted one over the past week or so for this project, I'm still standing at 5 that need to be written. I wonder if I will ever be done. The main character has also shifted from one character to another, completely unintentionally. I'd be a little upset (I liked the original main character a lot) if it were not for the direction that this gets to take the writing itself.
I don't have any outstanding submissions right now and that is a very strange feeling. I'm the kind of writer who always has work out at one journal or another. I feel like I must be slacking or something. I'm hesitant to send out these new poems because I want to work on publishing this manuscript once I'm done with it (but who knows when that will be, really) and I'm hesitant to break from work on this manuscript to work on poems on a different theme (and what's the point of writing something just so you can send it out? That may be one of the stupider thoughts that has come to my head in a very long while - writing something not for my current project just so I can have something to send out. I've had a couple of requests for work, but seriously. Bad idea.). Still, it's a very strange feeling. It makes me antsy.
I've been making some new writing friends, which is also a very good feeling. I've been having lunches with some lovely people and I can't wait to spend more time with them. It's always wonderful to find new, fantastically creative and talented people you can connect with.
And on that fuzzy note, it's time I went back to work.
I don't have any outstanding submissions right now and that is a very strange feeling. I'm the kind of writer who always has work out at one journal or another. I feel like I must be slacking or something. I'm hesitant to send out these new poems because I want to work on publishing this manuscript once I'm done with it (but who knows when that will be, really) and I'm hesitant to break from work on this manuscript to work on poems on a different theme (and what's the point of writing something just so you can send it out? That may be one of the stupider thoughts that has come to my head in a very long while - writing something not for my current project just so I can have something to send out. I've had a couple of requests for work, but seriously. Bad idea.). Still, it's a very strange feeling. It makes me antsy.
I've been making some new writing friends, which is also a very good feeling. I've been having lunches with some lovely people and I can't wait to spend more time with them. It's always wonderful to find new, fantastically creative and talented people you can connect with.
And on that fuzzy note, it's time I went back to work.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Manuscript the second
So I'm working on manuscript #2 and I actually wrote two new poems for it in one day. I'm pretty excited about working on this second one now. I'd like to write maybe 2-5 more poems for it. I feel like there's a bit in the middle that needs some work. The end is lovely -- it's everything I wanted from this manuscript. The manuscript itself is a sort of a story of one character who has evolved and changed names in my poetry over time. She used to be a replacement for me but now she has a whole life of her own and this set of poems tells her story. Now that I have some distance from the poems that started the whole thing I've really been able to edit them and sculpt them into what I've wanted them to be all along.
A couple of these poems are up at Thirteen Myna Birds. However, I think only two of them remain up as of right now, so check them out before the next flight formation makes them fly away!
I never thought I'd actually be working on two manuscripts at once. Though perhaps it's just a way to avoid having to write every day -- instead of getting the writing together I organize and re-organize the manuscript, add poems, delete poems, love poems and hate them in the same 24 hour span of time, try to decide if that poem from my junior year of college is awful or awesome, you know. It's all very engaging and fun for me, especially this group of poems. The first chapbook was more laborious -- I knew what was going in the manuscript but didn't quite know where or when. This one has just been fun - tossing poems in and out, shuffling them around, writing new ones to fill in the blanks and steer my girl where she needs to inevitably go. The poems aren't playful -- they're actually much darker on the outset than my other set (check out the first poem of mine over at Thirteen Myna Birds if you wish for an example), but I love working on it nonetheless. My husband was worried that working on these poems was going to make me all dark and dreary, but instead of a dark and dreary wife he's got a poetry-obsessed wife right now. (Well, all the time, really)
SPF went very well. We at Weave met some really awesome people, sold a good number of copies, and generally had a lot of fun. Adam and the others over at Open Thread did some amazing work and I really appreciate everything they've done for the literary community in Pittsburgh with this festival. It was also lovely to hang out with some of my favorite writing people for a couple of days.
There are a lot of lovely things on the horizon.
A couple of these poems are up at Thirteen Myna Birds. However, I think only two of them remain up as of right now, so check them out before the next flight formation makes them fly away!
I never thought I'd actually be working on two manuscripts at once. Though perhaps it's just a way to avoid having to write every day -- instead of getting the writing together I organize and re-organize the manuscript, add poems, delete poems, love poems and hate them in the same 24 hour span of time, try to decide if that poem from my junior year of college is awful or awesome, you know. It's all very engaging and fun for me, especially this group of poems. The first chapbook was more laborious -- I knew what was going in the manuscript but didn't quite know where or when. This one has just been fun - tossing poems in and out, shuffling them around, writing new ones to fill in the blanks and steer my girl where she needs to inevitably go. The poems aren't playful -- they're actually much darker on the outset than my other set (check out the first poem of mine over at Thirteen Myna Birds if you wish for an example), but I love working on it nonetheless. My husband was worried that working on these poems was going to make me all dark and dreary, but instead of a dark and dreary wife he's got a poetry-obsessed wife right now. (Well, all the time, really)
SPF went very well. We at Weave met some really awesome people, sold a good number of copies, and generally had a lot of fun. Adam and the others over at Open Thread did some amazing work and I really appreciate everything they've done for the literary community in Pittsburgh with this festival. It was also lovely to hang out with some of my favorite writing people for a couple of days.
There are a lot of lovely things on the horizon.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Small Children and Writing
Over the next two weeks I will have my son with me full time. On one hand this is absolutely wonderful -- we get to work on potty training (something I question his father's devotion to), we get to do fun things together (this weekend we went to the aviary and went out for ice cream with my friend Crystal), and Ben tends to be an all-around good time. You know, except for that potty training thing that we're still having trouble with. It's always something. Before it was sleeping through the night. Now it's the potty. In fact, I am currently sitting with Ben as he sits on the potty.
Now to the down side -- I fear I will get no writing done for the next two weeks. As I've lamented in previous posts it's not like I have a terribly high writing output to begin with, and I fear that none will get done at all these next two weeks. Perhaps I should be working on poetry rather than a blog post?
I'll probably stay late after work, go to a nearby coffee shop and write until the daycare is about to close, and perhaps I'll get a little bit in after he goes to bed. I'll manage. The weekend is usually when I write (this is when his father spends time with him), but his father will be at a convention next weekend and needs me to watch him, and this weekend I got to have him for the 4th of July (and he wasn't at all scared of the fireworks, though he did repeatedly tell my husband and I that we needed to be careful not to get burned by them), so it is to be busy busy mommy time!
Do any of you with kids have any tips on balancing having a child and getting writing done? He's 4 so he's not really all that able to entertain himself most of the time. I haven't had to develop these skills because of my arrangements with Ben's father, so any advice would be appreciated.
Now to the down side -- I fear I will get no writing done for the next two weeks. As I've lamented in previous posts it's not like I have a terribly high writing output to begin with, and I fear that none will get done at all these next two weeks. Perhaps I should be working on poetry rather than a blog post?
I'll probably stay late after work, go to a nearby coffee shop and write until the daycare is about to close, and perhaps I'll get a little bit in after he goes to bed. I'll manage. The weekend is usually when I write (this is when his father spends time with him), but his father will be at a convention next weekend and needs me to watch him, and this weekend I got to have him for the 4th of July (and he wasn't at all scared of the fireworks, though he did repeatedly tell my husband and I that we needed to be careful not to get burned by them), so it is to be busy busy mommy time!
Do any of you with kids have any tips on balancing having a child and getting writing done? He's 4 so he's not really all that able to entertain himself most of the time. I haven't had to develop these skills because of my arrangements with Ben's father, so any advice would be appreciated.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Busy busy busy
I finished up two drafts of poems this weekend, which is quite a lot for me. I usually don't work on more than one poem at a time, either, so this is sort of a breakthrough in a moderately pathetic kind of way.
I know I don't write nearly as much as I should and this has been proven by the fact that I am literally out of poems that I am happy enough with to send out the door in hopes of publication. I have five poems that are in varying stages of completeness, but none that are truly submission-worthy right now. And of course there is the glut of poems that will never see the light of day.
I was looking forward to doing a round of submissions to a number of literary journals I really like that are open during the summer months, but, barring a miracle, this will clearly not happen. My writing hasn't been able to keep up with my submitting.
Submitting is so easy, so, so much easier to do on my lunch break when my mind is still half auditing. It's quicker, it gives me an instant sense of accomplishment, and it doesn't involve switching from that part of my brain that deals with numbers and the rules of hospital accounting to the part of my brain that works creatively. I also get a weird sort of high from having five to ten submissions out at a time, even when they come back as rejections. I can't quite explain it, but I definitely get some kind of rush from it.
Lately I've been feeling pressure (from myself alone) to produce more, as though I am not busy enough already between the TypewriterGirls, Weave, being a mother, working for 8 hours a day, the Pittsburgh Small Press Festival (SPF), and the writing that I do do. Clearly I need to put more pressure on myself.
There is just so much that I want to do, so much that I want to write. I don't have enough time each weekend to get it in and still relax a little bit, and I certainly don't have time during the week.
This is all very frustrating. And let's not even get in to my chapbook angst.
In other new altogether holy crap Gary Snyder is going to be at next year's AWP. I must shamefully admit that I have only recently begun reading Gary Snyder's work, and in part because I saw him in a documentary on Buddhism, but really The Call of the Wild is just as lovely a poem as my dear friend Crystal assured me it would be.
I'm in a panel proposal for the 2010 AWP, so there's a decent likelihood that I will have to be there (oh, the tragedy). Crystal and I are already looking into plane tickets. Hah.
I feel like something is about to happen.
I know I don't write nearly as much as I should and this has been proven by the fact that I am literally out of poems that I am happy enough with to send out the door in hopes of publication. I have five poems that are in varying stages of completeness, but none that are truly submission-worthy right now. And of course there is the glut of poems that will never see the light of day.
I was looking forward to doing a round of submissions to a number of literary journals I really like that are open during the summer months, but, barring a miracle, this will clearly not happen. My writing hasn't been able to keep up with my submitting.
Submitting is so easy, so, so much easier to do on my lunch break when my mind is still half auditing. It's quicker, it gives me an instant sense of accomplishment, and it doesn't involve switching from that part of my brain that deals with numbers and the rules of hospital accounting to the part of my brain that works creatively. I also get a weird sort of high from having five to ten submissions out at a time, even when they come back as rejections. I can't quite explain it, but I definitely get some kind of rush from it.
Lately I've been feeling pressure (from myself alone) to produce more, as though I am not busy enough already between the TypewriterGirls, Weave, being a mother, working for 8 hours a day, the Pittsburgh Small Press Festival (SPF), and the writing that I do do. Clearly I need to put more pressure on myself.
There is just so much that I want to do, so much that I want to write. I don't have enough time each weekend to get it in and still relax a little bit, and I certainly don't have time during the week.
This is all very frustrating. And let's not even get in to my chapbook angst.
In other new altogether holy crap Gary Snyder is going to be at next year's AWP. I must shamefully admit that I have only recently begun reading Gary Snyder's work, and in part because I saw him in a documentary on Buddhism, but really The Call of the Wild is just as lovely a poem as my dear friend Crystal assured me it would be.
I'm in a panel proposal for the 2010 AWP, so there's a decent likelihood that I will have to be there (oh, the tragedy). Crystal and I are already looking into plane tickets. Hah.
I feel like something is about to happen.
Monday, January 12, 2009
New Issue of Goblin Fruit...
...is live and contains a lovely poem by the ever-so-talented Susan Slaviero.
Apotropaism is also an interesting one -- though my favorite part of Goblin Fruit is always listening to the readings posted with the poems. I haven't had the chance to take a listen yet, but certainly will at work tomorrow. I always find a poem that I didn't properly appreciate until I heard it.
This is one of the things that I love about journals like Goblin Fruit, The Dirty Napkin, and The Pedestal Magazine (to name a few) -- they give the poet the opportunity to send in a recording of them reading their poem, which I think is a simply lovely idea. It's one of the advantages of the internet. Not only is a poem readily accessible to the general public, but it can also be multimedia in such a way that it shows a poet's multiple talents and gets not only the poem out there, but also the poet's voice and reading. I don't think it is an idea that is properly appreciated by enough poets.
So take a look and a listen!
Apotropaism is also an interesting one -- though my favorite part of Goblin Fruit is always listening to the readings posted with the poems. I haven't had the chance to take a listen yet, but certainly will at work tomorrow. I always find a poem that I didn't properly appreciate until I heard it.
This is one of the things that I love about journals like Goblin Fruit, The Dirty Napkin, and The Pedestal Magazine (to name a few) -- they give the poet the opportunity to send in a recording of them reading their poem, which I think is a simply lovely idea. It's one of the advantages of the internet. Not only is a poem readily accessible to the general public, but it can also be multimedia in such a way that it shows a poet's multiple talents and gets not only the poem out there, but also the poet's voice and reading. I don't think it is an idea that is properly appreciated by enough poets.
So take a look and a listen!
Monday, December 22, 2008
New Issue of Pedestal Magazine...
...is up and I'm in it! You can read and listen to me here. I love that Pedestal will also post an audio file of the poet reading their work and am very surprised that not many people seem to take advantage of that opportunity. Then again, I needed my lovely boyfriend Mihnea to help me record myself and it is quite likely that not every poet has a Mihnea in their life.
Also, I am, as always, smirking in my photo. I can't seem to stop doing that.
Also, I am, as always, smirking in my photo. I can't seem to stop doing that.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
A Lovely Poetry Day
Sunday was a very lovely poetry day. First, Laura and I hosted another poetry workshop through Weave where I got to meet some really cool local poets who I perhaps would never have met otherwise -- there was a great variety of styles and subjects. I love workshopping and it was wonderful to get to hang out and read some pretty awesome poems.
Also on the Weave front, Laura and I have begun working with one of our fiction readers and I am simply blown away by him. He is very serious and very skilled and clearly highly motivated. I can't wait to get the chance to work with him more.
When I got home from the workshop I had an acceptance from Hawk & Whippoorwill sitting in my inbox. I'd submitted about 5 months ago and it was very exciting to hear back from them. I write a lot of poems about woman in nature and am very glad they decided to pick one of them up. It was a lovely way to start off my evening!
No sooner had I sent out a couple of withdrawals for the poem Hawk and Whippoorwill picked up, than The Pedestal Magazine sent me an email accepting "Barefoot and Listening", the title poem to a chapbook I'm putting together.
I'd been feeling a little down about the submissions I've sent out lately - I've been trying to push myself and have gotten a lot of rejections of late. It's been a little demoralizing. To be honest, these acceptances have really lifted my spirits a lot and have shown me that pushing myself is what I need to do.
In other news, Juliet Cook over at Blood Pudding is putting together another multi-writer project. There are only about 7 slots left and I'd like to snag one of those, but I've been struggling with putting together my submission for her. I know I do have poems that would fit with her aesthetic, but the problem is finding and editing all of them.
Also! The Winter Issue of Arsenic Lobster is up! Hoorah!
Also on the Weave front, Laura and I have begun working with one of our fiction readers and I am simply blown away by him. He is very serious and very skilled and clearly highly motivated. I can't wait to get the chance to work with him more.
When I got home from the workshop I had an acceptance from Hawk & Whippoorwill sitting in my inbox. I'd submitted about 5 months ago and it was very exciting to hear back from them. I write a lot of poems about woman in nature and am very glad they decided to pick one of them up. It was a lovely way to start off my evening!
No sooner had I sent out a couple of withdrawals for the poem Hawk and Whippoorwill picked up, than The Pedestal Magazine sent me an email accepting "Barefoot and Listening", the title poem to a chapbook I'm putting together.
I'd been feeling a little down about the submissions I've sent out lately - I've been trying to push myself and have gotten a lot of rejections of late. It's been a little demoralizing. To be honest, these acceptances have really lifted my spirits a lot and have shown me that pushing myself is what I need to do.
In other news, Juliet Cook over at Blood Pudding is putting together another multi-writer project. There are only about 7 slots left and I'd like to snag one of those, but I've been struggling with putting together my submission for her. I know I do have poems that would fit with her aesthetic, but the problem is finding and editing all of them.
Also! The Winter Issue of Arsenic Lobster is up! Hoorah!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Lifting Belly High
Over the past three days I had the great fortune of attending the literary conference Lifting Belly High: A Conference on Women's Poetry Since 1900. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. There was a point last night when Crystal and I were hugging each other and crying, we were so moved by this event and the amazing women we met there.
One of the panels I attended was a panel on Rachel Blau DuPlessis a poet and scholar who has done amazing critical work on feminist writing and is in the process of writing a long-form poem (and by long form I mean that it currently is 3 books long) called Drafts. One of the speakers at the panel talked specifically about DuPlessis' use of footnotes in Drafts, and this discussion has only further excited me in my reading of this body of work. Drafts is far from the easiest poem I have ever read, but is clearly layered in ways that I am enjoying discovering.
I also got to meet Dr. DuPlessis while at the conference. I hope I didn't gush too embarrassingly.
The panel Fairytales and Epics was also fascinating. I am very interested in how women writers utilize myth, folklore, epic, fairytale, and religion in our poetry -- some of my favorite poet friends do this in their writing, and I always love seeing the way that they look at the myth - as Dr. DuPlessis said, "criticism becomes the heart of the myth." It says a lot about us as people and as women, how we reinvent the mythology we have received.
I got the chance to talk to two of the panelists after the panel; Julie Weeks, a scholar from Notre Dame who studies fairytale, primarily in British women's poetry and who had some really good ideas regarding my research which I am itching to take a look at, and Claudia Emerson, one of my poet heroes. Julie came out for tea with Crystal and me and we talked about Romania. It was lovely.
There was a roundtable of Feminist Presses that I also attended. It ended up being one of the most encouraging parts of the conference for me (though there were many of those!) because every single one of the panelists talked about how community building is important to them and they consider it part of their duty as a feminist press. This is one of the principals Laura and I founded Weave on, which, by virtue of our commitment to having at least 50% of our contributor list be female and the mere fact the Laura and I are female, I consider to be feminist.
One of the biggest highlights of the conference for me was getting to meet Judith Johnson, an amazing poet and performer, and also the editor and founder of 13th Moon. I can't think of any other way to say this -- I love Judith Johnson. She's warm and intelligent and fiery and truly works to empower women through her writing and publishing efforts. I hope I get to spend time with her again.
The only downside to the conference was the almost complete homogeneity of the participants. I would say 80-85% of us were white women, and then there was an even split on the other 15% of men and women of color. There has been a lot of talk already of how this can be changed. It was really nice to see this shortcoming acknowledged and to actually talk about ways to remedy it. Hopefully we will act on these ideas.
I could go on and on, and may in an additional entry, but I wanted to get all of this written out while it was still fresh in my mind. I've been so excited and so nervous over the past few days that I have had difficulty eating, and now I'm heading out to Windber with Phat Man Dee for Blair and Renee's baby shower!!
Busy busy.
One of the panels I attended was a panel on Rachel Blau DuPlessis a poet and scholar who has done amazing critical work on feminist writing and is in the process of writing a long-form poem (and by long form I mean that it currently is 3 books long) called Drafts. One of the speakers at the panel talked specifically about DuPlessis' use of footnotes in Drafts, and this discussion has only further excited me in my reading of this body of work. Drafts is far from the easiest poem I have ever read, but is clearly layered in ways that I am enjoying discovering.
I also got to meet Dr. DuPlessis while at the conference. I hope I didn't gush too embarrassingly.
The panel Fairytales and Epics was also fascinating. I am very interested in how women writers utilize myth, folklore, epic, fairytale, and religion in our poetry -- some of my favorite poet friends do this in their writing, and I always love seeing the way that they look at the myth - as Dr. DuPlessis said, "criticism becomes the heart of the myth." It says a lot about us as people and as women, how we reinvent the mythology we have received.
I got the chance to talk to two of the panelists after the panel; Julie Weeks, a scholar from Notre Dame who studies fairytale, primarily in British women's poetry and who had some really good ideas regarding my research which I am itching to take a look at, and Claudia Emerson, one of my poet heroes. Julie came out for tea with Crystal and me and we talked about Romania. It was lovely.
There was a roundtable of Feminist Presses that I also attended. It ended up being one of the most encouraging parts of the conference for me (though there were many of those!) because every single one of the panelists talked about how community building is important to them and they consider it part of their duty as a feminist press. This is one of the principals Laura and I founded Weave on, which, by virtue of our commitment to having at least 50% of our contributor list be female and the mere fact the Laura and I are female, I consider to be feminist.
One of the biggest highlights of the conference for me was getting to meet Judith Johnson, an amazing poet and performer, and also the editor and founder of 13th Moon. I can't think of any other way to say this -- I love Judith Johnson. She's warm and intelligent and fiery and truly works to empower women through her writing and publishing efforts. I hope I get to spend time with her again.
The only downside to the conference was the almost complete homogeneity of the participants. I would say 80-85% of us were white women, and then there was an even split on the other 15% of men and women of color. There has been a lot of talk already of how this can be changed. It was really nice to see this shortcoming acknowledged and to actually talk about ways to remedy it. Hopefully we will act on these ideas.
I could go on and on, and may in an additional entry, but I wanted to get all of this written out while it was still fresh in my mind. I've been so excited and so nervous over the past few days that I have had difficulty eating, and now I'm heading out to Windber with Phat Man Dee for Blair and Renee's baby shower!!
Busy busy.
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