A Poetic Book Tour for PR for Poets, a New Poem in Gingerbread House Literary Magazine, and Looking to Summer

Kicking Off PR for Poets Poetic Book Tours Book Blog Tour with a review from Serena Augusto-Cox!

Thanks to Serena Augusto-Cox for including PR for Poets in her latest book blog tour, which kicked off with Serena’s own kind review of the book here today!  And here’s the schedule for the rest of PR for Poets Poetic book blog tour! https://poeticbooktours.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/pr-for-poets-by-jeannine-hall-gailey-summer-2018/ You can also follow posts about the tour on Twitter with the hashtag #PR4Poets

Thanks To Gingerbread House – A Poem in the Newest Issue 30!

Check out the new issue of Gingerbread House Literary Magazine, which contains great poems with accompanying art work – including my poem, “The Case of the Missing.” The rest of the issue is really fun to read too!

Spring in Seattle, End of May – Writers’ Edition

Spring is moody in Seattle, some days with hot sun and butterflies, some days rainy and cold. A few pics of the less rainy days – a brand new baby bunny chomping grass, Glenn and I in Kirkland in water iris and roses:

May can mean a lot to writers, besides spring flowers – it means the closing of a bunch of literary magazines to submissions, which also means many of us have received a flurry of rejections (and if you’re lucky, a few acceptances) in the last month. Summer is slow season for writers trying to publish their work – some go to conferences, residencies, festivals, some just dedicate time to write. It’s sort of seasonally-affected downtime for writers. Summer here in the Northwest offers the rare chance to get out and enjoy everything the area has to offer without having to wear waterproof gear most of the time – the ocean, the mountains, the forests and waterfalls.

For me, summer is usually a quieter time, but this year I seem to be writing more as the weather gets warmer, not less. I just finished up a couple of guest blog posts, a book review, edits for a friend, and I’m even working on a new possible seventh manuscript now (still sending out the sixth to publishers.) This last seven days has been a flurry of specialist appointments, scans, and blood tests. Not the most fun thing in the world, but since I’ve gotten mostly positive news health-wise so far, I’m hoping this summer will offer a bit of a respite from tests and doctor’s offices and hospitals. MS patients have to be careful to stay out of the sun and stay cool, which, let’s face it, if you’ve seen me, is probably sound advice anyway (my skin tone is somewhere between “actual ghost” and “office printer paper” so long hours in the sun were always out.)
So I’ve got a stack of books lined up to read (thanks to some timely birthday presents) and a few official things lined up (a reading and a PR for Poets talk at Redmond’s Poets in the Park festival in July, judging a poetry contest) as well as family visits and hopefully visiting a few favorite places and friends.

I’m reminded that I spent a lot of last summer so sick I couldn’t get out of bed. My ability to write or send things out compromised by new neurological symptoms, my inability to be productive made me feel trapped and stymied. This summer, though I still feel pressure in terms of time and mortality (“stable” with the foreboding – “for now” tumors in my liver, the presence of a degenerative neurological disease with iffy treatments and no cure) to write and send out my work, I don’t feel the dread or frustration of last year, at least not yet. I’m purposefully taking it a little easier, devoting myself to things that might increase joy, instead of things I’m merely “supposed” to do. The television has been a wall of ill news since before the election, and it doesn’t seem that will change any time soon, so I’ve been giving it and social media less of my time, and I haven’t really missed it. I am wishing you all a wonderful summer (even though it isn’t quite summer yet) as May’s full moon signals the change in seasons, the coming of longer days and more cherries than you can eat and time to spend in my back porch rocking chair looking at eagles, ospreys, quail, rabbits, songbirds and woodpeckers. I am wishing you a summer of good books, lots of poems, time spent with loved ones and nature, less pressure, more picnics.