Happy Holidays – White Christmas in Seattle, Presents, Ready for the New Year, and New Poetry Bloggers
- At December 27, 2017
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 3
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and got all the things you wished for! We had a rare (for Seattle) White Christmas – the road to our house was actually officially closed, it was so snowy and icy – so we were trapped inside, which wasn’t too bad because we had plenty of food and I had a cold! I did get some poems written, re-ordered and cut some poems out of my manuscript, and spent quality time with my favorite holiday movies and the cats. (Bishop’s Wife, Fellowship of the Ring, and a Hitchcock marathon.) But trying to walk outside with my MS-related vertigo, ice, and a cane yesterday was not an adventure I’d recommend to others! Check out our walkway – this is before we got three inches of snow!
I had a very art-filled Christmas, both giving and receiving, this year. A few of my fave presents – a pink quartz necklace by a local artist, Glenn got me a perfume from small-batch perfumer Ellis Brooklyn called “Sci Fi” – appropriate for me, no? And art by Yumiko Kawakuya. Also, unpictured, an out-of-print book ordered from England by one of my fave writers, Stella Gibbons, called The Snow Woman. So old I had to freeze it before reading to get rid of the musty smell (a librarian trick I learned!) Doesn’t that sound good? I can’t wait to break into it. I felt good supporting local artists and writers for the holidays this year – I plan to try it again next year. Unless my friends and family complain about receiving too much art or too many books.
I actually sent out a poetry submission Christmas Eve, wrote a poem on Christmas, and sent out the newest manuscript the day after Christmas! I was feeling very energetic (probably from being trapped inside during the snow! Or the cold medicine.) How about you? I’m ready to set some new writing goals for 2018, and one of them is helping another woman writer with a chronic illness somehow in the coming year. I haven’t exactly figured out the details, but watch this space!
In other happy new year news, a return of poetry blogging in 2018 and I couldn’t be more excited! Facebook and Twitter are too short-form to really capture the writer’s anxieties, excitements, discussions of publishers, literary magazines, even mini-reviews. Here are some links at Kelli Agodon’s newly reopened blog, The Book of Kells! We are committing to posting at least once a week – I’ve tried to do that anyway, but I’ll include a little MS-related and disability-related writing stuff along the way, along with PR, publishing, poetry in general. I’m looking forward to a better 2018, honestly. How about you? Any goals you want to share?
Veronica Hosking
Can’t wait to read blogs, thoughts and inspiration from other poets next year. My poetry has been too quiet the last part of 2017.
Jeannine Gailey
Dear Veronica, Me too! Especially when I’m stuck at home, it’s nice to have that poetry community!
Brian James Lewis
Your posts are always great and life-affirming! Which is pretty much what poetry and being poet is all about! Thanks for sharing all that cool stuff with us! While my blog will have some poetry, it will also have a lot of reviews of speculative fiction and anything else that works! Happy 2018! May the New Year bring you happiness and health!