Well, I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been following a weird sleeping pattern with the pneumonia recuperation: I sleep five or six hours at night, waking up a couple of times in coughing fits, wake up and do a little work on my class, then sleep another five or six hours during the day. It’s really not very productive.
In fact, I missed a very nice cell phone call yesterday because I was asleep from a very kind editor of a magazine to tell me they liked a poem of mine and wanted to publish it. I was sorry to miss it, but happy to get the news. I got another acceptence via e-mail today. I had just been complaining with a friend about how rejections come in strange batches – two and three at a time – so maybe acceptances work the same way? Anyway, it was nice to have the good news – I have to say I still send out mostly blind to editors I don’t know at magazines I like, so four acceptances in two weeks feels like a banner month. Except for the pneumonia.
Been thinking about the desert lately, Sedona, Palm Springs. Gila monsters, red rocks, dry air, sunsets. Am I crazy? Is it just the liquid in my lungs talking here, or does the desert sound really attractive?
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
Ivy
Congratulations on the acceptances! Maybe you should look for a writing residency in Las Vegas. That’s a desert, right? 🙂
Eduardo C. Corral
i wish an editor called me up! never heard of that happening before.
congrats on the good news on the poetry front.
Collin Kelley
Congrats on the acceptances and I hope your sleeping pattern evens out soon. The desert doesn’t sound good to me, but it might do wonders for you. I say go if you can.
Joannie
Congratulations on the acceptances!
Sorry about the sleep.
One thing about the desert: How are you in air conditioning? When the mercury rises that high, it might be necessary–and I wonder how it is on your lungs.
jeannine
ooh, Ivy, a desert residency! Such a good idea. I’m looking immediately…
First time for me, Eduardo – well, Tom called to offer me a contract for the book, but no lit mag editor calls! Thanks 🙂
Collin – thanks! I will try to sneak out to Palm Springs for a weekend soon…
Joannie – thanks! I run the AC all the time – it helps filter the air and keeps down mold-causing humidity, so I’ve basically had it running since I moved to a warmer climate. Don’t know if it’s the best thing for my lungs, but I’m allergic to mold and dust and so humidity=bad. AC is a good cure for that.
Karen J. Weyant
Congrats on all the good news! Feel better soon.
Anne
Hooray for good news! Persistence pays… at least when it’s combined with talent. 🙂 Hope your health decides to stop being so persnickety, and soon!
Carol Lynn
thinking of you~
hoping you are feeling better this week 🙂
Congratulations on all the good news 🙂
xo
Carol Lynn