Well, off to Seattle (where it is not 63 and sunny, but 50 and rainy…brrr) tomorrow, and although I’m now capably limping across rooms in my cast (yay!) I’m still wheelchair-bound for the airport (boo!) Never been in an airport in a cast and a wheelchair before, so it’ll be an interesting (and no doubt, slower) experience. I’m looking forward to seeing a few friends (although not all of them – hard to schedule over husband’s G’s work stuff), visiting Open Books, eating some delicious salmon (and maybe some Rainier cherries if I’m lucky) and drinking a wonderful cup of coffee while browsing wonderful books. For some reason, southern California is devoid of the wild Alaskan salmon that was available at every grocery store in the northwest. Why all the farmed Atlantic salmon, San Diego? I’m looking forward to the visit – we were supposed to go out in February, but I couldn’t even stand on two feet back then (plus I had a cast on my hand as well) so we had to postpone. I picture myself coming home with my arms full of the things we can’t get easily here: poetry, black clothing and coffee.
Got my contributor’s copy of the really beautifully-produced pocket-size Sentence 6, which has its share of bloggers (Nin Andrews and Steve Schroeder) and writers I love, including Denise Duhamel. I’m writing a review of her newest book, Ka–Ching! as we speak. If you haven’t seen Sentence before, it’s devoted to the prose poem, and I’ve found it to be a wonderful read every time I’ve gotten ahold of a copy.
Question: Has the economic downturn affected your life as a writer? Have you submitted to fewer markets, sent out fewer manuscripts, had less time for writing?
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Has the economic downturn affected your life as a writer? Have you submitted to fewer markets, sent out fewer manuscripts, had less time for writing?
***Hi J9– Hope I get to see you this week!
Good questions!
It’s affected me some what in that I am more careful where I am submitting. I’ve dropped a couple of regular magazine subscriptions (though that doesn’t have anything to do with poetry). I guess I’m trying to save money in other places so I’m trying to have it affect my writing life last.
Walker Pfost
Hi.
[I stumbled on your blog from a link at Paul Guest’s place. So. That answers that question.]
I live in South Korea, where the economy is even worse (at least the American dollar is strong, for now), but despite having less time for writing, the economic downturn has actually stimulated (ha!) my poetic output, which I find refreshing. I guess it’s the supercharged disgust with how all of it has progressed that makes me alternately find some kind of pulpit and, more often, an escapist refuge in my writing and attempts at publishing.
Which is to say, it hasn’t gotten so bad (for me, at least) that I can’t afford a few submission fees every now and then. But, full-fledged reading season isn’t here yet, so……who knows. Here’s hopin’.