Talking about Poetry Book Reviews, and a Couple of Down Days due to MS, Rejections, etc.

Red-winged blackbird

Down Days (Rejections, MS, etc)

I’ve had a couple of “down” days the last couple of days, due to the 88 degree heat giving me terrible MS symptoms, and seven rejections (including one book rejection) in two days – a record for me, I think.

I can’t really do much about the MS symptoms in the heat , except avoid the heat. I almost went to the hospital when my symptoms got bad (screaming leg pains, this time, a newish symptom), but I survived. I am just looking forward to the weather getting back to our summertime normal, which is closer to 70 than 90. I had to cancel pretty much all my appointments, social and medical, which gave me spare time to think about my rejections.

One way to think about rejection is that it is a sign you are aiming high, or aiming outside your own personal comfort sign. It is a sign you are trying. If a gymnast fell once off a balance beam, and said “Well, that’s not for me,” she would be losing out, not achieving her potential. It’s the same for us. Now, I’ve been doing this a long time, so of course it’s discouraging to get rejections – even encouraging rejections. You think, “I should have this down by now.” But the truth is, every publisher is not the right publisher for you. Every literary journal isn’t going to be a perfect fit for the poems I’m writing right now, even if they were for the poems I wrote a decade ago. And I am aiming higher than I used to, which I think is a good thing.

In the quiet time, I had time to watch birds – we have two pairs of quail living near our yard now, and the red-winged blackbirds are singing, and the peacocks at Chateau Ste Michelle are walking around with their beautiful feathers. One of my favorite flowers, the lilacs, are just about done blooming. Here are some Woodinville pics from the day it was cool enough to walk around outside:

Saucy peacock

Talking About Book Reviewing

I know this is something I’ve talked about before, but I just thought I’d write a little reminder as we get into the summer months, good months for writing and submitting poetry book reviews. Every poet wants their book to be reviewed. I always get asked, “How do I get more book reviews?” And I almost always say, “Well, how much time have you spent writing poetry book reviews?” And if the answer in none, well, remember, there are way more people who want their poetry recognized than people who want to do the hard critical labor of reviewing books. I’ve been doing it now for a dozen years. I finally (at the encouragement of several friends) joined the National Book Critics Circle.

Now, there are different types of poetry book critics. There are poetry critics who get joy from putting poetry books down, showing how clever they are at the expense of the writers. I encourage you not to be that kind of critic. I myself try hard not to do that stuff. Because while most people aren’t reading enough of the great poetry books out there – especially not books by people of color and women – I try to write the kind of review that might get someone excited enough to actually buy the book. I’m not a cheerleader, but if I choose to review a book, it’s not because I hate it. It’s also not because I think it’s flawless, but because I think it is interesting and deserving of others’ attention.

It is surprisingly easy to place a poetry book review, because not many people are out there desperately sending out book reviews, the way they are fiction or poetry. So I encourage you to review a book of poetry, hopefully one that hasn’t already been reviewed a thousand times. (It happens – one book captures the world’s imagination all at once, perhaps focused on relevant social themes, or current events. It’s not a bad thing.) It’s the one thing that costs you no money that might make another writer really happy.

 

Another Birthday, Spring and All, Thinking About the Modern Salon and Writing Groups, Women Writing Despite, and Planning for the Year Ahead

 

Two color of lilac

Another Birthday

I had a quiet birthday this year, which was good, because I was a little under the weather this last week. I did get to go out a bit and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and flowers, and Glenn made the day as special as possible, getting me a beautiful art print and a ton of sparkly candles. (Josie Morway is an artist to check out – that’s her fox below.) A visit to the DeLille winery and the Japanese Garden (as well as Open Books to pick up some birthday poetry books) made for a really nice low-key celebration.

Spring and All

Spring is my favorite season. I’ve been focusing on revising my newest manuscript for another round of press send-outs, and trying to sit out on my deck, planting herbs and flowers and watching quail and hummingbirds. It’s been lovely, in the sixties and sunny, and I always wish at this time of year that I was good at sketching, watercolors, or any kind of painting. (Speaking of art skills: read this hilarious account of how to make swag, specifically book pendants, from Laura Grace Weldon who was inspired by my PR for Poets book.)

Planning for the Year Ahead

Like most people, birthdays are always a good time to take stock of where you are and where you want to go in the year ahead. I am grateful to still be alive. I am still learning to manage my MS, and doing the complicated paperwork in order to start a new MS medication, trying to learn to rest when my symptoms act up. I’m a little nervous because my flares have happened the last two years during the summer. So I’m trying to up my self-care this year – avoiding heat and sun when possible, bought an extra air purifier in case of fires again this year, trying to learn to meditate and rest and hydrate as soon as you have any sign of flares instead of pushing through (which seems to lead to the whole hospitalization thing.) So that’s one goal: improving my own self-care around MS.

I’m also wondering what I want to do next in terms of career. I’ve been (slowly) shopping two manuscripts around, one about being diagnosed with cancer, then MS, during a time of unusual solar activity, and another about politics, witches, resistance, and monsters. They’re very different books, so I’m targeting different presses for them.

Thinking about Salons and Writing Groups

I’m thinking about trying to start a series of get-togethers at my house, since it’s become more difficult to get out and about but I’m still an extrovert who gets inspired by spending time with other creative people. My house is pretty good for entertaining, and Glenn is good at making snacks. Should I try to create a new writers feedback group, like the one I was in for thirteen plus years, or try salons, with a bunch of different kind of artists? I’ve been finishing up a series of Virginia Woolf letters, and I’m inspired by the way, though she was limited in the amount she went out or went to London, she brought a circle of artists around her houses, not always together at the same time, but encouraged them, published them, provided tea and conversation. She really did get inspired and enjoy helping others.

I was thinking about ways to help others and maybe start working again, a little bit, from home. But what? Technical writing or marketing writing? Offering manuscript consults again? Or perhaps some coaching for doing basic PR for poets with new books? When I’m feeling good, I’m pretty effective, but I do have these “slips” in time that happen when I’m sick, so I need something that’s flexible.

Women Writing Despite…

In fact, many of the “major” women writers that we read, including Flannery O’Conner, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Lucille Clifton, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, and Charlotte Bronte, all had limits on their health – physical and mental illnesses, constraints on their time and energy. They still managed to produce a ton of work, not just published books, but tons of journals and letters that I find fascinating and great research for women writers – how they succeed, how they struggled, how they maintained friendships and family demands. (Frida Kahlo is kind of the patron-saint of sick women creatives, too. Not only is her art getting more attention these days, but I read that her garden was recently restored – how I would love to see that!)

I think one reason I’ve been attracted to researching the lives of these writers is that they succeeded despite. Despite family opposition, money problems, health problems, during a literary time that was – shall we say – unfriendly to women’s voices. How they guarded their writing time, and struggled with “doing it all” – a woman’s problem for centuries, not just now, the expectations that women will be supportive of their family’s needs, domestic work, taking care of spouses or family members, plus write and spend time and cultivate connections with other creative people. So what I’m saying is, really, in this age of phones and internets and social media, it’s easier for me than it would have been for any of those writers, despite my illnesses, the physical limitations I might face, the frustrations I feel.

So, interacting with other writers, writing book reviews, making the home a welcome place for creative folks, writing, sending out work, promoting work once it’s out there – that is all work that I need to prioritize as much as I do my health issues.

So that’s what I’m thinking of when I think about the coming year. What about you? Any advice? Any goals of your own? Leave them in the comments!

My Review of Deaf Republic up at Barrelhouse, Blooms and Studies in Pink, and Let’s Talk About What Makes a Dream Press

Pink Dogwood

Almost the End of Poetry Month!

Trying to enjoy spring in between doctor and dentist appointments, running around taking pictures of different flowering trees (right now crushing on pink dogwood, lilacs, and crabapple.) I’m also trying to write more and I’m trying to do a really close revision of my two manuscripts before I sent them out again. I’m going to talk a little later about how to think about finding your dream press, something I’ve been thinking about a lot…

My Review of Deaf Republic up at Barrelhouse

So happy that Barrelhouse has my review of Ilya Kaminsky’s new book from Graywolf Press, Deaf Republic, today. I was really taken by Kaminsky’s framing of disability as an act of resistance. I really highly recommend this book, and I love Barrelhouse too, so happy to work with them.

Study in Pinks

Talking About What Makes a Press Your Dream Press

I posted this on Twitter, and then on Facebook, because I am genuinely interested in other writers’ answers, whether you’ve published one book or twenty!
I’ve been married happily for almost 25 years (in July.) So I’m not looking for a dream partner, I’m looking for a #dreampress.
What does your dream press look like? Mine looks like this: pays royalties, does some PR for you, helps get your book reviewed and puts it up for awards.
What qualities does your dream press have? Does the press help you place poems after they take your manuscript in high-profile journals? Get blurbs for you instead of making you beg for them? How many author copies does it give you? Does it give you input on the cover?
Answer e-mails promptly? Helps you set up a book tour? Helps promote you on social media? Has great distribution in bookstores? Has careful editors? Tell me more about your dream press in the comments!

I’d love to see this in public conversation, because my perception is that most poets (and even fiction writers) are so excited to get a book published, they don’t think about what kind of press they want to work with and send to every contest and open submissions. Does the press represent poets of color, women, people with disabilities? That’s something I look at now more than I used to. 

On Twitter and Facebook, several people praised their presses and others said “whatever press publishes me” and others talked about their priorities for a press. It’s not like there are infinite numbers of poetry presses, so it isn’t that hard to research and find out something about the press before we send out these days. I recommend at least looking at a couple of books they have produced. Do you enjoy the style of work? How are the books presented? What do the covers look like? How are they formatted? How are they distributed? How does the press support their authors? All of these things make a difference.

I’m thinking hard about this as I send out manuscripts for what will be my sixth and seventh books. I feel like at this point I need to think hard about what presses are a good fit for my work and would be great partners in the process. If this means I send out a little less than I used to, that’s okay. I’m hoping to find the perfect partner for each book.

So please, jump in! What makes working with a publisher a pleasure? What things are absolutely non-negotiable?

Tulip Festival, April Rains and One More Week of National Poetry Month

Glenn and I at the Tulip Festival

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

In a month that has been almost entirely rainy, we went up the day before Easter – a day that started gloomy, but turned sunny in the late afternoon – to La Conner, Washington for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. I don’t have quite as much stamina to tramp in the fields the way I used to, but it was still wonderful to see the fantastic flowers, La Conner was cool but sunny, had many bald eagle sightings. The tulip fields never fail to inspire me. This time I came home and wrote a poem after Sylvia Plath’s ‘Tulips.” Here are a few pictures of flowers, eagles, and us posing among the flowers!

Tulip fields with Mt Baker

April Rains and One More Week of Poetry Month

This shot reminds me of what I love about spring in the Seattle area, the parts I haven’t gotten out enough it because April has been almost unremittingly cold, gray, and rainy. It’s almost my birthday. This month has had a lot of medical appointments, dental appointments (why is this always the case around birthdays?) which can be both anxiety-provoking and depressing. I have to get even more blood work and another brain MRI in the next two weeks.

Glenn took this shot – thinking about possibly using it as an author photo – yay or nay?

I’ve been writing but haven’t been submitting as much, and I need to work on a book review and getting my two manuscripts-in-progress ready for another round of submissions. Submitting seems to take more mental energy than writing – or is it that writing poetry is more fun that submitting and revising, so it seems to take less energy? Anyway, I’ve found myself fairly exhausted this month, more than the usual MS “tired-after-trying-to-do-stuff” type – plus fighting off some pretty severe anemia. My usual coping mechanism for this stuff is socializing – which I haven’t been able to do enough of – and getting outside, which I also haven’t been able to do enough of. We did manage to plant another tree (after the little Pink Lady apple, a bare-root late-blooming pink cherry which I hope survives) plus we’re slowly filling our planter boxes with annuals. And the birds have been singing through the storm.

The weather report is starting to show some clearing, plus my birthday (not a big deal birthday, but still) is a few days away, and I’m going to try to do something fun that day – go to an art gallery or the Japanese Gardens. Or maybe Open Books!

I am wishing you all a great final week of April, National Poetry Month. I am wishing you all health, more poems, and more flowers.

 

Poetry Month is Half Over! Poems Up at Menacing Hedge, Plus Ilya Kaminsky and Mark Doty visit a Seatte coffee shop, and More Blooms

 

Pink Dogwood

Poetry Month is Already Half Over!! Don’t Panic.

“Eek! I haven’t done enough poetry!” Some of you might be thinking. Hey, relax! April is not just poetry month, it’s also a beautiful season of flowers (and here: rain, rain, and more rain) and my birthday month! It’s time to do some fun stuff outdoors, plant some flowers, write some poems, buy some poetry books you might have been wanting, sit around, relax. Spend time convincing me they’re not trying to turn Daenerys into a villainess. Read a little, write a little. Go to a reading…

From the latest issue of Menacing Hedge

  Three New Poems in Menacing Hedge

The new issue of Menacing Hedge is out, and I have three poems in there, along with other poet friends like Maya Zeller! Sneak peek at left, to one of the poems that forms the theses of my next manuscript-in-progress!

And another poem tells you how to make a narrative poem work.

 

 

Natasha K. Moni, me, and Ilya Kaminsky

Ilya Kaminsky and Mark Doty Read at a Seattle Coffee Shop, and I Was There For It

We’ve had a number of terrific readers in Seattle recently, but I hadn’t been well enough (or free of doctor’s appointments enough) to make it to any until yesterday. Last night Ilya Kaminsky read from his terrific new book, Deaf Republic, and Mark Doty read poems, and it was wonderful to see them plus say hi to a punch of local poets I don’t see often enough. Thanks are due to Susan Rich for arranging the reading!

Me with Cherry Trees

Glenn shot this pic on the way to the reading. We pulled over in a school parking lot because the cherry trees were so astounding! I have been hibernating a bit lately due to cold weather and being slightly under the weather, but it was so cheering to hear such great poetry and see so many friends in a warm setting. And there’s something rejuvenating about getting out, dressing up a little, being around humans who aren’t trying to take blood or give you a prescription!

 

 

More cherry pouf blossoms

I am wishing you all cherry blossoms, good poetry luck, and some happiness is a world that seems to be always on fire. Take a breath. Listen to the birds whistling in the rain.

Happy National Poetry Month, April Gloom (and Blooms,) and More Post-AWP Thoughts

 

Camellias

Happy National Poetry Month!

Are you enjoying April so far? We’re having our longest, rainiest, grayest stretch so far this year in the Seattle area, and I have been down both physically and emotionally, so not a lot of getting out and about, though I have a couple of shots of cherry blossoms at the Seattle Japanese Gardens. I am planning to get up to the tulip fields sometime soon, too! Those always cheer me up.

 

April Blooms (and Gloom) and NaPoWriMo

Do you try to write a poem a day (NaPoWriMo?) in April? It’s National Poetry Writing Month as well. I don’t love prompts (or the pressure to write every day) but I always do write a bit more during April. April is also my birthday month, so I always have a lot of emotion – blossoms, birthdays, poetry, and always, always, inevitably, some damn medical testing! LOL. I went in for some routine blood work to see if I was well enough to start a new MS drug, and the results came back that I was severely anemic (like, enough to get an iron IV?) and sicker than I thought. I had felt a little tired and groggy since I got back from AWP, but I thought it was just MS and allergies. So I am doubling up my iron (steak! mushrooms! beets!) as well as supplementing with iron, folic acid, and b12 and apparently need to rest and get better from a big upper respiratory virus. I’ve been trying to read more, sleep more, take my vitamin c and up my liquids. I have written maybe five poems that I’ve liked so far this month, and lots of weird fragments. The black hole (of course) inspired one, and somehow every time I have to walk into a hospital in spring I write a poem about it. I’m also working up the courage to send out my two in-progress poetry manuscripts out some more – one is very political and feminist, and the other is more somber in tone, about getting diagnosed with cancer and then MS, and all the surrounding solar flares and eclipses. I also have to send out some work – during my down time after AWP, I’ve gotten lots of poems back (hello rejections!) so I have to get on the ball. I was encouraged that I got a positive, ‘send more’ rejection from the one piece of fiction I had out – I don’t have more, but it was nice. I may try to write another fiction piece this month if I get inspired – it’s much harder work for me than writing poems. I listened to a Sylvia Plath reading and realized how much her sense of line and sound – I started reading her at around 19 – had influenced my own work. Her voice was pretty great, too, kind of deep and clipped and a pronounced New England accent. I also have a review or two to do. I find that reviewing takes a different kind of mental energy than poetry writing – or even fiction writing. I also have plenty of reading from the stack I brought home from AWP! Which reminds me…

A Few More Post-Mortem AWP Thoughts…

A few more thoughts from Portland’s AWP now that they’re over and I’ve had some time to think.

  • A Greater Influence of Social Media – I noticed this for the first time at this AWP, and no so much at AWP LA (2016.) Many people – including the nice people at registration – mentioned how they followed me on Twitter, Instagram, the blog, or Facebook. I had lots of people come up already familiar with my writing, my life, and tell me things that had inspired them or that they loved. That was really nice, and different. I literally could not walk (or wheelchair) anywhere without stopping to talk to people who recognized me (again, this did not happen at AWP LA.) So what does this mean? All of our work on social media is not in vain, after all? That it really does help build community? Especially meaningful: writers who also had MS or other medical problems who told me reading about my journey had helped them. Wow. Also got a lot of positive feedback about talking about the discouragement of rejection. Interesting!!
  • Bigger Bookfair: I missed seeing some big names at the Bookfair (some pretty big places decided not to have a table this year) but it had to be one of the biggest bookfairs ever – I don’t think anyone could hit every table over three days. And there was a bonus off-site small-press bookfair for local small presses that couldn’t afford AWP (I loved the idea, but did not make it.)
  • It’s Hard to Take Your Own Advice: So, remember all those posts about eating and drinking enough and getting off-site from AWP and enjoying the city? I got off-site exactly one time, and ended up subsisting on handfuls of carrot sticks with Greek yogurt in between events, and sometimes string cheese. Never had time for room service or a regular meal of any sort, because I was rushing around so much – partly because it was hard to get around and to and from the hotel due to construction, but partly because I expected to have the same pace I had when I was younger. I should have scheduled much less. I’m afraid AWP had more of a toll on my health than I should have let it have. Note I am still mostly in recovery mode!
  • AWP: A husband’s perspective. Glenn was able to come to all of my events because of the “accessibility assistant” ticket he got to AWP, and besides the difficulties getting into off-sites and into the conference area itself (“they need to do a better job of making off-sites handicapped-accessible,” he said, “and the entrance was much too far from the bookfair”) he seemed to have a pretty good AWP experience. I always think about how weird industry conferences appear to outsiders – after all, I’ve been to robotics conferences, web security conferences, and Microsoft tech conferences – but people were very friendly to Glenn – many recognized him from pictures on social media – and he thought all the readings were very engaging. He was sad we didn’t get to see more of the bookfair, which he felt was much easier to navigate than, say, the art-and-comics fair at San Deigo’s ComicCon, in a wheelchair. We do have a lot of friends around the country now – which made the whole conference feel more convivial.

Overall, I am glad I went, but probably won’t go for the next few years (San Antonio, Kansas City, and Philly are all pretty far from Seattle, and travel can be problematic with a wheelchair and a faulty immune system.) I hope the next time it comes within my orbit it will be a little more disability-friendly. We can always hope! That would have made things a little easier. I’m glad I got to see so many friends and faces from the literary community across the country – friends from Florida to California, and all points in between, and it’s always nice to discover new lit mags and publishers that might not have been on your radar. I wish I had gotten out into Portland more – it was mostly beautiful weather and I had a plan to hit a couple of bookstores and art galleries that didn’t happen. And now, into April – hoping I can get my energy (and iron) back, get out into the tulips, and get some more writing and submitting done!

 

AWP Report Part II, A New Poem in The Pinch, and a Video Reading

 

Sylvia with the new issue of The Pinch

A New Poem in The Pinch

First, thanks to The Pinch, who published my poem, “Another Rescue Attempt,” in their beautiful latest issue. Here’s Sylvia posing with it! And here’s a preview of my poem. My first fairy tale poem in a while:

With my lovely editors Kelli and Annette at Two Sylvias Press and Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

Report from AWP Part II, with Pics and Video

I finally got to go through the bookfair for a short time after the book signing. It was wonderful but dizzying – so many thousands of booths that you couldn’t possibly see them all, especially if you stopped to talk to anyone. I never saw many booths I specifically wanted to make it to, but this was my first pass through. I got to hit Cincinnati Review, my publisher Moon City Press (where they had just sold out of my book Field Guide to the End of the World after this picture – on Friday!) and Barrelhouse Review to see lovely and talented Killian Czuba. 

By 4:30 PM, we went back to the hotel room. I was planning to meet a friend (Hi Lesley!) for dinner at 5:30 and then go to my offsite reading at 8 PM. So I’d have to change, wash my face, and make it fifteen minutes away in rush hour traffic, and eat, and my body was feeling…well, I was basically lying prone on my couch and my legs and hands didn’t want to move. I had no idea how I was going to do the reading at 8 PM. Remember yesterday when I was talking about AWP making me feel my disability more clearly? This was one of those times. When I was younger, and healthier, I totally could have made this schedule work – but now, with my current stuff, I couldn’t. So I rested, drank hot tea, took some of my MS treatment medications, changed clothes, and went to the offsite reading. It was in a crowded hipster brewpub not far from the conference.

I asked the host from the Spoon River Poetry Review if I could read early, as I hadn’t eaten all I day and was shaking all over. So I went fifth and got to watch a few more readers before I had to go. I was really impressed – one, by how young everyone was (I think I was the oldest person in the room) and by the wonderful women poets of Obsidian Press, and the editor of Noemi Press. It was honestly a pleasure listening to all the readers and I left wishing I could have told all of them how great they were.

I went back to the hotel room with its eerie, mostly-construction view through the now empty beautiful, oddly-eighties-esque hotel lobby (see pic of me in reading outfit with Hotel Lobby collage art) and Glenn made some food (food allergies make most room service a no-go, so I subsisted mostly on string cheese and carrots for the three days I was there) for me and I put together my panel notes and reading for the next day and fell asleep. The third day was actually my biggest in terms of what I had to do – a panel on Poetry and the Body, a visit to the bookfair, and a reading that night before taking off for home – so I needed to crash in order to have some energy for the next day. Looking back, I wish I could have seen more people, socialized more, stayed later at things, but I know these days I have to be very careful about preserving energy – with MS, you go from fine to zero in about 30 seconds. 

Here’s a clip of one of the poems I read at the reading, “My Life is an Accident,” which is forthcoming in the next issue of Spoon River Poetry Review and part of my newest manuscript. (It’s not a flattering angle; forgive me for being vain!)

Next: AWP Part III, Where I talk about our panel “Poetry and The Body,” the Saturday Bookfair, and the final reading with Moon City Press.

Happy Poetry Month! And AWP Report, Part I: Welcome to Portland! Disability Readings, Disability Issues, and Seeing Writers in Real Life

 

Cherry Blossoms in Portland

Happy Poetry Month!

It’s also my birthday month, and my favorite time of the year. When we got in groggy at 3 AM on Sunday from Portland, I noticed the weeping cherry in the yard was in full bloom and all of my daffodils had bloomed while we were gone. I’m so glad I went to AWP, but I was happy to be home! And that spring is really here, if a little late.

I wanted to write a blog post yesterday, but I was so danged groggy from being tired – no one sleeps much at AWP. I’m going to post about AWP Portland in parts. This was my busiest, most packed AWP in terms of events – three offsite readings, a panel, and a book signing – EVER! And my first since my MS diagnosis. So that was exciting! Also left not enough time for the bookfair and friend-visiting, so maybe next time, I’ll take it down a notch.

Me posing with sparkly poet Beth Ann Fennelly

AWP Portland 2019 Part I:

Day 1: On day 1, we drove in from Seattle, got our hotel room (there was a snafu with the accessible room I’d booked months in advance not being ready, so we had to switch to a “regular” room, which cost us time), literally sprinting to try to get to registration on time, and try sprinting with MS and a cane. It’s hard! There was no space to drop off a handicapped person at the Conference Center because of construction, and no handicapped parking spaces available around or in the garage, and once you got to the entrance, it felt like a half-mile of dim, dusty, not well-signed corridor to get to the registration, bookfair, or panel rooms. Note: I would love it if AWP could book a place that’s not under construction. I stayed in a hotel across the street from the conference, but had to use my wheelchair over construction-non-sidewalk for five blocks to get to it, because, you know, construction. During my panel “Poetry and the Body,” on the last day of the conference, the moderator Peter Gloviczki, said, “I never feel more disabled than in the airport.” Which felt very true. What struck me as true as well – I never feel as disabled as at AWP. They really need to hire someone in a wheelchair or other difficulties walking to test out venues ahead of booking them, and make sure to have adequate handicapped parking, accessible drop-offs, registration right at the entrance, etc. At home, I feel great about walking around with a cane, even going to parks, gardens, museums, but there was no way I could have done this convention without a LOT of help from my husband Glenn – driving, parking, carrying things, getting doors, pushing the wheelchair when I needed it – and I needed it a lot. (I don’t use it much at home.) It was so far from the entrance to registration that even “normal” people were complaining about the walk, so it was extra hard for anyone with a disability.

Me and Tamara Sellman at the Disability Literature reading.

So I got there just as registration was closing, got my badge and bag, and ran back to the hotel room (finally available) to get ready – in a hurry – for my first offsite reading, at the Disability Literature Consortium reading, organized by Wordgathering. I had two unexpected friends in the audience (thanks Tamara and Lesley Wheeler!), which was great, and the readings were wonderful and the people warm and welcoming. I particularly was moved by Susanne Antonetta’s non-fiction account of the long-term damage that resulted from electric shock treatments she had been forced to endure as a child. The effects sounded so similar to my own symptoms from brain damage from my MS flare/lesions, it was uncanny.

I also ran into a friend in the hotel lobby, in fact, I kept seeing poets in my hotel – Ellen Bass, Kim Addonizio – it was like being in Hollywood, instead of seeing movie stars, you’re seeing famous poets everywhere. I didn’t take enough pictures the first day, but I made up for it the next two!

Book signing at Two Sylvias’ booth – a beacon of light in the bookfair!

Day 2: The next morning I woke up brighter and more alert and ready to take on my Friday, which included the first event: a book signing for PR for Poets at the Two Sylvias Booth, where I got to visit with my beautiful editors, Kelli Russell Agodon and Annette Spaulding-Convy – really well attended, thanks to everyone who came by and bought books! It was a wonderful opportunity to chat – albeit briefly – with some people I have been friends with online for literally over a decade! I could hardly breathe because I was hugging so many people. Really, I love doing readings and panels, but hugging your friends is the best part of AWP, or telling someone how much their book meant, or thanking editors/publishers. It’s the people that make the event what it is. Swag is terrific, but human interaction between writers is even better.

Posing with my editors, Kelli and Annette, at the Two Sylvias booth pre-signing

Tomorrow I’ll post more in AWP Part II: wherein I haunt the bookfair, the Spoon River Poetry Review/Obsidian Press/Noemi Press reading, then later I’ll post the panel (and video from it!) and the Moon City reading. 

Spring is Here, Poems in French on RealPoetik and in StorySouth, Where I’ll be at AWP and those AWP jitters

 

Cherry blossoms

First Week of Spring

The first week of spring here has blossomed suddenly and I’ve been trying to lug my camera everywhere. Daffodils, plum blossoms, early magnolias and cherry trees – every doctor’s and apartment building parking lot is lit up with beauty. I’m trying to get my readings together for AWP and write my remarks for the panel on Poetry and the Body, but the flowers keep distracting me wherever I go.

Poems in StorySouth and in French in RealPoetik

I’m happy to say I have a poem “They Say You Can’t Go Home Again” in the new issue of StorySouth. (Follow the link to read the whole issue which has poems and fiction by a ton of great writers.)

I’m also happy to say my poems have been published in a second language – the first was Japanese – and this time it’s French. Paris Lit mag RealPoetik has published three of my poems in French (with English translations.) Two are new and one is from Field Guide to the End of the World.

Where I’ll be at AWP and Those AWP Jitters

I’ll be coming in Thursday night, reading at the Disability Literature Consortium at the Courtyard by Marriott at 6 PM.

Friday, I’ll be signing PR for Poets (and She Returns to the Floating World) – and passing out some swag – at the Two Sylvias Booth (in the 9000’s, I think) from 2-3 PM. I hope to see a lot of you there!

Then Friday night, I’ll be doing a reading that night with Spoon River Poetry Review, Obsidian, and Noemi Press at Beulahland at 8 PM.

Then Saturday, I’ll be speaking on a panel:

Poetry and the Body at 3 PM in B116, Level 1. S252. Poetry and the Body: Writing the Corporeal. (Peter Joseph Gloviczki, Alex Lemon, Jeannine Hall Gailey)  In this poetry craft and criticism panel, we aim to have a meaningful dialogue about how the corporeal and related elements enter into our creative processes and how they also inform the delivery of our work in public settings. Drawing from history, memory, and geography, we aim to more fully place the corporeal among the elements that guide our work. We hope poets in the audience will be inspired to consider how the corporeal informs their own creation, forms, content, and delivery.

Then, that night, I’ll be reading at the Moon City Press offsite reading at the White Owl Social Club, 6-8 PM.

Whew! I’m feeling beat just looking at that schedule! I’m having last minute jitters, just like I bet a lot of you are. At least now they’re saying we’ll have nicer weather, no (or just a little) rain, mid sixties. Maybe even a day of sun! I’ve been seeing people on my Twitter feed saying they can’t make it to AWP because they’re getting sick (still flu season, people! Take that vitamin C!) I’ve also seen my female writer friends stressing out about what to wear. Guess what? People there will be happy to see you no matter what you’re wearing, I swear! Although these days with the intimidating number of selfies, yeah, I get it. I’ve been having a hard time sleeping – waking up with panic attacks about, say, dental work or whether the hotel I’m staying at will have an elevator not working so I’ll be trapped there. The joys of travel!

But for real, I’m looking forward to seeing so many old friends – I’ve been going to AWP since I was in my fresh-faced late twenties, and it’s such a wonderful chance to see editors and publishers who have done nice things for you in person, and to see friends you remember from that one party in 2008, and to see writing heroes and mentors. I want to celebrate! I don’t want to waste my energy worrying. I hope you get a chance to celebrate too. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Jeannine Hall Gailey

Jeannine Hall GaileyJeannine 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.

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