Poem Up at Rise Up Review and Five Things I Learned While Writing PR for Poets

First of all, thanks to the Rise Up Review for featuring my poem, “In Which I Declare My Resistance,” at their site.  As you may know, I don’t write a tremendous amount of political poetry, but something (something!) about the last few months has inspired me to write in that vein.

Five Things I Learned While Writing PR for Poets

I’m almost ready to turn my non-fiction book, PR for Poets, into the editors at Two Sylvias Press (just waiting for copyedits from my hard-working student intern) and I thought I might share a few things I learned while writing the book.

  1. There are very few resources out there for poets who are looking at how to market poetry books. Poets and Writers magazine and Writer’s Chronicle – plus most MFA programs – don’t cover this stuff at all. People either assume poetry doesn’t sell, poets are above worrying about book sales, or I guess that somehow poetry books will sell on their own. I read through mountains of PR books for “regular” authors, and frustratingly, most of their advice didn’t really apply to us. (The stuff that did already exist was mostly written by Robert Brewer. Thanks Robert!) I also learned that marketing book for authors suddenly started having saucier titles, shorter chapters and larger fonts. Is this a millennial thing? Does everyone assume our attention spans are shorter? Anyway, this impacted how I organized my book in the end. I tried to make the book a little more accessible and easy to use without dumbing it down.
  2. Each poet will have a different path for marketing their book, so it’s really hard to write “one-size-fits-all” advice. I know several poets who have been ultra-successful at selling their books, and all of them had unique reasons and methods for selling books. This means we each have to think of the natural audiences for our book, the things that are unique about us. A doctor-poet friend sold his book at medical conferences; another poet toured the US on a bus, stopping at nearly every city. Some poets have irresistible charisma, and that’s not something you can manufacture, but it sure helps book sales.
  3. Some things involved in book promotion are beyond our control. Right after I’d completed my first draft of the PR for Poets book, I was diagnosed with fatal metastatic cancer in my liver. This was a few months before Field Guide to the End of the World was due to come out. Pretty awesome timing. I put the non-fiction book on hold for nine months that passed in a blur of tests, treatments, and more tests. Later I was forced to cancel part of my book tour (a trip out to Missouri) because my immune system decided not to work for a bit and I caught every bug going around (and this was a particularly weird flu season.)  This stuff happens when you put out a book – you lose a job, you get pregnant, a loved one passes away, you get sick – and you have to pick and choose where you put your energy. For Field Guide to the End of the World, I wasn’t able to give as many readings, so I tried a few other methods to promote the book that I could do from home. (PS: If you are interested in buying, reviewing, or otherwise promoting Field Guide to the End of the World, I would be very grateful! Please contact me. PPS: Amazon reviews are appreciated more than you know!)
  4. Sometimes giving stuff away for free makes sense for poets. A few examples: beautiful broadsides or bookmarks that allow people who come to a reading to walk away with a visual reminder of your work. Goodreads giveaways. Sending books to reviewers, even though most reviewers will ignore it. Same with book prizes. You never know when a well-placed giveaway will work out in a way that might work to make your work do the miraculous and “go viral.” (For good info on poems going viral, check out the journey of Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” by Kelli Russell Agodon.)
  5. Celebrating your book with family and friends is maybe the most important part in terms not of sales, but of value. In my memory, in terms of what will mean most to me later on, it’s those happy moments when there’s champagne and people who are genuinely happy to be holding your new book. You may not remember most of your readings, or the first time you see your book in a bookstore, but you will remember those celebrations with loved ones. So be sure to take the time and energy (and a little money) and put it towards a celebration.

Okay, hope that was helpful to you!

What I’ve Been Up to in May – reports on writing a non-fiction book, goslings, concerts – and getting May submissions done

I’m almost finished with my non-fiction book for Two Sylvias Press, PR for Poets. Let me say, it’s 150 pages and soooo much more work than a poetry book! Luckily I’ve had my husband, my mom, and a wonderful student intern to help me do a final editing pass before I turn it in, and then I’ll be ready to send to beta readers for some early feedback! (So let me know in the comments if you want to be one of the beta readers for me!) I feel much more confident about the book now than when I finished my first draft last year. But once again, waaaay more time-consuming than I initially thought – but hopefully the book will be helpful for lots of poets who feel (like me) that they had no resources to learn how to sell their own poetry books!

In poetry news, I have a poem coming out soon in the Rise Up Review and I’m getting ready to do another reading for Field Guide to the End of the World at King’s Books in Tacoma on May 25. I hope some of you will be there!

Besides being busy with writing the PR for Poets book, I’ve been working on writing a new poetry manuscript – I’ve even sent it out once already! It’s a very personal book, but I notice once again there’s a little bit of apocalypse sneaking in to the personal aspects.  A few days ago there was an accident at Hanford. (You can read more about it here.) Even though I’ve already written one book, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, about my own experiences growing up in a very nuclear-immersed household, it still surprises me how little politicians – and people in general – know about the risks of their local and national nuclear sites, like Hanford, San Onofre, Oak Ridge National Labs, or the White Plains plant in New York. It surprises me how little the government tells us about the risks, and what people don’t know about protecting themselves from the long-term effects of nuclear pollution.

As you may know, I’ve been diagnosed with thyroid nodules and thyroid autoimmune disease, mysterious brain lesions, an autoimmune deficiency, and, most recently, tumors in my liver (and I’m due for another MRI of the liver tumors on Monday, always nerve-wracking.) I often wonder how many of my health problems are connected to my childhood exposure to Cesium-137-contaminated food, water, air, dirt – I grew up on a farm, after all, eating food that was grown there, playing in the mud on rainy days. I’ve been writing nuclear-related poems again, so I guess the subject isn’t exhausted in my poetry yet! I found out, for instance, in doing some research that children exposed to Cesium from Chernobyl exhibited some of the same problem with autoimmune IgG levels that I have. And of course, Cesium can be absorbed in the brain and liver, as well as skin and bones.

It hasn’t been all grim work and research – I’ve had time to get out to an Aimee Mann concert at The Neptune (good, singing some of my favorite lesser-known songs, with some quirky local talent and geek rocker Jonathon Coulton), discover some goslings along the Sammamish trail, and observe some new lilac, pink dogwood and wisteria blooming. I did sprain my ankle recently (yet again, sigh) and it’s mostly been too cold and wet to go out and have too much fun (plus I acquired a little spring cold, which didn’t help matters.) That’s okay. The downtime isn’t all bad.  More time to work on edits. And submissions! As you may know, so many places stop taking submissions after May, so this is the time to get as many poetry subs out as you can before the month is over! Then you can relax over the summer. Lots of good places are still taking work now – so check out Entropy’s great list of places to send!

 

 

 

Birthdays, A Review of Magdalene, Sleeping Poems, and the End of Poetry Month

I decided to have a birthday celebration this year for my 44th. It seemed appropriate – last year at this time I was so stressed and down I barely went out in between cancer testing. I was worried I had about six months – maybe longer. So this year I wanted to celebrate turning 44! It seems miraculous. I invited over a few friends, Glenn made cupcakes, it was rainy and cold outside, but inside we had some fun. Michaela Eaves brought me some pieces of art (she and Glenn conspired to get me this painting of a fox and hare in a forest.) Here are a few pics:

Life is short. That’s what I keep saying – we really do have to pause in the middle of grumbling, in the middle of bad news replaying constantly, in the middle of threats of wars and rumors of wars – we have to celebrate beauty and goodness, friends who make art, cupcakes. (PS Most of the friends in this picture I have known more than a decade now!)

In that capacity, let me know what you think of this review of Marie Howe’s newest book of poetry, Magdalene, up at The Rumpus a few days ago.

http://therumpus.net/2017/04/magdalene-by-marie-howe/

And these sleeping-themed poems up at Sleepyhead Central, as part of the poetry month celebration. One poem imagines a sleep deprivation clinic, another imagines alternate stories for Sleeping Beauty:

https://sleepyheadcentral.com/2017/04/30/national-poetry-month-jeannine-hall-gaileys-fables-of-sleep/

I almost thought my party might not happen – two days before, I sprained my ankle – and a day before, I woke up with one of the worst allergic reactions I’ve ever had (a new medicine, I think, sparked it) with purple welts and general miserableness. Happily, I woke up on my actual birthday with no welts and feeling fine (the sprained ankle, however, will take a little time to heal. Boo hiss.) It certainly has been an exciting time!

Now National Poetry Month is over, things can slow down to a little bit more of a regular pace. I’ve almost finished up PR for Poets to turn in, I have a Webinar to record this week (!), a poetry reading down in Tacoma with Kendra Tanacea at Kings Books on the 25th, I’m going to go see awesome writer Karen Russell this week, and I’ve got an Aimee Mann concert next week. They say we might actually have a little more sun now that it’s May. It’s been tough to go out and capture all the flowers that have been blooming despite the rain – but here are a few shots:

New Poems in Jet Fuel Review, a feature by Natasha Moni, and a day out at Open Books

The apple blossoms and pink cherry trees have been blooming despite our record amounts of rain, and there’s more poetry news to report!

First of all, thanks to Natasha Moni who featured my poem from Field Guide to the End of the World, “Martha Stewart’s Guide to the End Times,” on her 30-poems-for-poetry-month feature on her blog.

And the new Spring 2017 issue of Jet Fuel Review is out, complete with two poems from my new manuscript in them, “Self-Portrait as Final Girl” and “In the Movie of My Life’. This issue also features great work by my friends E. Kristin Anderson and Martha Silano, so be sure to check out the whole thing!

I wrote a poem last night about Van Gogh’s “Almond Blossom” series of paintings, as I was reminded of them as I was taking pictures yesterday. We had this really beautiful late afternoon light after a grey drizzly day. Van Gogh was really interested in how the light in the south of France might be more like the light of Japan, and was very entranced with the styles of Japanese painters of ukiyo-e, or the Floating World. (I wrote about that concept a bit in my book, She Returns to the Floating World.) He painted pictures of branches that began blooming while there was still snow on the trees is Arles, trying to imitate Japanese woodblock prints.

Some more pictures of blooming trees yesterday around our Woodinville wineries:

Speaking of inspiration, I managed to sneak out Sunday night to Open Books, our all-poetry bookstore, for a “conversation” between Katie Ford and Molly Spencer. Here’s a picture of me with Molly Spencer and friend afterwards. It was great to get to chat and left me feeling inspired the rest of the night.

Tulip Fields, Two New Review for Field Guide, and Reading in Redmond with Friends!

It’s been a crazy few days – tulip fields, hosting visitors from Japan, reading at Soul Food with friends from Two Sylvias Press – whew! Did I mention two new reviews for Field Guide to the End of the World? Today is the first day I’ve had a chance to download the pictures and recover enough to write a post!

First of all, the new reviews.

–Star*Line reviewed sixteen Elgin nominees, including Field Guide to the End of the World. Excellent (and kind) review by Diane Severson. (It’s in the very middle of the sixteen reviews, so scroll down a bit to find my review.)

–Kathleen Kirk focuses (appropriately, since today is Earth Today and the March for Science) on the environmental issues in Field Guide to the End of the World in her review for Escape Into Life. Thanks Kathleen!

Two new reviews for Poetry Month – who could ask for more?

The Soul Food Books reading for Two Sylvias Press was a wonderful opportunity to see my friends Natasha Moni, Michael Schmeltzer, and Molly Tenenbaum (who played banjo as well as reading poetry!) I always love reading in my own stomping grounds, in Redmond on the East side of Seattle. Here’s a quick pic of the four of us at the reading. I think all of us sold books, too, which is a nice plus at a reading!

We hosted our friends from Japan Dr. Ayako Ogawa and her husband Tadaaki while they visited here in Seattle. Dr. Ayako is very special to us because she was my little brother’s Japanese professor in college and later became a family friend. She edited my manuscript for She Returns to the Floating World, making suggestions, correcting and proofing cultural references and Japanese words, and she sent it to her friends and family so they could look at it too. Anyway, she’s become a good family friend, was tremendously supportive when I got my scary cancer news last year, and is just one of my favorite people. Glenn and I were happy that we had one sunny day so that we could take them for a brief tour of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in La Conner. We saw one seal but fewer birds (during our March visit we saw five bald eagles, numerous herons, and both trumpeter swans and snow geese, just for comparison.) But the tulips were gorgeous and the weather was a sunny 66 degrees (I believe I’ve mentioned we’ve had a record number of days in a row of rain and cold this year, so..) So a few pictures here from our Skagit Tulip Festival adventures:

 

Reading Tonight at Soul Food Books, Entertaining Japanese Friends, and More Spring Storms

Reading Report:

I’m reading tonight at 7 PM at Soul Food Books with Natasha Moni, Michael Schmeltzer, and Molly Tenenbaum. I hope to see you there! Read more here! 

I’m bringing Dr. Ayako Ogawa and her husband, our friends from Japan who are visiting us and who are always a delight. If you’ve read She Returns to the Floating World, you know she helped me with the translations and cultural references in that book. She was also my little brother’s Japanese professor in college, and has become a good family friend.

We’ve been having some rough weather here in Seattle this year (see last night’s whipping wind and driving rain that got me freezing and soaking wet in about ten seconds of walking) and are really hoping for at least one nice day to get up and around the tulip fields at Skagit! Whenever we have people visit, we always seem to have miserable weather. I swear Seattle has nice days sometimes…just not since last October. Ha! I’m hoping for a bit of a break tonight, too. It’s no fun going out in the pouring rain for poetry – but on the other hand, where better to spend a rainy night than in a coffee shop with poet friends?

Kitten and National Poetry Month Report:

Here’s a picture of our kitten, Sylvia, helping me with my writing this morning, though she prefers social media to poetry. Actually, most of the work I’ve been doing for National Poetry Month hasn’t been about creating new work – it’s been about 1. working on my newest poetry manuscript, 2. working on my PR for Poets book for Two Sylvias Press, and 3. going out more and sharing poetry with more audiences. It often happens that April is too busy to get any serious writing done, and that has been the case again this year. But that’s okay.

Reading Report:

There hasn’t been much time for serious poetry contemplation in the middle of all the busyness, but I did get a chance to write a review of Marie Howe’s excellent Magdalene. I also finished Siri Hustvedt’s inspiring and thought-provoking book of essays, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, which encompassed the art world, some neurological items, poetry, and philosophy. The first half of the book was much stronger than the second, I thought. (I was also shocked to see a picture of Siri with her daughter in the latest issue of In Style Magazine. Apparently her daughter is a hipster musician of some sort? Worlds colliding!) I’m also almost done with Doris Lessing’s daunting Golden Notebook, on communism, feminism, individuality and creativity in a fractured modern world – Lessing is a very smart writer, and there are great moments in the book, but I would not describe this reading as either “fun” or “light.” It’s taken me a while to get through it, and usually I’m a fast reader. Now, onto my next reading journey!

 

Easter Weekend: Balance, Bliss, and the Art of Being Grateful During an Imperfect Life

It’s National Poetry Month, which is one of the busiest for me (and for most poets) – more readings, more requests, more everything. One of my friends, Natasha Moni, is featuring a poet a day on her blog. In the midst of busyness, I try to find a way to achieve balance, to stop from getting too frazzled  – or worse, sick.  It’s Easter weekend, too, which for many of us, means extra activities, maybe family visits or a special dinner, or at least extra chocolate bunnies.

April’s also a month that offers a lot of opportunities for bliss and beauty. From daffodils, cherry blossoms, tulips, and here in the Northwest, the first promising days of sun, to the fun that comes from sharing poetry with others, April has always struck me as a hopeful month.

Last year at this time I was going through a lot of stressful and difficult medical testing and dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis. This year, while I’m still undergoing a lot of medical testing, but the “terminal” part, if not erased, at least has been put off or given a giant question mark over it. I am feeling more hopeful, but also have the halo effect of the life-or-death tension of the whole last year, which is to notice the things that seem so important but aren’t, or the small things that make me feel grateful for my life.

This last year has helped me rediscover an enthusiasm for things I had forgotten or has made less a part of my life – art and music, being in nature, the joy of adopting a new animal friend, and also the feeling of “nothing to lose” in embracing my writing and also a certain amount of artistic impatience – the sense of trying to capture as much of my life as possible in words before losing them – the words or the life. And also sending my work out into the world as fearlessly as possible.

I am feeling grateful for a certain abundance I’ve experienced in 2017, in the middle of banal things like medical appointments and political anxiety, in the midst of navigating a middle age I thought I might not live to see. I feel like the universe, if not generous in all things, has been sending me friends, adventures, and experiences that add up to me feeling a new sensation – a feeling of gratefulness in imperfection, a feeling of, if not joy, a kind of abundance. The experience of going out (or even staying in, via Skype) and reading or teaching and interacting with students makes me always feel more grateful, if a little worn out. So much of our lives as poets can feel like a life of scarcity – not enough money, opportunities, publishing, prizes, etc. The only thing we often seem to be overabundant in is rejections and submission fees! But really, even if the President/Republican congress decides to take away support for the arts, poetry will still be there.  This year, I am focusing on what I have: writer friends, artist friends, at least a couple of family members nearby, some really exciting writing opportunities, a new writer’s group, a new book to take to publishers, and my first intern (as a writer – I worked with interns as a tech manager and also when I was a lit mag editor, but it’s different!). I’m planting things outside my new home, where I hope to stay long enough to see everything bloom next spring. Already, the bulbs we planted last fall have started to bloom, and the kitten loves to help us garden. I feel like in our imperfect worlds, with so many things out of our control, we have to focus on the things that bring us happiness, great and small, the gifts that arrive as a surprise on our doorsteps.

Today at Highline College, Spring Skies, and National Poetry Month

I had the lovely opportunity to read and teach at Highline College in Des Moines, WA today. Not only did they have a huge crowd in a giant auditorium, they had put up several of my poems (and also poems by Terrance Hayes, who’s visiting the college next week) up as broadsides in a huge artistic poetry month display in their public library. I was honored! Here’s a picture of me with Highline professor Susan Rich and very sweet administrator Lindsay Seeley. It was a great day but now I’m ready to crash. I love National Poetry Month but it wears me out!

We’ve been having cool, stormy weather, which has kind of matches by health stuff, marred by upper respiratory stuff and migraines. I’m ready for some great warmer weather AND great health! Hoping for that by the end of the month.

Coming up on the schedule is a reading at Soul Food Books on April 20 with a few Two Sylvias authors like Natasha Moni and Michael Schmeltzer. It’s a fun lineup and a relaxed East side reading venue, so put it on your calendar.

Since last posting, I got to see Alice Notley read thanks to a friend’s spare ticket, and that was really something. I feel like there are twelve times as many poetry events in April as I can possibly attend! I’ve been writing a bit more than usual too, as well as reading more books.

Here are a few pics of April’s Seattle skies…the Pink Full Moon with cloud cover, a rainbow in sunset clouds. And it’s almost the end of the cherry tree season, so, appropriately, a picture of white cherry branches in bloom, and the fallen blossoms after a storm.

National Poetry Month, Cherry and Magnolia Blossoms, and an April Apocalypse Poem

It’s the beginning of National Poetry Month (and my birthday month,) so even though we’re still in a weather-whomp of rain and lower temps, I’ve been cheered by the appearance of more singing birds (one that insists on singing outside our bedroom at 6 AM every morning,) more trees blossoming, and finally. a few bulbs in my garden blooming – the pink hyacinths in my boxes have appeared healthy and hearty after our cold, wet winter. These are the cherry blossoms down the street from our house, our in full snowy blushy splendor. The Japanese call the time of the advance of the cherry blossoms “sakura zensen.” To the right, you can also see Glenn and I posing with some new magnolia blossoms in the Kirkland neighborhood, where Google and Facebook employees wonder by, bearded and ensconced in their phones. This was also a day I got a bunch of medical tests done, all of which came back with mostly good news. No liver cancer, for one, which was a concern, and a negative tumor marker test on a rarer kind of carcinoid, plus only minor problems with liver function from all the tumors in there, which was also a concern.

I started the month by getting another round of a cough and sinus thing (probably from going into two different doctor’s offices for the lab tests above) but I did manage to squeak out a poem yesterday, so we’ll hope for the same today! I’ve been inspired by reading Siri Hustvedt’s new book, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women: Essays on Art, Sex, and the Mind. Fascinating stuff! I love reading about art and gender, and Siri has such a fierce intellect, she just automatically makes me want to write something. I also really am loving Aimee Mann’s new album “Mental Illness,” and tweeted that my fave rhyme so far this month is her rhyme in the song “Good for Me” of “smoke machine” with “taste of dopamine.” I love art and music, and learning more about them, but am terrible at singing, instruments – I can do a little piano and guitar, neither all that well – and making art. It’s a good thing I have poetry!

So I wanted to post another April poem, this time apocalypse-oriented, from Field Guide to the End of the World:

Spring Flowers, Medical Testing, and Submission Parties

Looking for Spring
Spring has been late to visit the Pacific Northwest this year, so I’ve been desperately seeking signs of spring. In this spirit, we took a drive up to La Conner, home of The Tulip Festival, where at this time the last two years all the tulips were already up. This trip, just a few fields of daffodils and a few ornamental trees were in bloom. Around my neck of the woods in Woodinville, I found some plum and cherry blossoms. At this point with all the wet and cold we’ve had, we need all the flowers we can get!

I’m going in for some more medical testing today, which is always nerve-wracking, especially the tumor marker tests, which can be tricky and misleading and very scary. Wish me luck! I purposefully try to schedule something pleasant afterwards and nothing stressful beforehand. Today involves two different sets of doctor offices in two different systems, which is a bit more complex than usual…

Submission Parties!

No, it’s not a sexy thing, it’s a poetry submission thing!
Last week I had a “Submission Party” with a few poet friends via Google Hangout, and it was really fun – and three of us had acceptances within a few days! It was a good way to motivate yourself during what can be a dreary time of year and help some of us get our of our usual submission ruts. (I tend to send to the same journals over and over, for instance.) I very much recommend doing this with your friends if you can get them together – we had a few prep rules that helped – preparing a poetry packet in advance, bring at least three places you’d like to send and share, and have your spreadsheet and cover letter templates at the ready!

I am looking forward to April, National Poetry Month, my birthday month, Easter and baby animals! We did see a mother deer with her baby in the grass yesterday while we were stalking flowers in our neighborhood. How about you? What are your plans for April? Anything ambitious? I’m doing a local college visit at Highline College and a reading at Soul Food Books with some other Two Sylvias Press authors on April 20.

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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