Anniversaries, Cover Art, and Twitter
Today I’m celebrating my 16th wedding anniversary. That just seems crazy – where did the time go? In Napa, the weather is really romantic this time of year – always warm with the smell of jasmine and green things, the hills with vines on them, white egrets flying in the sky and deer and jackrabbits on the trails.
Also, since I became allergic to wheat after 36 years Glenn has been diligently learning new gluten-free recipes left and right. I am thankful he is trained in chemistry and just like that Old Spice commercial guy – baking me a cake in a kitchen he built with his own hands! (Well, we’re renters, but I’m sure he could build a kitchen if he needed to.)
I’ve been thinking hard about cover art and what cover art can and can’t do for a book. Good cover art might make someone pick up a book, might give someone a correct impression of what’s inside, and acts as an adjunct for the writing. I really like Kelli’s cover art, which seems evocative and strange, something that invites rather than subtracts. You want art that invites the reader into the book. Something that communicates the mood without ruining the surprise. Also, how awesome is it to worry about cover art? So much more fun than worrying about rejections. Doing a little happy dance again for the book and for my new publisher. So many things to be thankful for this weekend!
Related to this: I promised a story about how twitter led to me finding a home for my second book. For a long time I resisted twitter. What can you do in 140 characters, I asked. Then, for some reason, I just signed up. I knew Margaret Atwood was up there, twittering away, and Aimee Mann, two artists I respected. I knew publishers – like Kitsune Books, Graywolf Press, among others – had twitter accounts. One of the terrific side-effects of signing up for a twitter account was learning more about a potential publisher and their likes/dislikes – the Kistune Books editors talked about music, querying, and publishing biz – all of which made me like them more and feel that they were a good fit for my work. This led me to the querying, and then the rest is history.
Another reason to sign up for twitter? A suprising number of job leads – people post links to jobs almost every day!
In honor of my publisher and the fox-wife theme of my new book, here is an adorable picture of baby bat-eared foxes for no reason!
Verse Daily, Pubs, Bill Gates Sightings…
I just found out one of my poems will be up on Verse Daily this upcoming week, I think on Thursday. (No, I have been corrected – it will be up Friday – also my husband G’s birthday!) Check it out! Yay!
Received the beautiful little pocket of Foursquare on Saturday, with my poem “Anime Girls Consider the Resurrected.” I loved the other poems in it, which means poet-editor Jessica Smith and I must have similarly excellent taste. The only question is – how do I find out which poet wrote which poem? I really liked the prose-poem piece. And what other poetry journal comes in its own convenient and attractive fabric carrying pouch? If only it came with an origami swan…(See last post for joke reference.)
My interview with prolific interviewer-extrordinaire Kate Greenstreet is up at Eclectica Magazine. Also has poems by Michaela (not my illustrater, the poet/blogger Michaela) and other interesting stuff.
Raven Chronicles final print issue, titled “Whimsies” (containing, appropriately enough, one of Jeffery Bahr’s poems) is out at bookstores now – the last, and if I may be bold, best-poetry-edited issue Raven Chronicles ever! (Full disclosure: I was the guest poetry editor of this issue – although most of the editing was done three years ago. A lot of lag time in the publication. ) Seriously, this comedy-filled issue is a lot of fun. It contains poems by Kelli Agodon, Peter Pereira, my fellow Crab Creek editor Natasha Moni, and many other superduperpoets.
Friday I was chilling out in husband-G’s office lobby at Microsoft, had my feet up on the table, playing a little cell-phone video game, when Bill Gates walked within two feet of me. (PS He is very tall. And still very, very geeky.) No security or nothin’. I should totally have hit him up for poetry funds. Five minutes later, as the husband and I strolled across the parking lot, a supervillainy helicopter shoots up over our heads, with aforementioned-almost-richest-man-in-the-world aboard. Geesh, will this billionaire just leave me alone? Quit stalking me already! I get it!
PS This is indeed the best time to visit the Northwest. Today was sunny, seventies, the streams’s water lilies hid baby ducks and the grass baby rabbits, the wind over the water, the youth spoke politely to me in my inquiry after the rabbits, “Yes ma’am, lots of baby rabbits this time of year,” roses and honeysuckle were blooming, and all was well in the world. Yup, nothing wrong with Seattle in the rain, but Seattle in the sun is nearly unbearably beautiful. I spent four hours outside and hated to go in.
PSS The husband and I celebrate our thirteenth wedding anniversary tomorrow on the 9th. Wish us luck on the next 13!
