Anniversaries, Birthdays, Heatwaves, and Thoughts on Asteroid City and the Poetry World

Glenn and I at the lavender farm on our anniversary

Anniversaries, Birthdays, Heatwaves, and Asteroid City

Since my last blog post, I’ve celebrated my 29th wedding anniversary, my husband’s birthday, there’s been a crazy heatwave, I had my doubts about poetry, caught a summer virus (not covid, no worries, just a regular childhood virus my immune system isn’t strong enough to fight off), and watched Wes Anderson’s newest movie, Asteroid City.

For our anniversary, we accidentally stopped in for a Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) mini-concert at Chateau Ste Michelle, stayed out late with the first sunflowers in Woodinville at the Lavender Farm, and Glenn made a wonderful dinner of duck with cherry sauce and black forest cake for dessert. (We looked at reservations, but the menus weren’t very allergy friendly, and the prices have gone way up since we last went out—pandemic inflation maybe?) I was a little under the weather on Glenn’s actual birthday, so my little brother Mike took him out axe-throwing (yes, it’s a thing) and then out to dinner, which they really enjoyed. (Glenn said I’d enjoy the axe throwing, but my MS and joint problems said probably not, LOL.)

First Sunflowers in Woodinville

First Sunflowers, Heat Waves, and Asteroid City (Thoughts on Film and Poetry)

My weird summer virus coincides, weirdly, with a huge heat wave—temps of 90 (and humidity levels at 30) meant an almost desert-like feeling to Seattle in the last couple of days. We were watering the hummingbirds, two bird baths and fountains, our poor flowers and baby trees – and ourselves. We have air conditioning, but it struggles to catch up with temps over 80. A common Seattleite’s summer retreat to a cooler area, Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, had to close today because a mountain lion went to the beach to cool down!

Thirsty goldfinch at our bird fountain

On my sick days, I had a chance to catch up on movies—and I watched Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret (which was cute, and very true to the book, except for I remember the mother worked in the book?) and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which felt like a mashup of many of my own poetic obsessions—apocalypse, the Cold War era’s paranoia, mistrust of the government, aliens, nuclear testing anxiety, quarantine and its reverberations, and of course, death, Shakespeare, and witches. Some of my friends really did not like this movie, which highlights artificiality in a sort of odd black and white narrated Rod Serling juxtaposed with a tableau of the American West in color and admittedly does not have a linear plot. But I loved it—and more than that, it was the first movie I’ve seen that made me want to make a movie. (I have a friend with a fancy Ivy League degree in film and I suddenly had the urge to ask to borrow all her books from the program.) This film almost felt like a visual poem—a pastiche of Wasteland-like fragments. The other thing I noticed was influences from my generation—from Futurama episodes (I recommend watching “The Series Has Landed” and “Roswell That Ends Well” for shot-to-shot comparisons) and MST3K fifties apocalypse anxiety films. Wes is four years older than me, so we probably watched and read a lot of the same things growing up. I loved Moonlight Kingdom, but I strongly identified with this film—it’s practically set in my childhood home of Oak Ridge with its massive government buildings and kooky genius children in nearby schools, called “Atomic City.”

It’s weird because this week I had a little bit of poetry-life anxiety (ie I applied to jobs that pay money again and felt my book wasn’t getting enough reviews and I wasn’t sure what else to do to promote it and that made me feel like a failure, tbh) so it was good to focus on another art form—especially since I’ve also been reading Tom Hanks’ book on movie making magic (Tom Hanks was also terrific in Asteroid City, and he should keep the silver hair from the movie.) And of course, the writer strike and actor strike are very much in mind. What would it be like to be a writer and director in the Hollywood world right now? I’m looking forward to two new movies coming out too—Barbie and Oppenheimer (which as you probably know, in my mind I combined as “Barbie as Nuclear Scientist: I am Become Death.” It’s hard to break new ground and be unique in the world of movies—it’s an art form that’s been around for about 100 years, but it feels like so many movies are sequels or remakes of earlier, better things, as if people have run out of ideas in that amount of time—and all these movies are sort of the opposite of that (Barbie could be a corporate movie, but with Greta Gertwig in charge, I doubt it). And poetry can be the same—it sometimes feels like the same ten people get all the awards and attention and just get rotated, and they come from the same neighborhoods and fancy colleges and sometimes all their poetry can feel the same. It’s hard to stand out in the poetry world! It’s hard to be unique. My favorite poetry books are quirky and off-the-wall and very much reflect the poet’s personalities—and I guess if my book finds its audience eventually, that’s the most important thing, not if it gets reviewed in the “cool” places or wins the “cool” prizes (though of course those things would be nice). With Flare, Corona, in particular, the experiences of being diagnosed (wrongly) with terminal liver cancer and then (correctly) with multiple sclerosis, with the science and comic book and humor and solar weather spins that I brought, I hope sharing it helps people going through some of the same things, even though that sounds corny! Anyway, I’ll be positively distracted this week because my older brother, his wife and kids are coming out to visit – the first time I’ve seen him in over six years, and I’ll be meeting the kids for the first time. So that’s exciting.

Stay cool as the whole country seems to be encountering a heat wave this upcoming week, and take advantage of any summer lulls to see movies you have been wanting to see or read books on your to-be-read stacks. You never know where inspiration might hit.

Academy of American Poets Puts Flare Corona on Their Summer Reading List, Writing Retreats with Friends and Working on a New Manuscript (with Supermoon)

Academy of American Poets Puts Flare, Corona on Their Summer Reading List!

Got a little bit of good news after the holiday week. Very grateful to have Flare, Corona appear on the Poets.Org 2023 Summer Books Reading List—some people received it in their Academy of American Poets mailing, but you can read the whole list here:

https://poets.org/2023-summer-books-list

Every little bit of PR really helps with poetry books. I also got my print copy of Foreword Reviews in the mail today, so it was a good poetry book day. If you haven’t gotten a copy of Flare, Corona yet, remember you can order a signed copy direct from me here or order from BOA. And if you want a review copy, you can send your review copy request directly to Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer, Director of Development & Publicity, at bratt@boaeditions.org.  I’ve been a poetry book reviewer for 20 years, so no one more appreciates a good poetry book review than me!

Kelli took this picture of me with my new manuscript all over my hotel bed

Writing Retreats with Friends and Working on a New Manuscript (with Supermoon)

So, over the holiday weekend, my friend writer editor and publisher Kelli Russell Agodon and I snuck away for a few days at a local lodge to work on our manuscripts, talk poetry, goof around a little bit but mostly try to make some dents in our work on both of our next books. And I think it was very productive! In just a few days, Kelli and I both had updated versions of our manuscripts (mine hadn’t been touched for about eighteen months) and we got cocktails, went out for sweet potato fries, visited Woodinville’s awesome lavender garden, visited the Lodge’s resident pot-bellied pigs, stayed up late/got up early, and talked poetry. I did that thing where I spread out all the poems on my bed to see how they went together. I think I talked Kelli into putting mermaids in her book (you’ll have to see when it comes out!), and she talked me into putting less plague in my book and more spells.

July’s Thunder Supermoon at Moonrise, no filter

This also made me feel empowered as a disabled person, because I was able to pull off a trip with a friend without any major illness/disability crises. Sometimes people like me with chronic illnesses and disabilities can feel shut out of the traditional residencies because they’re not particularly handicapped-friendly or they’re someplace far from doctors or the difficulties can just be overwhelming, so I want to suggest this kind of alternative.

I felt so motivated, got so much done, and had such a good time. Grab a friend, find a place to stay for a couple of days (hopefully you’ve scouted out its ADA appropriateness and it has some local attractions around to visit and a good fireside lounge)—you don’t need two weeks or anyone’s permission—try it!

Happy Disability Pride Month!

Hummingbird hovering over bird fountain

The next two weeks are going to be challenging so I’m glad I had a little break! Sunday is Glenn and my 29th (!!) Wedding Anniversary, then his birthday is Thursday, then my older brother, his wife and three kids are coming out for their first visit to see us out here in Seattle, so I will be busy busy busy the rest of the month! There is usually something hectic about Seattle (and Seattleites) in the summertime, which is so gorgeous and short-lived—the need to get outdoors and appreciate the ocean, the mountains, the flowers and all outdoor venues becomes almost impossible to resist! Of course, with the wildfire smoke and MS flares being more common in the heat, I have to force myself to take it a little easier than most. Here’s wishing you a wonderful and productive July!

Happy Almost-4th with Birds on Display! Foreword Reviews Flare, Corona, Writing with Friends and Other Ways to Nurture Your Inner Writer, and Disability Pride Month

Happy Almost-July 4 with Birds on Display! And New Reviews, a Disability Pride Month Reading List, and Writing with Friends

Happy holiday weekend! I know most of the country is wreathed in wildfire smoke, so stay safe out there. I myself have been struggling with bad asthma this week – though no wildfire smoke is here yet – and have been breathing my nebulizer and relying on eucalyptus steam and steroids to keep my lungs clear.

While I’ve been resting, the birds have been putting on a wonderful display – especially a family of goldfinches and migratory Rufous Hummingbirds and their babies.

Flare, Corona Reviews and Reading Lists

Me with red hair for the 4th in lavender fields with Glenn

I was also lucky enough to have my first official print review of Flare, Corona in Foreword Reviews! Thanks, people at Foreword!  Here’s a sneak peek at the review, which also included a poem.

And did you know July is Disability Pride Month? I did not until CLMP posted a reading list for it, including wonderful books by friends like Ilya Kaminsky, my own new book and a poem of mine. I feel honored to be in good company, and ordered a couple of books off the list immediately. Here’s the list! Feel free to support disabled writers in July!

Writing with Friends and Other Ways to Nurture Your Inner Writer

I’ve also been working on my next book in preparation for a weekend writing retreat with my friend Kelli Russell Agodon. We are going to exchange books, talk shop, bring some books to read and maybe take some outings for fancy tacos, ice cream, or a lavender farm or winery. I also attended a wonderful online talk by Orion on fairy tales and climate crisis, which was really interesting (and I re-subscribed to Orion,) and had our book club where we discussed Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and our next book up, the poetry book Our Dark Academia by Adrienne Raphel, who I’d never heard of before I picked her book at Open Books, Seattle’s all-poetry bookstore (where I’m heading today as well, along with a stop at the Frye Museum to see this exhibit by Kelly Akashi.)

Kelli and I pre-gaming for our writing retreat

As you might be able to tell, after six months of doing promotion work for Flare, Corona, readings, radio interviews, social media, etc, I felt my inner writer and creativity needed a little bit of a boost, a refill, if you will. I hadn’t been writing much new work or sending out much work, and some of that is the energy bank of a chronically ill/disabled person – hey, if you’re promoting your book, you don’t also have energy to write reviews, write new work, experiment in the way necessary, or think about where to send new work (much less get your nerve back up for rejection!) I don’t think it’s discouragement as a sort of estrangement, so I think that being around my writer friend and being around new books and art and the overall energy of working on a new book rather than trying to generate excitement about your previous work, which let’s face, you had to turn in edits way back at the beginning of the pandemic and who can even remember that far back?

In the meantime, my nine-month-old kitten Charlotte demonstrates a wise lesson: we really should stop to smell the literal roses (or lavender, or peonies, or sweet peas.)

Something about this time of returning to work/life/travel after a long period of absence with the pandemic makes everything a little strange, so it’s important to literally stop where you are, evaluate your surroundings, and make sure you are still enjoying the little things around you that might have gotten blotted out by all the busyness of the last few months. Part of being a poet, I think, is remembering those little moments – I mean, not all fluffy kittens and flowers, but all the moments worth remembering – time with your family, time creating, and time spending nurturing your creative inner self.

Welcome Summer! Celebrating the Solstice and a New England Radio Interview about Flare, Corona

Solstice sunset, with lavender and sun flare

Welcome Summer! Celebrating the Solstice and a Radio Interview

The solstice came this year gently – a little overcast, temperatures in the 70s, and the sunset lasted til almost past 9 PM. We celebrated more simply this year, a trip to 21 Acres, a local farmer’s market, where we bought local honey, cherries, peas, and carrots, and a sunset spent at the lavender farm down the street, where the blooms have just started on the oldest lavender plants. It was lovely to feel the grass, smell the lavender, feel the sun – not too hot or punishing – and welcome in this fraught season. (Fraught because of the wildfire risk and because MS patients tend to worse in the heat.)

In the wildflowers on the solstice

But there is a lot to love about summer, even for me – the slower pace, the longer less dreary days, more time for gardening and birdwatching, and cherries (I mean until you’ve had local cherries in Washington right at the peak of the season have you ever really had cherries?) And time with friends and family. I’ll be meeting some new family members for the first time next month – my little nephews and nieces who live in Cincinnati and have never been even close to the west coast. I’m looking forward to more wine-tasting dates with my writer friends – it’s easy to entice them out this way when the flowers are in bloom, every winery has live music and the patios are all open. When we were at the lavender farm (officially, the farm is called JB Growers Family Lavender Farm) we could hear a local concert on one side, people cheering for baseball players on another and the whistles of red-winged blackbirds all around – and still there was such a sense of quiet and peace.

Radio Interview about Flare, Corona, with WICN, a New England station, and Mark Lynch

I am grateful to WICN and Mark Lynch for interviewing me for their station about my new book, Flare, Corona. It was a pleasure – we talked about a shared love of 50’s sci-fi movies, health crises, and more. We actually went on talking after we were off the air, and it was so fun, It felt like talking to a friend, which means that guy is really good at his job!

Here’s the link to listen to the whole thing: Jeannine Hall Gailey – 90.5 WICN Public Radio

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and it gives you some insight into the book, writing during a pandemic, and killer shrews.

And here are a few more pictures from the week – from our solstice visit, a literary kitten living the good life, and our summer visitor, the black-headed grosbeak. I hope your entry to summer will be as gentle and lovely as possible. (Stay away, wildfires!)

Visiting (and Supporting) Local Lavender Farms, Building Your Own Residency, and When You Know You’ve Done Enough for Your Book

Mt Rainier with wildflower patch

Visiting and Supporting Local Lavender Farms

Glenn and I went to visit our local lavender (and later corn, and pumpkin) farm on its opening day, also the first day I felt well enough to get out of the house. It was the one cloudless sunny day before a string of cold rainy days (it was 54 degrees and rainy two days ago! In June!) And rain today. And tomorrow. After a hot dry May, our June has become June-uary.

We are thankful to have beautiful spaces in our neighborhood to celebrate. My own yard is pretty small (like most yards in the Seattle area—pricey real estate means small yards), so it’s nice to see what happens when you can plant acres of flowers or herbs or vegetables. Not to mention it’s good for local pollinators and birds. Look at this wildflower patch! And even though the lavender is just starting to bloom, it already smells amazing.

Flare, Corona in the lavender field

When Do You Know You’ve Done Enough for Your Book?

A friend of mine reminded me that I hadn’t posted a picture of my book on Instagram for a while, and also reminded me that most of my friends still don’t know I have a new book out (despite postings here, on social media, etc, for three months). And she was right! A friend just congratulated me on my new book after an Insta post this week.

This brought me to think about how and when you know you’ve done enough promotion for your new book. Even when you think you’ve done enough (and even if you wrote a book on book promotion for poets) you probably haven’t. So, Instagram post it is!

This also makes me think about my upcoming radio interview this Thursday on a radio channel in New England. Things like this are lucky breaks and bring attention to your book outside of your hometown. I’m also thinking about booking more readings this fall, and of course, still waiting for reviews (crossing fingers) and prizes (crossing fingers even more). It’s June and the book came out officially in May, though it made its debut in March at Seattle AWP. It feels like I’ve been promoting it for four or five months. But really, we should probably plan on about six months of solid promotion time for the launch of our books, including the months before and after. And for a whole year (or two), depending, we should plan to keep doing readings, interviews, or if other opportunities pop up. Poetry books have a long roll out—sometimes they sell better in year two than in year one, simply because word of mouth finally gets around, or someone teaches your book months after it comes out.

Fluffy Hummingbird

Building Your Own Writing (or Artistic) Residency

As a disabled and chronically ill person, most residencies are not built for me. If they require ladders to loft beds, or building fires, or steps, or even providing food that isn’t food-allergy safe (I’m allergic to about nine things, the most dangerous of which is wheat, in almost everything)—yeah, they’re not a good fit. I stopped applying for most residencies years ago when I realized—hey, they’re not built for non-perfectly healthy, able-bodied people. They’re not built for me. But I hear from a lot of people that they can’t do “normal” writer’s residencies for a variety of reasons besides their health—kids, jobs, or caretaking roles among them. So, here’s some ideas for people who can’t do the “normal” residencies.

Build your own! I live in a lovely area and there are a variety of places to stay at a variety of prices (yes, they tend to be higher in the summer as that’s our high season, but not always). If you can housesit for a friend going out of town, that can also count as a residency. Renting an AirBNB down the street. Anytime and anywhere you can get away—even just for a couple of days—to focus on your craft, your art and your writing, that counts as a residency in my book. I’ve got one planned in a couple of weeks, and I’ve already printed out poems for my next book to look at and started some relevant reading to prepare for it. Just this last week I spent over fifteen hours sitting in (virtual) doctors’ offices. Health problems are time-and-energy-and-money consuming. If I don’t set aside time (and energy, and money) for art and writing, it won’t happen—everything else will swallow it up. I’m sure you know how it is—if it’s not doctor’s appointments for you, it might be your family’s needs, your job’s needs, or the seven things you volunteer for (hey, I used to be addicted to volunteering, too).

Residencies should involve down time, too—you don’t have to spend the whole time reading and writing—you can goof off, sketch, visit local things you don’t normally get to, have a picnic, listen to music at full blast—anything that helps you get into your writing groove. And you can involve writer friends! Inviting a friend might help your residency to be even more productive, as you can get together and talk shop, plus friend time is important for artists of all stripes. Think about as building space for your creative self. It is just as important as any other aspect of your life, and deserves time, money, and attention. You know how, if you’re married or living with a partner, you reserve “date nights?” It’s the same for your creative self. So, think about creating your own personal artist’s residency. Good luck! And leave a comment if you’ve successfully done this!

A Week of Dentists, Downtime and Summertime Rain: The Ups (and Downs) of New Books

The Ups (and Downs) of New Books

Not feeling super for this update, had dental work earlier this week and got pretty sick for the whole week. This happens a lot to me after dental work. Part of the whole “crappy immune system” that is part of my life.

Goldfinches in flight

But that’s not what I want to talk about on the blog this week. Someone on Twitter this week talked about how depressed she felt after her first book came out. I tweeted back something like: “That’s normal, you’ve got it all built up in your head so there’s inevitably let-down, book launches (now more than ever before) take so much effort on the part of the author—social media, readings, constant promotion. It is tiring.” And those things are the truth. Flare, Corona is my sixth book of poetry, and my eighth book altogether—but you never really get used to it. It never gets easier. Even if you have a great press, even if you’re totally healthy, even if you’re not coming into year three of a pandemic.

See the goldfinches in that picture. One of them is about to get off his perch—the other is mid-flight. You get the sense these birds are putting in a lot of effort. If you’re mid-flight, you’re thinking about your destination—if you’re just launching, you’re thinking about how you’re going to make it. It’s sort of like that with books.  There’s the book launch—maybe a party with friends or with your publisher—a few readings, a few reviews, maybe even good ones. Maybe you sell a fair number of books. Then the excitement fades, and guess what? You’ve launched, but you’ve still got work in front of you. My first poetry book still has readers, believe it or not—and it was published in 2006, the publisher changed hands, and I don’t even know if you can buy it through regular channels anymore. The point is, after the three months of book launch activities have faded, the book goes on. Sometimes you get tired. Sometimes—and this is completely normal—you feel discouraged that the book didn’t do as well as you’d hoped.

Pink Peony garden

I’ll tell you a funny story about a non-poetry book. I wrote a technical book about web services once. I knew the press expected to sell 60,000 copies, and it sold more like 10,000. That would be a huge number for a poetry book, but a disappointing one for this particular kind of technical book. Because I was writing about technology that didn’t even fully exist yet, reviews were sort of dismal. But the key for me was that the expectations were higher than the actual performance. That always hurts. You always think: what could I have done better? Every book, I’ve learned something. Book promotion has really changed since my first book. The pandemic has maybe changed the face of book promotion forever. This time around, I learned about Instagram and video editing—there’s probably more I need to learn, too.

Striped rose

Summertime Rain and Restoration

It rained this week after a long (for Seattle, anyway) dry spell. My garden appreciated it, and also, it takes a little bit off the frenetic pressure (in Seattle, anyway) to be out having a “great time outdoors” during the summer, after the long gloom of wintertime (and it was longer than usual this year, too). The flowers appreciate the wet April and the dry, hot May—things bloomed early, then died off, and the second wave of summer flowers has begun in my garden and all around. I got out a little in my garden, fertilizing and pruning and checking on the health of all my little plant babies (my particular baby is my little Pink Lady apple tree which nearly died of mold last summer, after a very wet spring).

Red zinnia

The rain is a break, as I said, from the feeling that we should be out having a “good time” as long as the sunshine. Now, if you follow this blog, you may know I have something called “solar urticaria”—which means I’m allergic to the sun. My body actually does better under a protective cloud barrier. MS means the heat makes symptoms worse, too—so for most people, this is “max fun” season, whereas for me, summer is usually my time to stay in and not try to do too much. It’s a good writing season for me, as long as (ahem) I’m not sick. And downtime can be important. It can be restorative. When I study a lot of writers’ lives, I notice a lot of them had lots of downtime—whether because they were frequently ill, or they had a disability, or they were Emily Dickinson. The rain is good for the garden, restorative. It’s important for us as writers, especially during something stressful like a new book launch, to think about what restores us as artists. For me, the time to read (I’m reading five books at a time this week!) and spend time with other artists, and to be out noticing things – like, art galleries and gardens—are important parts of restoring my creative self. You have to decide what the things are for you. What’s your rain?

Reading Reports and Videos from Third Place Books and a Disability Fundraiser, First Butterflies and Ducklings, and Waiting and Planning (Summer Edition)

First butterfly report – swallowtail and lilacs

Reading Reports from Third Place Books and a Disability Fundraiser, First Butterflies and Ducklings

I was a little under the weather last week, and then had two reading events in a row – so this weekend I am taking it easy. The good thing about being a little under the weather is that when you’re around the house you notice things more – like, for instance, the first Swallowtail butterflies on the neighbor’s lilacs, or the first ducklings in the water.

And I was well enough for both readings to be fine – and I will say more about the readings later – but it’s nice now to have some downtime to plan for the summer. Maybe planning an online workshop, an online salon with a friend, or planning for the visit from my older brother and his kids. Right now it’s sunny and 65 degrees – now this is my kind of summer weather!

Glenn and I with peonies before disability awareness fund-raiser reading

Third Place Books and Breaking Barriers Reading Reports and Videos

So the two readings I had this week couldn’t have been more different, though both were wonderful. The first was Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park location. My college roommate (who I hadn’t seen in six years!) came and so did some old friends and even some of my book club friends, and I had lovely interactions with the bookstore employees too (and left with a special signed edition of one of my favorite books, Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World.) I was a little late and breathless on arrival, but Glenn captured some video. You can go to YouTube to watch the whole reading:

or if you don’t have much time, watch (in less than one minute!) one of the poems, “Wish You Were Here (Postcard from a Pandemic)” here: Jeannine Hall Gailey reads “Wish You Were Here from Flare, Corona.”

The other reading was at a fund-raiser event for Disability Writers Washington called “Breaking Barriers.” I performed after a hip-hop artist, there was a one-act play, a pianist and a comedian as well, all of us with disabilities, and the party was mostly disabled people (and some politicians) – it was huge, probably the biggest audience I’ve had in a while, at least two hundred people – and I felt I really connected to the audience, which was nice. (There may be a recording available but I don’t have it yet.) There were service dogs and I must say some very advanced wheelchairs – and an array of excellent sparkly jackets and shoes on both genders. (This has got me thinking of getting Glenn some bling-ier clothes!)

I was a little afraid of some kind of overload of people wanting some kind of performative positivity from disabled artists (which if you know me, is not really my jam), but because the audience was mostly disabled, it didn’t really feel like that. It did feel like a bunch of people who were actually trying to fight for things like accessible public transport and working rights (ADA stuff) being defended and other kinds of activism. I left feeling like I was part of a new kind of community. And I talked to a disabled teen about publishing her stuff, which sounded amazing. That kind of thing is very much like “oh, this is why I do this!”

Full Strawberry Moon

Waiting and Planning (Summer Edition)

So now is a time of rest, and waiting (for book reviews, or prize news, or anything else about Flare, Corona which, by the way, you can now buy locally at Open Books and Third Place Books,)  and planning for the summer. I plan to do a few more readings in the fall, if people are still interested, but in Seattle it feels like the summertime is not a good time to plan poetry readings, because so many people (especially after a weirdly cold long winter) are desperate to be outside ALL THE TIME. I’m looking forward to visiting Port Townsend and the beach, to visiting my local lavender garden and walking around the local wineries, summertime book club meetings, and more family visiting time. Glenn is also going to graduate from his Master’s program in August, so we should do something to celebrate that, right?

Summertime is also max MS symptom time, so I’m careful not to plan too much during the hot months. Last year there was bad wildfire smoke all the way through September, so hopefully no repeat of that (see: Poison Ivy new comics based in Seattle inspired by the pandemic and wildfires here.) The hard push – that started with Seattle’s AWP and ended with June 1st’s fundraiser reading – for Flare, Corona‘s launch has kind of eased, and now I can plan a more relaxed approach to book promotion, and choose my projects, which is nice. I’ve talked to a couple of people about doing some online events, workshops, and salons, which sounds fun. So as summer approaches, I’m wishing you all the same things I’m hoping for – adequate time to get outdoors in the forest, mountains, or beaches, good writing and reading, and getting back to in-person outdoors visiting with friends and family.

Feeling Busy and Grateful: Two Upcoming Events for Flare, Corona, Interviews, Reviews, and Articles, Writers & Books Interview Online and More!

Feeling Busy, Grateful: Interviews, Reviews, Articles, and Two Upcoming Events

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, a time when Seattle usually has a lot of rain, but we’re going to have beach weather instead. I had to snap the picture of my typewriter on the one day the cherry blossoms had fallen but before they were blown away by storm. It went straight from a cold rainy spring to bright hot summer, nothing in between. Lilacs and rhodies bloomed and died under the heat.

I’ve been a little down health-wise this week, but feeling grateful for news about Flare, Corona – a new essay out in Adroit, guest blog posts, really kind thoughtful reviews.  One of my readings and interviews is up on YouTube in case you missed it in real time – and I have two readings coming up next week. It seems like I am either responding to e-mails about book-related things or thinking about book-related things. I forgot how much work this whole “new book coming out” thing is!

Rufous hummingbird at coral bells

A Very Personal Personal Essay in Adroit

First is a very personal personal essay that I wrote for Adroit, called “How to Write About Your Body Falling Apart (When the World is Falling Apart.)” It is the first time I actually wrote down all the things that happened to me over the last six years (then edited a lot of it out) so it was an emotional piece for me. It’s more challenging for me to write a personal essay than, say, a poem or a book review. So any feedback is appreciated. And leave comments at Adroit if you liked it. Here’s a little bit:

“You can’t write about sunshine and rainbows all the time. Or in my case (see my first five poetry books,) superheroes and supervillains and fairy tale characters and apocalypse – sometimes, you have to crack yourself open, write the real, vulnerable truth about your life in your own body. It’s hard. And maybe it’s healing and maybe it isn’t. Can poetry save the world? Can it save you, or me? No, but it can be a way of documenting it. Even after we are gone.”

Pink roses

Upcoming Readings at Third Place Books and A Short Appearance at Breaking Barriers

I am hoping to heal up over the long weekend because I have my final bookstore reading for a while – Lake Forest Park’s Third Place Books is hosting me on Wednesday May 31 at 7 PM, with a reading, a Q&A and a book signing afterwards. (Free) Tickets and more information are available here: Jeannine Hall Gailey presents ‘Flare, Corona’ | Third Place Books

It’s a real in-person event, so come out, grab some great coffee and a couple of books, and come say hi. It’s the last thing I’m doing for a while! 

I will also be making a brief (five minute) appearance at Breaking Barriers: a Celebration of Disability Community. Tickets to this one are free to go to virtually, but not free to attend in person, because I believe it includes food and drinks. It’s downtown at 415 Westlake in Seattle from 6-8:30.  And then a bit of a break!

Female black-headed grosbeak in cherry tree

And More! Reviews, Guest Blog Posts, and One of My Readings and Interviews Online!

Okay, so much news! So, if you missed my reading with Writers & Books and interview with my publisher at BOA Editions, Peter Conners, it is up online at the Writers & Books YouTube channel. Check it out! You’ll learn industry secrets, such as why I’m the first poet BOA has signed that’s been in the Best Horror of the Year anthology, and how I ended up writing a much bigger book than I originally anticipated.

Okay, even more!

Here’s my guest post on how my writing life has changed over the six books I’ve written at Anthony Avina’s blog: Writing Journey Over Six Books (and 25 Years) by Jeannine Hall Gailey | Author Anthony Avina’s Blog (authoranthonyavinablog.com)

And here’s a kind review from Serena Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse and Wit of Flare, Corona. Here’s a short excerpt: “Gailey juxtaposes the glow of radiation with the dulled reputation of America and the significant changes to her own abilities to walk, think, write. “In “my bones, organs, skin, I’ve been storing/all of America’s dark secrets//” (“Self-Portrait as Radioactive Girl,” pg. 19)

Is that it? I think that’s it! And remember, if you still haven’t gotten a copy of Flare, Corona and you want a signed copy from me, I’ve still got a few left. (And I mean, just a few.)

Wishing you all a healthy, safe, and happy Memorial Day Weekend while I recover from the evil bug that hit me this week. Hit the zoo and the botanical gardens for me.

The Open Books Flare, Corona Reading, Interviews and Podcasts, Things Breaking Down, Heat Waves with Goldfinch and Hummingbirds

A Long Week of Ups and Downs – Readings, Podcasts, Interviews, Heat Waves and Health Emergencies

It’s been a LONG week since I last checked in. Had my debut Seattle reading at Open Books (in record-breaking heat), my interview and podcast reading with Writers and Books in New York, which will eventually be available on YouTube, my mother went into the ER with heart issues the day before Mother’s Day, I broke a tooth and our washing machine broke and had to be replaced, and someone else ripped the screen door off of our front door. Plus a scary-hot heat wave with day after day in the high eighties and nineties, absolutely terrible for those of us with heat-sensitivity and MS, and a dental appointment (to fix the tooth) and a bunch of blood work.

Billie, Open Books’ owner, me, and Martha Silano

Open Books Flare, Corona Reading

I’ll start with my Saturday reading at Open Books in Pioneer Square, the first time I’ve read at the new location. It was a day of record-breaking heat (and no air conditioning), so I doubly appreciated the people that came out, and the store putting out several fans. I also packed a cooler with water bottles (and sparkling rose) and boxes of macarons—because people need sustenance during a book signing.

The reading itself went okay—you can see the whole thing here on my YouTube channel—did you know I had one? Minus Martha Silano’s excellent introduction. (Hey, you have to be there in person for some parts!)

And a single poem, “In the Second Year of the Plague, I Plant a Fig Tree” is in the embedded video below. This poem also appears in the current issue of American Poetry Review.

And here are some pics pre-reading, including the Open Books “Parlor” all decked out with flowers and sparkling wine. Any reading where I can walk out with new books and a borrowed recording of Sylvia Plath readings is a good reading in my book, and it was a really good venue, especially the “Parlor” for afterwards visiting.

Goldfinch in fountain

A Week of Podcasts and Interviews (and Things Breaking Down)

Monday was my reading and interview with BOA Editions Publisher Peter Conners at Writers & Books in New York, which will make the entire thing available on their YouTube channel shortly (I’ll post the link when it’s up). I also had a radio interview yesterday with the Hive for a Santa Cruz radio station, which will go up, believe it or not, in November.

And here is an interview that went up today on Review Tales by Jeryan Main: An Interview with Jeannine Hall Gailey – Review Tales (jeyranmain.com)

But Things Break Down…
During this time my mom had a trip to the ER with dizziness, and they thought they caught a rare kind of heart attack on the ECG. She saw a cardiologist yesterday and is getting a full workup, but suffice it to say I was very worried (and the timing ironic, with Mother’s Day—and she was just here, looking as healthy as possible). I subsequently broke a tooth, which I had repaired the morning of the Writers & Books podcast, I had blood work the day of our book club (where we discussed Kelly Link’s White Cat, Black Dog) and our washing machine broke—and a service person ripped our screen door off of the trim and hinges, so it was a weird time for stress, breaking things, and oh yes, a record-breaking heat wave. There was not a day last week that felt comfortable outside—stifling nineties and high eighties in a town with little air conditioning, few pools or public cooling areas, etc. The summer flowers burst into bloom almost to start immediately wilting. At least my little fig tree—yes, I really did plant one last year—is enjoying the heat. My MS symptoms are at a high point—so today is a resting day. Writing this post, I realize a lot went on in the last week!

My next reading isn’t until May 31 at the Lake Forest Location of Third Place Books, so hopefully I’ll be fully recovered by then!

It’s a reminder that with good things – like a book launch – come bad things – like family health emergencies, broken appliances, and broken teeth – and it is my goal to survive and thrive through the good and the bad. But I appreciate any good vibes (especially for my mom.)

Sending you all good vibes for a wonderful beginning of summer…I’ll leave you with a pic of my book in the Appalachian Mountains, near where I grew up in Tennessee, sent from blogger and writer Kristin Berkey-Abbott. And a few goldfinches and hummingbirds from my backyard.

Book Launch and Straight into Summer, Interview with Kelli Russell Agodon, BOA’s Blog Post and Making a Flare, Corona Cocktail, and Readings Tomorrow and Monday!

Book Launch! And Straight into Summer!

Summer has Arrived in Seattle! It’s supposed to be 80 today, and 90 this weekend! So we went straight from February to August with no spring in between. Too bad – since spring is my favorite season.

On the plus side, my book Flare, Corona has officially launched, I have my Seattle debut reading at Open Books tomorrow, a great interview with Kelli Russell Agodon went live, and I have funny videos and graphics to share – including how to make a cocktail (it turns out I did not miss a secret calling as a bartender.) I’m posting a little early this week because I have a reading tomorrow and a reading and interview on Monday, and I wanted to give you all the news in between.

Interview with Kelli Russell Agodon

Kelli did a wonderful interview with me about Flare, Corona for The Linebreak (and will also appear in the upcoming issue of Redactions.

It’s funny, revealing, and sounds like a chat between two old friends – which it is! So check it out.

Here’s a little bit of the interview:

Kelli: “But I’m wondering, in this world which can feel like a lot of terrible news, how do you make space for art?”

Jeannine: “I have to admit I wrote more during the pandemic – I’m sure that’s true of many people. I think I wrote over 200 pandemic poems over the last two and a half years, not all of which were brilliant, but they were one way of dealing with the uncertainty and stress that went along with living through a pandemic. I also read through a ton of Joan Didion and Virginia Woolf, neither of whom I knew much about, read two fantastic huge nonfiction books about writers (Red Comet and The Equivalents, both of which I highly recommend), and walked through about every neighborhood in a five-mile radius. And planted about seven trees.

Gardening, photography, getting together with friends, seeing art, reading–all these things feed the creative side of me and make it easier to be productive as a writer.”

Reading at Open Books in Seattle Tomorrow Saturday the 13th with Special Guest Martha Silano (and Macarons)

I’ve got my poetry set all set up and so excited to be at my favorite all-poetry bookstore tomorrow with my friend Martha Silano (whose poem was a clue in NYT crossword this week, what what!) and we’re bringing fancy macarons to share during the book signing afterward in the Parlor.

This is my first time reading at Open Books’ new location in Pioneer Square. I’m hoping we can keep it cool (and I’m bringing a few cold drinks with me just in case) and that people show up since we are having beautiful sunny weather after an entire spring of rainy gray cold days. I had to drag out all my summer dresses and sandals after wearing sweaterdresses and boots earlier in the week. I’m happy to say you can also order a personalized copy of Flare, Corona from Open Books here. Support indie bookstores!

Flare, Corona Cocktail – BOA’s Flare, Corona blog post, and a (Funnyish) Video

So, BOA did a blog post about cocktails, food and drink in Flare, Corona:  A Cocktail Pairing for FLARE, CORONA with Jeannine Hall Gailey – BOA Editions, Ltd. and then I did a video about how to make the cocktail (recipe at left.)

It’s sort of funny because it’s obvious I’ve never used a cocktail shaker before and Glenn keeps whispering things about  how to make the cocktail but you know, I wasn’t really pursuing a mixologist future. The drink itself is pretty good if I do say so myself though!

Another Virtual Reading and Interview at Writers & Books in New York on Monday the 15th!

This even is actually taking place in New York State, because Peter Conners, the publisher of BOA Editions, will be doing the post-reading interview. I hope I sound smart (and my Zoom connection holds.) It’s Free on Zoom – here’s the link for attending: Jeannine Hall Gailey: Flare, Corona – Writers & Books (wab.org)

Thank you to everyone who has bought the book, written an Amazon or Goodreads review, sent me a kind message – book launches are hard but you guys make it worthwhile.
More pics to come in the next post!