Two End of the Year Poems in ACM, and Dreams, Goals, and Inspirations for 2019

Happy Almost New Year! New Year Poems up at ACM

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday. I was thrilled to discover two year-end-themed poems up at Another Chicago Magazine, “Lights Out” and “Sitting by Yourself at the End of the World, I Mean Year.”  ACM has been one of my “goal” publications for a long time, so I’m thrilled!

“Sitting by Yourself at the End of the World, I Mean Year” from ACM

 

2019 Vision Board

New Year Inspirations, Action Plans, and Goals

It’s almost 2019, and if you’re like me (or January O’Neil, who has a cool “poetry action plan,” you start thinking about your intentions for the year ahead – what you hope for, what you can plan for, what you are envisioning. This year’s Vision Board had a lot of animals in it, and more words about inspiration and creativity. I realized the last two years had been all about survival – first the liver tumors and the cancer diagnosis, then the surprise of neurological symptoms and the MS diagnosis. I’m hoping this coming year to be fewer doctor appointments, more wonder – less about survival, more about creating and befriending and embracing the world.

From the AWP conference in March in Portland to sending out two poetry manuscripts – one about the journey of the last two years and one about the history of women and witchcraft, which I was just shuffling through last night to think about organization and which poems to leave out and which to add. I’m going to get more serious about sending out both – I only sent out book manuscripts four times last year, but I sent out over 150 submissions (!!) total, including fiction and essay attempts, and published about fifty poems, which seems like an okay ratio, but I had no idea I had submitted so much.

Bobcat sighting in Woodinville

Other life goals include cultivating more friendships and socializing a little more, paying more attention to my body and treating it like something to take care of and not push, and spending some time (!!) meditating or doing something restful and creative every day, maybe even just five minutes of art or writing before bed. Also, trying to value my time more. One of the things about getting serious diagnoses is that it makes you re-think what you spend your time and energy on. What are the essential things for living for you? Spending time outside, reading good things, and time consciously building a life – whether that’s balance or motor-skill exercises, or reaching out to a new friend, or time spent noticing the new flowers in your garden to the kind of moon that rises. Or the visitors to your neighborhood – the day after Christmas, this bobcat visited our street!

Christmas Moon

A Quiet Christmas, and a Great Gift for Writers

Christmas was quiet – a sunny (!) Christmas Eve with a lovely church service with interpretive ballet, a retelling of the Christmas story, camels and baby goats and lots of candlelight singing – and dinner with my brother and sister-in-law, a beautiful almost-full yellow moon, and talking about our dreams. Glenn did  a great job as always with dinner (two whole ducks, asparagus and honey-roasted carrots, and cranberry tarts – plus, cracking open his Christmas port). I was lucky to receive LOTS of books this year, and Glenn got me a really special Christmas gift – a library book cart, yes, just like what they have at the library, because he worries about me trying to transport my reading material from one room to another – a pretty large stack of books. I thought it was perfect!

Anyway, I want to wish you a happy New Year! My traditions these days include eating grapes, black-eyed peas, and a toast at midnight, even if we’re at home at midnight. (We’re planning a low-key visit to a local wine bar with live music, so we can enjoy a little festivity without too much drama…) Also, sleeping in New Year’s Day seems important! May 2019 bring us a better year for all. Leave your inspirations/goals/dreams for 2019 in the comments!

 

New Interview with Bekah Steimel, Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and Almost New-Year with Sylvia Plath-style Dreams and Goals

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice from the Pacific Northwest

   Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and almost New Year!

First of all, hope you are all doing well and celebrating the holiday season with a little rest and relaxation and even a little poetry!

Here in Seattle a lot of people celebrate the Solstice, along with other traditional holidays, the longest night of the year – I think because the long dark feels more intense out here, especially when sunset is around 4 PM. This solstice we had sunsets, hummingbirds (and coyote howls), a full moon, and even cherry blossoms on a neighbor’s tree down the street! It’s a good time to think about our dreams and goals for the next year – which I did this year with a little help from Sylvia Plath. More about that later!

Interview with Bekah Steimel

Thank you to Bekah Steimel for doing this interview with me! I hope you enjoy it! I talk a little bit about my best advice for poets and my time working as Redmond’s Poet Laureate. There’s also a little poem for the resistance!

Field Guide to the End of the World on End-of-the-Year Gift Guide

Also, thanks to Serena Agusto-Cox for including Field Guide to the End of the World on her 2018 Holiday Gift Guide. 
 Field Guide to the End of the World is a good book to read this time of year – it’s all about weathering disasters and apocalypses of various kinds. I’ve been reading, along with Plath’s letters, several apocalypse-y books, including M Archive: After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and the always mildly apocalyptic Murakami’s Killing Commendatore and we all know how much fun it is during the holidays to shut off all the noise (televisions, phones, etc) and spend some of that “darkness” time catching up on reading!

Talking Plans, Dreams and Goals with Sylvia Plath

So, one of the traditions as we head towards the new year is talking about our dreams, plans, and goals for the new year. Someone posted this from Sylvia Plath’s journal on Twitter, and I found another list from her school days in my own copy of her unabridged journals (click on each to enlarge):

No one was more ambitious than Sylvia, so we can all learn a little something from the lists, also, it’s always good advice to work on our inner lives and listen more (plus, French every day!)

So I spent my time thinking about what I wanted from 2019, what I wanted to accomplish, what I wanted to toss from this year, and what I have learned (besides not to date any guys named Hamish!)

Looking to 2019

I sat around a candle with a hot cider and thought hard about what I wanted. My dreams and goals may seem less ambitious than in years past – for instance, I want to spend less time in hospitals than I did the last two years, obviously (a modest goal for some – big ambition for me.) To do that, I need to practice a whole heck of a lot of self-care with MS, like, resting more, eating an MS-friendly diet (brains like avocado, blueberries and protein, apparently), doing my physical therapy, and choosing to surround myself with people who are a real support.
As far as writing goals go, we’ve got AWP coming to Portland in March 2019, so I’m hoping to make it to that and do some socializing, catch up with friends, and look at new journals and publishers at the Bookfair. I plan to finish up a seventh book manuscript and hopefully find a great publisher for manuscript six. I do want, like Sylvia, to make smart choices about people – I want to practice kindness and encouragement towards others, say thank you more often, and reach out and make new friends (don’t want to totally go the Emily Dickinson sickly-recluse route until I absolutely have to.) I want to try publishing essays and short stories as well.

Taking our writing seriously – like, carving out time to, as Sylvia says, “WRITE” – and submit work – which, from reading her letters and journals, I know she also took seriously. She reminds me to aim high, but also, not to isolate myself, which can lead to trouble, and she also represents what happens when you spend too much time trying to fulfill other people’s expectations of what you are supposed to be. (Embrace your strangeness, rather than spend energy hiding it.)  I was surprised this week to receive two surprise gifts from friends who live far away – and that reminded me I am blessed to have wonderful writer friends all across the country.

I want to spend more time appreciating the good things – spending time in nature, with my loved ones, just in general celebrating the good days. I know the holidays can be a tough time for people – a time when what we don’t have seems to be highlighted. As someone with a chronic illness, it’s hard not to worry about the future, especially with an incurable degenerative disease like Multiple Sclerosis. But I have hope. We have more medications and more tools, more research than we used to, and I have faced health challenges in the past. Even with the political turmoil in our country (and beyond) over the past two years, I try to have hope.

There’s a verse from Psalm 30 that says something like “Darkness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Wishing you all more joy and less darkness in 2019.

Poetry Parties, Windstorms and Power Outages, and Ursula Le Guin’s Dragons

Sylvia posing with my haul from Copper Canyon’s party

Poetry Parties, Windstorms and Power Outages

Yesterday we had quite an adventure! We had been planning to go to Copper Canyon‘s Holiday party and book release for Ursula Le Guin’s final poetry collection. But an hour before we planned to leave, I started hearing branches hitting the window, and the power went out. Then we had to eat dinner without power or light (hard), dress (harder), and do makeup (hardest by far), which was exciting. The Hugo House still had power (although I heard later 100,000 people ended up losing power throughout the area) so we set out in our car with branches and even whole trees down on both sides of us, wind whipping our car around on the Floating Bridge, and when we got there, I could barely stand up against the wind, let alone walk!

 

In the new Hugo House

When we got there, though, Hugo House was lit and heated (phew!) and full of people, Copper Canyon folks with their book tables, and locals looking to celebrate. This was the first time I’d been to the new Hugo House, which had difficult unflattering florescent downlighting (which is why I don’t have more pictures from the party) and felt a little more like a dot com office than an arts space, and they have no parking (!!) which was a drag because Capitol Hill sucks for the handicapped parking situation already (the old Hugo House had at least one handicapped space) but the ground-floor space was generally more handicapped-accessible than the old space, more bathrooms and fewer stairs, though it lacked the gothic, dingy charm of the old Hugo House. Glenn and I poked around and found one small nook with slightly better light and visible books and here it is. It could use some better lighting, some flowers, some art on the walls, maybe a display of local lit mags and author’s books? And some places – benches, chairs – where people could sit and socialize? Call me Hugo House, and I will help you “flip that space,” LOL! My qualifications include watching a lot of HGTV and drooling over British decor magazines with lots of innovative bookshelves and tea/reading areas, plus being a poet.

Jane Wong speaks of dragons and Ursula Le Guin

Tribute to Ursula Le Guin and Her Dragons

Copper Canyon always throws a good holiday party! The readers did a wonderful job with their tribute to Ursula, including Karen Finneyfrock, Jane Wong, and fellow Two Sylvias author Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. One person talked about a memorial where Margaret Atwood said Ursula had “the best dragons in fiction” and Jane Wong talked about feeding our inner dragons lettuce, which was such a wonderful image.

People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination

I was very moved, and remembered the gigantic windstorm that hit the night about ten years ago that I heard Ursula read poetry on the Oregon Coast and talk about science fiction poetry years ago in Oregon. She insisted women science fiction writers should not be placed in a literary ghetto, that speculative poetry should not be considered non-literary, and that poetry should not be ignored and women should not be ignored – she was very feisty! And there was a giant wall of glass facing the outdoors, and it kept banging with thunder and wind, but it seemed to accompany her, not compete. She was a force of nature that deserved the tribute of the storm.

Came home with lots of books I’m looking forward to reading, the lights finally came back on around eleven, and now I’m finishing up holiday cards, wrapping the last presents to ship to Ohio (when is my family going to just move to Seattle, LOL?)

Finish Your Holiday Shopping

If you are still holiday shopping, please consider a signed copy of PR for Poets for the poets in your life, or a signed copy of Field Guide to the End of the World, Becoming the Villainess, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, or She Returns to the Floating World for lovers of the apocalypse, comic book superheroes, robots, fairy tales, or Japanese anime, or just poetry!

I hope you are all un-exhausted this holiday season, taking time out to enjoy at least a few of your favorite things this time of year, facing the storms and feeding your dragons!

Holiday Edition: Writer Dates, Vision Boards, Lit Mags and Managing Holiday Expectations

Kelli and I

A Wonderful Day Spent with Poet Kelli Russell Agodon – The Importance of Creative Friends

This time of year, it can be hard to squeeze in visiting with friends – but it feels also especially important for creative types to spend time with other creative types, to encourage each other, talk shop with someone, and remind ourselves we are not totally alone on our journeys. I was so happy Kelli came out to my side of town and we practiced shooting author photos (for our soon-to-be-taken-by-amazing-publishers books, of course) as well as goofy photos and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard while shooting pictures. Usually I focus on wildlife, so this is a totally different skill set! I think you’ll see Kelli is as gifted a photographer as she is a poet.

Vision Board 2019

Approaching Solstice, End of Year Poetry Thoughts and Vision Board 2019

So, it’s about to be the solstice, the shortest day of the year. I’ve gotten some really nice publications in the last few months (as well as a few rejections in the last week – everyone is clearing the deck) so I am focusing on feeling grateful for the good and trying to think of next year as a better year for my health, for building friendships in my creative community, and for publishing!

You can make fun of vision boards all you like, but I’m terrible at visual arts and so it’s good for me to practice trying to collage and put things together that are hopeful. (MS therapists literally gave me homework like cutting paper, coloring things in and other arts-and-crafts basics because apparently it helps our brains!) I’ve got a magic corner, a creative corner, a wellness corner, and a happiness corner. These last two years have been tough, I’m not going to lie. But I’m hoping good things lie ahead!

Sylvia with Tahoma Literary Review’s newest issue

Here’s a picture of kitten Sylvia (going on two years old now, but still as kitten-ish as ever!) with the new issue of Tahoma Literary Review, which is beautiful! We’ve got to celebrate the literary good things when they happen.

Managing Holiday Expectations

The holidays can be hard. The expectations, the travel, the family angst, the present-buying-card-sending-cleaning-cooking rituals can sometimes overwhelm. Especially women can feel like making a ‘perfect’ holiday is their responsibility, but you know what? Life isn’t perfect, it’s full of surprises, both welcome and unwelcome, and I think it’s important to take some down time as a time to let in the dark but light a fire, drink some hot tea or hot chocolate, spend some time considering the last year and what we’re looking for in the new year, and hopefully, spending some time with people who you love and who reflect love back at you. Except in Hallmark movies, no one has a perfect life, so there is no such thing as a perfect holiday.

A favorite ornament – carousel horse

Try to rest and have some fun. If you like seeing holiday lights like I do, take advantage of non-stormy-crazy-rain-or-ice days to see some. If spending time around plants or animals cheers you up, visit the zoo or a conservatory or botanical garden. See a movie during the afternoon on a weekday. Stay in pajamas and don’t do laundry for a day. I’ve got to do some unpleasant things in the next week (dental work, physical therapy, blood tests) but I try to sneak in as much good stuff as I can, including reading books of poetry and novels that I didn’t get to during the rest of the year. I also try to write a little, maybe set a few goals, take advantage of seasonal health-boosters like cranberries and sweet potatoes (cranberry sorbet in sparkling water? sweet potato hash for breakfast? Yes!) I wish you a very happy holiday season, but take it easy on yourself. Let things be imperfect. Allow yourself to be happy and practice kindness – to yourself and others – in small increments.

PS A very good holiday present for the poet in your life might be PR for Poets, a book to help poets prepare for how to learn the basics about marketing their poetry books! And of course I’m happy to send signed copies of any of my books to family and friends – just contact me 🙂 If you have trouble with the web forms, let me know – my crack team of web experts is working on making them work perfectly.

 

 

Lots to Celebrate Edition- New Poems up at the newly relaunched Shenandoah and SWWIM, Zoolights and Red Panda Cubs, Thanks to Escape Into Life for a Pushcart Nomination

Glenn and I amid barn-themed holiday decor

Lots to Celebrate Edition

Pushcart Nomination from Escape Into Life

It’s easy to get a little grumpy this time of year – holiday stress, trying to get things done, waking up to cold and dark. Sometimes I get awfully discouraged by the poetry world. But I hope you will join me in celebrating today. It is a good day to remember to be grateful.

First of all, thanks to Kathleen Kirk and Escape Into Life for nominating my poem “Blood Moon, Flare, Coyote” for a Pushcart Prize – and you can read all their Pushcart-nominated poems here. My friend Karen Weyant is up there with me! So excited.

Two New Poems Up at Shenandoah and SWWIM!

And a big thank you to SWWIM for publishing my poem, “Scar,” as today’s featured poem.

And after over a decade of submitting to Shenandoah, I have a poem in their newly relaunched issue. When Beth Staples, who recently took over the literary journal at Washington and Lee, sent me the e-mail a few months ago, I was in shock. A dream journal for me for sure, and happy to be part of the relaunch.

The poem is called “Introduction to Writer’s Block.” It’s also an extremely personal poem for me, as it describes trying to write poetry again after a severe MS flare hospitalized me last fall, and I was struggling with memory loss and aphasia, trying to literally find my words again. Anyway, so happy to be in the issue!

ZooLights and Baby Red Pandas at the Woodland Park Zoo

I mentioned in an earlier blog post how we’ve had a rare week of sun in usually gray and dark December here in Seattle, and we took advantage of it to go check out the Woodland Park Zoo’s new pair of female red panda cubs. It had been a long time since I’d seen red panda cubs, which are just about the most adorable (and fairly rare) animal on the planet. They will only be there for a few months. I spent about forty minutes in the freezing cold just gasping at the cuteness and taking about 150 pictures!

Then, just as we were leaving, they switched on the “Zoo Lights” so we did a quick tour of those, too, after visiting the snow leopards. And whoops, another red panda in a hammock!

Today the morning is clear and cold again, Stellar jays darting in the trees, hummingbirds around our feeders. I am looking forward to seeing some writer and artist friends for “art dates” in the next two weeks. I am thankful for publishers who send out royalty checks (this time, thanks to Two Sylvias – they always send royalty checks right before the holidays, which seems a lucky time to get a check) and thankful for people who volunteer at our zoo to keep red pandas and snow leopards alive and healthy, thankful to all people who create art – and those who support art with their time and money. I am thankful for days I have enough energy to get up and go out of the house to experience the lucky world I have around me – flowers, trees, holiday lights – and thankful that this year I am not as sick as I was last year around this time. I am starting to think, in a hopeful way, about 2019. May it be a better year for all of us.

New Poem Up in Tahoma Literary Review, Holiday Lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens, Flat Tires and Holiday Poetry Shopping

Panorama of Bellevue Botanical Gardens Holiday Lights

New Poem Up at Tahoma Literary Review

Thank you to Tahoma Literary Review for including my poem “Flare” in their latest issue, which you can order a print or e-edition of here.

This is the title poem of my latest manuscript, so I’m especially excited to see it up!

 

Poinsettia tree with dancing mushroom lights

Holiday Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens

I had a few down minutes before a doctor’s appointment Monday so Glenn and I decided to take a quick detour (bundled up and bringing hot thermoses of cider with us) to see the holiday lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens, which are pretty elaborate representations of animals and flowers. We’ve had several clear cold days this week and we really have to take advantage of our non-rainy December days, because they’re rare. It was really beautiful but I was grateful I’d worn my fuzzy boots, mittens, and earmuffs – by the end we were both freezing! You don’t get to wear your winter extras all that often out here – but we definitely needed them! It gets dark at about 4:30 PM – that’s when these pictures were taken, believe it or not, so I think Seattle-ites definitely celebrate with extra lights during the holidays – we put up our own house lights before Thanksgiving. When I’m not so sick I can’t move, I try to get out and see a couple of different holiday displays – both Woodland Park and Tacoma zoos have holiday lights festivals too, plus you get to see animals. I was shocked to see a still-blooming fuchsia, which had little white lantern flowers that looked so ghostly in the dark. It was definitely more fun than the doctor’s office! Got to squeeze in a little bit of fun when and where you can, I say.

Flat Tire Surprise and a Little Holiday Poetry Shopping at Open Books

We noticed a flat tire when we got home, and this will shock others our age – most of the newer cars (including our 1.5 year old Acura) do not come with spare tires, so Glenn has to take off the tire, find the hole and patch it up! There is so much construction around our doctor’s office, Redmond, and Bellevue it’s not too much of a surprise that we ran over a screw or nail somewhere but we hadn’t had a blown tire in a long time!

Open Books Display of Speculative Poetry

Back safely on the road, we were able to stop in yesterday at Open Books for a little holiday shopping. I was in a positive surprise – I saw my book, Field Guide to the End of the World, on the display table under “speculative poetry” right next to Tracy K. Smith! And then I got to chat about speculative poetry with Luther and Billie at the store, which, along with seeing holiday lights, might be one of my favorite things.

I bought a few books as gifts and a few for me – so I ended up leaving with more books than I meant to, but it’s a great time to support your local indie poetry bookstore AND give poetry books, so I had no buyer’s remorse at all.

Open Books Poetry Haul – gifts (and some for me!)

 

Leaving Space for a Little Magic

Glenn and I at Willows Lodge

Leaving Room for a Little Magic

I had been sick for almost a month, just running a fever and too tired to do much out and about. Just this week, the fever sort of evaporated. I decided to go out and get my hair done before the holiday crush really started. Glenn went grocery shopping during the haircut. We were pretty tired, it wasn’t nice outside, but it was Friday night and I had just been talking with Glenn about how being sick (and other things) had stolen our opportunities for real dates and after 24 years of marriage (!!), going on dates seemed important to stay connected. Sometimes I miss the things where I just feel like a normal person, not a person being checked for cancer or being treated for MS or whatever, just a regular human. So I threw on a glitter sequin top that I thought I’d never have an opportunity to wear (I already had gold glitter hairspray on, thanks to my hairdresser) and Glenn fixed his hair and we decided to go see the live music down the street at our local fancy hotel with a wine bar, Willows Lodge – and I loved their Christmas decorations and giant stone fireplace. We had just sat down and put in an order while listening to a jazz trio play the “Game of Thrones” theme song – which tickled me. I was just listening to music, relaxing into a chair, when a woman approached us with two free tickets to a VIP wine and chocolate event at Columbia Winery next door since her friends hadn’t been able to show. My experience with life tells me, sometimes, when the universe offers you something strange, you should say yes. (Unless it’s timeshares-related.) The tickets were worth $85 apiece! So after we finished listening to the music and Glenn had some local hard cider (peach ginger!) and sweet potato fries (I highly recommend a visit there on a weekend evening for dates – we were in during Happy Hour and made it out for under $15!) we set out for the second half of our spontaneous date night.

Glenn and I at Columbia Winery’s wine and chocolate holiday event

We wondered over to Columbia Winery, which we had never visited. (You may know I can’t drink alcohol, and Glenn isn’t a huge drinker, so we aren’t really the best wine-country explorers, despite having lived in Napa and being surrounded by dozens of small wineries and tasting rooms here in Woodinville.) Well, the “gala” had fancy people in ball gowns and expensive shoes that all seemed to know each other, tons of stations where you could try wines from all kinds of different wineries, from port to sparkling to a ton of reds with chocolate pairings. There was live music and a huge buffet. It felt like maybe the fanciest thing we’d been to since the Microsoft party at the Four Seasons the first year I worked there  – and that was eighteen years ago! We wandered around talking to winemakers and Glenn got to try three or four wines and a lot of chocolate and cheese (he said the small wineries reminded him of the small publishers at the AWP bookfair – the smallest ones are so happy to talk about their work and show it off!) and we took pictures of the decor and checked out the wine-scented candles. For a night we expected nothing, feeling a little tired with the dismal weather (and trapped by a closed bridge to downtown Seattle all weekend,)  we ended up having a surprising and glamorous (and mostly free) date night!

Since I was not tipsy, just energized from all the unexpected magical date night things (and Glenn, even a little tipsy, made us a fantastic duck dinner with mashed potatoes and asparagus when we got home) and filled with a weird sense of what I think might have been “happiness” and “hopefulness,” I got into my softest pajamas, turned on a Christmas movie and settled in at my laptop. I sent my manuscript to a publisher, finished an editing project I’d been worrying over, and went to sleep remembering for a second what it was like when Glenn and I were first dating, before all the rigamarole with health problems and money worried and other adult-type worries. I remembered what it was like to just allow yourself to enjoy life without worrying about the things that might go wrong. Sometimes if we leave a little space and dress up in some glitter, we might discover a little magic.

Watch this Space!

I have poems upcoming in a week in the new issues of Shenandoah and Another Chicago Magazine. I’ll post when they go up. By the way, those are two places I’ve been longing to be published in for years. That’s a little bit of magic, too, for sure. I even got a $100 check in the mail for one poem! How often does that happen? (I try not to think about how many submission fees that will cover – a bunch of lit mag submissions, or three book submission fees?) In poetry, as in life, we have to allow for good surprises and yes, magic. A friend of mine got his book taken at a great press this week. And I thought, it’s been a great book for a long time – the magic happens when all you need is one big yes.

Coincidentally, Redmond was celebrating the lighting of the holiday tree yesterday – we got stuck in in the traffic – and today is the start of Hanukkah, which I always try to celebrate by making a few recipes for the season. I grew up with lots of friends who were Jewish, so I get nostalgic for the Hanukkah foods I miss from my childhood – latkes, rugelach (here’s a gluten-free FODMAP-friendly recipe, in case you also miss this treat and also can’t eat wheat.) So happy Festival of Lights, and happy beginning to the crazed holiday season. I’ve made plans to go see some writer friends for coffee and even attend a party or two if I can stay well long enough! I have to remember to pencil in space for magic, even when I feel discouraged, tired, wet, and like the cold fog might overwhelm me. You never know when the universe will hand you a reason to wear your glitter!!

A New Poem in Scoundrel Time, Talking About Poetry Projects, Giving Tuesday and Women-Run-or-Owned Lit Mags and Presses

Scoundrel Time

A New Poem up at Scoundrel Time

Thank you to Daisy Fried and Scoundrel Time for featuring one of my more environmental/apocalypse poems yesterday, “Self-Portrait as Mass Extinction Event.”

Writing on a Poetry Project

Someone noted in a post I talked about writing “on a project” and “outside of a project,” and asked me to talk a little bit about writing on poetry projects. I don’t usually start a book project knowing in advance what the book is going to be about. Usually I start by getting interested in a certain topic, then more interested, then research that topic, writing a bunch of poems around it, and then later noticing that the poems seem to cluster around a certain subject, and exploring that topic in different ways. Usually I decide I have a book project when I get about fifty poems that hang together, and then I work on arranging, filling gaps, and maybe examining the subject in a different way or in different forms.

In fact, I can feel a little un-moored when I don’t have a subject or topic I’m working on, but it’s a necessary part of the process, because I don’t think anyone’s book should start out over-determined, and we need some creative open spaces – just like it’s good to get out of the house, even in this kind of cold and rainy season, to remind ourselves of the beauties and possibilities of the larger world. It’s especially important, when you’ve maybe reached the end of a large project, you’ve sort of exhausted a subject, and you want to start to explore again. It’s a good time to try a different type of poetry and to read more widely and even to use poetry prompts to get your brain working in a new way.  I like to read novels and books of literary biography and writers’ letters in between projects, to give my mind something new to work on. Different voices that can help me develop my own writing in a different way – this seems especially true for me when I read books in translation. I hope this was helpful!

Giving Tuesday and Women-Run-and-Owned Literary Magazines and Presses

You’re probably tired of the onslaught of shopping e-mails and announcements after the weekend, but today is kind of a nice break – it’s a day of giving back.

If you have literary organizations or presses that you feel have supported you, today’s a great day to give. If you love animals, or want to support a certain medical charity (for me, it’s the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis) or want to make a difference in people’s lives by donating to a women’s shelter, today most donations will be matched and doubled. Giving to people afflicted by the hurricanes or fires this year is also something to think about. You can make a difference and I think it makes me feel a little more helpless in the face of bad news.

I asked a few days ago for people to give me the names of their favorite women-run-and-owned literary magazines and presses, because I think it’s important, just like voting for more women in Congress if we want to see our interests represented, for women writers to support literary projects run by women and for women. So here are a few that were suggested yesterday on Facebook. Sorry I didn’t put links up to them all, only those that were posted as links (I’m running off to fix a cracked tooth at the dentist today) but at least it will give you a place to start. This is not an exhaustive list, just what came up as suggestions from my wonderful Facebook friends! Think about choosing one (or more) of them for submissions, buying gifts, and donations today. More suggestions welcome in the comments, too – I know this is not all of them!

Aqueduct Press, Dancing Girl Press Earth’s Daughters, Feminist Press, No Chair Press, Mayapple Press,  Passager, So to Speak Journal, Two Sylvias Press, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Headmistress Press, SWWIM, Gazing Grain, White Stag, Rogue Agent,  Agape Editions, FemKu Magazine,  Porkbelly Press, The Offing,  Shade Mountain Press, Psaltery & Lyre, Calyx, Scoundrel Time, Riddled with Arrows, Shenandoah and Lavender.

 

Small Business Saturday, an Interview with Riddled with Arrows, and a Little Goodish Health News Update

This year’s Christmas Tree

Beginning the Holiday Celebration

Yesterday we recovered from Thanksgiving (which was wonderful) by eating leftovers, working on poetry manuscripts (both mine and another person’s, and decorating the Christmas tree while playing new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the background. this year’s tree decor theme included hedgehogs, many birds, butterflies, and robots. (We’re an eclectic home.)

We got to see my brother and his wife for Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful visit and Glenn made a dinner so fantastic that I can’t imagine anything better at a restaurant (duck, cornbread bread pudding, mini delicata squash stuffed with cranberry apple chutney, snap peas and green beans in mustard vinaigrette.) Our traditional desserts were pumpkin cheesecakes with pear caramel on top and cranberry meringue pie. I should have taken more pictures but we were having too much fun eating and then visiting and laughing.  I went to sleep feeling, for once, and probably because I ignored the news all day, that all was right with the world.

Small Business Saturday and a Sale from Two Sylvias Press for PR for Poets!

I resisted shopping on Black Friday yesterday and will spend money today instead on Small Business Saturday, where you support small presses and local shops. This includes my own publisher of PR for Poets and She Returns to the Floating World, Two Sylvias Press.

An announcement from Two Sylvias Press:
On sale this weekend! The bestselling PR for Poets: A Guidebook for Publicity & Marketing by Jeannine Hall Gailey!  Use Coupon Code: HappyReading at checkout! Shop here:

An Interview with Riddled with Arrows

Thanks to Shannon and Riddled with Arrows for this interview. You can check it out here:

On Loving Poetry: An Interview Triptych

Thanksgiving Full Moon with Clouds

Some Goodish Holiday Weekend Health News

Yesterday I got the results of my abdominal MRI report, and while I still had “numerous” tumors/lesions on the liver that looked metastatic, the lack of growth or change in eighteen months indicated “that they were benign or at least indolent.” (Yes, I did write a poem with that quote.) It’s a relief every time you get this information, even though I shouldn’t worry every time they run that MRI, I do.

I felt really energetic after getting that report in the mail. I went through and cleaned out my office space, which had become a repository for, um, everything I didn’t know what to do with, started a table for holiday gifts for friends and family (I start thinking about holiday gifts in January of the year before, so…) I wrote a poem, I edited a manuscript I’ve been working on, and I went through a brand new project – the beginnings of my seventh poetry manuscript, revolving around witchcraft, revolt, and the theme of enchantment. Glenn and I enjoyed eating leftovers (delicata squash macaroni and cheese, duck, avocado and cranberry on corn tortillas) finding our holiday boxes in the basement, and decorating our Christmas tree. The cats immediately jumped in the boxes. It was all very festive, and I was happy to have good news to celebrate over the weekend. Now, if only we can get the liver tumors to shrink or disappear, and then the brain lesions heal, that would be great! LOL. Seriously, thanks to everyone for their good thoughts on my behalf. Started running a fever again yesterday and today, but I am going to re-apply rest and fluids until I get all the way better. I am wishing you all a happy holiday weekend – don’t wear yourself out, try to have some fun with the rituals, and go visit a local independent bookstore if you can.

Holiday Shopping Suggestions – Writers, Artists, Zoo and Museum Memberships and More Ideas!

Happy holidays from Woodinville!

Holiday Shopping Suggestions for Writers, Artists, and More

You’ll be getting Black Friday suggestions in your e-mail or on your phone, so I thought I’d remind you of some wonderful gift ideas outside the box.

Support art! It’s a great time of year to support your favorite writer or artist – I’ve been trying to buy something from an artist at least once a year! Two of my favorite artists are Rene Lynch and Michaela Eaves. (Not only are both wonderful artists, but both do a lot for great causes!) A great place to check out local artists here on the East side of Seattle is VALA Eastside.

I also like to give a family gift that involves an experience, like a family museum membership or if you have family with kids that are animal lovers, maybe a membership to the zoo! They’ll remember it a lot longer than that Christmas sweater! Poetry lovers on your list might love a subscription to their favorite literary magazine or a copy of the latest Poet’s Market. And writers never say no to more notebooks and pens.

Keep Someone from Getting Too Blue – Volunteering, Self-Care, and Sending Love

A cure for the blues? Blue holiday scene!

This is a tough time of year for a lot of people, what with the darkness, the stress, missing loved ones…so do something to cheer someone up! Take a friend out to coffee, or have dinner with a relative you may ot see that often. Maybe a phone call to a long-distance friend, or send someone some flowers or a box of chocolates unexpectedly. I think self-care is super important, but equally important is nurturing the people around us that we are thankful for!

I used to volunteer at Children’s Hospitals this time of year, or donate toys, and both can really help read adjust seasonal expectations. Even finding somewhere to spend an hour feeling grateful – whether that’s out on a mountain trail, or in a garden, or a church or temple – and donating a few canned goods can be something that fights the blues. And of course, drinking hot chocolate (or a glass of wine) and reading a book for an hour instead of running errands can bring you a little more cheer, so have energy for the rest of the season. (Even if your book is 1000 pages of Sylvia Plath letters – yes, that is what I’m reading at night right now – cheery!)

Sylvia recommends Field Guide for all your apocalypse-minded friends

Of course, some poetry books for this holiday – or a book for the practicing poet about how to promote their books!

Yes, I try not to be too commercial, but buying a book from a small press or even just leaving an Amazon review can make a giant difference in a writer’s outlook. It’s great if you can make it to your local indie bookstore (my local Seattle favorites include Open Books Poetry bookstore, Bricks & Mortar Books in Seattle, Third Place Books and Elliot Bay. A lot of small presses have promotions today to help sell books, so check out their sites, too. Saturday is small-business Saturday, so be sure to make a bookstore one of your stops!

 

And, if you are interested in getting a signed copy from me of PR for Poets, or Field Guide to the End of the World, or any of my books, follow these links and you can order straight from me. And I will really appreciate it and try to include a little something extra in there (and am happy to sign to a special someone.)

Looking for a few more poetry book recommendations? This isn’t even half of what I’ve read and enjoyed this year, but I thought this would be somewhere to start if you were looking for gifts for a poetry-loving friend…

Here’s a list of more new books I think would make great gifts!

Oceanic by Aimee Nezhukumuathil from Copper Canyon Press – a wonderful collection that celebrates nature, diversity, and I can’t think of anyone who would hate this book.

Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang from Copper Canyon Press. Victoria Chang takes on the difficult subjects of race and class in America through the lens of Barbie and Jane Austen in a really smart, fun way.

A Nation (Imagined) by Natasha K. Moni Floating Bridge Press – Super timely exploration of what being the child of immigrants in America means right now and how it is to be part of the world and simultaneously an outside observer.

Electrical Theories of Femininity (from Black Radish Books) by Sarah Mangold – Feminism, science and computers? You had me at hello.

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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