June Gloom, Art is Good for the Soul, Book Ranks, AmWriting, Book Launch Approaching

Yes, though most of June has been an undifferentiated mass of grey skies and chilled, sixty-ish weather in the Great Pacific Northwest, the day after another lunar eclipse, the sun shines down out of blue skies on us. It makes me feel optimistic. Plus, yesterday I had blueberries, and we all know they are a superpowered fruit! (And I may have had a couple of recent poetry acceptances – after some small flurry of rejections – from lit mags with initials COR and APR to cheer me up as well!)

Today I am going downtown to meet up with awesome artist Deborah in her studio. I may also make a quick trip to check out the new exhibits up at Roq La Rue (since our bridge to downtown will be closed all weekend…)

I thought you all might enjoy this longish lyrical essay on the pitfalls of saying: I am writing.

Mary Biddinger made me aware of this new evil Amazon thing: tracking Hot New Poetry Releases. My new book is right now, at this second, #61. Now we authors can torture ourselves not only with overall rank, but how our book is ranking with other hot new books! Oh, the humanity! (Did I mention today was the first day my new book has a rank?)

Kristy Bowen joins the discussion of book poetry contests started a few weeks ago on HuffPost. She points out, quite rightly, that getting it to some independent presses without being friends with right clique is even less likely than winning a poetry book contest. Thank goodness for independent presses that look outside their own circles for likely talent! Like my presses (Thank You, Steel Toe Books and Kitsune Books, for taking a chance on me!) This is what I would say to poets trying to get their books published: I think you have to try all the avenues to know which avenue is the right one for you.