Happy (Pandemic) Holidays, More About BOA and upcoming books, and Wishing You Health and Safety

Glenn and I in silly holiday outfits – with dinosaurs and Xmas cats

Happy (Pandemic) Holidays!

Happy holidays and thank you for the kind wishes on my good book news last week. I am so excited. It’s nice to have some happy news in the midst of all the stressful news about the pandemic and crazy killer weather. More boosters? More variants? Killer tornadoes in December? Higher than ever covid levels? Excuse me while I breathe into this paper bag.

I’m not going to be home this year, as due to my immune system problems I’m avoiding travel, but I will be seeing some (vaccinated) friends to make it feel at least a little bit like the holidays, going to see some lights and hopefully getting some holiday cheer going.

Now, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a little word of caution: Due to the fact that I’m seeing more and more vaccinated friends and family actually getting covid – I advise being extra careful, a little more instant testing, and asking the host to open a window or two if you’re visiting in someone’s home.

Pink Hair on the Kirkland waterfront

Glenn and I are trying our best to keep ourselves feeling bright during Seattle’s “Big Dark” – with cold rain and complete darkness by 4:30 PM.

This is a tough time in the Northwest, especially during a pandemic when we can’t get together and huddle for warmth in coffee shops and bookstores and concerts and museums like we normally do. Hence, we resort to silly Christmas outfits as you can see, and extra lights on the house and deck. I’ve also been known to play a Yule log on the television set with kittens and bunnies and cheesy holiday music. Hey, whatever helps you muddle through.

I’ve also been a little under the weather – not covid, just run of the mill things like sore throats and stomach bugs – but the good news is I’ve been able to read more (particularly enjoying Steve Fellner’s Eating Lightbulbs and Other Essays and Siri Hustvedt’s Mothers, Fathers, and Others essay collection, as well as Katherine Mansfield’s complete journals and letters), listen to more audiobooks, and I think I’ve watched every classic holiday movie there is. (PS: I hate It’s a Wonderful Life, mostly because of its treatment of Donna Reed’s character, who clearly would have been better off as a single librarian.)

Glenn and I with Christmas tree and sleigh

It Happened on 5th Avenue is my recommendation for this year, with its warm and fuzzy social justice/holiday themes, but Christmas in Connecticut with a delightfully fake Martha Stewart-type figure who tries not to get caught by her overbearing boss. The main character played by Barbara Stanwyck is a joy to watch.

We also – every time the weather permits – have been seeking out the happiest outdoor holiday decor, including this sleigh with topiary reindeer at Carillon Point in Kirkland. It was a little iffy on the waterfront – a little rain, a little sun, a little cold – but it’s still good to get outdoors.

Sylvia with her favorite BOA poetry books

More about BOA and Upcoming Books

To the left is Sylvia posing with some of her favorite BOA poetry books. She is a big BOA fan!

So, yes, I’m very excited about Flare, Corona coming out with BOA Editions in the fall of 2023, by which time I hope we will have better solutions for this covid thing and life will have somewhat returned to normal. Maybe I can even have a book party at a winery or something fun like that!

This book manuscript is very personal to me – it contains poems about getting diagnosed with what they said was terminal cancer back five years ago, and then six months later, getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and as I gradually recovered from the shock of those two things, the pandemic crept into our lives.

But I swear it’s not a depressing book – there are supervillains and fairy tales in the poems, as you might expect in my books – and there’s lots of humor. And I cannot imagine a better press to bring out this book.

And I’m also thankful to Alternating Current Press for bringing out Fireproof in May 2022, so I have something to focus on for the next six months. Fireproof is about witches, Joan of Arc, genetics, fairy tales – it’s a little edgy, a little feminist, and little political. A very different book than Flare, Corona. I’m about to be at the stage where I’m asking for blurbs (eek!) and deciding on cover art. The web site will probably get a little makeover based on the next two books as well.

It’s been five years since Field Guide to the End of the World came out, so to suddenly have two books on the horizon is a little bit of a shock – but a good shock. While you wait for the new books, remember books make wonderful holiday gifts! I’m happy to send a signed copy of any of my five poetry books or my PR for Poets book and you still have time for shipping priority before Christmas. 😊

Carillon Christmas tree, topiary deer, and sleigh

Wishing You a Safe, Healthy, and Happy Holiday!

Seriously now, take good care of yourselves, be careful, get tested, and take it easy on yourselves and your loved ones this holiday, We have never lived through years like the last two before, and hopefully, with gains in our scientist’s attacks on covid – I’m betting antivirals will make a huge difference once we have them in pill form – we won’t have to again. If you, like me, are having a little bit of a quieter year than usual, just remember this is only temporary, and try to be extra kind to yourself.