FreezeRay, Rejections, and the upcoming PNWA Conference

First of all, thanks to FreezeRay for including my poem “Introduction to Ruby Slippers, Hot Air Balloons” in their new issue! It’s a really fun issue, so check it out!

In the last three days, starting on the 4th of July, I’ve received three rejections. They were all from good journals who had held onto the poems for nine months plus. I understand it taking that long, but a little personal note or SOMETHING would be nice after all that time. Right? Sigh. Also, three rejections means I need to find three more places to send poems out, something not so easy in the July/August time frame.

On the plus side, something new to look forward to – my first attendance of local writer’s PNWA Conference. I’ll be reading with friends Kelly Davio and Carolyne Wright Thursday night the 16th at 9 PM at the Writer’s Cafe, an event that’s open to the public even if you’re not at the conference, so that will be fun! Then I’m doing a talk on Saturday on “PR for Poets” at 2 PM.

I’ve never been before, so I’m not sure what to expect! I hear there are exotic things such as “agents” that you meet. I hope we poets won’t be out of our element! I know the organizers have worked to build poetry back into the schedule this year, so I’m looking forward to it!

Happy Fourth Weekend, heat-based insomnia, and a few appearances by The Robot Scientist’s Daughter

Happy 4th of July Weekend, everyone! Stay safe! I know here in Seattle, it has been in the searing nineties and dry as a bone, so hopefully people leave the fireworks to the professionals and prevent unnecessary fires!

After a lack of sleep last night – heat-based insomnia, is that a thing? full moon fever? – I didn’t get to sleep til 7 AM, and I was woken up by my alarm at 8:05. Yay! Things have been a little stressful with family health stuff, the house selling/buying stress, and work, so it may have to do with that. I guess I am in need of a summer break!

In good news though, I came home yesterday to some mail appearances of The Robot Scientist’s Daughter – get your own Americana-history-themed robot poems here now! – one in the Pacific University Magazine, and the other in the form of an ad in Poets & Writers.

Here’s Pacific’s little write-up – thanks, Alma mater!

And here’s the Mayapple Press ad in this month’s Poets & Writers:

Summer Postcards and Podcasts

Thanks to J.P. Dancing Bear for interviewing me on his NoCal radio show, “Out of Our Minds.” The podcast is now available here! I read some poems from The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, we get into a digression about Bladerunner, and I talk a little about my experience with California libraries.

And thanks to Kelli Russell Agodon for making a little summer postcard of one of my poems from Unexplained Fevers, “Sleeping Beauty Loves the Needle.” If you like it, you can order the book from me here or from Amazon.

It has been too hot to be very productive, like, nineties every day, no chance of rain hot. We’ll be crispy by July 4 at this rate! Doesn’t Seattle know I moved here for the cloudy cool June days? But I did get one review written, a new poem written, and I’m working on a handout for the PNWA conference coming up! It’s just been a tough June personally, and I’m hoping July will be a little kinder. On the plus side, we’ve seen a ton of wildlife lately: deer, a beaver (!) chewing leaves, little grebe-lings taking diving lessons from their mom, a plethora of the usual herons, eagles, ducklings, and baby bunnies. I’ll leave you with this recent picture of dusk on Mt. Rainier…

Crazy June, Poets in the Park Recap, Seattle Becoming California

Happy summer, everyone! Readers, I apologize for not posting. Since last posting, I’ve 1. been in the hospital 2. had a close family member in the hospital 3. shown my house (even before listing it for sale) and 4. just been generally having a crazy June, and not the good kind of crazy, with lots of parties, the other kind of crazy, with stress and worries of all sorts.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a quick recap of Saturday’s Poets in the Park festival in Redmond, with pictures! It was a beautiful sunny day, I got to see lots of friends read and catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and got to do a reading myself with some fun folks from Jack Straw I hadn’t had a chance to meet before, so that was fun. Even sold some books! A good time was had by all, I think.

: Natasha Moni and Ariel, Kelly Davio and myself

: Allen Braden, Kelli Agodon, Annette Spaulding-Convy, and me

In other news, we didn’t sell our house yet, and we are still on the lookout for a new one-story place ourselves, so the real estate gladiator wars continue. And as long as I (and my immediate family members) can stay out of the hospital, I promise I will be thankful. I am trying to get back into the swing of things, writing, editing, judging a poetry contest and writing reviews.

We are looking at an upcoming week of 90+ degree weather – here, in Seattle. What does this place think it is with its hot summers and real estate monstrosities, California? I’ll keep you posted, but if we start having wildfires and earthquakes…

Poets in the Park, Summer Poetry Ideas, and the Seattle Real Estate Roller Derby

First of all, this weekend on Saturday June 20th is the Poets in the Park, a big festival from 11 AM to 6 PM in Redmond’s Anderson Park. I will be reading at 2 PM with the Jack Straw poets, but lots of my friends will be reading as well, and there’s a fun poetry mini-bookfair as well. The weather’s supposed to be beautiful. I hope we see you there!

I’ve been a bit out of it (I think I caught someone’s stomach flu bug at my last reading and watched the very messy and depressing Game of Thrones finale with the stomach flu – something I don’t recommend) and so I’ve missed out on a few days of having enough mental power to read, write, and send out work. The summer, with its long days, always seems like such a nice time to catch up on “fun” reading we’ve been meaning to do, plus I have a few reviews that I’m behind on, plus I really do miss writing when I don’t do it for a little bit!

The good thing about summer is it forces us to go out and look at new literary magazines, research new presses, and best of all, write new poems! Getting into the summer swing now that I’m getting better from first the lung infection and then the stomach bug is going to be an uphill climb, but I’m ready! This is a great resource for presses and lit mags reading during June and July: http://entropymag.org/where-to-submit-june-july/

We’re also getting ready to buy and sell a house, which will require a bit more effort and energy into the mundane (how much money is in our bank accounts? How clean are our kitchen countertops? how much work does that 1968 roof really need?) than usual. The real estate market in Seattle right now – well, imagine a really mean roller derby where everyone is prepared to play rougher than you AND is twice your size, and that’s how it feels bidding on a house in the Seattle area right now. We’ve missed out twice already, and today’s our third bid. We’re crossing our fingers. If any of you guys have advice for me, go for it!
UPDATED: We lost the house, not to someone who offered more money, but to someone who waived all contingencies. People are so crazy right now! No financing contingency, no inspection contingency. This is no way to run the real estate business. Boo.