2015 is a Year of Trying New Things

Hello and Happy 2015!

I woke up in 2015 and decided it was time for me to be more daring, more participatory. The last few years I feel like I’ve been sort of sick, tired, hibernating, waiting for a signal to go back out and get into life fully again. But I think the signal is maybe just feeling ready to try again. I’ve signed up to learn Tai Chi as part of my physical therapy for the neural lesion motor skill problems, I’m starting an internship in a new field (yes, at 41, I’m interning, thank you very much, don’t make fun!) I’m ready to go out and work and socialize and (dare I say it?) try to make this next book of poetry, my fourth and the closest to my heart, really make an impact, if I can. Step out of the comfort zone, seize the day, all those kinds of platitudes. Most mostly, try to engage in life as actively as possible.

So, with the background music of The Mountain Goats (melancholy yet addictive!) yesterday I sent out two poetry packets, a book query for a completely different kind of book than I’d ever imagined writing that combines my love of poetry with my background in technical and marketing writing, wrote and sent out two magazine queries, wrote a new poem, and practiced writing pitch letters (which I still do not feel confident about – this is part of what I want to learn how to do!) I even got on my little exercise bike and rode farther than I’d ever been able to ride in the last few years. Today, to make up for yesterday’s manic productivity, I spent two hours getting an eye exam (nothing major found, yay!) and then four more hours not able to focus my eyes or read because of those darned dilation drops. On the plus side, I’ll be getting a very snazzy pair of “progressive readers” which are, you know, a sign of my progression…into middle age. But you know what? I feel pretty happy about where I am, who I’m with and where I’m going these days. Maybe I’m being unreasonably optimistic, but I hope not.

So, in the spirit of daring and new years and everything, I wanted to let you know about two new things – a new poem “Introduction to Junk Science or, Everything You Learned About Science Was a Lie” in the second ever issue of Tahoma Review (which is very fun readings) and an upcoming art and poetry collaboration show with Sherman Alexia, Daemond Arrindell, Carol Milne, Maura Donegan, Lia Hall and Cedar Mannan in association with the METHOD art gallery in Pioneer Square. It’s January 29th at 6 PM at the Seattle Central Library with a reception at the METHOD gallery afterwards, and I’d love to see you there for such a unique event! I’ve always loved working with visual artists and kudos to Mary Coss of METHOD for putting us all together.

Happy 2015 and Some Thanks

So, Happy New Year! Here’s wishing us both a warmer, brighter, healthier, happier, more peaceful and prosperous 2015!

A few thoughts and thank-you’s before the year’s end…

Thanks to IthacaLit for publishing my little essay in their Winter issue on “Lights in the Darkness and Literary Fits.”

http://ithacalit.com/jeannine-hall-gailey1.html

Thanks to Donna Miscolta for listing my newest book The Robot Scientist’s Daughter in her “Books to Read in 2015!” (Also some other great books on her list, so check it out!)

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a better year. See you later, 2014! I’m cleaning out closets (an end-of-the-year ritual for us, much easier than making resolutions) and took a box of shoes and clothing to the donation center. I boxed up another box to take to a consignment store (good-bye, high heels! Sigh! Wobbly balance and bad ankles = no high heels.) I’m ready with my vision board and calender (see previous post.) I’m ready to be a better version of myself in 2015, and I’m hoping the year will bring better health, better energy, and more writing luck for all of us!

Poem for the End of the World – I mean, Year – and Contemplating 2015

I think this poem, the very last one in my current apocalyptic book manuscript, applies equally to the end of the world and the end of the year. Poem first appeared in Redactions.

Epilogue – Or, A Story for After

I want to tell you a story about how we survived the end of the world. Crouched around a dying fire, I illustrate with shadow puppets the old, beat-up van, the velocity of water and sky, the unnamable odds against us. What really sells it? The way the ending goes on forever, moon ebbing closer to the mysterious dark, its craggy face calling out, the skies scattered with falling stars. The way objects are nearer than they appear. You next to me, and I remind you – here is where we used to be, here is where we are. I draw a line in the dirt with a fork and draw a picture – a house made of a square and a triangle, a single daisy in the yard, and two smiling stick figures. This is what we dreamed of, the day we awaited has arrived. There are no more shotguns or dusty trails lined with diseased corpses. A ship arrives on top of a mountain, heralded by doves; an airplane lands on another planet, seatmates dazed by the lack of gravity. We might teach the dragons to dance, learn the alchemy of soil again, rebuild libraries with tales of fantastic voyage. All I need right now is you, the simple weight of your hand, the warmth of your breath, and this last cup of coffee to tell me – we are miraculous.

I am feeling mildly optimistic about 2015. 2014 had some struggles – a broken bone, another case of pneumonia, a bit of a discouragement bender and a lot of bad news on the television – but it was better than the year before it, I think, in terms of life lived and health. In the tradition of the “vision board,” the sort of tradition I don’t really mentally hold to but enjoy due to my child-like entertainment levels with arts and crafts, here’s my 2015 Vision. (Hint: it’s happier! And has more business in it!) I have a new book to launch next year, a new business, and I’m starting next year out with some new practical steps towards a new kind of career (to be revealed later.) To that end, I just ordered a 2015 wall calender to schedule readings, events, work, and fun! Anyway, here’s to a better, happier, and healthier 2015 to us all! Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays (and Hobbit Watching!)

Ah, the holidays. Now we have all the holiday gifts shipped off, all Christmas parties attended, only two minor disasters (fridge death two weeks ago and this week, a credit card fraud – all hastily taken care of with little major damage) I am feeling ready to get back to being a “real person” – aka a writer again – and spending some downtime with Glenn doing the Christmas stuff I love – stupid stuff that makes me happy, like watching the new Hobbit movie, going to see Christmas lights at the botanical garden or local zoos, making gluten-free Christmas cookies for friends. I haven’t done any of that stuff yet! Reading new books by Haruki Murakami and Margaret Atwood, maybe some magazines, finishing up a manuscript project…

Anyway, to all of you out there, Merry Holidays and a Very Happy New Year if I don’t get to check in before then. Make sure you get plenty of good hot chocolate in the meantime!

Multimedia Poetry Coverage and Gift Ideas for the Writer in Your Life

What an unexpected late December set of media surprises! In a rundown of the Elgin Award winners, Diane Severson reads a few poems and discusses Unexplained Fevers on the Starship Sofa Podcast (go to minute 56 to hear a few poems, but ignore it when she says Unexplained Fevers won third place in the Elgin Awards – it was actually second 😉 Her notes are also up on her blog: http://divadianes.blogspot.fr/2014/12/poetry-planet-no-14-elgin-award.html

You can listen live to my interview with the lovely Sheila Bender on Port Townsend radio station KPTZ Thursday at 5:30 PM Pacific time. Later it’ll be on a podcast, but you can listen live through a link on the front page (http://kptz.org/) called “Listen Live!” I’m listening through itunes, and there’s also an app called TuneIn Radio where you can listen to: http://tunein.com/radio/KPTZ-919-s138748/

So, you’re struggling with last minute gifts for the writers in your life? I was reminded by a little holiday get-together yesterday with a present swap how much fun it is to buy gifts for and receive gifts from writers! Did I mention that despite the fact that we met in a rather small hotel bar, there was a guerrilla opera performance with piano player and soprano? (Soprano was a bit to close to my ears for comfort – I was about a foot away – but how charming and Seattle-y is that!) Anyway, the gift recommendations below include two books I just received and was delighted by!

Here are a few winning presents I know I’ve appreciated in the past:

A subscription to a new journal or book series they might not have heard of. I remember two of my favorite gifts from friends being subscriptions to Fairy Tale Review and a subscription to a year of Tupelo Press’s books. Lots of presses offer a year’s subscription plans, and many journals could use a few dollars this time of year. Those are thoughtful gifts that keep giving throughout the year! I love: Crab Orchard Review, Crab Creek Review, Rattle, Mid-American Review, Indiana Review, Redactions, American Poetry Review, Threepenny Review…and there are as many diverse magazines out there as kinds of writers, so try to focus on one for your writer.
If your friend or loved one has a book coming out in the next year, Midge Raymond’s Everyday Book Marketing makes a great gift. Likewise your writer may enjoy, more quirkily, Mortifications: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame and Shakespeare’s Tremors and Orwell’s Coughs: The Medical Lives of Famous Writers.
Writers will never say no to a lovely pen and fancy notebook. Scented candle or fancy tea cup/coffee mug and chocolate, optional but suggested.
A lot of wonderful poetry books came out in the last year. Has your writer been hoarding a certain library book, or mentioning a book she/he wants several times? Go ahead and get them one! Reading poetry is a small luxury in world of texting, television, and twitter.
Speaking of which… If you want one of my books to get to your writer by Christmas, you better hurry and e-mail me at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com. There’s a special right now: all three books for $32, or Becoming the Villainess for $10, She Returns to the Floating World for $10, and Unexplained Fevers for $12. Free first-class shipping. That’s even better than Amazon!