The Writing Process Blog Tour

Yes, I know everything right now is all AWP all the time, but the kind Kelli Russell Agodon included me in her blog tour and here are the results!

1) What am I working on?
I am currently working on two manuscripts – the one, almost finished, called “The Robot Scientist’s Daughter,” is one I’ve been working on for some five years or so, about growing up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with Oak Ridge National Labs next door. The other is called “The Field Guide to the End of the World,” which explores our current culture’s obsession with apocalypses (in pop culture, scientific research, etc.) and my own experiences with neural damage.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think my work is more likely to go explore scientific discoveries, pop culture, and mythology than my own autobiography, and for this reason, I’ve often been described as a “speculative” poet. I’ve always been more interested in other worlds than my own. My favorite fiction authors – Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, and Kelly Link, for starters – are also similarly writing about alternate realities, comic books, television, and science fiction.
I’d also say that I am probably slightly more likely to be funny – I’m not afraid of humor in poetry, even if it’s pretty dark humor, and that I’d probably be described as a feminist poet, given the subject matter of my first three books.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I passionately believe that 1. poetry can communicate things (ideas, moments, emotions, liminal spaces) in ways that other kinds of writing can’t and 2. writing is meant to change the world. I’m not content to write the kind of poetry that makes people feel more comfortable; I would be much happier writing something that made even one person decide to make a positive change in the world, or, at least, to reconsider the way that our pop culture depicts powerful women or the safety of nuclear energy. Call me optimistic, or idealistic, but that’s why I keep writing.

4) How does your writing process work?
I would say that I do most of my writing late at night, and mostly on a computer (my handwriting is illegible, even to me.) I usually write one or two poems at a time based on an idea, or something I come across in a movie, a magazine article, or in research of a particular subject. The best things for my writing are things like visiting art museums, going to concerts, reading about subjects I’m not familiar with, and even prosaic things like watching television. I read a lot of poetry (and do reviews of poetry books on a regular basis) but I’m more likely to be inspired to write new poems after reading fiction or non-fiction.

Thanks to Kelli Agodon for inviting me to this blog tour! Here’s her post!
And her bio: Kelli Russell Agodon is the author of Hourglass Museum and The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice, which she co-authored with Martha Silano. Her other books include Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room, Small Knots, Geography, and Fire On Her Tongue: An Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry which she edited with Annette Spaulding-Convy. She is the co-founder of Two Sylvias Press and when not writing, Kelli can be found in the Northwest mountain biking, paddleboarding, or walking her golden retriever, Buddy Holly. She blogs at: www.ofkells.blogspot.com or you can connect with her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/agodon or on her homepage: www.agodon.com

I’m inviting Kelly Davio and Lesley Wheeler to join me on this blog tour next on March 4! Stay tuned for their entries! Here are their bios:

Lesley Wheeler’s poetry collections include The Receptionist and Other Tales (Aqueduct Press, 2012), a Tiptree Award Honor Book. Heterotopia, 2010 winner of the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize; and Heathen (C&R, 2009). Recent poems and essays appear or are forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review, Poetry, Crab Orchard Review, and other magazines. She teaches at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and blogs about poetry’s possible worlds at http://lesleywheeler.org/.
Kelly Davio is the current editor of Tahoma Literary Review and the former Managing Editor for The Los Angeles Review and current Associate Poetry Editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal.  She is also a book reviewer for  Women’s Review of Books. Her debut collection is Burn This House, and her next collection, Jacob Wrestling, will be out from Pink Fish Press in 2015.

AWP tips, a New Review, and Recovery Time

So, as I slowly recover the use of my lungs (from pneumonia) and arm (from a broken/cartilage damaged elbow) I feel the pressure to get ready for AWP and catch up on a bunch of work I had to put off for a while in the last two weeks.

But one piece of nice news was a review of Unexplained Fevers in issue 15 of the LA Review – http://newbinarypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Unexplained_Fevers_LAR15.pdf – which my publisher kindly scanned and posted for me!

So, I’d like to offer some tips for AWP (along with this great set of tips Kelli has already posted which I heartily agree with)

1. Hydrate. Eat on a regular basis, even if it’s just a Kind bar and a latte. Be better to your body than usual. Use lip balm. Brush your teeth and shower. Sleep.
I know these all seem kind of basic, but even a regularly good self-care-type can go kind of crazy at AWP, and neglect all of these things, which makes you seem 1. cranky and 2. less appealing. Also, practical dressing: it can be too hot in the book fair and too cold in the panel rooms or outside, so dress in layers you can get on and off easily. You’ll be on your feet a lot, and Seattle-ites are very relaxed about their footwear, so wear comfortable shoes.

2. I’m not just saying this because I have a broken elbow this year that I’m worried about getting rammed into twenty times at the book fair – but don’t shove or run into people at the book fair! One of my friends has a story about a bigger, “important” male poet who ran into her small self full-speed rudely at the book fair and didn’t stop to say “excuse me” or apologize. Later, when she had her “important editor” badge on, he tried to be nice to her at a party, but she had already had her first impression. Try to be kind, make space for people in casts and wheelchairs in the aisles, watch for where your bookbag is swinging, and generally try for good manners, because you never know whose foot you might be stepping on.

3. Kelli already covered this a little, but seriously, don’t try to go to everything. Get out of the site once or twice – the best things I remember about past AWPs were things like going to offsite parties, or to little out-of-the-way restaurants a local writer took me to for some down-time and catching up, or sight-seeing on a long stretch of time by myself. You don’t need to be at every reading, panel, and party – you’ll only be exhausted and you’ll remember less. Pick a few things a day, and if one of them doesn’t work out, see that as an opportunity to find someone you like, get some coffee, see the city.

4. Generally, try to have fun and not stress out. This AWP is probably not going to make or break your career. Stop stressing, take a deep breath. During your booth book signing times, it can be awkward – either too busy or too quiet. Relax, make conversation with people nearby but don’t try to cram your book down unsuspecting passers-by’s tote bags, and also avoid being engrossed in your smart phone, or you might miss an opportunity. Also, stop feeling like you need to meet and talk to everyone. The spontaneous stuff that happens naturally is a lot more fun, like getting stuck in the elevator with Margaret Atwood, or whatever.

Horror Poetry, Pneumonia, Recommended AWP events

So a week or so after I broke my arm, I came down with bronchitis that turned into a pretty nasty case of pneumonia, I haven’t even been able to talk on the phone or walk across a room much because of the coughing. Then allergic reactions to the antiobiotics…in short, it’s been an un-fun stretch of February so far. I apologize for being absent here and out of reach by e=mail/phone. I hope you all had fab Valentine’s Days. Much better than mine (although two worthwhile movie shoutouts for sick days: In a World, about a woman breaking into the old-boys-club of voice-over work that was very entertaining, and Austenland, about a fantasy camp for Jane Austen fans, which has a pretty great post-credits video you should definitely watch for laughs which features the song “Hot in Herre.”)

AWP is coming up and I wanted to remind you about two speculative poetry events to keep on your calendar (and I’ll be reading at both with a slew of fantastic spec poets!)

— A Night of Speculative Poetry, or, The Superheroes of Poetry – Thursday February 27. 8 PM – 9:30 PM – at the Jack Straw Gallery

— Drawn To Marvel book launch and reading gala. Saturday, March 1 at 7:00pm. Ray Gun Lounge, Seattle.

I did get some good news, too – I found out one of my poems, “Introduction to the Body in Fairy Tales” is going to be included in “The Year’s Best Horror Volume 6” edited by the estimable Ellen Datlow! For a full list of pieces, see here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/02/table-of-contents-the-best-horror-of-the-year-volume-6-edited-by-ellen-datlow/

Okay, that’s the extent of my sitting-up-typing-with-my-one-good-arm time for now!

A Magical Workshop in Issaqah this Saturday plus NEA and arm bits

Update on Feb 8: This workshop has been cancelled due to snow! That’s right, snow! We hope to reschedule down the road…

This Saturday, in Issaquah, despite the messed-up arm, I’ll be leading a workshop called “In a Land of Make-Believe.” I hope you can join me! Here’s the description:

“Join Redmond’s second Poet Laureate Jeannine Hall Gailey for an afternoon workshop where participants let their imaginations run wild while writing poems based on characters from fairy tales, comic books, mythology, and other magic origins. Swords, villains, grand romance, transformations, and happy endings optional.”

Where? The ARTEast Art Center

When? 4-5 PM

You can register here. The cost is $12, which goes to support the arts and artists on the East side!

I’ve had a frustrating time with the elbow break, which now might include some cartilage damage that might require surgery – eep! More time-consuming imaging  tests and a second opinion with an elbow specialist are pending. Not the way I’d choose to spend the weeks before AWP…

And I’m working on the NEA application, harder when you’re trying to do all the typing and formatting with your one good hand. It’s such a gamble, but all you can do is try!