Guest Post at Ooligan Press: Poetry in a Tech Community

This morning I have a guest post up at Ooligan Press on what it’s been like trying to build a poetry community in the tech community of Redmond, Washington as Poet Laureate. Check it out:

http://ooligan.pdx.edu/jeannine-hall-gailey-guest-poet-post-building-community-in-a-tech-center-geeks-for-poetry-poetry-for-geeks/

Book Tours, The Best and Worst Readings, and Advice

I promised a post on book tours and how to book readings before your new book comes out. This is my third book, and I took very different approaches on my first two books – more for practical reasons (health and money both being limited at the time my second book came out) than logic or enthusiasm dictated – and I can share what I’ve learned and what I’m planning to do this time around.

This article on “The Worst Author Readings” makes some interesting points about audience commitment and how the author can ensure success. I’ve had enough experience with two-to-five person audiences to know that it’s about the most demoralizing experience a writer can have, but avoiding those kinds of readings is sometimes beyond our control, especially if you’re going to be in unfamiliar territory (i.e. a place with no family or friends) or an untested venue (like a museum.)

The article got me thinking about my “Best Author Reading” experiences. I was thinking about readings in little towns with wonderful audiences, like those reading in Bowling Green, Kentucky for WKU, or Fredonia, New York for SUNY Fredonia. These readings took some effort to get to – they were both in out-of-the-way locations – but great, enthusiastic hosts and smart, engaged students (and parties afterwards!) made the readings really worthwhile. One of my most fun unexpected readings was a night I went to go see Li-Young Lee read at a bookstore in San Diego, but he didn’t show and I ended up being asked to give a reading spontaneously with a young poet who had just had his first book out –  the terrific Jericho Brown. Some of the people in the audience ended up becoming friends of mine I still keep in touch with. Sometimes the company you keep – reading with friends, or beloved poets I looked up to, or going out to dinner with great people afterwards – makes all the difference. I’ve had great book sales experiences at “cons” – like Geek Girl Con and WonderCon – which might not seem like a normal place for poetry, and another great sales experience at an artist’s exhibition…The point is, the kinds of readings that are going to be best for you are going to be unique – some people are going to have a wonderful time at academic readings, others at coffee shops and bars, or comic book shops or art galleries. Where are the people that love your kind of poetry?

I would recommend taking readings where you’ll be able to read with poets you either love or are good friends with, too. Worst cast scenario, at least you’re hanging with people you like.

Questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to take the reading:
–Can you afford it? If not, can they pay you enough so you can afford it?
–Is it an area with a known friend, family member, or otherwise supportive party around? Promoting yourself in unknown territory is an iffy prospect.
–Is it an area you’ve been to before, recently? There is such a thing as oversaturation (though a fifteen-minute drive can often make a difference in audience, I’ve noticed.)
–Talk to the contact person at the bookstore/library – those contacts are valuable because the people who work at bookstores and libraries are, God bless them, often the only link between you and as-yet-unknown readers. If they don’t seem interested, that’s not a good sign.

Next time: Part II – Things Authors Can Do To Ensure a Great Reading

Jack Straw Writers, a Redmond Reads Poetry reading, and more!

If you are looking for something to do tomorrow night, February 20th, why not join us at the Redmond Library for a reading? The “Redmond Reads Poetry” kicks off its winter event with a reading by…me! I’ll be reading from Becoming the Villainess with a sneak peek of a few poems from my upcoming book, Unexplained Fevers. Refreshments will be provided, and a Q&A session after the reading means you can ask all the questions you like! Books will be available from the library for checkout and for sale!

In other news, the 2013 Jack Straw Writers have been announced! The full list is available here:
http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/writers/WritersForum/index.html
I’m honored to be part of such a great program and a great group!

I’m thinking of putting together a blog post on Book tours: how do you know when to go? Basically, a summing up of what I’ve learned with my last two book tours, plus any advice you’d like to leave in the comments below, like, how you survived your book tour, how many readings you plan to do for your first book, or fifth, etc, and let me know if I can post your advice and name in my next post! This is on my mind because, while I’m doing a ton of local readings for my upcoming book, I haven’t planned much in terms of out-of-town readings yet…Some people report great experiences on the road, and I know I’ve had a few, especially getting to visit with friends, and I almost always have a great time at universities. Other readings have been a mixed bag, and I’m wondering how someone makes up their mind when they’re invited, and what criteria we should use…

Life Lessons for Writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1. There is sometimes that sweet spot where you can get to save the day, dance with your dream date, and get a tiny umbrella in recognition of the good stuff you’ve done, but that doesn’t happen very often. Most often, you wake up, deal with people and problems that annoy you, and just go about saving the world with little fanfare. It might not always work out with your guy – in fact, most of the time, it won’t – and people will give you a hard time whether or not you’re trying to help them – but the job of Slayer (or writer) doesn’t change. We are out to save the world, every day. You do the job whether it feels good or not or someone pats you on the head or not.

2. Don’t Be Afraid or, Don’t You Think Sylvia Plath Faced Any Demons?
   Devil Dogs, Boyfriends Who Turn Evil After You Sleep With Them, Assassins and Monsters in all shapes and sizes: Buffy saw them all as a recurring annoyance rather than something to be afraid of. With each demon, she sized it up, sometimes turned to friends for help, but always, always, ended up methodically tracking it down and destroying it. There’s no avoiding some of the demons of writers: rejection, depression, you know, looking into the void (or Hellmouth) so they key is to approach each with the correct weapon and not let it keep you from going to classes, a date, or the rest of your life. It’s true that writers tend to experience more depression, dependence on foreign substances, divorce, and yes, a higher rate of suicide, probably because the mechanisms that make someone a writer also mean they’re a little damaged somewhere. (If you believe the stats  referenced here, much of the info coming from an eighties-era study of U of Iowa creative writers: http://www.the-bright-side.org/site/thebrightside/content.php?type=1&id=1083 and studies like this one: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-commit-suicide-2010-10?op=1 )  These are your demons. Do not let them win. Find the right weapons against them. Get a trusted group of friends to help you. Which leads us to…

3. Sometimes You Can’t Trust the Watcher’s Council
   Old white men sometimes do, and sometimes do not, have a young girl’s best interests at heart, as was demonstrated several times on Buffy. Better to be a little wary. Even Giles betrayed Buffy once or twice. People in authority are often interested in protecting their own authority rather than helping you empower yourself. I’ve always kept authority figures at a certain distance for this reason. So if you feel like doing something brave others tell you not to do – get a graduate degree at a certain age, send out a certain poem, write the novel you want to write – do it. Trust your inner Slayer (or writer) instincts.

4. There’s Always another Apocalypse
   Yes, even after you’ve saved the world, even after you’ve died and been resurrected through nefarious magic, there is always another apocalypse. In the writing sense, this means: once you’ve published your poem, you’ll always want the next poem in a better magazine. Then you’ll want a book. Then you’ll want a book prize, critical acclaim, book sales, what have you. There is always another “thing” around the corner to fight for. Part of Buffy’s strength lay in her persistence – sometimes winning just means not giving up.

5. Your Inner Resources
   (Yes, I am referencing John Berryman.) One of the most thrilling scenes in the whole series is when Buffy has a showdown with her former-boyfriend-turned-evil-psycho Angelus. It looks like, towards the end of the fight, that she will lose and the world will end. The dialogue is a classic:
   “Angelus: Now that’s everything, huh? No weapons… No friends…No hope. Take all that away… and what’s left?
   Buffy: Me.”
   Sometimes it will feel like you have nothing left, your friends and family don’t understand or support you, your boyfriend’s a jerk, and yes, your world is ending. But you know what? It doesn’t have to. You are your own greatest weapon. You are the hero.  

Happy Valentine’s Day, the Once Upon a Time Edition

Dear Readers, it’s become a Valentine’s Day tradition to post one of my few-and-far-between love poems on the blog for Valentine’s Day! I just received my first paper proof of Unexplained Fevers so I thought I’d include the first poem from the book titled “Once Upon a Time.” This poem first appeared in The American Poetry Review.