October or August? More Pumpkin Farms, A Review of Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV+, Talking a Little about Prizes (and Why You Shouldn’t Feel Bad if You Don’t Win)

Dragon and pumpkins at Molbak’s

October or August? More Pumpkin Farms, Prizes, and Shows for Smart Girls

This week it has felt more like August than October, with sunny skies and temps up to 80°F! Glenn and I took advantage of the sun to make the rounds of our favorite pumpkin farms and gardens, Glenn got lots of outdoor projects done, and I walked so much every day my feet hurt (for an MS person, this is a good thing! It means you’re walking more and your legs aren’t giving out before your feet!)

It was also a week where many awards including the Nobel Prize and the MacArthur Genius Grant, were announced, so if you’re feeling like an also-ran, I’ve got a little bit to say about that later on in the post.

I also had a sneak peek at the new Apple TV show Lessons in Chemistry, based on the book about a frustrated female chemist who becomes a cooking show star. My review later in the post too.

For now, pictures of sunsets in Kirkland, Bob’s Corn & Pumpkin farm near Maltby (also a purveyor of excellent Pazazz apples, which are like even better Honeycrisps), and of course our local garden center and JB Growers Pumpkin Farm and Sunflower maze:

Pumpkins and silo at Bob’s

A Brief Review from a Sneak Peek of the First Episode of Lessons in Chemistry on AppleTV+

I got a chance to see an early sneak peek of the first episode of the show based on book (which I really liked) Lessons in Chemistry. The intro’s music and art are pretty cool (doodling DNA with perky fifties tunes and colors), and Brie Larson does a fairly good job of the put-upon smart girl chemist who turns into a television cooking personality. This book covers a lot of the same ground that our recent Woodinville book club pick, When Women Were Dragons, sans dragons.  It’s a very satisfying watch for any girl who’s been underappreciated and underestimated in the sciences (says the girl with the pre-med biology degree) and reminded me of several incidences that happened to me in the eighties and nineties. My question is, are there enough STEM girls to sustain an audience for the show? My husband, who has a degree in chemical engineering and is also a wonderful cook, was impressed, but thought the science parts weren’t hard-core enough. I will definitely tune in to watch it again on its real debut date. There have been several shows, including Dickenson (about the life of Emily Dickinson) that AppleTV+ gave a home to that maybe mainstream outlets wouldn’t have. This might be one of them. I wish the show luck.

Antique tractor wheel and pumpkins at Bob’s

And Speaking of Underappreciated…Talking about Awards and When You Don’t Win Them

This week might have felt discouraging to you (or encouraging, depending on your POV) with the announcements of the Nobel Prize and the MacArthur Genius Grants. Now, these are some of the biggest prizes, so you might not have been disappointed (see a hilarious discussion of a suicide attempt by Steve Corell in Little Miss Sunshine related to the MacArthur…I remember being the only one laughing in the theater during the joke, but I bet you guys would get it).

So…you’re a writer of a certain age, who has written a certain number of books, and after, say, twenty years, you’re still not getting major attention for your work. Read: you are not winning the big money, big attention awards.

But think about this: the people that are winning the big awards are not winning by accident, and maybe not even because of their talent. Someone out there has done a PR campaign, gotten to have lunch with the right people in charge, went to the right schools, got the right mentors. And a LOT of that has to do with class and with money. No disrespect to people that win big, but if you look behind the curtains, you’ll notice that a LOT of them have a LOT of money. It costs something to put yourself out there in the best light—either money from your publisher, or your family, or from powerful mentors at powerful institutions. Does this mean, shocking intake of breath, literature is not always a meritocracy? I’m just going to suggest that those of you struggling with not getting a major award should realize that there are aspects of the world of grants, fellowships, prestige awards that are not going to be…completely in your control. I wish people would talk about this stuff a little bit more and be more honest about what it takes to really make it as a poet. For instance, Louise Gluck inherited a fortune from her father’s invention of the X-acto knife. Merwin inherited a ton of money, TS Eliot married it (and then put his wife in an institution so he could access that money faster). No shade on any of those poets (well, maybe a little at Eliot—what a jerk!), but they were able to be influential poets because they had talent but also because they had money.

Not to say every poet with money becomes influential, or every prize winner has secret millions (but you’d be surprised how many do!) I wasn’t born with money, I didn’t marry into money, and I didn’t win the lottery, so I didn’t go to the fanciest schools and I’m still paying off student loans from my less-fancy schools. Does that mean I will live a writer’s life without recognition, awards, fellowships, etc? Not necessarily. I do know people who are just like me who have succeeded in making the “big time.” And Sylvia Plath won the Pulitzer…but not ’til many years after her death. So perhaps we all—writers, scientists, people in competitive fields like composing or physics—feel that we are being looked over, but continue with our work nonetheless. I remember my father, a robotics scientist, was always depressed a week or so after learning he didn’t win an NSF (the science equivalent of the NEA) grant. I later had a college roommate who was one of the people who screened NSF applications, who told me it was a depressing job because there were so many great applicants, but she could only choose a very small number to win. I think about both those things a lot.

So instead, let’s write not to win awards but because you like creating, and make sure not to let a rejection or someone else getting a prize you wanted ruin even a week of your life. After all, outside are pumpkin farms and sunsets and turning leaves. There are wars going on, yes, but there are also kind people doing kind things for other people. When we have wildfire smoke here, sometimes all you can do is notice the wildfires. When you feel a depression because you’ve worked many years and have little to show for it, it can feel like that wildfire smoke—it’s all you see and feel. Humans are built to notice danger, so we also have a negativity bias towards remembering our rejections, our failures, the things we haven’t gotten, the fires and wars going on around us, rather than our successes, our loved ones, evidence of kindness and the beautiful things in the world.

At Molbak’s, a fall scene

I didn’t mean to go a little dark here at the end. I may have been feeling a little down lately about my own writing and the writing life in general, questioning my purpose and my future. The new war that just sparked overnight, an earthquake close to here, all things that unsettle and upend. Though I love fall, the season does tend to make me more of a ruminant—what am I doing with my life? Where am I heading? I did want to reassure other writers that the reasons that they might be overlooked are more complex than they imagine, and money is such a taboo topic among writers, when it really shouldn’t be. I hope you feel a little better and wishing you a happy October week ahead. If you’re lucky enough to have some sunshine, I wish you pumpkin farms and a bunch of really good apples.

It’s Fall Witches! Autumn Equinox with Glass Pumpkins, a Reading Report from Edmonds Bookshop and an Upcoming Zoom Reading, Exciting Acceptances

New hair color in Kirkland, with roses

It’s Fall Witches! Autumn Equinox with Glass Pumpkins (and New Hair Color Debut)

Happy Fall! Now that the autumn equinox has come and gone, we in Seattle have seen the return of the cold (brrr) and rain that defines our region between September and May. I’ve changed my hair from pink to a more autumn-friendly color in honor of the season.

I’ve had a busy week—a reading with Catherine Kyle Broadwall at Edmonds Bookshop, a visit to a Glass Pumpkin exhibit, and four (!) rejections and two acceptances—including a really exciting one I’ll tell you about further down.

So here are a few pictures from our visit to Molbak’s and their Glass Pumpkin Day from Tacoma Glassmaking studios. We ended up getting a little amanita glass mushroom, but everything was gorgeous. Molbak’s in September was already putting up holiday decorations, so we snapped a picture! Funny! We just barely started putting out our fall decorations…It’s weird that we’re already heading into the end of 2023. It went faster than I thought!

Me and Catherine Broadwall at Edmonds Bookshop

Reading Report from Edmonds Bookshop and an Upcoming Zoom Reading

On Thursday evening I did a reading with Catherine Kyle Broadwall (she read from her fun new book, Fulgurite—full of fairy tale poems!) and read from Field Guide to the End of the World and Flare, Corona, which I think went pretty well. Had a good crowd, it was a super cute store—great eclectic magazine sections, great fiction and poetry sections, and a stuffed narwhal hanging from the ceiling, and we sold a lot of books, which was fun. It had been a minute since I’d done a reading, so I was glad it went pretty well.

I have a Zoom reading coming up on Thursday at 4 PM Pacific with Redheaded Stepchild Literary Magazine—more info on Facebook about how to sign up for the Zoom reading here: Book Launch with Jeannine Hall Gailey & Open Mic with Redheaded Stepchild | Facebook

If you can’t make it out to the Seattle area, please come see me read on Zoom! Should be fun!

Glenn and I at Kirkland’s Carillon Point

A Busy Week of Rejections AND Exciting Acceptances

It’s been a busy week this week writing-wise as well. I got a total of four rejections and two acceptances this week – and one was from a place I’ve been trying to get into for years, JAMA, or the Journal of the American Medical Association. I’m not a doctor, but I do have a pre-med biology degree, and I write medically themed poetry all the time, so it seemed like a natural fit—but the first poem they took wasn’t at all medically related, ironically. Ha ha!

Fall always means new pens and notebooks, catching up on paperwork, starting the academic year—so even those of us who don’t work in academia will be affected by the increased work at literary magazines or invitations to come read at classes, all that sort of thing.

Although I am still recovering from my antibody infusion from almost two weeks ago, I’m starting to feel a little more productive as the days get colder and shorter. I’ve been trying to catch up on reading, writing, and submissions, as well as getting blurbs written (two done, one to go) and other writerly side-work.

I hope you are all at home tonight with a cup of hot apple cider and a good book, and enjoying whatever gives you the fall vibes. Maybe I’ll put on a spooky movie and try to get to sleep early—I’ve got a week full of medical appointments (much less fun than the reading!) so hopefully I can keep my energy going.

An Infusion, A New Review for Flare, Corona, an Upcoming Reading at Edmonds Bookshop, and Spending Time in Flower Fields

Glenn and I with bouquet at Flower Farm

Still Alive! An Infusion, Recovery Time, and a New Review of Flare, Corona

So, Monday I was healthy enough to get my antibody infusion finally, so I spent four hours with a needle in my vein, getting my temperature and blood pressure checked, and getting antibodies I can’t create put into my body. No major problems yet—still alive, as the pictures will prove—but I was knocked out for at least four days. I know some people with MS get these things once a month – as well as cancer patients, and people with immune problems like mine – but this was my first “infusion center” experience.
At least I got to finish my book (Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, about two childhood friends who become game developers) and finally watch the Barbie movie, as well as a Joyride (think The Hangover, but for girls). One weird side effect was that I was fatigued but could barely sleep at all the first three days, hence all the reading and movie watching. Barbie did make me laugh but wasn’t quite as girl-power-y as I’d hoped, and I felt the overall message for viewers was somewhat sad; Barbie’s famous last scene isn’t going to college or getting to be CEO of Mattel, it’s going to the ob/gyn? I know it was meant as a joke, but I felt like it a bit deflating. The “Kens” got a lot of the laughs, and the human girls/women and the Barbies seemed so defeated. I wonder if my reaction is one of high expectation: it had gorgeous costumes, makeup, and sets, and a lot of Barbie-inside jokes and hat-tips to classic movies, but I just wanted…more? Joyride, on the other hand, was a heart-breaking/funny meditation on friendship, race and racism, work, and love/sex. It was maybe the more empowering movie? But again, I went in with no expectations, really.

Dahlias at Roozengaarde

A New Review of Flare, Corona up at The Poetry Question

I was a little bit out of it when it came out, but a brand new (and very kind) review of Flare, Corona came out at The Poetry Question. Here’s a quote:

“As someone new to Gailey’s work, I was instantly and repeatedly struck with how effective the author is at discussing some of the hardest moments of human experience with absolute grace and subtlety. Flare, Corona is an essential addition to disability poetics, a collection that offers an unashamed and deeply vulnerable window into chronic illness.”

Read the whole thing at the below link:
REVIEW: FLARE, CORONA BY JEANNINE HALL GAILEY (BOA EDITIONS) – (thepoetryquestion.com)

dahlias at Roozengaarde

An Upcoming Reading at Edmond Bookshop—in the News!—this Thursday

I’m reading from Flare, Corona with my friend Catherine Broadwall for her second book, Fulgurite, at the Edmonds Bookshop this Thursday from 6-7 PM (early!) so I hope to see some of you there. It’s part of the Edmonds Thursday night art walk event which should be fun! Some media info on it:

• Art Beat: Fiber arts, Art Walk Edmonds, poetry, wreath submissions, plus writing conference and ballet auction – My Edmonds News
• Poetry reading set for Sept. 21 in Edmonds | HeraldNet.com

Glenn and I at farm stand in La Conner, with pumpkins

Recovery Involves a Lot of Flower Gardens

On the fifth day, I was up and around enough to 1) send out a poetry submission, and 2) visit my local Woodinville flower farm, pick up a few cool black squash, and a bouquet of flowers. It was a short outing, but it felt good to walk around in the fresh air and nature.

I finally slept better that night—at least four hours, which was better than I’d done the other nights. My mental abilities definitely felt better after that.

On the sixth day, Saturday, Glenn and I decided to make a spontaneous fast trip up to La Conner, where we found a mysterious amount of corn growing everywhere—the tulip fields, the bird sanctuary? And enjoyed ourselves, stopping by a local farm stand and a quick trip to Roozengaarde tulip farm, which was having a corporate party and to our surprise, did not have its famous bulbs available yet. We still enjoyed walking around enjoying the windmill and dahlias. We didn’t really get up there early enough for most shops or a lot of the coffee shops/restaurants/etc to be open, or the Northwest Museum of Art (which is genuinely very cool) but we still had a good time before we turned around and made the hour+ trip home. I love the Skagit Valley area—the people seem genuinely friendly, and you get to see cows and horses and alpacas and lots of beautiful old barns and a lot of rural beauty. It still seems like a nice place to retire (if/when we get around to that.)

For now, just grateful to still be kicking and hopefully better off with the antibody treatment, ready to get out into the world and do a poetry reading with a friend at a cool indie bookstore this week, grateful for people reading and reviewing Flare, Corona in this busy world where poetry is so easily overlooked. Grateful for good weather, and flower farms near and far.

Taking Advantage of Sunny September Days to Do the Things We Missed All Summer: a Visit to the Japanese Garden, Open Books, Elliot Bay Books, Time at the Flower Farm

Taking Advantage of Sunny September Days to Do the Things We Missed All Summer

I was rejected from my infusion clinic on Thursday because I had some cold symptoms (negative covid test, thank goodness), but we used that day instead—since we were up early and downtown—to do something we’d missed doing all summer—visiting Seattle’s Japanese Garden. With the launch of Flare, Corona and various readings, radio things and podcasts in April and May, and family visits and illnesses and smoke over the summer, we haven’t had a lot of leisure downtime. So, we set out to use a string of sunny September days (warm, but not too warm, and no smoke!) We planned so many things: the Zoo, La Conner, visiting Roq La Rue art gallery, Open Books, and the Japanese Garden, plus visiting our local flower farm before it transforms into a pumpkin farm. Was that a realistic plan for three days? It was not. But we did have some great outdoor time in and around Seattle.

Pink dahlias at Volunteer Park in Seattle

Outings to Open Books, Elliot Bay Books, and Volunteer Park

Seattle people tend to have a bit on panic in their eyes this time of year because their FOMO is activated by the arrival of the “Big Dark.” We are probably no different, having been here so many years that we automatically go into outdoor plan overdrive on nice days.

Now, getting to Seattle from Woodinville took an hour because literally every way to get everywhere was closed due to city construction—and feel sorry for those dependent on the Bainbridge ferry, which was down for cars, bikes, and scooters for a week. Does Seattle DOT have problems? It does! Do they have a ton of tax money to fix it but somehow manage not to? Yes!

Anyway, once we got downtown, we didn’t want to waste the trip—so we hit everything at once—after navigating the construction on the main UW hospital campus (yes, also a nightmare)—we chilled out at the Japanese Garden and went to the UW district’s awesome Bulldog Newstand, which has a ton of obscure lit mags and foreign magazines of all types, and now they also have fancy ice cream.

Mandatory book selfie at Elliot Bay Books

The second downtown trip we originally wanted to hit the zoo and Roq La Rue, but because of traffic, everything was closing as we arrived, and we made the decision to only hit Open Books before they closed. We got new books by Oliver de la Paz, Terrance Hayes, Major Jackson, and checked out a ton more. After we stayed ’til closing time, we went a couple blocks down to Elliot Bay Books, where we picked up the new Lorrie Moore book, marveled at the terrific poetry section (where Flare, Corona was fronted at the top—squee!), bought a few more lit mags, and chatted with the friendly book salespeople about our favorite releases and theirs.

We hadn’t really visited Volunteer Park since before the pandemic, so we decided on a stroll before the long car ride back to Woodinville. We were pleasantly surprised by a new amphitheater and a live concert by a band called Space Echo as well as a new (ish?) dahlia garden. The conservatory and the Asian Art Museum—both awesome—of course also closed super early, but we had a great time and felt a lot of serendipity with the flowers and music.

We also enjoyed “magic hour” at the JB Family Grower’s Flower Farm, where the lavender was mostly done blooming, but the sunflowers, zinnias, and dahlias were still putting on a great show. In two weeks, the farm transforms to a corn maze and pumpkin farm, so we’ll probably spend the remaining nice fall days hanging out there. Do we still want to make it to visit the red pandas at Woodland Park Zoo, see the art at Roq la Rue, and see La Conner as it turns to fall? Yes! But maybe we shouldn’t have expected to do it all in three days. Serendipity made each trip we made downtown unique and enjoyable, despite getting postponed at the hospital infusion center (now set for Monday?) and the traffic. Does the MS affect me in the amount I can do in a day? It does. Was it discouraging and frustrating to navigate the UW medical system between different standards doctors have and the infusion center? Yes. Am I exhausted now? Yes! Did I get much poetry (writing, submitting, writing blurbs) done? Well, I judged one poetry contest, so it wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t as much as I would have done had it been cold and rainy. But we have plenty of that kind of weather ahead of us!

So I have the infusion scheduled for tomorrow (for now – unless they reject me again.) I know I won’t be up to much after the infusion so it’s good to make some good memories when I can. I hope you have some wonderful weather and time to get outside in your town and let some serendipity happen!