Who’s a zombie feminist poet? I am!
That’s right! Who won the monster poetry contest? Me, that’s who!
http://wewhoareabouttodie.com/2010/09/02/lizzy-acker-monster-poetry-award-winner-is-jeannine-hall/
Seriously, thanks to Lizzie Acker for choosing my poem, which was brought on by a dream about zombie clone women. Because that’s the kind of dreaming I do all the time. And now I get books from Small Desk Press! And to read with some awesome poets at LitCrawl.
Poetry Chain, Productivity, Poetry Monsters and More!
If you’re interested in reading five questions with me at the Poetry Chain Gang:
http://poetrychaingang.blogspot.com/2010/08/poetry-chain-gang-volume-2-jeannine.html
They’ve also recently interviewed Wendy Wisner and Suzanne Frischkorn. A cool project by Michelle McEwan, and thanks to Wendy for suggesting me!
I haven’t been writing as much new poetry lately, but I wrote a lyric essay, a book review, and put together several job applications, so I feel productive anyway. I’m also looking for places to rent back up in Washington State, so that takes some time as well. And I signed the official contract for my second book with Kitsune Books, which makes me feel very happy! The more I work with them, the more I like them.
I won a poetry contest involving monsters, and I’m very happy about it. Will post a link when I can! Really, I should write more poems about monsters. This one involves beautiful zombie clone women.
There has been a dustup in the poetry world about charging for e-submissions. I like e-submissions. I remember when I interviewed for a managing editor position at Missouri Review like seven years ago, I tried to talk them out of charging $3 for each submission, which they had to do because they spent a boatload of money on software and hardware for the project (this is before CLMP had an affordable solution, or submishmash existed.) I said: writers are poor. They said: our magazine needs the money. I didn’t think writers would submit, but apparently, they still do. Since then, I’ve done a lot of volunteering for literary magazines, with bigger and smaller budgets, trying to help them generate subscriptions, sell ads, raise money in various ways. Most magazines (not all) are all volunteer-run, and sell amazingly small numbers of copies. Subscription numbers for most mags are in the hundreds, not thousands. Think about the average poetry book, how it sells – and compare that to lit mag sales. Everyone wants to publish in them, but no one wants to buy them. The business model is tough, especially in a bad economy. Of course, most writers have struggled financially during the bad economy, too. My point is: everyone should have a little mercy.
Congrats To Amanda
Go over and congratulate Amanda Auchter – her book just won the Zone3 First Book Contest!
People Who Move Too Much
Can you believe we’re thinking of moving again? Okay, not just thinking, actively planning. Napa has some of the best weather I’ve ever experienced, but apparently, beautiful weather is not enough to keep us rooted. Do you know I have to drive over an hour in any direction to get to any kind of poetry reading? (With the exception of the Napa Writers Conference, which, let’s face it, only comes around once a year.) If you like olive oil and wine, forgetaboutit – this is your place. But poetry?
So we started making a list of things we wanted to do before we moved, like visit SPD in Berkeley and Muir Woods, visit some of the SF museums we haven’t made it to yet, drive out to Point Reyes. My repeated ankle injuries have made more nature-hikey-kinds of visits difficult this past year, but I think I’m recovering from the latest (some kind of weird tendonitis) and anxious to enjoy some of the amazing scenery along the coast. It was 110 here yesterday, so I think we have some summer left to do these kinds of things. September is San Francisco’s summertime.
Remember I told you I was reading through all kinds of writing about writers? I’ve read two of Lorrie Moore’s short story collections (“Self-Help” and “Like Life”) and I’m reading “How to Become a Famous Novelist,” which is fairly amusing (though male-centric.) Apparently someone said Lorrie Moore was to blame for all MFA fiction students using the second person. I love using the second person in poetry, but I didn’t have anyone to blame until now. I’m trying to write some poetry book reviews, too, in my spare time. And I’m trying a little fiction/personal essay writing.
Speaking of moving, I don’t want to move all my lit mags (and I subscribe to like, two billion) so if you want me to send you a pack of 3-5 fairly recent literary magazines for the cost of shipping ($5 Paypal,) let me know.
Tic tic tic. The clock is counting down our final days in sunny-but-expensive California. The boxes are out. The hunt for a new apartment is on. A PO box has been procured.
New Fall Manuscript Class
Well, my summer poetry manuscript class is winding down, and it went really well, so I am going to offer it again for the fall.
Wish you had someone to read over your poetry manuscript before you send it out to this year’s contests and open submissions? This eight-week class is limited to five writers and will start October 1. It’s run on a private blog and discussion board (so your work can’t be searched or googled) and you will get feedback on your poetry book (or chapbook) manuscript as it develops over eight weeks from both me and your classmates, and you’ll be reading and commenting on your classmates’ manuscripts as well. We’ll cover topics like organization, style, publishing, and filling in the gaps in your manuscript. We’ll do some writing exercises and one (short) book review. It’s going to be $300 for eight weeks. Any questions? Leave a comment! If you’re interested, send a short bio and a sample of your work – a couple of poems – to me at jeannine.gailey@live.com.
Oh yes…you want to know who I am? Well, let’s see, here’s my bio: Jeannine Hall Gailey is the author of Becoming the Villainess, published in 2006 by Steel Toe Books. Poems from the book were featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, Verse Daily, and in 2007’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. She’s also the author of the upcoming She Returns to the Floating World, which will be published by Kitsune Books in late 2011. She won the 2007 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize and was awarded a 2007 Washington State GAP grant. She teaches part-time at National University’s MFA program, volunteers for Crab Creek Review, and has published reviews, interviews, and articles for Poets & Writers online, The Poetry Foundation web site, and the 2010 and 2011 Poet’s Market.
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
