Happy Poetry Month! My Review of Dana Levin’s Newest Book Up at Poetry Northwest, My Reading Schedule for Flare, Corona, Spring Breaks Into Blossom, and Dental/Doctor Drama And Anxiety Before a Book Launch, and Reading Notes

Ravens and Cherry Blossoms, Redmond

Spring Breaks into Blossom and My Review of Dana Levin’s Now Do You Know Where You Are Up at Poetry Northwest

Happy April and National Poetry Month! Despite the cold rain of most of this week, spring flowers are starting to appear around the city. I picked the first blooming daffodil from my garden this morning, and early cherry and plum trees are in bloom, despite hail and still colder-than-normal temps. I spent a lot of this week at doctor and dentist offices—too much, but I’m happy April is here.

I’m happy to share my review of Dana Levin’s terrific Now Do You Know Where You Are, “A Guide to Disorientation,” which is up at Poetry Northwest. Here’s a bit from the review:

In a clear struggle with displacement in a new city, with a new president, and a sense of foreboding, Levin’s speaker looks to various spiritual guides to inform and divine her life journey. This speaker, a slightly cynical spiritual messenger, makes a perfect companion for unsettling times.”

My Reading Schedule for Flare, Corona

Glenn and I with a weeping cherry tree

I just started looking at my schedule for the next couple of months and had a bit of an anxiety attack. Besides the events listed, I’ll be leading our book club on April 12, hosting my parents for their first visit since the pandemic (and all the associated cleaning and last-minute projects trying to get the house ready for visitors), and doing a virtual talk at a conference. And turning 50, hopefully with a few friends, some cupcakes, and generally celebratory spirit! It’s the busiest I’ve been since the pandemic, for sure. I usually take a trip up to Skagit this month to see the tulip festival, the snow geese, and to celebrate the long-awaited arrival of spring amid acres of flowers, but I’m not even sure when I’ll be able to squeeze that in this year.

Besides the anxiety, I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of friends I haven’t seen in a long while. Please do come out and say hi! So here’s the graphic the folks at BOA made me:

Dental/Doctor Drama and Anxiety Before a Book Launch

Early tulip magnolias

This week had its share of doctor and dental drama, including a dentist trip for a broken tooth that included a new crown, the removal of an old partial crown, and six fillings. It was a lot! In the doctoring department, three different specialists were working hard to help control purple hives that appeared (surprise!) all over my face and upper body for six days (more antihistamines? steroids? a biologic?). I also met with three (!) geneticists who are testing me for a rare life-limiting white matter disease (which doesn’t seem like a high probability and has no cure but my neurologist wants to rule out), decided I probably have triple X syndrome which is more common than I knew (1 in 1000 women have it) but since there’s no treatment for it as an adult—for children there is sometimes treatment for learning disabilities and behavioral disorders that can disrupt their schooling that can be associated with it—they won’t do that test, and again that I probably had the hypermobility type of Ehlers Danlos syndrome (not a fatal type) so there isn’t a good genetic test for it and again it might not change my medical treatment anyway. Nothing like spending hours answering questions about statistically how much of a mutant you really are to increase your disassociation with the self. Anyway, I think I should put a ban on any further doctor and dental work for the rest of the next two months, if possible, which sometimes is not possible (see mystery hives and broken tooth) just for my mental health. Do I want to deal with yet another diagnosis in the middle of a book launch? I do not.

Now, anxiety can make a lot of my symptoms worse, so I’m working to control my stress surrounding this book launch. Even though this is my sixth poetry book, this is my first book in a long time, the first book since the pandemic, and really the first book with a big virtual element—I can do bookstore visits (like the one where I’m in conversation with Peter Conners, BOA’s editor and publisher, in a New York bookstore, in the graphic above as “interview with Writers & Books”—it’s free and I recommend going, because how cool is it to actually get to see an author talking about their book with their publishers, right?) and classroom visits (please contact me if you want me to visit your college class or book club—I love doing stuff like that!) and where Instagram is more of a part of the bookworld (I’ll be doing an Instagram takeover of BOA’s feed in May, so wish me luck on that). I’m also doing the usual things—my first official Seattle reading is at Open Books, my favorite all-poetry bookstore, the first time reading at their new Pioneer Square location—and sending out book cards and an e-mail to alert friends and family to the new book (because you wouldn’t believe the number of friends at AWP who came up to me and said You’ve got a new book?? with surprise).

The background to the usual poetry and health worries is worry about a cold war with China, an actual proxy war with Russia, and the anxieties of a person with a jacked immune system and re-entry into the world that is still wrestling with a pandemic (am I still testing for covid every time I run a fever? The answer is yes).

Plum blossom closeup

Book and Reading Notes

The good news is one of the ways I deal with anxiety is burying myself in books—currently, I’m reading Sabrina Orah Mark’s fairy-tale essay book Happily, a strange meta-book about being an author in the midst of a Hollywood adaptation of her feminist mermaid book when mysterious murders start to occur called American Mermaid by Julia Langbein; Margaret Atwood’s latest book of short stories Old Babes in the Woods; and I finished Katie Farris’ raw, touching and funny poetry book about her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic that just launched this month, In the Forest of Being Alive. For National Poetry Month, our book club at J. Bookwalter’s winery is discussing Rosebud Ben-Oni’s If This is the Age We End Discovery, which wraps Rosebud’s humor and intelligence around pop culture and particle physics—one of my favorite poetry books in a long time.

A Weird First Week of Spring – Starting with Bright Blue Skies and Blossoms and Ending with Snow and a Bobcat, A Video from my AWP Offsite Reading and Last Picture from AWP

Spring cherry blossoms, blue sky

A Weird First Week of Spring – Starting with Bright Blue Bkies and 60 Degree Weather, and Ending with Snow (and a Bobcat Visit!)

It’s been a weird week here is Seattle, with the first days of spring bringing bright blue skies, 60-degree weather and cherry blossoms, and ending with surprise snow and an equally surprising bobcat visit.

Today I have two videos for you—one of a bobcat walking by my back door, and one from my offsite reading at AWP with BOA at the Seattle Library. I’m not an expert at YouTube yet, so forgive me for any problems. I even (at my little brother’s urging) finally made myself a channel, so you can like and follow me there, and you’ll get a mix of readings plus bobcats. And silliness.

So a few pictures here of Glenn and I posing with various cherry trees, proving that the spring really did come to the Pacific Northwest this week, even if it didn’t feel very springy today or yesterday. Photo evidence!

And here’s the Ring video at 5 AM with snow and bobcat:

A Pic from BOA: Me with Jennifer Q. Stark (whose Buffalo Girls is debuting in April!)

Video and Pic from BOA’s Offsite Reading at Seattle Library with Jennifer Q. Stark

One thing I didn’t have evidence for from AWP in the last two posts was the offsite reading. But now I do! It really happened and everything! The team at BOA Editions sent me this pic they snapped at our AWP offsite reading at Seattle Library, and Glenn found the video on his phone he took of the reading. It’s four poems from Flare, Corona, with a rather unpracticed intro, probably not my finest reading—I was tired, so I had breathing difficulties, and the light was really low so it was hard to read the pages, but it was my very first reading for the book! Looking forward to having more practice, rest and better lighting at the next couple readings! Thanks for watching.

Here’s the link to the reading on YouTube, reading “This is the Darkest Timeline,” “Irradiate,” “Calamity,” “When I Thought I Was Dying It Was Easy.” You can get a signed copy of the book from the link above or pre-order from BOA Editions. I can’t believe the first couple of Flare, Corona book launch events are only a month away – and I found out I’ll be doing a talk at a Writer’s Digest event soon too (details to come!) I better get fully recovered form AWP in a hurry! Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered the book, ordered it from me, or bought it at AWP – I appreciate the support and hope you love the book!

Still Processing/Recovering from AWP (with Pictures), Spring Begins, Beginning to Read through my AWP stack, an In-Depth Review from Flare, Corona

First cherry blossoms

Spring (Finally) Appears, and Still Recovering/Processing AWP

Spring has finally decided to peep through the clouds, as today was the first day here over 60 and the first cherry blossoms, along with jonquils, camellias, and viburnum. Today I watched a bald eagle circle lazily overhead in my yard in a blue sky, and it felt like a reward for the crappy weather we’ve had the last few months.

Three days after AWP, I got a head injury that landed me in the hospital (concussions and MS do not play well together), so I am literally and figuratively still in recovery, but I was able to get out in the sunshine a bit today, plant a few flowers. I’ve been trading e-mails, got a few rejections and acceptances, but generally feel behind. I’m very lucky to not have caught anything (knock on wood), although I was very nervous about catching covid (or pneumonia or strep or something) at AWP. I am so happy I met so many new people and saw so many old friends. Connection is really important to me – even though it’s hard at three-day conferences with 9000 people to really make those real connections with people – but I do my best.

Charlotte with AWP swag pile

I’ve also started reading through my AWP stack of lit mags and books, although not as fast as I hoped (head injury really slowed down my reading, but I did use audio books). So far, I really enjoyed Dana Levin’s essay on divination and poetry in the latest issue of American Poetry Review, listened to Sabrina Orah Mark’s book of fairy-tale theme memoir/essays, Happily, and sent two submissions to journals that asked for them at AWP.

Below are a few pics other people took of me on the last day at AWP: on the publicity panel, with Kelli Russell Agodon at the close of the bookfair, and January O’Neil’s shot of me signing after my disability panel.  I’m still processing everything, but it’s been so nice to be in communication with people who enjoyed the panels or my books or just meeting at AWP. If I found AWP personally enriching, it was also literally enriching to the city: there was an article in Seattle Times about how AWP brought in a whopping 15 million dollars to Seattle, mostly to bookstores, hotels, and bars in the “creative economy:” How the AWP writers conference in Seattle generated an estimated $15M | The Seattle Times

Pink Camellias

An In-Depth Review of a Poem from Flare, Corona, and Planning for a “Book Tour” both IRL and Virtual

Flare, Corona isn’t officially out until May (although you can get it here and you could get it at AWP), but here is a sensitive, in-depth reading of one of the poems from the book by Brian Spears from his new Substack series, Another Poem to Love.

Feeling Like a Writer Again, and Part of a Community But Also, Overwhelmed: Conferences Are Tough and What I Learned – AWP Seattle 2023 Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Day 1: Ready for AWP (?)

Big AWP Post: Feeling Like a Writer Again, Community and What I Learned from Going to Seattle AWP

I’m home from AWP and recovering, eating breakfast, and uploading photos. So, was it worth it to try to go? I had been in a pretty tight pandemic bubble for the last three years, so it was certainly a change! 9000 people attended! I saw lots of friends, both local and cross country, but I don’t think I got to say hi to half the people I wanted to! I definitely overscheduled—which I usually don’t do, but I’ve never had all my panels accepted before, and then had a new book come out at exactly the same time as AWP in my own town, so figured I had to go for it.

There were risks involved, and the conference center was under construction which made wheelchair access to the building problematic—roads were closed off, wheelchair drop-off places were blocked by construction vans. Before the event I felt very insecure about my identity as a writer and being older and yes, I walk with a cane or wheelchair. But after the first day, I felt like I was part of a community, I felt like a writer again, and I felt much less insecure. People I didn’t know came up to me to tell me about different books and how they loved them. People were enthusiastic about the panels I was on. It felt wonderful connecting with friends.

First day at the bookfair, at Two Sylvias table, with Kelli and Annette (the editors and publishers)

Day 1: A Book Signing, The Bookfair, an Offsite Reading, and System Overload

The first day, Glenn had already registered for us and got our badges the day before and we’d checked into the hotel virtually, so getting to AWP was pretty seamless. We went directly to the bookfair to say hi to people before my book signing for Flare, Corona at the BOA Editions booth. It was great to run into people at the bookfair and meeting new people. I got to talk to the editor of APR, who I don’t think I’d met before, and lots of kind literary editors who had published my work over the years.

The book signing itself went well, but what was surprising was that people didn’t just buy Flare, Corona, they brought 16-year-old copies of my older books and told me how the different books has changed their lives. I was pretty surprised and moved.  The team at BOA was really wonderful and supportive, and Glenn had made swag for me—buttons and magnets. I had to rush to the offsite without eating, showering, or resting, and the reading went an hour overtime. There was a terrible inaccessible stage (riser?) and very low light, which made it challenging. It was my first time really reading from the new book, so it was good practice, and there were lots of people in the audience, but: challenging. I tried to hang out with a friend at the bar and it was so crowded and noisy, again challenging.

Things I Learned Day 1: Here were a couple of things I learned: you never know how people and where and when they will connect with your work. Moon City Press sold out of Field Guide to the End of the World, which came out in 2016! And people I ran int0—even pretty good friends—were surprised Flare, Corona was out and available at AWP, even though I felt like I had posted too many times about it on social media (Insta, Twitter, and Facebook) and of course here on the web site. So even if you feel like you’re oversharing, even people who like you and your work probably haven’t seen anything about it. I also sold about a dozen books out-of-hand at bars, the hotel lobby, and just walking place to place—I was lucky Glenn had thought to stash a couple of copies in our bag, so he had them to sell. AWP is a strange place to sell books, because you’re just as likely to sell them sitting at a crowded bar as doing your official readings. This was also my hardest day physically: all my MS symptoms acted up and I was dizzy, breathless, unsteady, and with tremors! Just the overload of noise, light, unexpected hugs (good, but new to me since I’d been bubbling for a while) I think overwhelmed my system. And that was with a lot of prep.

With writer/artist Killian Czuba at Open Books, my happy place

Day 2 at AWP: Meetup at Open Books, Spending Time with Friends Intentionally, and Missing Friends

I took a different approach on the second day: I set up specific friend dates, some of them away from AWP. I started out meeting with Killian Czuba at one of my Seattle happy places, Open Books, the poetry-only bookstore (and very accessible!). We caught up and shopped and then went to a Japanese tea house until they closed down. Then it was back to AWP to meet with speculative writer and friend Lesley Wheeler (we ditched the bar and visited in my hotel room! Racy!), where we were able to provide snacks and a quieter milieu. Then, I raced from there to a fancy dinner I was invited to because (I think) of the featured panelist thing, and luckily, I knew a couple of people there (I was afraid I wouldn’t know anyone and would stand awkwardly around introducing myself to intimidating people), but I couldn’t eat any of the food, food allergies LOL. They did deliver me a carefully wrapped slice of gluten-free bread, which was touching, but I think most of the food would have been deadly (i.e. full of wheat).

What I Learned Day 2: Scheduling intentional offsite time was a win. Wonderful and calming way to catch up with old friends, which is as important to me as selling books at AWP. However, being in individual sessions and no wondering around the bookfair meant lots of friends tried to find me and couldn’t. So next time, I might schedule booth time ahead of time at my other publishers like Two Sylvias or Moon City, so people who want to find you can find you. This was probably my best day physical symptom-wise, though—less noise and crowds, more specific one-on-one talking, and the dinner wasn’t too strenuous.

Funny pic Glenn took: at the close of the bookfair I sat down at a random empty table to sign books, and this was the sign on the table. LOL.

Day 3 at AWP: The Featured Panel Mutant, Monster, Misfit Myself and Back-to-Back Signing and Panel on Publicity and Saying Goodbye at the Bookfair

This is the day I remember the least, probably, as I had to get up early, race to the first panel—the big, featured panel with Sandra Beasley, Rosebud Ben-Oni, and myself, with Jenn Givhan and Paul Guest attending virtually. There were more people than I expected, and things went smoothly. Hearing the stories of the wonderful writers on the panel was so moving and funny and yes, that terrible word, inspiring. A lot of us were talking publicly about our various illnesses and disabilities for the first time, and I got a lot of positive feedback afterwards. Then I stopped briefly to sign books, wheelchaired (late) all the way across two floors and endless square feet to get to my back-to-back panel on publicity, which was really fun. Everyone on the panel was more “professional” than me—there was an indie publicist, a former Graywolf Publicist and Wave Books’ current publicist (who I would have liked to have had coffee with if I didn’t have to race off again) and the lovely moderator. There were a ton of people cramped into a smaller room (the first panel had plenty of seating in the big ballroom) and the audience was really engaged. It was lovely to hear publicly from the moderator and audience members who said PR for Poets had really helped them and they loved it. Once again, sold books unexpectedly at the end of the panel. The panels went smoothly (as in, I didn’t trip or fall or curse too much or pass out, pretty much all my fears). (Folks who paid to attend the AWP conference should be able to re-watch the stream of the big panel here!)

Then I headed to the bookstore to touch base with all of my publishers who were there, grab some books that were practically being given away, and sign more books and say hi to people I didn’t get to see the first two days. This was also pretty exhausting, but we stayed ’til they closed it down a 5pm. I was glad I did though, because I sold more books, saw more wonderful writer friends, and made plans with lots of people.

What I Learned from Day 3: Probably best not to have panels back-to-back across the conference center, but what I really learned was: I really value the people I was on the panel with and felt honored to spend time with them and wished I could have stayed longer to visit with everyone. Also, I wasn’t a total disaster in my first in-person public speaking engagements in a really long time. Talking about things like disability and publicity—admittedly sometimes difficult subjects—is tremendously important, and people want to talk about those things more. Good to know. So, yes, I learned I need to pace myself, use sunglasses if there are too many lights in your face to dampen down neuro-stress, spend time with people you love as much as possible, and be brave. A note about masks: it turns out, no one can hear me with my KN95 mask on, I overheated in it, and my asthma/MS breathing problems acted up with it. I did wear a mask most of the conference but took it off to do public speaking, close speaking with friends, and for pictures. I have not tested positive for covid yet, but I know it was a risk with that many people from that many places. It was the first time I had had a hard time wearing a mask (except maybe for hospital ER visits during the pandemic, when I was having MS symptoms). Recovering this morning, I am glad I went. I had a wonderful time connecting with people, I was very proud of my new book, and I felt less insecure about my looks, age, disability, and calling myself a writer. It really is the community that is important. A friend of mine said “This is our church,” and I knew exactly what she meant. Signing-off now to go back to sleep! Time change messes up our sleep patterns, which were tough anyway. I hope this post was helpful to you and you felt like you were there yourself. Sending love and light out to you my readers!