A Root Canal Birthday Week, Work on My Upcoming Book, and Talking about Timing and Poetry Submissions

Red-Winged Blackbird, Singing

Dreary Root Canal Birthday Week, Working on My Next Book and Timing in the Poetry World

So, on my birthday, I developed a dental abscess and a fever, and after frantic calls to the dentist I got some antibiotics and an appointment for a root canal, only my third. Please remember I cannot have Novocain, Advil, anything in the morphine family, or aspirin, because of allergic reactions (Novocain, morphine family) or bleeding complications (Advil and aspirin). So, Tylenol it was. The only positive was that I was three pounds thinner on my birthday than usual, because I couldn’t eat much, LOL!

So, on top of this, it was a double-root root canal, which was a fairly painful experience, and I had a mutation in the tooth that made it look fractured (but it wasn’t, thank goodness). I’ve been recovering slowly this week, and the weather – gray, fifteen degrees colder than normal, and rainy – has not encouraged cheerful thoughts.

Goldfinch in cherry tree

And did I mention that the Supreme Court had a leak that they were going to overtone Roe v. Wade – a precedent set in my birthday year, 1973? (Happy Mother’s Day, BTW – which was originally a feminist anti-war holiday created by a childless woman, Anna Jarvis, as a protest – was co-opted by the government, look it up – and guess what, the government gets to decide if you are a mother or not now! This is why it’s so important for women to vote for their own best interests – there are always people (ahem, mostly men) who feel it’s their business to take away our choices.)

So, it was hard to get going this week. On the plus side, this blog post will feature some beautiful shots of birds and flowers, who continued to dazzle even in the cold rain of May. And I had a wonderful stack of reading material to enjoy as I recovered.

Bi-color lilacs

Work Starting on my Upcoming Book: Flare, Corona

One thing that took my mind off of the abscess/root canal business was that my author questionnaire for BOA was due on my birthday, and then the finished draft of my manuscript of Flare, Corona was turned in a half-hour before my root canal a few days later. (I knew I wouldn’t be up to much the rest of that day, because they give me some anesthesia – Versed – for the root canal that doesn’t take away pain but does make your memories fuzzy and makes you very sleepy the rest of the 24-hour period. Also keeps you from flinching as much when they’re trying to drill your teeth.)

I’d been working on the book since its acceptance, so there wasn’t much left to do: shifted some poems around, updated the acknowledgements, added a couple of newer poems, and had my mom proofread for obvious grammar/spelling issues, and sent it off to my editor at BOA. Now I just have to wait for edits – exciting! You may think: “Jeannine, isn’t it awfully early to be thinking about your book which is slated for release in spring/summer 23?” But no, it’s really not! My next steps include finding good cover art and starting to collect blurbs!

Pileated Woodpecker in Flight

Timing, Literary Magazines Under Pressure, and Poetry Submissions

I thought I’d talk a little here about timing and poetry submissions. This has been a tough time for many literary publishers during the pandemic – many large and small closing for good, many others under pressure and understaffed. I have been submitting poetry on and off since I was 19, so I have experienced a lot of strange things as far as timing of responses, but this last two and a half years have maybe been the worst in terms of timing that I’ve ever experienced. I received a rejection – on my birthday, no less – from a top-tier lit mag after a year and three months. A day later, I received an acceptance from another journal after a full two years. So, if you are newer to the poetry game, or you only submit a couple of times a year, and you are experiencing weirdly long and erratic response times, that is part of the new normal. My suspicion is the volunteer army that helps lit mags run has been impacted by the pandemic more than most. So, what I’m saying is, don’t stress out if it has been a while and all you’ve heard is crickets. It’s the pandemic, it’s not you.

Closeup of pink crabapple blossoms

This is also a good time to see, if you have a little extra money even with all the inflation going on, if you can help support your favorite lit mags with a donation or a subscription. It was just National Poetry Month, but I bet most places didn’t get the usual business they expected. And let’s be extra kind to each other when we can – not stressing over weird rejection language (that’s been a thing on Twitter) or even weird acceptance language – and remember we’ve all been in a really hard place for the last two years. Bookstores and book sellers, publishers, editors, and literary magazine staff – this has not been an easier time for them than it has been for writers and artists. So yes, also a good time to order a book directly from an author or publisher, or some art from your favorite artist whose art shows – usually the main way to sell art is through galleries – may have been postponed or cancelled the last few years. Artists and writers are struggling too. What I’m saying is, let’s show a little support, kindness and patience for each other.

Three Poems in Laurel Review, Birthday Visit to Open Books, Last April Flowers, and Welcome to May

Late Cherry Blossom Bower

Welcome to May! Birthdays and Magic…

It’s a two blog-post week! Well, this week we said goodbye to National Poetry Month and welcomed (a hopefully warmer, sunnier) May.  It was a Black/Lilith Moon last night (very witchy,) a partial solar eclipse for my birthday, and we’re supposed to have a meteor shower this upcoming week. We also celebrated my 49th (!) birthday, and this weekend we had our share of fun and stress – from a dental emergency (going in tomorrow, thanks) and a beloved 20-year immunologist retiring, to an overnight trip to local hotel Willows Lodge and a trip to the new location of Open Books, the all-poetry bookstore. After a month that felt like it was full of mostly rejections, a bouquet of poems appeared on my birthday week – including three in the Laurel Review.

Laurel Review cover art

Poems in the Laurel Review

I’m so happy to have three poems in The Laurel Review, which is full of wonderful work, including poems by Martha Silano and Mary Biddinger (see my review of her latest book in the last post). So check out the whole issue.

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the poems, “Hello I Am the Four Horsemen:”

Glenn and I in the Willows Lodge Garden

Birthday Celebration: Willows Lodge, Gardens, and Visit to Open Books

Since it’s still pandemic-ish, no birthday party this year, but Glenn organized a surprise overnight trip to Willows Lodge, and we also strolled around Woodinville’s beautiful gardens in blooms. See? There’s not just wine, there are beautiful gardens connected to a lot of those wineries. I usually have black forest cake (gluten free, but always my favorite) for my birthday, but Glenn made black forest cheesecake instead – and it was amazing. Where he gets fresh cherries this time of year – it’s magic!

This was also the day I found out my 20-year-immunologist – whose care has probably saved my life countless times when I was having unexplained anaphylaxis – is retiring. I also had a minor dental emergency (helped by my kind dentist giving me a call and antibiotics – I’m seeing him tomorrow!) And I’m prepping for a thyroid ultrasound to check out something there. So a little stress along with the fun. Isn’t that always the way.

Me in front of the new location of Open Books

Open Books Birthday

It’s a tradition for me to visit Open Books on my birthday, and I was able to celebrate this tradition again this year. It was wonderful to say hi in person and browse through a ton of new poetry books. It has a very different feel than the Wallingford location but it was a separate location for classes and has a very old-Seattle feel. I got a first edition of Carolyn Kizer’s Knock Upon Silence and new books by Victoria Chang, Rae Armentrout and Daisy Fried as well as a few poets as yet unknown to me, as well as an Open Books Tote bag (so cute! and remember AWP Seattle is coming up soon!)

Open Books Haul, plus a few lit mags

So poetry, flowers, and black forest cheesecake: a good birthday, despite the medical and dental stressors. I am wishing you a wonderful – and hopefully, warm and sunny – May!

New Poem in Jet Fuel Review; Reading Report: Mary Biddinger, and Sun, Spring and Apple Blossoms Pre-Birthday

Jet Fuel Review cover art by Karyna McGlynn

New Poem in Jet Fuel Review Spring Issue

It’s almost my birthday, and all of the sudden, poems everywhere! So happy to have a new poem, “In a Plague Year, I Find Foxes” in the new Spring 2022 issue of Jet Fuel Review. I’m especially happy to be in the issue because there are also poems by friends like Martha Silano and Leah Umansky and the cover art is by poet/artist Karyna McGlynn. A sneak peek of the poem below, but go read the whole issue:

Some sunshine in Kirkland

Apple Blossoms, Sunshine

We were lucky enough to have a few sunbreaks this last week, which we tried to take advantage of, gardening, watching the unfolding of spring flowers. We took a long walk one afternoon along Lake Washington in Kirkland. I saw a heron cross our horizon from the bedroom window one day, and an immature eagle the next.

I am so proud of the trees I planted during the pandemic; two of these new trees, a late-blooming pink cherry and a Pink Lady apple tree, are doing particularly well. I thought I’d post some apple blossom pictures to cheer you up. Nothing screams “spring is really here” – despite some colder days and rain – like apple blossoms. And the loud robin overpowering the other birds with his song.

Sylvia poses in an Easter basket with Department of Elegy

Reading Report: Mary Biddinger’s Department of Elegy

I wanted to do a quick reading report on Mary Biddinger’s newest book from Black Lawrence Press, Department of Elegy, a wonderfully nostalgic/anti-nostalgic, goth, reminiscence on a Gen-X childhood and young adulthood punctuated by midwestern vacant lot landscapes and marvelously bad decisions. I am loving it – it might be my favorite book of hers yet, so if you are on the fence, get it.

And just to punctuate this, here are some of my favorite lines from the book, from the poem “Bitch Wire:”

“Like many, I poured my best years into

a springform pan, but they were stupid years.”

I laughed out loud at this, and since I also spent a lot of my teen/young adult years making good and bad decisions in the Midwest, I felt like this book was something I could really identify with. Also, once again, kick-ass cover art.

National Poetry Month, MRIs and Upcoming Birthdays and Publications, and Signs of Spring

Happy goldfinch

Happy Last Week of National Poetry Month

Hope you had a wonderful celebration last weekend – we got to have dinner with two out-of-town nephews plus my little brother and his wife, and we got to take our nephews to wine and whiskey tastings, so it was a lot of fun.

And it’s the last week of National Poetry Month. What are you doing to celebrate? Buying literary magazine subscriptions and poetry books? I’ve been trying – somewhat shakily – to write a poem a day, and catch up on my poetry reading and buying. I attended a virtual reading of Kelli Russell Agodon’s, which was fun. I also have a birthday coming up the last day of April and a publication in Jet Fuel Review (I’ll put a link up when it’s up!)

Me, post-MRI with late cherry blossoms

MRIs and Things

Unfortunately, the Monday after our celebratory Easter weekend, I was due for a long-postponed brain and spine scan. I always feel a little wonky after brain MRIs – sinus infection? magnetic allergies? – and so I was a little down and out this last week. I also found out some good news (no new brain or spine lesions) but also a little bad news – a thyroid node pressing on my jugular vein and carotid artery I need to have an ultrasound on, and terrible degenerative disc disease in the neck, which I guess is why my neck hurts all the time – as well as a pinched nerve. That’s how it always is, right? As we get older – a little good news – my MS hasn’t gotten any worse – with a little bad news – age related arthritis in the neck, something I need further testing on the thyroid (which, let’s face it, my thyroid has been wonky since I was a teen.) The funniest part of the test was the front desk person, as she was handing me my MRI on disc, said to me “Your hair is the same color as the cherry blossoms – you have to take a picture with them!” So I did.

Early Lilacs

Signs of Spring – Finally!

It’s been a very gloomy cold April so far, so having a few nice days here in the last week of so of April has been really nice. We saw some early lilacs, the last cherry blossoms are falling, and the trees are starting to have leaves again. We haven’t seen our baby rabbits or baby geese yet, but we did see our first goldfinch (see above) and another beautiful pair of Wood Ducks! I also took a picture of the fox statue hiding in Redmond with some blooming rhodies.

Anyway, I hope to spend the rest of April doing more cheerful things (in between doctor’s appointments, naturally) like enjoying some poetry (I just got Mary Biddinger’s new book, Department of Elegy, and Lesley Wheeler’s book of essays on poetry, Poetry’s Possible Worlds), getting out in nature when it’s nice. Remember it’s a good time to support poets, publishers, lit mags and indie bookstores that you love – so if you have a little money, maybe put it towards some poetry! I know they could all use it after the past couple of years.

Anyway, happy April and happy rest-of-National Poetry Month to you!

Advice for the New(ish) Writer (Plus Pictures of Birds and Flowers, Because Spring)

Eastery/Springy art by Dewi Plass

Advice for New(ish) Writers

Haven’t written a post like this in a while. Wishing you a wonderful Easter, Passover, Ramadan, or Eostre, or just a happy spring. I always write a poem around Easter for some reason; the fact that it’s a time of rebirth, resurrection, first flowers, and maybe because it’s my birthday month.  I had a great holiday weekend entertaining my nephews but now I am ready for some downtime. In between advice to new(ish) writers, there will be pictures of ospreys and cherry blossoms

1. Being a writer requires a team. Find your team.

You hear a lot about writers being introverts, about writers being loners, about creation requiring solitude.

Osprey in Kirkland

And those things can be true. But being a writer long-term requires a support team, whether that’s your family, your spouse, your writing group, fellow students from your writing program, your next-door neighbor, or someone who you’ve only corresponded with and never met in person. Because whether you’re down and dealing with rejection, or elated and dealing with some long-awaited success, you want someone one your side, to keep you from being driven to the extreme highs and lows that are involved in being a writer long-term. After reading a heck of a lot of diaries, letters, and accounts of successful women writers, I notice one thing: to succeed, it took more than just one woman alone – it took other people to champion, to encourage, to promote, to keep them going. Even Emily Dickinson – held up as the solitary genius icon – had multiple women (along with her brother and the editor of the Atlantic – who rejected her work 90 times while she was alive, so mixed feelings?) – who cared about carrying on her legacy after she died.

Closeup on late cherry blossoms

2. Feed your Creativity.

Whatever this means to you – time in nature, time around visual art, music, or reading books completely unrelated to what you’re writing. Take a class; go to a writer’s conference or festival. Keep your brain alert to messages from the universe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been inspired by things I wouldn’t have thought at the time were important – a song lyric, an episode of a television show, a scientific concept, a bad sci-fi plot, a painting I glimpsed for a minute in a window of an art gallery. I know this has been hard during the pandemic. And spend time with people who inspire you and make your brain race (see above.)

3. Be persistent.

I am old enough to have seen lots of terrific writers fail not because they were not talented but because they stopped writing or stopped sending out their writing. They got discouraged. They got interested in something else. They got busy or had other priorities. That’s not the end of the world. But just when you think you’re at the end of your ability to tolerate rejection or discouragement, that’s when you’ll win the prize or get the acceptance that will keep you going. Again, this is why having teammates to cheer you on – it’s just as important in writing as it is in basketball. We all need a little encouragement to keep doing anything hard for the long term. The first acceptance or first book are great – but you will need to keep writing after those things. Writing is as much a practice as a sport – and hitting those foul shots in the NBA is not an accident – it’s because those players have practiced foul shots for hours, for years, in front of their audience and in front of their homes. Keep practicing your writing, trying new forms, and hang around with people who are also excited about writing.

Multiple cherry branches

4. Curiosity and Kindness Count

Stay curious – it will continue to pay off. Learn a new language, or a new instrument, read new literary journals and poets you’ve never heard of. Read fiction and non-fiction on subjects you don’t really know anything about.  Education? Travel? Close examination of the natural world? Yes! The point is, never stop being curious about your world – that is what will drive your writing long term.

Be kind when you can be. Volunteer with younger writers; review someone’s book; do someone a favor who can’t do you a favor back. There can be a lot of competition and not enough kindness in the art world, the poetry world, the work world in general. Believe me, your small and large acts of kindness will reverberate more than you know. A note to someone to say what their work meant to you – or how much you loved their class in eighth grade – or thank them for support during a hard time – that sort of thing matters.

Tulips and narcissus

5. Last Notes: Answering Questions

Do you need an MFA? Do you need to attend AWP every year? Do you need to do a nation-wide reading tour? Do you need to be on Twitter 24/7?

Volunteering for a literary magazine or publisher would probably help give you more perspective on publishing in literary magazines, and help you see things from the editors’ points of view. As someone who has an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, and after interviewing many writer friends who do and do not have MFAs, I can confidently say: going to an MFA program may connect you with lifelong friends or mentors, or give you publishing opportunities, but it may not – so the best way to decide if you want an MFA is to decide if you want to dedicate the time and money to your writing, because that’s the only guaranteed thing you get from any MFA program. I would say all writer’s conferences and festivals are more than anything an opportunity to make friends – friends that might last your whole writing life. The same with a reading tour – it’s an opportunity to connect with others, but it’s not the only way. Social media, like AWP, isn’t a necessity, but can be seen as just another way to connect, and believe it or not, be kind. Doing a few book reviews 1. help you read more carefully and 2. show you how much work people are putting in when they write your book reviews as well as 3. help you connect with the larger literary community.

The reality is, you don’t need an MFA or to go to AWP to be a writer. A good writer’s group can be better than a traditional MFA program. You have to decide what makes you healthy and happy as a writer. So no magic keys – just whatever helps you find your team, engages your creativity, and helps you be curious and kind.

Any more questions I can address? Put them in the comments!