Polishing up the CV and looking to the future

So, I realized I hadn’t updated my CV in a little while, and I’ve now officially quit working for National as a poetry instructor, so I’m looking to new vistas and possiblities! Looking into teaching positions at low-residency MFA programs, querying agents about memoirs – I’m entering new territory! Nerve-wracking, but good! And it helps me shake off the cobwebs, take a look at what I’ve been doing and what I want to be doing, and how to close the gap.

Updating the CV always makes me remember that even when it doesn’t feel like I’ve been very productive, there have actually been a lot of activities: readings, publications, reviews, etc. Which is reassuring. You always celebrate a little when you remember: oh, right, I did publish in that awesome journal I’d totally forgotten about. I did do x thing I’m really proud of. Good to keep records.

I’m also considering re-opening my poetry manuscript editing services just for the summer, even though the web site says I’m not taking any new clients right now. So if you have something and you’ve been wanting me to read it, now is the time to let me know! I actually have energy and enthusiasm right now, so jump! (Email me at jeannine.gailey at live dot com if you’re interested.)

Saw the movie Maleficent, which I loved. I thought the script was creative – I didn’t neccessarily see everything coming, the special effects were beautiful, and Angelina Jolie was wonderful in it – a lot of “eye-acting.” Movie studios, take note: when you have 1. a female lead, and 2. the story is about a heroine (or villainess)’s journey, instead of just about the heroine finding true love or whatever – guess what, you make more money!  So I hope this leads to more woman-centric stories in Hollywood. We do like to see movies, after all, we just don’t neccessarily want to see the same movies 14-year-old boys want to see. That’s the second movie I’ve seen in the theatres (though both were matinees) in the last month! Crazy! I notice that movies are very good at transporting me away from current stress and help me relax enought to see the big picture.

Then I came home, read a few pages of a book I’ll be reviewing soon (Matthea Harvey’s If the Tabloids are True What Are You?) and wrote two new poems, one of which I liked a lot. So relaxing = more creativity? My mother-in-law looks to be recovering as well as can be hoped and my little brother is hopefully going to be in Seattle soon, both of which are good developments (though the anxiety dreams continue…)