Summer is for Revision, Phone Calls to Catch Up with Writer Friends, and Twitter’s #PoetParty Returns

Sylvia with roses and pink typewriter

Summer Is For Revision

I’ve read that many writers are stressing about not writing as much right now as they think they should (what with still being mostly constrained from fun distractions, like offices, travel, parties, etc. but still in the middle of a poorly controlled pandemic) but for me, summer is a natural time for revision. I don’t write as many poems in the summer, typically (and it also tends to be my worst season for health – unfortunately, this July has proved no exception – I caught a superbug during my root canal AND just got tested for coronavirus as well, because why have just one thing?)

And the long days without many places open for submissions make me anxious to feel like I’m doing something productive (that pernicious word) with my writing. I’ve been keeping in touch with some writer friends across the country by phone (I hate Zoom, FYI) and bringing back the Twitter #PoetParty for a quarantine special this Sunday, the 19th, at 6 PM Pacific. Hopefully, I can help others not feel so discouraged and isolated. (Hey, besides the pandemic, the news had been really rough lately. To ignore everything wrong right now, you’d have to be asleep all the time.) More on that later.

Pink flower-lover vignette with pink typewriter

So besides photographing my cat and flowers with my typewriter, I’ve been spending  hours looking at the drafty drafts of poems I’ve written since January, looking harder at my two book manuscripts in terms of organization and order. It’s been four years since my last book, and I’m getting a little anxious about getting another book into the world, but I do want them to be the best books possible.

I’ve had a couple of writers take a look at my newest manuscript for feedback (which I recommend if you’re feeling stuck and unable to “see” the manuscript anymore), and I was surprised by a couple of things, including that I’d been writing accidental sonnets. Anyway, I also don’t recommend futzing with two books at a time if you can help it. I think the older manuscript is pretty polished, it’s the newer one that still needs some reshaping, but keeping track of both in the same spreadsheet is eye-crossing. I got an encouraging note from a great publisher, but had to really work to track down which manuscript they were responding to! Not good, Jeannine.

Purple phlox and first Swallowtail butterfly of the season

Phone Calls to Catch Up with Writer Friends

So, I try to avoid Zoom – like many neurodivergent people (if you read this blog, you know I have MS), Zoom really messes with my neurons, giving me headaches and leaving me physically wiped out, like I finished a boxing match. So I’ve been using the old-fashioned telephone – that’s right, audience, who I can hear collectively gasping, not text, or Slack – to keep up with far-flung friends.

I think sometimes that if writers talked together more, the writing world would seem less intimidating to navigate, more friendly. I was telling one friend in Virginia that if I could get ten of my female writing friends from all over together at a table to just talk about writing and publishing for an hour or two, it would be better than any book you could could buy. I am lucky to have a lot of great friends, but many of them live far away, and even the ones that live close, I don’t get to see physically very often (especially since the quarantine). So the phone has been a wonderful way to stay connected, check in on folks, and hopefully not just encourage others but simply close the distance between. Blogging is another way to check in on people, but often we aren’t as vulnerable or honest on social media outlets, so phone calls all the way get my vote.

First sunflower

The Twitter #PoetParty is Back, 2020 Style!

So you might remember I used to help moderate something called the #poetparty, which was just a bunch of poets getting together, talking writing, rejection, calls for submission, and sharing good news. I had to stop for a while because I was getting overwhelmed with life stuff, but I think it’s time to bring it back, this time with a positive focus on living as a writer during coronavirus. I also feel like Twitter, versus Facebook, should be the social media I use more, as well as Instagram, where I share pictures and rarely get in a flame war about wearing masks (unlike, say, Facebook). Twitter can be full of hackers and trolls, sure, but it can be a great place to hear literary news and meet new writers who may become real life friends one day.

So, the next Twitter party is July 19th, 6 PM Pacific. Bring questions, complains, good news, calls for submissions. Bring your book recommendations. It lasts for just about an hour and is always a fun time.