Old Circus Ads & Acronyms Galore

Once again, I'm going to disappoint frustrated Google searches by title posts with my favorite searches that bring people to Dear Outer Space. This one kind of makes me want to have a frame old circus ad in my writing room. I'm writing, but I'm not in my writing room. I'm on the couch in the adjacent living room surrounded by the chaos of 10 different projects. Classes, editing, taxes, oh my!

I like being busy. Prefer it, in fact. Especially when I'm not busy, like now. The job search hasn't been that successful in the short term. However, I have good news for the long term.

Before I tell you the good news, here is a helpful guide to all the acronyms in this post.

CPITS - California Poets in the Schools
PoL - Poetry Out Loud
PIO - Poetry Inside Out

the California State Capitol Building, with palm trees

Sunday afternoon I drove north to Sacramento, California's state capitol. Did you know it was north? Because I sure didn't and was very surprised when Google maps told me otherwise. Super easy drive. I was heading to the California Poetry Out Loud Statewide Competition. The first round was on Sunday night and, I have to say, impressed doesn't fully explain my feelings. These 33 high school students were all individually so accomplished. As a whole, they could take over the world with their wide-ranging interests spanning from math to writing to athletics to business to politics to drama and back again.

On Monday morning they were on fire. The second round took place in the state Senate Chambers and most students were visited by their state reps. These kids really brought it on Monday. Sadly, only six were finalists and all were worthy of winning. Gentlemen swept the first and second runners up, as well as the State Champion. I can't wait to see how he does in Washington D.C. I wish I could attend.

While there, I saw friends from around the state, CPITS teachers who coached their county's champion. I also heard a lovely speech by Dana Gioia and almost got to meet Juan Felipe Herrera, California's recently-named Poet Laureate, who was one of the judges.

CA State Senate - talk about an intimidating room!

As things were coming to a close, I was speaking with the CPITS Administrative Coordinator, Tina, saying I'd love to be involved with PoL (which CPITS manages in some counties including San Francisco). She told me she already put me down to be the Poetry Out Loud Coordinator for San Francisco City & County!

*SQUEAL*

This program is funded completely through grants from the NEA and corporate sponsors. I can provide five sessions to a local school completely free of cost to them. Since only one school participated from San Francisco this year, I hope we see at least a 500% increase next year! I've already made a spreadsheet (man, I love those things) of all the area high schools including public, charter, private, religious and independent. There are a TON of schools here. I'm really hoping to form some connections with schools and get kids involved with and passionate about poetry.

So it turns out there is hope for this freelancing thing still. If only the school year wasn't ending already. My work with PIO will finish at the end of May so I'm considering getting a no-brainer summer job, either admin work or retail working at Anthropologie. Might as well get an awesome discount, right?

Literary Roundup! Jake's Rocks Style

This post won't have much to do with Jakes Rocks, except to mention that someone found my blog by searching for "Allegheny National Forest Jakes Rocks," which is pretty cool I think. If you've never been to Jake's Rocks, it's better seen than than described, but I'll give it a go. Basically, it's a trail with really big rocks. Big, huge rocks that you can climb in, up, on, between, alongside, and under along with the beautiful trees and addictive mossy scent of Pennsylvania's forests. I went there as a kid with my family. That was also the first time I saw a wild bear. The second time is a funnier story that I'll save for another time.

Before I get to the roundup, I have something confess. I'm lonely. I've been lonely for a good few months now. I've actually progressed beyond lonely and wandered into forlorn, embracing my solitude in a not-so healthy way and become hermetic, reclusive, and withdrawn (thanks Thesaurus.com).

I've been in San Francisco for a little over eight months and I only feel at home in the apartment. When Sal leaves for work, I get really sad and anxious because he's my best - and only - friend here, at least the only friend I see on a regular basis. He's so supportive. I've told him it will just take time.

I try to make plans with new friends, but most of the time I flake out. Sometimes because this city is just too much. Sometimes because I want to be around people who already know me well. Who I can be a total mess with. Who I don't have to leave the apartment to see. So, if you are a new friend of mine from the San Francisco Bay Area, maybe you'd like to come over and watch a movie with me? My couch is comfy and we have a big television.

Now that I got that out of the way, on to some way cool word-related stuff!

Sweet Lit accepted a poem of mine yesterday, which is awesome. What's also awesome is their chapbook series. Scroll to the bottom and read the descriptions. Love it. Also, last April's issue has a really moving Letter from the Editor.

Kelli Russell Agodon is spearheading the Big Poetry Giveaway 2012. I participated last year and I will this year too. It's really fun and a great way to give someone a book they might never have bought otherwise.

Three book reviews to check out: Full of Crow reviews Karen Lillis' Watch the Doors As They Close, a novella from Spuyten Duyvil; Fiddler Crab reviews Iris Dunkle's Inheritance (Finishing Line Press 2011); The Scrapper Poet, Karen J. Weyant, reviews Amanda Reynolds’ Heinz 56 (Main Street Rag, 2012).

There are SO MANY poems I want to share! I'm just going to link each poet's name, so click click click. You won't be sorry. Onward, linkitivity!

• Robyn Campbell
• Iris Dunkle
• Sally Rosen Kindred
• Dorianne Laux
• Sandy Longhorn
• Catherine Pierce
• Susan Slaviero
• Sarah J. Sloat

The 2011 Best of the Net is up. Check out the whole thing. Worth it.

I want to go to there. Sadly, I cannot. You should though, if you can.

Some interesting ripples caused by the VIDA Count. Good did a byline count for more mainstream publications that are popular with the "millenials," a generation of which I am happily not a part. Michelle Dean shares her two cents over at The Rumpus. That article lead me to this essay by Rebecca Solnit. Both are must-reads.

I went through my bookshelves this week and discovered that I own much fewer books by male poets. I decided to read two books at once, one by a lady-poet and one by a gentle-poet. I'll let you know how it goes.

Finally, I share a great video from this post over at The Storialist, aka Hannah Stephenson. Watch her write a poem in fast-forward. It's kind of revolutionary.

Finishing Line Press News

Sad news. The Senior Editor of Finishing Line Press, Leah Maines, has suffered a stroke. I just saw this update on the FLP Facebook page:

"Finishing Line Press is sad to announce that Leah Maines has now passed the position of sr. editor to Christen Kincaid due to Leah suffering a stroke. If you would like to send Leah a card, etc... please send to Attn: Leah Maines, Finishing Line Press, 452 General John Payne Blvd., Georgetown, KY 40324. Christen Kincaid is now the new sr. editor of FLP and she is an excellent editor."

I don't have any other information about Leah's condition, but I thought it was good to repost this information to be sure people knew about it. I know a lot of poets who have chapbooks with FLP, so please spread the word. It would be nice if Leah got a bunch of cards. She's clearly given so much to the literary community.

Chapbook Rookie: Cover Art Teaser!

After AWP last week, I stayed in Chicago to spend time with my two best friends from high school, Heather and Casandra. Heather has lived in Chicago for the past five years and was preparing to move to Pittsburgh. Casandra came in for the weekend from Portland. She had been in the Peace Corp in South Africa, so neither of us had seen her in two and a half years. It was like we just saw one another yesterday. I love those kinds of friends. I'm lucky to have so many friends like that, ones I can call after months apart and we pick up right where we left off.

What I didn't realize about my decision to stay a couple extra days in Chicago was that it put me in a major crunch to get my chapbook documents to Finishing Line. I had a bunch of things to mail them by March 9th, including the cover art. Eek! 

So I got on the phone with Rose Desiano, my cover artist extraordinaire, leaving her a ridiculously long message about the deadlines. I worked on my end to finish revisions to the manuscript while Rose started revising the cover designs she made a few weeks earlier.  

When we first began, Rose asked me to search free font websites to make a list of fonts that I liked. The idea here was that fonts are a good way to bridge between the written word and visual arts. I loved this idea and happily sought out fonts I thought I'd love to have on my cover. I also told her about some general ideas I had as far as art was concerned. Earthy, movement, braiding, a little dark, messy even. When the first of the covers came back, I was surprised to find that the fonts I liked originally were not working for me anymore, but I loved where Rose began with the design. So I also spent some time in Chicago browsing through fonts again. 

Still in Chicago with my besties. Heather, who was preparing to move, also just had her second child, Sam. Hubby and first child were already in Pittsburgh, so we were there to help as much as hang. I hated being on my computer so much because I just wanted to hold Sam, but I really didn't want anything on my end to be the cause of delay. I revised my manuscript, Casandra helped me take an author photograph, and Rose toiled away over the cover.

we brought a baby to a bar. 

For dinner on Monday the three of us took Sam to a most delicious brew pub where they serve bacon fat popcorn that tastes especially delicious with their wheat beer. While there, Rose was emailing me cover designs and I was reply back on my phone with brief commentary about adjusting this or that. In one email she remarked at her surprise at the level of efficiency via email. About five or six emails and a few designs back and forth and voila! I had a cover. All while enjoying a good Belgian-style beer. And Sam did so well in the restaurant, allowing us ladies to enjoy our night out.

Tuesday in Chicago I'm preparing to leave for the airport when I get an email from Finishing Line with my production schedule. Squee! Pre-orders start May 29th and run until July 13th. My chapbook is set to arrive the week of September 8th, give or take a week or two for unexpected delays. Now I really wanted to get everything to them in time so as not to push this schedule back. 

Finishing Line typically does the design work for their authors, but since I'm a major control freak take-charge kind of lady, I opted to have Rose do the front cover artwork and the design for both the front and back. She had some final questions about what file types FLP needed, so Rose emailed the editor. On Wednesday morning, I wake up ready to print many documents, save many documents to a flash drive, and priority mail all the documents off to Kentucky when Rose forwarded an email she received from FLP. They said if we needed more time it was no problem at all. In fact, we could have all the way until June before they needed the full cover design, most likely since Rose was doing all of it. And if I needed extra time to finish my documents, that was no problem either. They said it would not affect my publication schedule at all.

*sigh*

The moral of this story, my fellow poets, is just ask. The worst that anyone can say is no. Plus, this bought Rose some extra time to really polish the design and me some extra time to make sure the manuscript is just so. This kind of flexibility with cover art and design is part of what makes working with a small press so fulfilling. Also, collaborating with a friend is even more awesome. I'm so glad Rose is making the cover! I admire her work and really love what she's created.

Speaking of the cover, it's done save for some polishing. I can't reveal the whole thing just yet, but I can share a zoomed-in square. Enjoy this little nugget. I'm so excited to reveal the full cover! So soon. Is it September yet? 

Next time on Chapbook Rookie: More Marketing! Marketing Galore! 

Questions, After the 2011 VIDA Count

Does the gender of the readership of a publication affect the gender of its bylines?

Do women primarily read work by women? Do men only read work by men?

What does it mean to write about "women's issues" or "men's issues"?

What about writers who don't identify as male or female? Where is their pie slice?

What if female writers were to gang up and publicly pledge to submit to a publication? Submission bombing, if you will.

What if a submissions system (i.e.: Submittable) collected submitters' demographic data that could later be made available to the editors, perhaps anonymously, after submissions close?

That's what's on my mind. What questions do you have? 

Top 10 Moments of AWP 2012

10. Book Fair: Paper Darts Table!

Seriously, the most fun table I stopped at by far was the Paper Darts table. This is a beautiful print publication. The editors are fun, outgoing, not-pretentious, and they had a puppy! Who can resist a puppy?

9. Not with a Bang, but a Whisper

I only went to three panels, but I learned so much from the poets who shared their thoughts on whispering and poetry and politics. Like many good discussions on poetry, the guidance and knowledge shared can also be excellent advice for living a full life. Here are a few nuggets of wisdom I gleaned:

“The lived life is a political life.” – Dorianne Laux
“Flinching is exactly what we need to do.” – Lia Purpura, on truly looking at and seeing what’s most difficult
“Write whatever haunts you enough to put pen paper.” –Dorianne Laux, on the poet’s authority 

8. Meeting Weave contributors

I met so many wonderful Weave contributors! This is my favorite part of editing: shaking hands (or better yet, hugging!) the brave and generous people who share their work with us. There was a bunch that stopped by the table when I wasn’t there. To those lovely contributors I say, See you in Boston! 

7. Reading for Chatham

Reading at AWP was thrilling. I don’t normally get nervous for a reading; I’m pretty confident in my reading abilities (I always practice). But this one had me shaken because while it was hosted by my alma mater, anyone could wander in. But once I got over myself and saw all the familiar, supportive faces of my former professors and classmates, I chilled. And the reading was so much fun. I made new friends and finally met Carolyn Whelan and was so happy to read with her and the especially lovely Sarah Shotland. Great night.

6. Post-Reading Beer and Milkshake Party

Sometimes things just work out perfectly. My friends Sarah, Jess, Lo, and I all went out for dinner at a diner down the street from the hotel. As we were sitting, we saw Heather McNaugher, our professor and poet extraordinaire, who joined us for dinner and fantastic conversation. There are so many people to see at AWP and I am so grateful I got to enjoy a meal with these exceptional people. I felt like myself again.

5. Gender Interrupted: Poetry of the Alternatively Gendered

There were 10,000 people at AWP this year. With numbers that high, it’s easy to feel the edges of yourself blurring into anonymity. This reading, featuring Stacey Waite, Joy Ladin, Ely Shipley, and Samuel Ace, was one of the best readings I’ve ever attended. The work of these poets is so varied, yet tied together with a common, universal theme: seeking a place, be in geographical or corporeal, where one feels at home. The room changed, the audience breathed, the poets spoke. It was beautiful.

4. Dancing with friends at the Dance

I love dancing, but I often forget it. But once a good song comes on (or even a really terrible one), I feel the rhythm. Gloria Estefan, you said it right: the rhythm is gonna get ya! It did. And I danced and saw old friends and made new ones and had a blast.

3. LGBT Caucus

Much like the Gender Interrupted reading, the LGBT Caucus felt like a slice of home. I often have trouble, for a variety of reasons, publicly embracing my queerness. The largest reason is because of the straight privilege I get from being in a relationship with a man. I pass as straight. But I soon realized that I was in the right room when I witnessed the exchange of thoughtful suggestions, honest concerns, and light-hearted laughter at this caucus. A community was born in that room. I’m so glad I’m a part of it.

2. Meeting Dorianne Laux

Nuff said.

1. Friends. Friends. Friends.

The best part about AWP is always the people. I did my best to not allow myself to blend, but to reach out and strengthen friendships and make new ones. I’m so grateful that my friends made time for me. I’m a lucky person.

AWP Sneak Peek