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New poem published!

It’s been a strange phenomena over the past week or so that I’ve been feeling rather vulnerable. In a way, this feeling could be directly correlated to how much I’ve been putting myself out there lately, submitting more work, trying to participate more with the local writing community, attending open mics and readings, and being more socially active in general. The higher I hold my head, the more I leave my throat exposed, unprotected. It’s an act of trust — someone could come along and sink their teeth in, but I’m trusting that they won’t and that I’ll be strong enough if they do. It’s unsettling, but I also feel it’s a necessary part of my personal growth right now — not to withdraw, not to retreat, at least not all the way and not completely.

What I’m Reading

I’m loving The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which is filled with such pretty writing and is a loving tribute to Virginia Woolf and her book Mrs. Dalloway.

I’m almost finished with Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman, and I’m just trying to think about how I want to review it.

My Short Story Month challenge petered off at Day 21 (and thus 21 stories). I may try to read the final

What I’m Writing

Most of my writing over the past week involved completing a poem that turned out to be much longer than I expected it to be. But I finished it and submitted it and the universe is good.

Published! Two publication announcements this week. My new poem, “Sacred Ways” is up at Then and If, which is a great lit journal with a cool concept — each published poem is written in response to a previous poem. Mine is in response to Helen Losse’s “After a Mid-December Wedding.”

And as previously noted, “Eve and Pandora” has been published by Nonbinary Review.

Rejected! Three of my poems have been rejected by Poetry Magazine, which just means I’ll be resubmitting this week.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers.

Linky Goodness

The Mechanics of Preventing Procrastination shows how thinking in terms of days instead of years helps you stop procrastinating.

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Amazing poets reading words

I attended two awesome lit events last week. On Wednesday, I visited a friend’s college classroom with Lorenz Dumuk, where we read poetry and listened to the students read poetry. It was awesome to see a younger generation take an interest. 

On Thursday, I attended friend Allie Marini Batts’ chapbook release party. She read from Before Fire: Divorce Poems and Pictures from the Center of the Universe, as well as some new works. It was no surprise to me that she was awesome. 

Joining Allie on the stage, were a handful of other amazing poets — B. Deep, Cassandra Dallett, Daphne Gottlieb, Joshua Merchant, and Jaz Sufi — each one with their own powerful and unique voice. 

 

Allie Marini Batts reading at the Octopus Literary Salon.
 
 
Me and the awesome.
 

What I’m Reading

I’m focusing on Don Quixote (in the midst of my short story reading) and am hoping to finish it by the end of the month. Part II is dragging a lot more than the first half did for me, so it feels like hard work at the moment.

Also still reading Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman.

What I’m Writing

Ummmmm…. yeah… so…

I need to come up with a new routine that involves me going to a coffee shop or library in order to get actual work done, because as soon as I get home after work I slip into relaxation mode. This week’s plan is to bring my laptop to work on Tuesday and Thursday for just that purpose.

Goal(s) for this week: Finish off poem inspired by the Arabian Nights for submission to Nonbinary Review. Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Poets! Hearing poets read, both newbies in the classroom and professionals at the Octopus Literary Salon, had me reaching for my pen, wanting to scribble words onto the page. At one point, I even got so distracted in writing that I missed my metro stop and ended far from where I intended to go.

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Saw Avengers: Age of Ultron over the weekend. My little geek girl heart was mostly pleased. The movie had a lot going on with a multitude of new characters in addition to a multitude of old ones, which made things a bit messy. But this in no way took away from the fun for me and it was good to see the characters I love back again. 

I have mixed feeling’s about how Black Widow is portrayed in Age of Ultron. One the one hand I agree with some that it’s nice to see some humanity brought to her character and on the other I agree with others who feel it could have been handled better. 

At any rate, though it wasn’t my favorite Marvel movie, but I had a good time.

What I’m Reading

I’m a little wary to be starting in on Patrick Ness’ final installment of the Chaos Walking trilogy, Monsters of Men, because I’m not sure I’m ready to have my feels put through a meat grinder, but here I go.

Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman get more witty and fun and interesting with every poem I read.

More slow and steady progress on Don Quixote.

What I’m Writing

Ummmmm…. yeah… so…

I need to come up with a new routine that involves me going to a coffee shop or library in order to get actual work done, because as soon as I get home after work I slip into relaxation mode. This week’s plan is to bring my laptop to work on Tuesday and Thursday for just that purpose.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers. Gather together/edit poem drafts and submit to lit journals.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’m trying to meditate in the evening before I go to bed. Just 5-10 minutes of quiet breathing. I’m finding that after the few times I’ve done it, I sleep better and wake up more refreshed. So, it’s a good thing for me to keep up.

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Up, up, and away!

My weekend involved a recovery period, hanging out with friends, eating good healthy food (mostly), and resting when needed. The resting bit involved sleeping for twelve hours Saturday night. Astounding since I haven’t slept past 10 a.m. since high school. I guess my body needed the rest.

I’m feeling more energized going into this week…. We’ll see if it lasts.

What I’m Reading

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka UgreÅ¡ić is not what I was expecting, not that I really knew what to expect. But being based on folklore, I guess I was looking for something a little more of that kind of feel rather than the this-is-real-life tone I’ve gotten so far. It’s still interesting, though, in how it looks at older women and how society perceives them.

I’ve started reading Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman. I saw her read at Writers with Drinks one night and the poems are just as fun and witty as her performance.

More slow and steady progress on Don Quixote.

What I’m Writing

Up, up, and away! I knuckled under and sent out a chapbook of poems to Paper Nautilus last night, biting my knuckles the whole time and pretending I wasn’t nervous, not at all.

(eeeeeeeeeeee!)

No. Not really. No.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit the chapbook to a few more publishers. Gather together poem drafts and submit to lit journals.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Last week I mentioned starting a new eating plan and so far it’s been going great. I’m not torn apart from cravings and am actually feeling drawn to fresh veggies. I feel cleaner. I don’t know how else to describe it. Since my sister has dropped out of the plan, I’m easing up on my restrictions a hair by letting myself have a splash of milk in my coffee, because mmmmm, coffeeeeee.

As I’ve cut out the added sugar and grains, I’m looking into what I can cut out in other areas to be more focused on the things I want to accomplish. Two of the main things that come to mind are TV and my iPad video games — both of which either need to go entirely or limited to an hour or so. Cutting out the TV is the hardest, since my roommate likes to have it on as background noise; that’s fine, I just need to put headphones on and listen to music while I write or retreat into my bedroom for quiet time.

Linky Goodness

In Fallacy: The Primer for Surprise, Lancelot Schaubert talks about how mystery and any writers are able to surprise their readers, noting that it comes not from withholding information, but forcing the reader to the wrong conclusions. A very interesting concept that has me thinking about how I approach my own storytelling.

Also:

If someone tells you singular ‘they’ is wrong, please do tell them to get stuffed,  by Tom Chivers, who writes, “Actually, “their” has commonly been used as a singular possessive for rather longer than either Allan or I have been alive.”

Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write — an interesting and we-are-awesome post for writers.

 

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Hey, it's Monday!

Another lovely weekend as the Bay Area warms up into summer (though kinda wish we had a few more stormy weekends before we totally dry out).

Saturday was spent in a crazy cocoon of baby love, as my mom and I babysat my niece and nephew. We got to take them to the park, push them on the swings, and see them laugh in delight at just running around and playing.

Sunday I met up with friends Lise and Allie at the Village House of Books in Los Gatos, where S.G. Browne was holding a meet and greet. I came away with a signed copy of Less Than Hero, which I can’t wait to read.

Afterward I was delighted to walk around with my buddies and introduce them to my favorite indulgence, Icing on the Cake — just about the best bakery in the world. We sat out on the curb, enjoying our cupcake treats and watching the passersby. Such joy.

What I’m Reading

The Ask and the Answer, the second book in Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, is kicking me right in the feels. I can’t really talk about it without spoiling The Knife of Never Letting Go. I’m almost to the end and have ordered the third book, Monsters of Men, from the library already, since I’m expecting another cliffhanger here.

I’m also in the middle of wingless, scorched & beautiful, a poetry chapbook by Allie Marini Batts, which I’m hoping to post a review of later this week.

I stalled out a bit on Don Quixote but have started up again.

What I’m Writing

I’ve pulled one of the poems from the chapbook (maybe). I keep going back and forth on it, since I’m not sure it’s ready (so pulling it is probably the best option — maybe).

In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of publishers to send my chapbook out to (thanks to some advice from Allie). I’ll be sending it out just as soon as I bring myself to finalize the collection.

Goal(s) for this week: Submit chapbook. Gather together poem drafts I’ve written from internet and the universe and organize them in my computer.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’ve started in on a modified version of Whole 30 today, which is to say that I’m trying to stick to veggies and proteins with some fruits. So, primarily no added sugar, no dairy, no grains, no legumes (although I’m still eating premade salads that do not follow the rules for lunches, because it’s what I’m capable of right now and I have a couple of cookies I plan to eat this week instead of throw out). This modified version may lead to me trying the strict version, though we’ll see.

I’m finding this inspiring, because for a long while I stopped cooking other than throwing some frozen food item into an oven. This making me think differently and more creatively about the foods I eat and reminding me of yummie things I’ve forgotten about — like avocados and asparagus and brussel sprouts and other foods I haven’t been eating because I haven’t been cooking.

This process has me thinking about how I can find new ways to approach my writing life.

Linky Goodness

In Living Out Loud, Lise Quintana presents great reasons as to why writers should participate in reading their work out loud at events. Solid reasons all.