Books Like Fields of Flowers: Manuscript News

Good news on multiple manuscript fronts! I completed These Terrible Sacraments and sent the book off to my editor earlier this week. For that book, now I just wait to see what recommendations he has for reordering or recasting some pieces, but I think it's pretty close. I'll be consulting with Peter Hammarberg, the same genius who helped create the cover for God in my Throat: The Lilith Poems. I'll be excited to hear his ideas for the cover art.

These Terrible Sacraments is a collection of poems that stems from the stories my brother has told me from his time as a US Marine in Afghanistan & Iraq. I am very, very excited about this collection coming into print, and I very much hope that it does justice to our folks in uniform, and those they leave behind as they serve.

The Gonesongs manuscript was actually completed, combed over by my editor, and re-ordered before my May move to Chattanooga, so that manuscript is already bagged. I have cover art planned for this one already, so she should prove simple, despite being the book that will come out later. The bulk of this manuscript is poems of experience - family, growing up, losing loved ones, love and love lost. It is essentially my MFA creative thesis with a great deal of work added to it to flesh it out. A lot of work went into this one, by a number of different people, and I'm proud that all of that effort will find a home in print.

Both These Terrible Sacraments and Gonesongs are forthcoming from Bellowing Ark Press. If you haven't subscribed to their mag, read any of their books, or (if you're a writer) submitted work to Robert Ward there, I highly recommend them. I am, of course, biased, since I've received a great deal of personal attention and encouragement from them.

Regular readers of my blog (or my twitter, friendfeed, or facebook streams) may remember mention of another manuscript, The Green of Breakable Things. After a bit of revision, she is now titled The Kentucky Vein. Salt Publishing in the UK asked for the whole manuscript after a query, which I was excited about, but have since been silent. Punkin House press sent a positive reply when I cut it down to a chapbook and submitted it, and we are currently discussing turning it into a poetry and CNF essay genre-mixed book. I think this would be a dynamite project, and am waiting on word back. I have high hopes - cross your fingers for me!

Of Publishing and Eye Candy

Happiness is:

an envelope in the mail at the end of the day saying that one of my favorite poems was accepted for publication. "For my Unborn Son" will appear this time next year in Main Street Rag.

an email the day after that envelope in the mail, informing me that another poem has been accepted in another lit mag. "Visiting Cary" will be published in the next issue of Free Verse.

knowing that I'm doing something that will ultimately be good for me, in the form of delicious beefcake. Ahem. What I mean to say is that I bought not just a gym membership, but 12 sessions with a personal trainer. At 2 trainer sessions a week, and 2 weeks that I'll be gone for the MFA residency and then travel for work, that nearly takes me through the summer. Let's set aside the fact that I am paying some nubile young sexyman to scream at me and watch me flap my armfat until I can reach some semblance of fitness. Let's set aside the fact that this boy (he sounded very young on the phone) told me to make certain I eat before the workout tomorrow. (I figure along with caliper-ing my fat rolls, he's also going to measure how fierce my projectile vomit skills are.) Let's also set aside the fact that I feel absolutely ridonkulous going to a gym where I don't know how any of the torturous-looking machines work, and that I obviously look out of place in a building simply teeming with young blonde fit things, and hunky no-neck manthings. We can even set aside how pathetic it is that I have to pay someone to tell me what to do, since I'm more likely to exercise if it's structured as homework (with the supervisory training sessions like pop-quizzes with the teacher over my shoulder).

Hm. While we were overlooking all of that stuff, I forgot what we were supposed ot be looking at.

Anyway, I have 2 pairs of jeans that I could wear when I was at my most seriously ill, when I had a fab bod. (Not skinny-skinny - I've never gotten to the point that you can see my ribs. But hot woman fabulous.) Before I go to bed tonight, I will be hanging those jeans - and the killer-neckline top - on my bedroom door. And maybe (since there are two pairs) over the fridge.

I have the willpower to do (and enjoy) my job. I have the willpower to grind away at poetry manuscripts until I can't see. I have the willpower to pursue graduate work until my eyeballs want to bleed before reading more literature, and my hands want to fall off from the typing. So why is it so goddamned hard for me to step away from the burgers/ice cream/whatever? I find that most annoying.

Anyway. Yes. Publishing. Yee-haw. And with any luck, feeling better about my bod in just 2 short months. And by short, I mean hellaciously long and painful. But with eyecandy. Who will be screaming at me and cleaning my barf from his shoes, but eyecandy nonetheless.

Random Thoughts from the Poetess

A collection of random thoughts for your perusal:

I painted my toes for the first time this season and am breaking in new sandals, which has resulted in blisters on the tops of my feet. This is likely caused by the fact that my feet are spoiled by Danskos. *sigh* At least my ruby-tipped toes are cute. The color, by OPI nail lacquers, is "I'm Not Really A Waitress." Heh.

On the non-creative writing front, I'm trying to bang out a chapter titled "The Haves and the Have-Nots: Class, Race, Gender, Access to Computers and Academic Success" for a forthcoming book edited by Vib Bowman and Robert Lackie of the library and education world. I am excited about this for a number of reasons - first, um, it's a book chapter. A book with an ISBN. W00T! Looks good for tenure, and the book, which the editors have titled The Myths, Realities, and Practicalities of Working with Gen M: A Handbook for Educators and Librarians, is actually something I'm interested in - education and media literacy issues for Gen M kids. It's integrally related to my day job as a reference and instruction librarian. Plus, the publishing credit is something I can use in my bid for tenure, whereas my creative writing, not so much.

I am also kicking around a few ideas for books. Not that I have the time to write a scholarly-type book in my current state of OMGWTFBBQDEADLINES!!1!!!1!!eleven!!, but it is something I want to do eventually, so I'm considering what sort of topics would capture my interest for long enough to write an entire book. So far, I've got:

The "G" Spot: How Academic Librarians Affect Graduation Rates and Student Retention

Hey, I'd read that. It also might not be a bad start for a dissertation topic, given that I'm eyeballing starting the EdD program once I complete my MFA (November 2009) and MA (expected 2010). Best to have an interesting and useful academic library related topic.

I came into the office today to work on this book chapter, and haven't been able to rein in my brain to buckle down and do it. I have a sketch of the abstract, which is due to the editors Wednesday, so I do believe I'll be back in tomorrow to tackle it.

What is on my brain is this Lilith collection. (My brain has been usefully parsed into two parts: dayjob librarian work brain, and night-time and weekend creative writing brain. Apparently weekend brain is jealous of its space and wants little to do with librarian writing.) While reading my articles to form this book chapter, I was struck by the sudden desire to write in negative space and see if it turned into something compelling. I like it, but am sending it over to my trusty experimental fiction dude Drew, who is quite the poet himself and has some serious sense when it comes to revision suggestions. He's getting MFA-ed in May, so if you're hiring, you should contact him. Anyway, back to topic, Lilith on the brain, trying to keep it interesting, working in negative space from the starting thought of "I was never tempted by an apple." (That's not how it appears in the poem, but that's where the idea-seed came from - is it possible to write about not-something, and keep readers fascinated by all of the possibilities it leaves open? I think so, if it's done well, but it's a hell of a challenge.)

Also: more from me on the multiple-personality split of creative vs. not-creative writing. I hate to call it "uncreative" (and even "not-creative" is sort of insulting), and I don't want to call it "professional" writing, since a paid poet is a professional. I'll let this one marinate a bit and post on it soon.

Random: does it freak anyone else out that Firefox's spell-check suggestion for my mis-typed version of "something" is "thigbone's"? I mean, I wasn't really that far off, and it didn't look anything like "thighbone's"...

descant Acceptance!

I check my mailbox everyday with a combination of trepidation and excitement. I know, given my knowledge of statistics (shaky and old, but there) that if I get an envelope back from a publisher, it is likely a rejection, mostly because most of my acceptance notes have come via email. But yesterday I received a letter - via post - from descant, accepting my poem "If I Had Been Born Your Son." Thrilled does not even begin to cover it. descant only publishes one issue per year. The editor's letter said that out of over 4000 submissions, they print about 40. Which means that my piece made it into the 1% they chose to publish this go-round. (The one formula I remember is "is/of=%/100." Ms. Edelstein, my high school math teacher, would be proud!) Please excuse me while I get naked and do my happy dance.

*dances*

Ahem. Anyway, back to checking the mail. Editor Kuhne of descant has single-handedly made checking my mail more fun, now that I know that my SASEs can hold acceptances and not just rejections. Thank you, kind sir, for your good taste!

Now, if you all will excuse, me, I need to send "thankss but no thanks" notes to the publishers of a few other journals where I simultaneously submitted that piece. *grin* Nothing like letting people know you're popular. I do wonder if letting them know of an acceptance elsewhere makes your manuscript more valuable to them...

Submission Queen

In addition to submitting my chapbooks Carving Your Name and Summers in BayShore for the Black Lawrence Press chapbook competitions, I've also submitted Carving Your Name to Finishing Line Press. Feeling spunky, in a moment of pique, I put together my full manuscript and shipped it off to the Tupelo/CrazyHorse first book competition as well as to New Sins. This about blows my budget, so that'll have to do for now, competition-wise. I just built a humongous spreadsheet of full-length manuscript competitions...now I need to go back and start listing all of the chapbook competitions. It's a nice way to keep track of approaching deadlines, not to mention the fees. There's no possible way I can enter everything, and the name of the press as well as the fees dictate when and where I send my work. (For instance, I don't know much about New Sins, other than that it was free, and I liked the chapbook they put out last year. Good enough for me.)

Right now I've got submissions in at over 25 journals, and have been bitten by the writing bug, so I may not wait the entire two months before sending out more. I even gathered up my nerve and submitted some sonnets to a new sonnets-only journal. (I figure that rejection won't hurt as much as some of the others, since I do not consider myself a sonnetteer, by any means. My goal is to write sonnets that nobody notices the rhyme scheme in - I despise end rhyme, though I know a number of poets who have done it well.)

And tonight I'll be working on my newest project, which will be a collection in the voice of Lilith. You know Lilith - not the one from Frasier. Adam's first wife, who was also made of earth, and refused to submit to him? Actually, one of the legends (from The Alphabet of Ben Sira, which I cannot get an English copy of, sine apparently the only 3 copies are in Europe) states that Lilith was a complete badass who demanded equality, and wanted to be on top. When Adam told her she was lesser and that *she* should be in the inferior position, she had the chutzpah to say God's Name and fly away instead of being subjected to the feeble missionary-style sexing of the first misogynist. C'mon, y'all. Hers is a voice that deserves its own collection, don't you think?

Working the Manuscript

Instead of doing actual work this weekend, after a long week and fulfilling my semester requirements for both the MFA and the MA programs, I decided to put in a bit of time on my full-length manuscript, which is taking shape quite well. I'm having a tough time finding a thread that runs through the pieces - I rarely write on one theme exclusively (I'd bore myself to tears), though I have discovered that seasons and place (mostly Kentucky and Long Island) get mentioned quite often.

As of right now, I am tentatively titling the collection "A Stranger in Tornado Country." I don't know why, but I like the ring of it, and I like the poem it comes from, so for now, that's the winner. I hate sending things off half-cocked, and there's nothing worse than a collection with a lackluster title, especially with all the volumes of poetry being written. I don't want editors and judges bored before they get past the table of contents.

I've culled the collection to only polished pieces, and pieces I'm very fond of. Right now that puts me at fifty, with my new poem "Summer Sings," though there are about five or six I may take out because they're weak and/or obviously don't fit the rest of the tone of the collection. For instance, I happen to be in love with my new poem "Love Letter from a White Woman," but it's jarringly different in both tone and style, and relies more on rhythm than most of my other pieces do. I want it to be as strong as possible, but I also don't want to wait until the end of the MFA program (November 2009) to start submitting the manuscript.

My goal is to submit the full length manuscript to at least 4 competitions this year, as well as to some open reading periods at places like Tupelo Press, where the editor sends a handwritten note and critique for their open reading period. For poets, a full length manuscript is generally between 48 and 100 pages. Chapbook competitions are markedly shorter than that, requesting manuscripts of about 16 to 30 pages (and often shorter than that). There are tons of competitions, but it gets rather expensive after awhile, since most are about $20 a pop, with the full length competitions running closer to $25. Then again, I need to remember to ask if I can write those off...

My next daunting task, after writing a few more pieces that will round out the manuscript, will be to figure out what order they should be in. I haven't found a decent software program to do this (I've heard Scrivener is great, but I don't work on a Mac), so I'm seriously considering doing it with index cards and a giant corkboard. Any other ideas or suggestions are, as always, welcome and encouraged.

Does anyone have much experience putting together a successful poetry manuscript? What say ye?

More Acceptances!

"Disobedience" has been published in volume 5, issue 1 of kaleidowhirl, and is available for public consumption and critique here. Now that it's out I can see a hundred revisions I'd like to make, but I did consider it a personal success, since I rarely like to work in a rhyme scheme.

Quiddity Literary Journal has accepted two poems, "Wavewalk" and "Flagrant" for their inaugural print issue coming out this spring, and I am ecstatic to have placed two pieces in a single publication.

Appalachian Heritage, another print journal, has accepted my poem "Dinner for One," which will appear in the Spring 2008 issue. I'm tickled to place a piece in a Kentucky-based journal, since I spent so many years in the state and still consider it home.

Most of my other submissions have been rejected, though there are a handful I'm still waiting to hear from. It's past time I sent out another spate of submissions, but I've been too exhausted lately, and busy keeping caught up on MFA work. Librarian-type stuff has been keeping me quite busy, and I've got the Meacham Writers' Conference this weekend, but perhaps next weekend I can dedicate solely to writing and sending out submissions. I'm actually quite proud of some of my more recent pieces, and am hoping to place them in good journals.

Anyway, that's the good news for now. I've been so tired that my happy dance has worn off, but when I stop to remember these, I still smile. Yay, publishing! Now, who wants to make me an offer for my chapbooks?

Acceptances Galore: A Day of Hearts, Flowers, and Goodwill Towards Editors

Because we, as writers, generally spend our time moping over our mountains of rejections, which I will eventually fall into in this blog, I'm sure, I'd like to take this chance to celebrate a few weeks that have gone really well. My work is being picked up like hotcakes. Which I've never purchased or eaten, but I hear that if your stuff sells like them, it means you're doing well. So, hotcakes it is.

I've had two essays accepted for an anthology, Milestones for American Women: Our Defining Passages. Rumor has it that Knopf may pick it up to publish it, which would be a wonderful coup. That, and the former ALA president is slated to write the afterword. Librarians unite in your bookery! I don't think my prose is as well-formed as my poetry, but I am sincerely flattered that the editors were kind enough to offer some revisions and kind words.

I've been notified that though the Winter 2008 issue of the online journal kaleidowhirl has been slightly delayed, it will indeed be out sometime soon, and my piece "Disobedience" will be published shortly.

Ruminate Magazine will be publishing my poem "Refrigerator Borealis" in its next issue with the theme of 'addiction.'

Upon returning from work this afternoon, I checked my gmail account (which I do compulsively, for all those who care to toss em a line), and was thrilled to find that the editors of Quiddity literary journal want not one, but two of my poems for their inaugural issue for spring 2008. No contract or anything definitive beyond that email yet, so it's not set in stone, but goodness willing, "Flagrant" and "Wavewalk" will soon have a home in an honest-to-goodness university-published print literary journal. Since to date I've been accepted only in online journals and one faith-based print mag, this is a huge occurrence for me, book-snob librarian that I am. (Not that I don't appreciate the online works - I very much do, and appreciate the access they provide. But print is one step closer to my coveted ISBN!)

I'd like to send a warm thanks to all of those editors (who have also received my profuse thanks via email) for their kind words and support. We all know how down we get upon receipt of the form letter rejections in our hastily scrawled SASEs, and I've received a number of those back over the past few weeks as well. But the successes really do outshine the failures, and even one placement gives me the courage to send out a new batch of pieces I am very attached to, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Thank you to all of the kind editors out there - you make writing more fulfilling because you are willing to slog through the mountains of work you receive. Thank you to the subscribers that keep journals in the black (or close to it) so that we can continue to not only get published as writers, but also read our contemporaries' work. And thank you, Lovely Readers, without whom our work would float into the atmosphere, having never been discussed or appreciated.

Yep, I'm in a total Kumbaya mood. A total "let's kiss and hug and all vote for Obama" mood. (At least, I hear that's what happiness feels like.) If I was a supervisor, this would very much be the day that you wanted to ask for a raise. Alas, I hold no such pecuniary powers. You all will have to settle for knowing that I am sending general goodwill vibes into the ether, and wishing you much luck with your own writing.