Monthly Archives: June 2010

Friday Wrap-Up

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We made it to Friday! I see a lot of rain on the horizon (right when I have to make plans for a trip of course!) but I’ll welcome it after the over 100 degree weather.

Even so I managed to submit a few things this week as well as finishing up some pending assignments. A few new starts. It is a few kind of week. Feel free to report in here as a way to recap your week in writing and/or seeking publication.

  • Submitted: 2, both – interestingly enough (for me at least) – were requests to send material so we shall see if they are accepted
  • Accepted: 1 non-fiction piece
  • Rejected: 1

The results of a previous acceptance are up in the form of my short story Bound in Metazen.

Dropped off paperwork and picked up textbooks for teaching Expository Writing in the Fall. Looking forward to finally getting into a classroom on the best terms! I wanted two classes so I could get my feet wet. If this works out well then I can start adding other classes and/or looking for full time opportunities but I could do a whole other blog/rant about how much work is involved in making an academic career even at the community college level as I am pursuing.

Hope everyone had a great week and that they’ll have an even better weekend :)

Wednesday Link-Up

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Regular readers of this blog will know I first consider myself to be a poet but I also LOVE non-fiction. I wish I was taking this class that Melanie Faith is teaching online this summer. I have worked with Melanie on my own poetry and non-fiction so this class comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me. Starts June 25th and you can still sign up!

Now, moving on to fiction even though I’ve probably been saying too much about PANK magazine lately so I am limiting myself to one link in this post. Enjoy.

I have a few shameless shout outs for myself. First, is a review of Paper House in the online journal Prick of the Spindle. And then Folded Word put up a new interview about my book touring habits. But, finally, I also have a guest blog that I wrote about Poetry and Comics for another online journal Splinter Generation.

In print I finished the chapbook CASA MARINA by Candace Black.  This 2009 Winner of the Ropewalk chapbook prize is the perfect example of what a chapbook should be. It is printed on beautiful paper with a simple cover art and design. The poems inside link well together without being heavy handed.  One of my favorite poems was “The Jewish Cemetery” where Black writes, “The dead end of our longing / made it all the sweeter, the sad / / knowledge of one commandment / we’d have to honor.”

If you don’t already have enough to read. I read some more good stuff this week through my lovely blog reader which is now down into the 80′s YES! First up is a story over at Girls with Insurance and this next one is a poem in JUKED. I really need to get around to submitting something to Juked.

Outside of reading, I have been watching some TV at night but not my normal TV. No, we are enjoying the switch to Netflix streaming and disks and the move away from having a dish. Still haven’t canceled the dish yet but think we are very close to doing so. I finished the first season of WEEDS which was pretty good and have enjoyed documentaries like “What Would Jesus Buy?” but less enjoyed “Princess” a Danish animated film that is for mature audiences only and was ok but I felt the ending was a bit odd. I also tried to watch “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” because I like Jim from The Office but, like the book of the same title, I was underwhelmed. I finished the book but did not finish the movie.

I was getting fairly caught up on reading and watching things but just received a bunch of items for potential review and all the new stuff in my Netflix queue! I might soon need a vacation from anything involving words :)

Re-reading Books

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For my summer reading, I decided to continue with my normal stacks of book piles but with one twist: no more dedicated pile to graphic novels. Why? Well 1- I tend to read them quickly so if they are in a stack by themselves I have to buy a lot of books (I’m now putting graphic novels with fiction) 2-I was having a hard time finding a lot of good ones that I wanted to read 3- I wanted to start re-reading some of my favorite books.

When I was a kid, I always re-read books that I loved. Variety of reasons for that which include: kids books are short, I had a limited supply of books and resources to get more (no spending money and we weren’t too close to the library although my Mom still tried to take us every few weeks, not including the glorious summer of the bookmobile..digression…).

The older I became, the less I re-read books. As I had access to better libraries and the occasional 5 spot from a babysitting job, I wanted to seek out something I had not read before even though I was still known to do what my mother would: she’d read the first page of a book, remember the plot and then just sort of skim here and there over her favorite parts before reading the end again.

I wanted to go back to re-visit some of the books that had an effect on me, enough so that I have kept them on my bookshelves instead of giving them away or trading them in. The first one I decided to re-read was “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert because I’m going to be reading her second memoir “Committed” very soon.

I first read EPL in late 2006 at a time in my life when I was waiting to hear if I had gotten into the only MFA program to which I had applied, I had only recently started writing again and had my first piece accepted for publication in 7 years, I was working in a job I no longer enjoyed and I was struggling to try and get myself into shape.

The first time I read the book I was drawn to the author being at an emotional crossroads regarding her life as a wife and her realization that she doesn’t want to be a mother. I could relate to this and I was drawn into the India section of the book in particular because I wondered what it would be like to escape into meditation. The Italy section scared me because I couldn’t imagine abandoning myself into food, except I did that whenever I came off of a diet …

Reading the book again almost 4 years later I am still struggling with my weight but I’m much happier. I got into the MFA and I finished it. I’ve sense had two chapbooks and a full length collection published as well as some fiction and non-fiction. So what struck me about the book reading it this time?

This time I found myself more in love with Italy and/or really any parts where the senses are activated by the sights, sounds and tastes of a place. I was drawn more to the travel aspects of the book. Perhaps because I am so happy now and at home most of the time, the wanderlust is in me again and I want that freedom to escape into a place I have never been. I have also been trying to experiment with eating only when I am hungry and normally with just what I want (within reason). I haven’t found much movement on the scale or in my shape but I think there is something growing in me that wants to fight harder to be a fit person the next time I travel.

Do you find the time to re-read books that you love? Love to hear your stories about that. Right now I am re-reading a very old copy of “The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and loving it all over again.

W-S Shout Out

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On Saturday, June 19th I had the pleasure of reading poetry with Helen Losse at Barnhill Books in Winston-Salem, NC. I was feeling a bit under the weather but managed to stay for almost 2 hours because everyone had such great questions and were such great listeners.

I’ve never spent a lot of time in Winston-Salem, not even when I was an undergrad 30 minutes away in Greensboro but I like the look of the downtown area. It reminds me of a mini-Charlotte with condos that even look like they were built by the same builder.

Barnhills is tucked just off of 4th St near some cute cafes and antique stores. They have a great selection of books and wine. They also strongly support writers and small presses. They had one of the best set ups I’ve read in at a bookstore during my touring year.

After the reading, I went back to Greensboro where my in-laws still live and where I had dropped of my husband. We had a way too big dinner and just spent some time together. Glad I had someone to drive back to Charlotte cause I was tired. I finally started to feel better late on Sunday and soon after we finally found a couch (we’ve been looking for months!)

So, definitely stop by Barnhill if you are in the Winston-Salem area. Winston it isn’t just Wachovia and Cigarettes :)

Friday Wrap-Up

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Friday is a time to assess the rest of the week. I focus on how my writing habits went and whether or not I sent work out in publication attempts but feel free to report in on your own writing or anything else you kind of chart on a weekly basis.

  • Submitted: 3-1 set of poems, 1 flash fiction piece, 1 essay
  • Accepted: 2- 2 different online journals took poems for future publication
  • Rejected: 2-one was an assumed because it had been over 6 months.

After pulling this last “assumed” from December 2009, I realize I only have one item still out from 2009 so soon I’ll be able to report in on how 2009 went, meaning what percentage of work that I submitted was actually accepted. I don’t count by individual poem, I count by magazines I send to.

I’ve been writing something new (could be poem, story or essay) each day this week but I’m struggling with some revisions on more fundamental writing: a guest blog, a book review, final paperwork for my PT teaching job in the fall. The less creative parts of writing but ones that are still equally important. I’ll get them done though!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has good plans for this weekend. I’ll be at Barnhill Books in Winston-Salem with Helen Losse at 2 on Saturday. The schedule says 2-5 but come early!