Tag Archives: links

Link Party

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Would you like to join our link party? I know Mel would. Did you know he has a novella out/coming out? Well let’s start our party with a video:

Then Emma Bolden shows us some photographs of herself doing the work of writing and steps back to remind us why we do this crazy thing called creative writing.

And what about finding narrative in other forms of art? Like music.

Now instead of narrative there is that thing considered “tough” poetry. This new website says they are going to start teaching people how to read and enjoy difficult poetry. I’m intrigued.

From “academic” poetry to an issue of The Nashville Review that was all about celebrity? Yep.

Speaking of awesome things you can find online. Ever google yourself and then page through some of the really old ones? Well my editor J S Graustein did and look what she found! Congrats Jessi!

And from short form to long form. Have you ever thought of writing a novel? I have always wanted to write one but I have a hard time sustaining a long narrative. Here are some tips on how to turn shorter work into longer work.

What, you want to go back to short fiction? Ok here is another short story online.

But, of course, there has to be some poetry. How about with footnotes? From Fed Chappell no less!!

More need for Southern writers? How about a Southern literary magazine that I was not aware of?

How about some truth over at Metazen?

Really good issue of Wild Goose Poetry review is out and this just one of the items to read in it!

As I mentioned in my post yesterday I did an MFA but you certainly don’t have to do an MFA to write or to be a writer etc and this is an interesting post from an MFA instructor (not one I studied with as she is in the fiction section) from the program I attended that thinks about why some people stop writing after the MFA.

Finally, like a party that is winding down, someone tries to start a Conga line to keep it going as they did  in the novel Nothing Happened and Then it Did by Jake Silverstein which I recently read. I gave this a 3 out of 5 on Goodreads and it really should be more like a 3.5. The book plays around with some of the ideas of fact versus fiction in writing but I found the wandering life of the narrator a bit to wandering for me but the book is worth a read, if for nothing else, the scenes where the narrator is at a poetry convention that looks a lot like one of those borderline scam contests you see advertised in the back of magazines :)

Whew! Looks like that is all the pending links I was saving up for you guys! Now to get some poetry typed up soon so I’ll have something to share tomorrow on Poetry Thursday.

Monday Shout Outs

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I didn’t intentionally plan to stop blogging on the weekend but my digital downsizing (thanks for the phrase Jessica!) has really helped my sanity levels a bit so I only blog when I have a topic or the time. Do I have the time today? Not so much but I have the topic.

  • Tuesday the 11th is the monthly Poetry Hickory gathering at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in Hickory, NC. 5 pm is Writer’s Meet up and then the readings begin at 6:30. One of the readers this month will be Scott Owens whose most current collection Paternity I just love. He coordinates the event.
  • Thursday brings my other most frequented event the open mike at Jackson’s Java in Charlotte. 8pm!
  • Saturday is the awards day event for the NCPS in Southern Pines, NC. I am a member but the events always seem to fall on a Saturday when I can not get away and we may have company for part of the weekend so…but I hear it is a great event!
  • What constitutes a great poem? Some terrific tips from Kelli Agdon on her blog about how to tell.
  • And final shout out for Monday is a chapbook I definitely have to suggest you pre-order. Physical Science will be Tara Powell’s first chapbook and it will be released from Finishing Line Press. Pre-orders help determine the press run and besides how could you not want a chapbook by someone who has known me since I was 12? Really? :)

Busy week, as ever, and this morning is already clipping along at too quick of a pace so I’d best head away from the computer really soon so I can tackle more of that IRL stuff.

And maybe actually write something….

Have a great week everybody!

Link Up Saturday

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Paper House received a shout out in Daily s-Press!

Paper House was tweaked a lot while I was an MFA student even though most of the poems were written before I went back to grad school. There is a lot that can be said for workshopping poems. Here is a good discussion by current MFA students on that topic.

After workshopping a poem, or flogging it by myself, I tend to send my work out to literary magazines. It is part of how I revise and seek publication. Roxanne Gay talks a bit about the writing process and rejection in a great interview.

There are many different ways to tell stories. How about through scanned in cartoons of Alien Vs Pooh.

After reading 1/2 of an interview in the online version of Rattle I went out and subscribed. I prefer reading longer works in print. And it has already arrived!

Speaking of literary magazines. I received a comment on this blog about one that is relaunching called Pig in a Poke. They are currently open to submissions.

I have been doing better about reading more online journals. I really liked this non-fiction piece at Prick of the Spindle.

Are you reading and writing poetry for National Poetry Month? If you are one of the many joining in the poem a day challenge there are a lot of great sites with prompts out there but I really like this list from Kelli Agdon.

Ah, us writers and poets and some of us even want to make a living. (cartoon)

And some of us try to discuss it in a more grown-up matter via Read Write Poem.

Or sometimes we discuss issues directly with the item we are trying to write.

None of these make you crazy but the whole process of wanting to be a writer, whether for arts sake or money’s sake (ha) is just too much fun to give up. Fun being complicated with frustration. Of course! Like the poem below.

Here is the poem I pulled from the retired list that I am going to try and work on today. Well probably after my book signing at 1pm. EEK!

–didn’t end up changing this one at all. considering just posting it on ink node for fun :)

Wanted to go ahead and get a blog posted before I got too busy today. Book signing at 1pm and I really need to get up and around. We also need to run some other errands as we have company tomorrow as well. I don’t think I’ll be having weekends much in April as every Saturday I have somewhere to be, poetry related that is!

How’d you like the links? Any comments on poems or links to share of your own? Thanks!

Linking UP

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Thought I’d do some reading links for your Sunday.

First up is probably the best discussions on the continuing anti-education of poetry people. A lot of people are really against the advancement of MFA programs. I try not to get onto my soap box too much but geez people? To each his own. Some MFA, some don’t. Some MFA because they want to study without a plan of being a professor some want to be a professor. I’d be more worried about the number of MBA programs. Where did that get us?

Let’s take a vacation from all that debate. Next up is the current poetry issue of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.  Click by and sit for a spell.

Or, what if you wanted to go a bit more European? You could read Melanie Faith’s essay Sketches of Italia which is a nice quick read of non-fiction and a poem.

For some more excellent reading stop by The Northville Review‘s current issue.  Lots of great pop culture infused stories with my favorite, although hard to be a favorite, probably Roxanne Gay’s piece but to be fair to all the work I’m just linking to the main page.

And to close out, if you can’t embarrass you family once in while then what is life for? My sister started her own little bloggy poo. Ah baby sister’s.

Hope everyone has been having a good weekend. I’m playing a bit of catch up so I need to be off!

Link Up

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I’ve been thinking about making my Monday Shout Outs more of a return to book discussions and instead doing other links on another day of the week. Here is my first try with some great online weekend reading!

In her post, A Thought, Emma Bolden (a poet, teacher and writer of many things) discusses some of my concerns with the whole marketing/selling end of writing.

And speaking of writing, what about all the advise we give out? There are quite a few blogs talking about this right now but my favorite list is over at Erin Fitzgerald’s blog Rarely Likable.

Other writers, even outside of our preferred genre, can give us advise. Alexis Grant over at Aspiring Author really puts up some great interviews with other travel/memoir writers. The interview she presented with Mary Morris recently even mentions reading poets for inspiration on how to write about place.

Speaking of looking to other genres for inspiration, what about looking even outside of your own art form for inspiration and/or a new way to look at creating art. I really liked this article about being a comedy writer and a teacher of the process.

And to take this whole idea of looking at things in a new way, what about a way metaphorical leap into Zen Habits where a guest blogger talks about being a rapid learner (hint, it has to do, at least in part, with developing metaphors to assist with memory – see poetry can help you LEARN!)

Writing, comedy, art etc are all about the act of making. Why not a poem about the need for making?

If we are all into art. Can you afford to buy some once in a while? You can inexpensively pick up an issue of Tipton Poetry Journal. I am in two issues, woo hoo!