This evening I read a couple of threads in the CatBox about my node/daylogue on having been/being published in several journals and anthologies in January. Some of the posts were positive and some rather negative. I’m glad it gave Everyone2 something to do!
In my culture we do things that might be beneficial to other people... after it was posted, a noder wrote to me saying she wished she could get published, so I read many of her nodes and asked my submissions agent to read them as well, I think she is going to work with her. They both seem very excited at the prospect. I am also helping another very deserving noder to publish a book this year.
I detest the daylogues about things like, "I just broke up with my boyfriend/girlfriend" and then a string of profanity aimed at the dumpor by the dumpee, or the "I just fell off the wagon," nodes and then a plethora of pity-pot stuff. These daylogues are frequently so negative. That's okay too. Journaling is very important when you are in pain. but I also think it's time to breathe positive energy into these nodes. I know they are emotional band-aids, but what did you learn from these experiences?
It's cool that personal opinions were voiced. We are all entitled to our opinions and I read later on in the thread and via email that other’s felt badly about having been negative. I appreciate that too.
I am hoping we are all here to learn from each other and to help each other realise our dreams of being GOOD writers and maybe have a chance at grabbing the brass ring at some point.
So that being said, I think I left off on my last “daylogue” which was really a monthly recap, by saying I hoped the ball would keep rolling.
It seems to be rolling a bit more slowly, idling even, but it is still rolling.
I have been invited to read at the Kick Off for the book of Villanelle’s at The People’s Co-Op Bookstore at 1391 Commercial Drive ~ Vancouver, BC V5L 3X5 Canada. on April 13h. I got them to invite Ellaraine Lockie one of my Quill and Parchment National Poetry Month Tour poets to read with us. She has won over 400 separate poetry awards and published several chap books and a couple of non-fiction books. We’ll each read 3 villanelles from the anthology and then poems from our own publications/collections.
It worked out well because we are in Arlington on the 12th, we drive to BC on the 13th spend the night with fellow Villanelle poet Sandy Shreve, then go to Point Roberts for our reading there on the 14th. I am going to read my own villanelle, For As Long As The River Flows, Sherman Alexie’s Dangerous Astronomy and Sylvia Plath’s Mad Girl’s Love Song. This is the first time my poetry has been published in a hard bound book...that’s kind of exciting. All the other anthologies, journals and magazines have soft covers. So I feel as if I am moving up in the world as a writer.
On April 4th my band of poets The Quill and Parchment Poets has been booked into Match Coffee and Wine Bar in Duval , WA. It is a nice venue, comfortable seating in easy chairs, they have a good well priced menu. I featured there last summer. The honoraria is generous and is paid by the Arts Council. I‘ll be joining featured poets Lisa Wible from Portland and Jane Alwynn from WA and mary Eliza Crane from WA and Woodstock, NY. Mary and I feature together frequently enough, that when i see her, I look her desd in the eye and say, "Stalker"! We joke about it.
April 12 ~7pm ~ fogdog gallery ~ 233 Olympic Avenue, Arlington, Washington, 98223. w/ The Quill & Parchment Poets.
On the 19th of April I am at the Black Dog Wine Bar In Snoqualamie, WA. with Peggy Barnett. My new booking agent got that one for me. I am looking for a few local poets to co feature with me. Since they are giving us own own night separate from the usual open mic venue.
On the 21st at Marysville Library with Jane Alynn and Peggy Barnett. We are going to do a poetry workshop after the feature. We did one last year and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had a couple of teenagers in attendance, with whom I have kept in touch.
On April 26th we’ll be back at fogdog in Arlington with Chris Jarmic. Chris runs the Park Place Books poetry venue at Park Place Mall, 348 Park Place Centre., Kirkland, WA , as well as the one at Bookworm Exchange, 4860 Rainier Ave S, Seattle. These are both great open mic venues in which to get your feet wet if you are planning on becoming a spoken word poet.
fogdog poetry is an open mic venue in Arlington, which I founded last August. We have had an incredible array of heavily awarded poets featuring there since our opening night. Our host Claire, has just moved her art gallery from the bakery where she was leasing space to a new space across from City Hall and next door to one of the best 4 or 5 star restaurants in the Pacific Northwest, The Bistro San Martin. It is very pricey, but outstanding cuisine ranging from Asian, South American, European and the modern upscale steak houses of Seattle. We meet the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month (except for the 4th Thursday in November) I have booked all the featured poets one year in advance. We’ve had some really heavy hitters!
And I just closed the deal on this one yesterday:
April 28th~ 11am - 12pm Children's Poetry Workshop and then 1:30 -4pm Poetry Reading ~ The Next Chapter Book Store ~ 721 1st Street La Conner, WA 98257-9448. (360) 466-2665 ~ (Saturday) They have not been doing well and I was afraid they might change their name to Chapter 11.
May is also shaping up with an invitation to read on May 6 — 1 p.m. — at the Escondido Municipal Gallery, 262 East Grand Ave., Escondido 92025. Hosted by Robt O’Sullivan Schleith.
I opened an email tonight telling me that my poem Starling, a metered poem. which I wrote in November 2010 when I went to NY for a memorial tribute has been published in the San Gabriel Valley Poets Quarterly #53 and I have been invited to read at the Pasadena Library on Saturday. Oh my gosh that's today! I submitted it in January of this year and forgot all about it. Love it when that happens!
The editors on my cookbook have come up with a lovely, catchy title for the book:
The Brown Hackle Lodge Cookbook:
A Collection of Deliciously Different Recipes from a Leading Pacific Northwest Fly Fishing Retreat.
And the font is really pretty and different.
I have finished another chapter in my book of short stories, This one about a fictive kin whom we called Uncle Lake. I am on to the next story about a stallion our family owned that was stolen and how our boys got revenge on the horse thief. Working title of the book is Spirit Ridge, (named after an area of Seaton Grove which is the place where my great great grandmother was buried, after being murdered by three US Army soldiers in 1882).
I hope if any noders are in any of the cities where we’ll be reading, you’ll consider coming by to say hello, or take advantage of the other open mic venues at your leisure.
OH! And we’ve been invited back on the Craig Ferguson Show on Monday! So maybe I’ll get a chance to plug E2 as was suggested in the KittyLitterBox.
If anyone needs a submissions agent let me know!
Update: Just got another booking. Café Zippy at 2811 Wetmore in Everett, WA wants us on either the 5th or 7th of April. And during my reading here at the Pasadena Library. I picked up a solo feature from Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga at the Bolton Hall Museum for May or June. When will I ever find time to write or node!
Thanks for all the well wishes.