Sorry that the quality isn’t spectacular and there’s a bit of a Blair Witch element at the beginning. I’m still learning about my camera and YouTube.
11
Feb
2011
11
Feb
2011
More on Submitting Like a Man
19º ~ in Waterloo, Iowa it is 21º, the kangaroo is not often colder than her parents in the winter, brrrrrrr ~ still, the sun is back today and a promise of 42º for a high, so we’ll take the slow climb out of the freeze
After a great drafting session yesterday afternoon (see previous post), I came to the desk this morning and printed out the new poem but didn’t feel it calling for more attention. So I turned to the two rejections in my inbox: one for the book and one for a group of poems. Sure, I felt the twinge of disappointment but I’m well versed in that by now. I opened up Excel and set to recording the episodes as business transactions.
The poems that were rejected brought to mind this post from a few months ago: Submitting Like a Man. In December, I read a post by Kelli Russell Agodon about women not resubmitting work quickly enough when editors requested more. So, when I received a “good rejection” from a certain journal, I sent another batch of poems quite quickly. Today, the new poems came home with a “rejection” stamp on their foreheads and another note to try again. I’ll wait a few weeks and then follow that advice, although that quiet voice still lurks, whispering “you’re being a pest; you’re going to annoy them; you’re not supposed to submit so often, &etc.”
In trying to silence that voice, I was reminded of the recent conversation spurred on by VIDA’s “Count.” VIDA = Women in the Literary Arts and is a wonderful advocate for women writers all around. They have set to counting the number of women being published and the number of books by women being reviewed compared to those numbers for men.
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| vidaweb.org |
This report came out last week, just at the beginning of AWP and since then, there have been many responses. Two that I think are particularly interesting are in The New Republic and The Southern Review Blog. However, the post over at Her Circle Ezine is awesome, as well.
What seems to be rising to the surface is that men outnumber women in the slush pile and in solicitations. I may be oversimplifying, but it leads me to wonder, why aren’t women writers submitting their work in the same numbers as their male counterparts? (This presumes that there are an equal number of women writing for publication as there are men, and the numbers of women enrolled in writing programs seems to support that presumption.)
I suspect that there is some social programming at work, as we women are trained by society to put others first, every…single…time.
As many of you know, Dear Reader, I am not a mother. This was a choice I made over many years of contemplation and then over several years of discussion with C. Neither one of us has the drive, the deep desire to parent, so this is a good choice for us, and yes, it allows me more time to write and to submit than my fellow women writers who are mothers. Still, I fight the sensation that I’m being selfish when I use my writing time to actually write or submit instead of focusing on my students, my pets, my husband, and my house, which is in a state of perennial disarray.
I also think that there is an economic fact at work. Participating in the business of writing takes money for technology, office supplies, books, conferences, and so much more. If women are trained to put others first in terms of care-taking, we are also trained to put them first economically as well, and there is proof that we have not yet earned salary equity either.
I do hope that these things are changing with a new generation of young women writers coming of age in this new century. Until we know the results of that, I want to encourage, no, to challenge, all of my women writing friends & colleagues to SUBMIT LIKE A MAN! Flood the market with your wonderful work. Send and send and send again. Also, try your hand at writing reviews of women and men alike. Send letters to the editors of your favorite journals either thanking them for the diversity in their pages or pointing out the voices that might be missing. Consider voting with your pocketbook; support journals and presses that show diversity and equity.
In the end, there should be room for us all. In the end, our literature should reflect all of our people, our times, and our concerns. As Whitman says, “[We] contain multitudes.”
10
Feb
2011
Friday Draft: Fourteen Hours Early
30 degrees ~ pure white snow + brilliant sun = blinding light, some melting in direct sunlight, refreezing sure for tonight
Dear Readers, my regular programming is all fouled up in the wake of AWP and two snow days. I did spend the better part of yesterday and this morning catching up on prep work for my online classes. Now, I need to map out unit two of my on campus classes. So glad I didn’t plan the whole semester, given this wild weather ride we’ve been on.
Still, I found myself this afternoon with energy to spare, a rare occurrence on a regular Thursday. I decided to work with one of the poems I started drafting on the plane ride back from AWP. I didn’t write a poem last week b/c I was in DC and I’ve been feeling a little itchy about it. Also, it looks like I’ll have to go in to the office for a few hours tomorrow morning to take care of some business disrupted by snow, and that will knock out my regular drafting time.
It’s still brutally cold here, and my office is one of the colder rooms in the house, so I’m on the sofa with my hot water bottle, two cats, a space heater, and my laptop. All very unusual for drafting. I credit the fact that I did come up with a complete draft to the fact that the lines I jotted down on Sunday had so much energy going for them already. I did in fact title the poem “Cautionary Tale for Girls Caught Up in the Machinery” and it begins:
Once there was a girl who dreamed of tools
Like most of the other Midwestern girl tales I’ve been working on, there are gender issues, parent-child issues, boundary issues, rural issues, and what I hope are some subtle sexual awakening issues. Not to terrify anyone, but the girl in this poem gets “pulled into the belly of that greasy beast” (a tractor) as her transformation moment. What can I say? News of horrifying farm accidents permeated my childhood and young adulthood. Those images do not fade.
09
Feb
2011
Snow Days, Snow Days
24º ~ dim light all day as we’ve been living inside the snow globe, tapering off to flurries now and then it should be over for the time being
No school today and now no school tomorrow. Here’s the reason why.
It’s hard to read, but that’s 6.5 inches and climbing. That might be the grand total from the deck of the kangaroo. That’s certainly enough to shut a town like Little Rock down.
I’ve spent a good portion of the day getting caught up on school work and still have a bit more to do tomorrow, but I’m hoping a return to more normal poetry patterns soon!
07
Feb
2011
AWP Notes and Reflections
34º ~ two inches of snow and still falling, no wind, so beautifully covering each tree branch, down to the smallest, must be some ice/hoarfrost in there too ~ BUT, we are having school, roads are wet and slushy but temps to rise all day, so hopefully no ice
This AWP report may be a bit more quick than I’d like as I have three long days ahead of me at school, putting on our Division’s portion of the Student Success Fair.
~On the plane, read Copper Nickel 15 and loved poems by Natalie Eilbert, Kyle G. Gargan, Traci Brimhall, Josh Robbins, Suzanne Frischkorn, Anna Journey, Ashley Tolivaer, and Susan Grimm. Yep, that means I loved almost every poem in the issue. Go and subscribe to this awesome journal ASAP. The art is awesome too.
~Thursday night, lost luggage, a quick cab ride, and arrival at the Omni. So tired from all the travel delays, I just went to the Omni bar for a burger and sent out an invite to anyone who could find me. Luckily, Josh Robbins was free and joined me for an hour. We talked book strategies and shored up each other’s patience, as we are both waiting for the HAPPY CALL.
~Luggage arrived at midnight, the kindest valet ever brought it to my room.
~Friday morning, began at the bookfair, meeting old friends and finally getting to do a real-time meet with some FB and blogging friends. Many of the pictures from the last two days were taken here. The one major problem with arriving a day late is that I felt rushed everywhere and I didn’t get to see as much of the bookfair as I wanted.
~Friday morning panel: The Houghton-Mifflin reading to honor Michael Colliers as the poetry editor. Here were Andrew Hudgins, Linda Greggerson, Leslie Harrison, Rodney Jones, and Maurice Manning all reading. I have video clips of Rodney and Manning and hope to figure out how to post them soon. Let me just say SPECTACULAR.
~Lunch with my good friend Al Maginnes, who brought along Brett Ralph, who I’m now happy to call my friend as well.
~Friday afternoon, more bookfair time, more shaking hands and getting hugs, more pictures.
~Friday afternoon panel: The Hollins Reading. I went to this to hear Luke Johnson read and also got to hear Jeanne Larson, David Huddle, Madison Smartt Bell, Jill McCorkle and Karen Salyer McElmurray. This was a cool reading as each panelist read one short piece of their own and then read from selections of other graduates of the program. A true retrospective of the past 50 years. I also have a video clip of Luke reading “Poinsettias.” Watch for it in the near future.
~Friday afternoon drinks with Charlotte Pence and Adam Prince, joined by Chelsea Rathburn and Jim May, and a few other folks. Adam and Chelsea were my contemporaries at Arkansas, so it was wonderful to get a chance to catch up. Interestingly enough, they both married spouses who published my poems (Charlotte in Grist and Jim in New South) before we all made the connections.
~Friday evening, Tupelo Press reception at a cute little French restaurant across the street from the hotel. Getting to see Marie Gauthier in person was great after knowing each other so long on blogs and FB, along with all the great readings by Tupelo writers. Lovely end to the day.
***Many people comment on what a big PARTY AWP is. I’d just like to say that that isn’t my AWP. I’m not built for the long nights, even with not drinking anymore. My body & brain reached a point at the Tupelo reception where I knew I had to go back to the hotel and crash. Yes, this is a FUN conference, but it is also IMPORTANT for the writers as we re-connect, meet new folks & new journals/presses, go to panels that provide ideas to bring back to our home institutions, and it provides us support and inspiration for the year. It is a party, but a party with a purpose.
~Saturday morning was bookfair and a chance to meet up with Martha Silano (another blogger friend) to swap books and stories. We bumped into Kathleen Ossip, who is a friend of Martha’s and I was glad to be able to tell Kathleen how much I like her work.
~Saturday morning panel: Outreach for Forming a Literary Community on a Community College Campus. EXCELLENT. I’m filled to the brim with ideas and thank each panelist for what he or she brought to the table. Expect a longer post about this soon, as I’ll be doing a presentation on it back at PTC.
~Saturday Lunch at the bookfair, more handshaking and story-exchanging, more fermenting of links and inspirations.
~Saturday afternoon, meeting with Patrick Hicks. We were supposed to swap books, but I was out of mine. So, I owe Patrick a copy and got to bring home his newest book from Salmon Poetry, This London. Patrick and I are FB friends, and it turns out he graduated one year before me from St. Ben’s/St. John’s. After much conversation, we finally figured out which key ENGL class we had in common (S. Mara’s contemporary lit class… Tim O’Brien!) and we drafted a plan for a proposal to read at CSB/SJU in the next two years or so. It was great to revisit the past in this way and solidify a friendship with a brother Johnnie.
~Saturday afternoon, Diet Cokes with Al Maginnes and guess who should wander by all bleary eyed from just waking from a nap: Brett Ralph. Al and I did some Fayetteville reminiscing, with him telling stories from the 80s and me from the 90s/00s. We have lots of mutual connections. Al is definitely one of my friendly faces, an AWP touchstone.
~Saturday afternoon, another quick trip to the bookfair to check in with Mary Biddinger and run a panel proposal idea by her for AWP 2012. I think Mary should be voted QUEEN OF AWP as she seems to know everyone and be everywhere and run on limitless supplies of energy. And she’s an awesome, generous, and kind person.
~At this point, Dear Readers, I hit another wall and also felt a bit sick, so I had to cancel on the evening plans which included dinner with my Anhinga family. I just couldn’t do it.
~Desperately sad at all the people I didn’t get to see, and there were many, especially Tara Bray and Kristin Berkey-Abbott. Ah well, that’s why they have AWP every year.
~Sunday, VERY early, out to DCA for my flights home. After all the drama of earlier in the week, everything went smoothly Sunday. My cab driver was a wonderful man from Ethiopia who was at the end of his shift, and I think talking to keep himself awake. It turns out he loves poetry. He told me that in his country poets are revered as the most talented writers. You know, fiction and short stories, well…anyone can make up a story, but poets, they have big messages in the fewest words, wrapped in images. WOW. Best cab ride of my life. I was just sad that I didn’t have a copy of Blood Almanac to give him.
~Oh, I did get stopped to have my backpack searched as it was too cluttered for the x-ray machine. My power cords looked a bit suspicious. It was cool to see them swab my electronics and stick the swap in the sniffer machine. All lights went green for good and I was off to my gate. On the way home, I read issue two of Booth, a journal from Butler University and one I plan to read again. Very nicely done. I also managed to draft the beginnings of two poems, one of which is a new Cautionary Tale…this one for “Girls Caught Up in the Machinery.” Lots of good energy there. Woo Hoo.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. I’m off to school early, still making the transition from that other-worldly time & space of AWP back to reality. I SIMPLY CANNOT WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!
07
Feb
2011
More Photos, Practically Non-Verbal
48 degrees ~ dark now, the computer says cloudy skies, but I’m not going out there to check, too tired ~ MORE snow tomorrow morning, although melting fast, but another whopper of system headed our way on Wednesday…I smell another snow day or two
Here are more AWP photos. I was going to try and post, but in trying to comment on a FB status, discovered my ability to think, spell, & type are seriously compromised by post-AWP exhaustion. (And I was only there 2 days instead of the 3!) I do know this: I plan to sleep soundly tonight!
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| Lynne Knight, amazing designer of Blood Almanac, has a new book of her own out! |
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| Simmons Buntin of Terrain.org & Katy Miles of Hawk & Handsaw |
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| Josh Robbins! |
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| Matthew Guenette enjoying the bookfair with Keith Montesano |
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| The Big Board: three days and two hotels worth of events. |
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| January Gill O’Neil, Poet Mom! |
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| Kathleen Ossip (L) & Martha Silano (R) |
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| Book Swap! A wonderful perk at AWP! |
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| Eduardo C. Corral! |
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| Patrick Hicks, CSB/SJU grad ’92…finally figured out we had one ENGL class in common, the most important one! |
06
Feb
2011
Pictures Now, Words Later
38 degrees with fog, a dreary mist all day
Exhaustion wins…here are a FEW of the many photos. The narrative will arrive later. I saw several great panels about creating literary community at a community college, so I’m super psyched to bring those ideas back to my peers. Also, got to catch up with lots and lots of folks within the poetry world.
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| Charlotte & Adam Prince (Adam, fellow U of A grad) |
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| Jim May & Chelsea Rathburn (Chelsea, fellow U of A grad) |
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| Mary Biddinger, wielding her charge machine |
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| Adam Clay, fellow U of A grad, waving off the paparazzi |
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| Jake Adam York, signing Persons Unknown, which promptly sold out! |
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| The great gateway to the bookfair. |
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| Al Maginnes, fellow U of A grad, although before my time |
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| Marie Gauthier of Tupelo Press |
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| Brian Spears, fellow U of A grad |
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| Allison Joseph models Traci Brimhall |
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| Stacy Kidd & Amy Letter, fellow U of A folks |
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| Luke Johnson signs his book. |
04
Feb
2011
The Kangaroo Has Landed
31 degrees ~ clear skies in Washington DC, saw the Monument in a perfect reflection during my cab ride
Dear Readers, the long journey is over. I am arrived.
Here’s a picture of the temporary digs of the Kangaroo. Lovely hotel.
The brief details. Delayed out of Little Rock, pushed to a later flight out of DFW, flight to DCA left on time, all smooth until landing…45 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a gate and then a lost piece of luggage.
I had my brief moment of panic and was reassured by the folks at the airport. The ride to the hotel was beautiful, including the above mentioned view of the Washington Monument. DC is beautiful at night.
Got checked in and touched base on the homefronts. Considered some evening events and called a few folks. Decided I was pushing it and just went down to the bar for a burger & fries, letting the world know said details via FB and text. Happily, Josh Robbins was free and joined me for a nice conversation. Oh, and Earnestine made her debut!
At the end of our conversation, good news! My bag was found and should arrive at the hotel sometime in the night. While I would have enjoyed having to buy new clothes, I’d have been upset to have to spend the time doing so while at AWP!
I’m still sad to have missed such great events today, but there are plenty more tomorrow and Saturday.
I’ll be trying to remember to take pictures (of things & people more interesting than a generic hotel room) and will keep you all posted about my happy days at AWP.
03
Feb
2011
Kangaroo Travel Updates
23º ~ darkness
Well, friends & neighbors, the Kangaroo has been delayed again.
I’ve just printed my third set of boarding passes in under 24 hours. Third time’s the charm?
At least this time, the airline called at 8:30 p.m and not 12:15 a.m. Still if these flights don’t work out, if I’m not in DC by tomorrow evening, I’m going to cancel on AWP this year and eat the cost of the registration, hotel deposit, and hopefully re-use my airline ticket at a later date.
I know that the AWP Board cannot be expected to foresee a winter storm of massive proportions, but could we all agree that the statistical likelihood of massive numbers of writers being hindered by weather only goes up the closer to January the conference is booked?
I actually don’t think the choice of location was the issue this year, as DC has had fine weather all day today by all accounts. It’s the sheer number of other airports, interstates, trains, shuttles, & etc. that have had delays and cancellations.
I’m almost afraid to go to sleep again, expecting to be jarred awake by another flight cancellation. Yes, my power of positive thinking seems to be fading.
Good night. I hope you are warm & safe & happy wherever you are tonight.
02
Feb
2011
We Apologzie for the Inconvenience
21º ~ bone-chilling temps out there with added wind chills, but a bright sun doing its best to represent
As you might be guessing, my flight to DC for this morning was canceled. No, Little Rock did not receive any winter weather. We had a massive onslaught of cold, cold rain yesterday morning, but it all dried up before the freezing temps arrived. When I made my reservations, I had a choice of connecting cities. I immediately ruled out all except Atlanta and Dallas Fort Worth, thinking they’d be my best shot in the winter. DFW was cheaper, so I ended up watching the delays at DFW with dread yesterday. Still, by the time I went to bed, I thought everything was working itself out.
12:30 a.m.: I woke to the insistent ring of my cell phone and a computer telling me that my morning flights were canceled. I spent a half hour, dazed and half asleep, on the phone rescheduling for tomorrow. Same Bat Time; Same Bat Channel.
As I tried to go back to sleep, I was upset and then upset with myself for being upset. Yes, it’s a disappointment to miss one whole day of the conference, but it really isn’t anything major. If I get there, I’ll still see good panels, readers, and good friends. If I don’t get there, I’ll still have connections to those good friends and there will be panels and readings next year.
It also helped that there was no person or corporation with which to be mad. The representative from American Airlines was great, and the only culprit was NATURE. I learned at a young age not to mess with serious weather and that very little is worth risking bodily harm to try and travel in ice and snow.
Now here’s what we have at the house of the kangaroo:
One carefully packed bag, just waiting to see if we will make it to DC or not. I worked so hard to have everything at school ready for my absence that I only had a little bit of work to do with emails and whatnot this morning. I’m about to catch up on blog reading and then go forage for some food, since part of my planning was to not buy groceries this week!
Still hopeful that Earnestine and I will make it to DC tomorrow!