Canceled Events and an Online Reading on December 12th!

27º ~ all is covered with a thin sheen of ice, trees stripped bare except for the sweetgum still clinging to 20% of its leaves and the infernal privets that never lose a leaf


Well, friends, I had the great disappointment of being iced in this weekend and having to cancel my trip to Benedictine University at Springfield. This meant canceling my appearance on The Midwest Radio Show and at the reading at The Dana House with Chad Simpson and Monica Berlin. And, I was especially looking forward to meeting Justin Hamm in person after years of an online friendship. Alas, I'm a good Midwestern girl who knows better than to try and beat the weather at its own game. And, let me tell you, when the ice comes down in Arkansas, it means business. This is not like driving in snow, not at all.

On the flip side, you can catch me on Thursday night (the 12th) on Ustream for the Hayden's Ferry Review 21st Century Reading for issue 53!  So cool!  Contributors from issue 53 will be reading from all over the country. As someone who doesn't have the financial wherewithal to jaunt about to different reading venues, I see great things for this type of reading in the future.  Plus, I can wear my sweats!

We aren't supposed to share the link to the reading until the night of the event, so be sure to friend me on Facebook for the link that night OR send me an email with a request for the link and I'll send it to you on Thursday night. At the moment, I'm scheduled to read at 8:10 CENTRAL time. The full reading will run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. central standard time, and you can pop in and out as your schedule allows. Each reader gets 10 minutes, and I'll be reading the two fever poems that appear in HFR Issue 53: "Left a Refugee Here in a Sterile Country" and "I Have Gone Shimmering into Ungentle Sleep." I'll probably have time for one or two more poems and will read some others from the sickly speaker.

In the meantime, I'm trying to drum up motivation to grade and grade and grade and grade. Yes, I know the end is in sight. Yes, I know that the sooner I finish the grading, the sooner I can begin to write again, and collage. However, all I seem capable of during these days of gray and ice is sleep, eat, Law&Order on Netflix, sleep, eat, repeat. I can't even focus on reading, and I've tried! Brain = an icy mush.

Shhhh.......Poems Germinating

44º ~ Dear Siberia, please recall this "arctic air" as it is far, far from home ~ after strong storms, many trees are close to bare with the sweetgum holding on for all its worth


Dear Reader,
I feel the stirring of words in the pit of me. Oh be joyful, but quietly, lest they run for cover again. Here are some reasons for the stirring.

Hayden's Ferry Review will publish two fever poems in the new issue (Issue 53), due out in December. The editors emailed a bunch of contributors about a special subscription project. This issue contains some work submitted around the theme of "Departure," although I believe I submitted the fever poems under the unthemed guidelines. In any case, the editors asked contributors to participate in a special subscription drive (which isn't being offered quite yet) that would include new subscribers receiving a paper airplane with something from a contributor.  The picture above might explain it better.

While I could have simply copied out the poems that are in the issue, I opted to try and generate something new. The result is a poem written under a time constraint, but it is something I think works, so I'm happy with it.

~~~~~

Reading journals. To try and get more poetry in my daily life, I've been trying to read the poems in journals as they arrive, and here are a few standouts.

from Gulf Coast 26.1 (Winter/Spring 2014)
"Fugue for the Sky Burial of Your Father" by M. K. Foster (winner of the 2013 Gulf Coast Poetry Prize)
"You Cannot Go to the God You Love With Your Two Legs" by Patrick Rosal
"Reprieve as Unlikely Baltimore" by Matthew Pennock
"I am not Gertrude Stein" by friend and fellow U of Arkansas alum, Stacy Kidd
"After Warhol's Rorschach, 1984" by friend Adam Vines
"Of the Swan" by Jericho Brown (who will be reading for the Big Rock in February!!!!)

from North American Review 298.2 (Spring 2013)
"Bad May" by Andrew Payton (winner of the 2013 James Hearst Poetry Prize)
"A Phone Line to Seven Generations" by Mark Wagenaar
"A Letter to the Coroner in the Voice of Marian Parker" by Jennifer Militello
"I Swam Where Johnny was Tarzan" by Heather Sellers

from Cave Wall 12
"Seen from Above" by Jennifer K. Sweeney
"What was Promised Me" by Cecilia Woloch
"Keepsakes from the Daily Route" by friend and fellow U of Arkansas alum, Alison Pelegrin
"First Shift" by Heather Cousins
"Morning Train" by Kathryn Stripling Byer

~~~~~

Reading, slowly, Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido. If you read me frequently, you know how much I admire Brock-Broido's work. Let's face it, I lap it up. I ended up buying this book as an ebook to see how publishers and programs were handling poetry. Brock-Broido tends to the long line and irregular indents, so I knew it would be a challenge. Sure enough, on my iPad, it is a disaster unless I choose "scrolling view" which destroys the sense of pages in a book. However, happily, on my MacBook Air, it does just fine, and I'm even learning to use the highlight and note function. It certainly isn't the same as cradling a paper copy in my hands, but I do want to give the new technology a chance as I can see the great benefit of being able to access the book from anywhere, rather than having to wait until I get home.  (Yes, I'm a greedy-gut that way!)

~~~~~

Reading, reading, reading submissions for Heron Tree. If you haven't submitted, we accept submissions through December 1. Remember, we read blind, so I won't know it's your work, but I hope y'all will send us your best poems!

Woe Unto this Poor Abandoned Blog

65º ~ slate gray skies, about half of the leaves blown down from the trees


Oh, this poor blog has born the brunt of the suffering this semester.  If there are any readers left around out there, here's some news, in no particular order.

1. For the first time in my life, I have poems out to only one magazine, and those were solicited.

2. For the first time in a very long time, I have not written a new draft in over three months.

3. I have been invited to participate in a roundtable radio interview/podcast on Midwest regionalism on December 7, sponsored by Quiddity at Benedictine University at Springfield (IL).  Fellow panelists: Justin Hamm, Monica Berlin, and Chad Simpson.

4. After the roundtable, we will read at the Dana House in Springfield.

5. The Central Arkansas Broadside Project has a new broadside out, featuring a prose-poemish piece by Tyrone Jaeger.

6. The Big Rock Reading Series wrapped up for the year yesterday with Diana Reaves (poetry) and William Pittam (prose), both graduate students at the University of Arkansas.  Will and Diana brought along two other MFAers, so we had a great lunch where I pestered them with questions about all the goings on up on the hill.

7.  I continue to send out the sickly speaker manuscript, although I think it will undergo a title change today.

8.  The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths is out there in the world!  There will be a Little Rock reading on February 11 at South on Main.  Wahooooooooo!

What to Do When You Have a New Book Out

57º ~ rainy days, cloud cover, trees beginning to turn to gold, red, and brown


Several times I've said how grateful I am that I had the experiences of Blood Almanac in my back pocket as The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths came out.  BA came out before I had a "web presence,"and it came out in May/June of 2006, meaning at the end of the spring semester so that I had several months to focus on having a new book out.

News of The Girlhood Book arrived just as one wickedly over-committed semester kicked off. The actual copies arrived right after midterms of the same semester.  What follows are some of the things I did to both bring the book to fruition and since it landed on my front porch.

1.  Proofed a) the text file one last time before layout and b) galleys of the finished layout, paying careful attention to the acknowledgments page on top of the poems.
2.  Collected an email list of contacts so that Richard Krawiec could send out an offer for pre-order. (Silly me, I should have had this list going in an Excel file all along.)
3.  Looked at cover images provided by RK and made final approval.
4.  Sent RK names for blurbs.
5.  Sent RK names and addresses for review copies.  Here, both RK and I are cautious and only sent to those folks where we thought there was a pretty good chance of a review.
6.  Posted on this blog about the goings on, and tweeted posts, which then showed up on Facebook.
7.  Set up a launch reading at a local venue.
8.  Waited for books to arrive.

I want to take a moment to thank my blurbers: Stuart Dischell (as judge of the contest), Traci Brimhall, and Al Maginess (whose blurb didn't make it on the cover, but I'm grateful just the same).

Since the books have arrived, I've done the following.

1. Posted news of the book's release here and on Facebook.
2. Mailed copies to blurbers with thanks.
3. Responded to a bunch of Facebook posts from folks who pre-ordered and received their copies.
4. Emailed news of the book's arrival to the journal editors for all of the individual poem publications in the book.  Some journals post such news on their websites; some journals ask for review copies. All share the joy.
5. Sold two copies, one in person, one via the post.
6. Created listings for both books in my Etsy Storefront, which was first created when I thought I'd be able to make and sell collages, but I just don't have the time.

Things I still need to do.

1.  Set up readings. Set up readings. Set up readings.

Now, what have I forgotten?  Anyone else out there have items for my to-do list?  Please share!

A Book is Born! The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths has Launched

51º ~ finally, something akin to fall weather has arrived ~ leaves still green, watching for the first hints of color

While I knew The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths had made it back to Jacar Press from the printer, I didn't know it would land in mailboxes yesterday.  That is, until Facebook page lit up with folks sending word of the surprise arrival.  What a wonderful way to end another grueling week!

PR/Marketing break: To order copies, click here. Then, scroll through the menu to find The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths.

I'm overjoyed to know this long process has finally reached fruition, and by "long" I don't mean anything having to do with the actual production and publication.  I found out that the book had won the Jacar Press Full Length Book Contest in the last week of August; seven weeks later, the book existed in physical form. Wowza! By long I mean the years and years and years of writing, revising, and sending out, much of which is chronicled in the archives of this blog.

All my thanks, sincerely, to everyone who has been part of the journey, both family and friends.  Your support during the lows and the highs and everywhere in between is priceless.  And now, we celebrate!

Angie Macri provides me a cameo with Buzz!

Marie Gauthier, selfie with TGBoPM

Amy Baldwin couldn't wait to get inside;
that's her front step under the book.

Poet-friend and Blogger-extraordinaire, Kristin Berkey-Abbott beat everyone to the punch and has already blogged about receiving her copy.    

With thanks and thanks and thanks!

Gazing Grain Press Reading and Reception ~ September 22, 2013

69º ~ a beautiful fall rain storm tapering off, weak sunlight filtering through, leaves dripping

A two-week illness prevented me from posting these photos earlier, but I do want to thank M. Mack and the other fine folks with Gazing Grain Press and The Fall for the Book Festival for inviting me to read as runner up in the 2013 feminist chapbook competition.  It was a spectacular event, and I was blown away by winner Meg Day and her chapbook, We Can't Read This.

M. Mack

Meg Day and Me

Bobblehead Lincoln

The conference was in Fairfax, VA, which meant flying through DCA. With a US History teacher for a spouse, I'm always on the alert for presidential doo-dads.

Where I'll Be Sunday, Sept. 22: Fall for the Book

64º ~ joy, joy, joy, the heat has broken and we have two delicious days ahead ~ then, because the weather is a cruel dictator, the heat and humidity will return all through next week ~ living for today!

Friends in Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland, I'll be in your area on Sunday, September 22, to read at the Fall for the Book Conference.  As the runner-up to Gazing Grain Press' 2013 feminist chapbook contest, I'm slated to read at their party for Meg Day, the winner.  Cathy Park Hong selected Meg Day's chapbook, We Can't Read This, as the winner of the contest, and I'm so excited to hear Meg read.  We will be at the Sherwood Center from 4:30 - 6:00.  And, hey, Dave Barry follows us!

As the chapbook I submitted contained poems from my forthcoming book, The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths, that's what I'll be reading.  It's going to be an extra delight to read these poems for the first time as part of a collection with a home.

This conference runs from Sunday through the following Friday, and I'm super jealous of all the amazing talent I'll miss and happy to be included!

Too Busy to Write!

95 deg ~ bright sun but possibly a wee chance of rain as a slow, slow, slow cold front moves in and lowers our temps by the weekend

Hello from the wild and wacky world of a poet who suddenly has an abundance of poetry-related projects to juggle.  I confess, I haven't even had time to think about writing a new draft in the last month, but I'm okay with that for now.  Eventually, the poems will arrive, no matter how busy I am, and push their way through. Or, eventually, things will calm down and I'll be able to make time for writing again.

Until then, please remember that you can find all of my process notes in the archives if you are looking for ideas on how to spark something on the page.

Today, you can read a glimpse into my writing process on Laura E. Davis' blog, Dear Outer Space.  Laura is a fabulous poet and the editor of Weave.  Interested in how other writers approach the writing process, Laura sent out a call for anyone interested in answering her interview questions.  Let me say, these were some of the best interview questions ever.

Next week, the Big Rock Reading Series kicks off for the 2013 - 2014 season at Pulaski Tech. Garry Craig Powell, author of Stoning the Devil, will read, take questions, and sign copies on Tuesday, September 17!

I've also been working with Richard Krawiec at Jacar Press getting The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths in the works.  It's amazing how quickly Richard and folks managed to bring everything together, and I can't wait to hold the book in my hands.  Watch out for more news on this soon.

As mentioned here earlier, I launched the Central Arkansas Broadside Project this month.  I'm happy to say that through a shared effort, we are spreading the broadsides all over the region.  You can read all about it on the project's dedicated blog, and you can see some pictures of where we've posted the first broadside.  Many thanks to my fellow poets in the area (and their students who are helping us distribute).

And, don't forget, Heron Tree is open for submissions, right now.  We are reading the first few submissions, and I look forward to reading many, many more over the next few months.  We accept submissions through December 1 for anyone interested, with the guidelines here.  In other exciting Heron Tree news, the first print volume is now available as well.

In the meantime, there is also and always teaching, which comes first, first, and first during the semester. 

And the Winner Is....

66º ~ bright sun on the horizon, not a cloud, a few days of peace and then the heat and humidity return...ah summer, don't you know when you're done?


Apologies for the lateness of this post. Life is overwhelming (but for all the right reasons!) at the moment.  And the winner of the free copy of Blood Almanac is

MICHAEL LEVAN!!!!

Michael, I'll be in touch for your mailing address. Thanks to all for reading the blog and helping me celebrate the good new for The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths.

We are flying through the production schedule and already have cover art, blurbs, barcode/ISBN, and layout.  I've proofed the interior, and we are on our way.

If you work at a journal that will seriously consider doing a review of the book, please send me an email (sandy dot 40 dot longhorn AT gmail dot com) so I can arrange a review copy.  If you work at a journal that receives tens of hundreds of review copies with little chance of reviewing this particular book, please take into consideration that a small press has a small margin when deciding whether to contact me.

Here's the beautiful cover, with art by Marilyn Ormsbee Strother.  This piece was painted around Urbana, Illinois, which explains why it leapt into my heart the minute I saw it!

Yes, Stuart Dischell calls my poem "sly."  "Sly" I can't get over it.  I had never thought of them this way before, but I see it now, and I love it!

Heron Tree Print Edition Launch!

94 degrees ~ heat index = 100 degrees, cold front coming through Monday into Tuesday, until then, the A/C runs continuously

It's here, it's here, it's here!  The first print edition of Heron Tree is now available at Lulu. Volume One collects all of the poems which will have been featured on the website from January 2013 through September 2013. To celebrate our first print edition, we are offering it at cost to everyone: $4.38 plus shipping.

Note: Resolution in Lulu's preview is low and not reflective of the volume as printed.

Now, help us gather the poems for Volume Two.  Our new reading period opens today!  You can read the complete guidelines here. If you did submit last year, please take a look because we've changed a few guidelines for this next round. We are ready and eager to read your poems, so send on!

Heron Tree Opens for Submissions on September 1

74º ~ but at least the dew point is staying low for the moment, the obnoxious, heavy air should arrive in time for the long weekend, Labor Day in the Mid-South, wahoo?

Hello, poet friends!  Here's a gentle reminder, nudge to get those poems ready to go.  Heron Tree will start accepting new submissions as of September 1. You can read all of our guidelines here, but for those who submitted last year, notice that there are a few changes. Since we read blind, we are now asking all submitters to strip their names from the poems themselves. Just include the list of poems you are submitting in your cover letter, which should be the body of your email. Also, please don't put anything in the headers/footers of your documents. Thanks!

We read in batches as the poems accumulate in the submissions inbox, and we notify as we go. I'm looking forward to another round of reading, discussing, and accepting!

Also, watch for news soon about the availability of our first print anthology of the poems published online!

New Book Coming Out, New Semester Starting Off: Catching Up and Holding On

86º ~ hot, hot, hot, humidity that makes you want to wring your skin out, all for the next 7 - 10 days, summer holding on tight


When life gets this busy, something's always got to give, and for me that's been blogging. I'm hoping, hoping to make blogging a once-a-week activity this semester, and since I've got so much poetry news to convey, I think that will happen. That means the posts may be longer, as I sum up the goings on of the week.  I hope you'll hang in there and read all the way through.

Updates on The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths
First and foremost, my work with Richard Krawiec at Jacar Press continues on at highly caffeinated speeds. Like most small, independent publishers, Richard is doing amazing things for poetry and poets. If you haven't checked out the list of books he's published, I hope you'll do so now, and consider supporting a great press by ordering something. The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths will have an official release date of early 2014!

We are already planning a reading tour in North Carolina for February 2014, which means getting to see Al Maginess and meet his family as well as visiting Michelle and Bob Holschuh Simmons and, hopefully, meeting their boys.  (Surprise!)

Many of you have already gone through the publishing process with a book or a chapbook, but for those who haven't, the things I learned the first go-round have been invaluable this time. If you've got a manuscript out at a contest or under consideration in any way, you will be well-prepared if you have the following on hand:

~ a brief paragraph description of the book (sounds easy, can be super hard)
~ a current bio and headshot
~ a list of journals where you'd like review copies to be sent
~ an email list of folks who might be interested in news about the book
~ an address list for PR postcards
~ the names of fellow writers who might provide blurbs
~ an email list of all the journals in which poems in the collection appeared
~ contact information for your local paper, arts organization, employer, etc. for when the press release is ready

Updates on The Fall for the Book Conference Appearance
In the rush of the new semester, I'm also planning a trip out to Fairfax, VA, and George Mason University for the 2013 Fall for the Book Conference. While this is a week-long celebration, I'll only be able to be there for the Gazing Grain Press Reading and Reception on the afternoon of Sunday, September 22.  Meg Day, the winner of the chapbook contest, and I will be reading. For those in the area, this will be at the Sherwood Center from 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  It's FREE! And, hey, we'll be followed by Dave Barry at 6:30, so yeah, wow!

As part of being runner-up for the Gazing Grain 2013 feminist chapbook contest is that two of my cautionary tale poems will be published as a "mini-chapbook." These will be available at the reading and will ship with any orders for Meg Day's winning chapbook.

I'm super excited about this event for so many reasons!

Updates on the New Semester
Things at Pulaski Tech are off and running. I'm so lucky this semester to be teaching Creative Writing I and Creative Writing II on campus, as well as my usual Composition I online. In between teaching and prepping, I'm also curating the Big Rock Reading Series again, as well as serving as managing editor of our journal of academic writing, Milestones.  Whew!

I've also begun teaching my first-ever graduate level class.  I'm teaching Contemporary American Poetry for the new low-residency MFA at the University of Arkansas Monticello. This has been a super blast! The class is a combination of graduate students and upper-level undergrads, which adds an exciting twist to all the prepping, but I have to say I've been incredibly impressed with everything about the program, the faculty, the students, UAM, everything.  So, so thankful for this opportunity!

PS: If you know anyone searching for a low-residency MFA, the deadline for applications for students wanting to start in January is 15 October!

Updates on Heron Tree
Chris Campolo and Rebecca Resinski, the creators and owners of Heron Tree Press, have been hard at work getting the print volume ready for purchase. Soon, I'll post information about how to get your hands on the collected poems for volume 1.

We continue to post one new poem a week on the website, and we are eager to begin reading new submissions starting September 1.  Please send us your best work for consideration (but please wait until Sept. 1, so we don't have to reject anything out of hand for not following the guidelines). Also, if you sent last year, take a moment to look at the guidelines again, as things have changed a bit.

Updates on the Central Arkansas Broadside Project
I'm thrilled to announce that I have the first broadside, featuring a poem by Hope Coulter, nearly ready to go. The file is finalized, and I'm just working on getting copies printed this week.  I'll be launching the project the first week of September with the help of the contributors and their students.  We plan to plaster Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Conway with poetry.  Wahoooooooo!

For someone who spent much of the summer wondering where she fit in the poetry world and so much time NOT writing poems, things have certainly gotten a lot clearer and a lot busier!

Surprise!
Finally, for those who did read all the way through, I'm going to give away one copy of Blood Almanac in celebration of all the good things happening these days.  If you've already got a copy, consider playing along and if you win, pass the copy along to someone else.  To play, just leave me a comment. On Sunday, 1 September, I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner! If you don't have a blogger account, please provide a way to get in contact should you win.

What I'm Reading: Spoke & Dark

66º ~ 9 a.m. in August and 66º, some kind of weird joke going on here, right?  don't panic, the heat shall return on Monday, just in time for school to start


This post is super easy because my response to Carolyn Guinzio's Spoke & Dark (Red Hen, 2012) is now up at Atticus Review. Carolyn is a good friend and an amazing poet and photographer. She also edits the writing side of Yew: A Journal of Innovating Writing and Images by Women.  

Click on over to the Atticus Review site and read all about Spoke & Dark. Then go buy yourself a copy!

Book #2 Finds a Home: Whirling & Twirling with Delight

72º a bit cloudy but not overbearingly so, beautiful breezes and open windows


*warning: exclamation points used with abandon beyond this point

Dear Friends, it has finally happened. The good news email arrived yesterday morning from Richard Krawiec at Jacar Press, just as I was about to enter one of those amazing professional development meetings that clutter the week before classes begin. The poet Stuart Dischell (oh my gosh, Stuart Dischell!) chose The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths as the winner of the 2013 Jacar Press Full Length Poetry Book Contest!

Yes, this is the press that I mentioned here. I had learned in June that the manuscript was a finalist and had set about waiting out the news of the results. In a strange twist of coincidence, I had just announced to C. and to my mom last week that I was resigned to the news being negative, sure as I was that someone else must have won. The coincidence part is that just before I heard the good news from Rick Campbell at Anhinga about Blood Almanac, I'd said the same thing. Hmmmm, patience not my strong suit? I think not. Also, this "preparing for the worst" mentality is very much a Midwestern trait.

Aside from that, I can tell that this adventure with Jacar is going to happen quickly. I'm set to proof the text, and Richard and I have already started having those conversations about cover design, press releases, review copies, readings, and etc. that go into making and launching a book. I'm so glad I've already had the experience once, so I know what I'm talking about. I'm also thrilled by the speed given that this manuscript has been the bridesmaid for so long that the quicker I can get her down the aisle as the bride, the happier I will be!

In addition, yesterday was incredibly different from finding out about Blood Almanac because my poetry world has grown considerably thanks to this blog and Facebook. When I found out about BA, it was 8:30 p.m. on a school night, and C. was already "resting his eyes" in front of the History Channel. He woke long enough to absorb the news, and then I called my mom, who was also headed for bed. Then, I wrote a group email to a handful of close friends and failed to sleep at all that night b/c there wasn't anyone who wanted to stay up all night and celebrate with me. (In C.'s defense, having to face a full day of high school teaching the next day, he needed to sleep.)

Yesterday, the news came mid-morning and Richard had announced it on Facebook before I could blink twice, and re-read his congratulatory email for the tenth time to be sure it was real. C. was then able to interrupt a PD meeting of his own to announce the news to his colleagues and administration (blush from afar), and my mom was ecstatic, especially later in the day when we had a chance to really talk it all over. Many of you were on FB and helped celebrate with me. All thanks. It really does make the moment sweeter. Special, extra thanks to all of you reading this blog and on FB who have shepherded me through these rough last few months of book despair! I am so lucky to be a part of this big, wide world or poetry!

It turns out Jacar Press is perfect for me; after all, it defines itself as a "community-active literary press" and part of the profits of the book will go to a non-profit, and I get to help pick the group.  Wow!  The press funds writing workshops in underserved communities and does all kinds of other fantastic things to promote literacy and poetry. (Can I get a Wahoooooooooooooooooooo, sister?) I am eager beyond words to begin, and so I shall.

While I do not wish the long wait and many years of submitting on anyone, I'm here to tell you that persistence almost always wins. When you get that positive feedback time and time again, but just miss the goal, keep going!

More Bits of Good News

76º ~ with a dew point under 70, all is passing fair outside for now, forecast calls for mid-90s for the next seven days, a stormy Sun/Mon on the outlook


Today started off with all kinds of over-stimulation on Facebook as posts about some recent good news exploded, but first, some good news not about me but about a poetry friend.

Amanda Auchter's new book The Wishing Tomb (Perugia Press) won the 2013 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry!  Now that is a mighty wahooooooooooooooo!  This book is on my to-read pile, so expect a blog response soon.

Last night, I found out that a panel on which I am a participant was accepted for AWP 2014 in Seattle. Wahooooooooo!  All thanks to John Bell for bringing together "Here We Gather: History and Advice on Setting Up a Writers Conference, Festival, or Colloquium at a Two-Year College." I'm looking forward to sharing information about the Big Rock Reading Series at PTC and to learning how to make it even better from my fellow panel members!  (Hat Tip to Tawnysha Greene who tagged me on FB to tell me that she saw my name in the program before I even read the email from John!)

Earlier in the week, poet and blogger Diane Lockward emailed me to give me a heads up about a poem of mine appearing on Verse Daily today.  All thanks, Diane!  Apparently, Verse Daily sends out an email on Monday with the list for the upcoming week.  I'm now signed up for that email!  In any case, stop by Verse Daily today and check out "Small-Time Rapture," a sickly speaker poem that appeared in the lovely & magnificent Barn Owl Review 6.

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce the creation of the Central Arkansas Broadside Project.  I followed through with my intent and have enlisted a handful of local poets and writers to contribute.  Each will send me a poem that I will format into a broadside.  Along with the poems, I will publish the writers' traditional bios, but I will also publish a list of recommended poets on each broadside.  I imagine someone stopping for a couple of minutes at a coffee shop, gallery, library/bookstore, even a hair salon, and reading a poem.  Perhaps, the reader may like the poem, and perhaps, like many non-poets out there, the reader will want to read more poetry but not know where to start.  The author's bio is one place to start, but the list of recommendations just sweetens the pot. The timeline looks like the first broadside will go up in October, and I've got a fine baseball-reference poem from Hope Coulter as the lead-off batter.  Soon, I'll have a web presence for the project and will keep you all posted.