Five Things that Don't Suck, Revision Edition

1. making things stronger
2. like lines
3. or individual words
4. or yourself as a writer
5. and otherwise

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poetry Week Edition

Hi! I'm going to be at my favorite poetry week of the year starting today--so I might post a FTTDS list every day, I might miss one or two days, or I might miss all of them. It's a fantastic week and definitely does not suck, but it gets busy and my world is wondrously full for a few days. 

1. reading good poems
2. talking about good poems
3. talking about all sorts of other things
4. going for a swim*
5. long walks

*or five

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poetry Road Trip Edition

Friends, I'm going to be traveling for a few days, so posts may be delayed or nonexistent. I'm sure you can handle the disappointment. 

1. Pittsburgh
2. going to see poets
3. talking to poets
4. wine with poets*
5. road trips

*it's the best kind of wine

Five Things that Don't Suck, NH Reading Edition

1. me, reading with Sara Biggs Chaney at the Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH tonight*
2. getting to actually meet the Notorious SBC in person even though it feels like I already have
3. the magical ways in which I'm going to accomplish everything I need to get done between now and when I leave for NH this afternoon
4. dinner with Clancy and Mark afterwards**
5. hugs. Because oh yes, there will be hugging

*details HERE
*hi again, Clancy!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Book Book BOOK BOOK BOOK Edition

1. having the book I wrote for Turquoise picked up by a publisher
2. on Turqi's birthday
3. withdrawing the ms. from other publishers
4. how happy I am that it's found this particular home
5. losing sleep for all the best reasons

Five Things that Don't Suck, Good Poetry News Edition

1. the fact that I can't just say "Good News Edition" on a Sunday, because of the Good News Bible
2. having dancing girl press pick up my third chapbook*
3. finding out what other fine poets are going to have work at dgp in the coming year
4. working with Kristy Bowen again
5. writing new poems

*you can get my first chapbook, Dear Turquoise, here; and my second chapbook, Creature Feature, here

Five Things that Don't Suck, Knowing Your Audience Edition

1. knowing your audience
2. valuing those readers
3. respecting them as readers
4. allowing their value of your work to have meaning
5. putting the work first

Bonus: An Interview and a Poem, Neither of Which Suck

Hi all,

First off, the lovely Nicole Rollender posted this interview with me at her blog Carpe Noctem. Show her a little love, why don't you? It's the first chapbook interview she's posted, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Second, Lumen has posted my poem "Judas" in their most recent issue. Take a look if you're so inclined.

Two (Very Different) Interviews that Don't Suck

Hi all!

I've had two different--very different--interviews go up over the past few days, and thought I'd let you know. The first is at Donna Vorreyer's blog Put Words Together. Make Meaning. There, I fill in the blanks for some ridiculous questions. You may never look at waffle fries or Katy Perry the same way again.

And if you're into poetry, process, or monster movies, you might want to take a look at my interview at Nancy Chen Long. She asked really thoughtful, insightful questions about my chapbook Creature Feature, and I did my best to not sound like a douche while answering them. She also includes a zillion links--you could get lost in monster movie back story, if that's your thing. And why wouldn't it be?

Thanks to both Donna and Nancy for taking the time to talk to me!

Five Things that Don't Suck, Manuscript Assembly Edition

1. putting together a new manuscript
2. finding an order that might work
3. getting a draft you really like and then
4. waking up the next morning to find that your opening poem has been picked up
5. knowing how to make a table of contents in Word

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poetry Fame Edition

1. This ridiculous interview at Donna Vorreyer's blog Put Words Together, Make Meaning
2. rallying the troops
3. settling in for a luxurious morning of reading manuscripts for Cider Press Review
4. poetry and poets and righteous indignation
5. having two more weeks of (almost) full-time poeting before I have to go back to campus*

*which I will also love, for the record

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poeting Edition

1. writing poems*
2. serial revising
3. reading things out loud
4. writing interviews with fun questions
5. writing interviews with really well thought-out questions

*So. Many. Poems

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet Reunion Edition

1. dinner with poets
2. ice cream with poets
3. a drink with a different, but still beloved poet
4. breakfast with poets
5. poets

Bonus: Three Poets Who Don't Suck, Pittsburgh Edition

Friends, one week from tonight, I'll be reading at Classic Lines in Pittsburgh. I'll be there with Krista Cox and Jen Stein Hauptmann (sometimes a.k.a. Jen Stein) at 7 p.m. You come, too. It's free! It's fun! It's me and some other cool poets you can hug in person!*

Classic Lines
5825 Forbes Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA

*Please do not hug the poets without permission.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet Problems Edition

1. waking up with a poem in your head
2. hanging onto it while you pee and get dressed
3. hanging onto it while you walk the dogs
4. when someone doesn't drive by you with "Blurred Lines" blasting out their open windows*
5. holding onto that poem all the way through your morning routine and writing it down before it gets away, thus giving the world just a little more beauty**

*theoretical. Very, very theoretical.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Full-Time Poet Edition

1. talking poetry with poets
2. or any kind of writing with any kind of writer, actually
3. having some poems arrive again
4. that feeling when my mind is constantly somewhere else*
5. line breaks

*that's poems, my friends. They just take over. It's great while it lasts

Five Things that Don't Suck, Planning for CT Edition

1. getting the email with all the logistical stuff in it
2. reading the poems again
3. knowing that in just over 3 weeks there will be a LOT of hugging*
4. getting presentations ready
5. that vague sense of excitement**

*A LOT.
**that might be panic about everything I have to do. But I'm an optimist.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Creature Feature Edition

1. the day the box of chapbooks arrives
2. signing them
3. putting them in envelopes
4. sending them out into the world
5. that cover, man

New Chapbook: Creature Feature

Oh, loyal half-dozen readers, I keep forgetting to tell you that my newest chapbook is out. It's the first in a new series of chaps from the good people at ELJ publications. You can get it straight from me (signed) for the same price/shipping that they're offering. Or you can buy it directly from them. Here's a link to the "about" page, where you can read a little bit about it.

It's all about those early black and white monster movies, but there's nothing scary about it. And isn't the cover fabulous?

I think it is. But then, I woke up with hair pretty similar to that this morning, so maybe I'm biased.

Five Things that Don't Suck, Poet Edition

1. when the dining room table is covered with poems
2. ordering a manuscript
3. revisions
4. making hundreds of little choices
5. possibly doing it all again later