Belated Kudos

My mentor from graduate school, Deborah Keenan, was nominated for Minnesota Book Award this year for her book Willow Room, Green Door. Keenan is an accomplished poet and teacher, with eight books to her name. (My favorite is Happiness.) It is long overdue that Deborah is recognized for her amazing poetry!

Buy her book today!

Backlog

I've been busy, as you probably know. But that's no excuse for the backlog of posts that I planned on posting these past weeks. So, here is a lame attempt to catch up.

I have several articles I've published recently that I haven't shared with you, including an interview with Kirsten Dierking, author of Northern Oracle (pg of the PDF); a review of Kevin Kling's The Dog Says How (also pg 4); and a review of Matthea Harvey's Modern Life.

Whew! I feel better, now that I've caught up.

I will write an actual post sometime this weekend. It may contain something about poetry.

The Latest...

My new article in Poetic Monthly is up (page 12). And in alternative publication credit news, a photograph of mine is being used as the cover of Not Enough Night, an e-zine published by Naropa University. While I am partial to the cover, the inner contents are lovely as well.

Pretty soon, I will publish something that is not publication credits or random questions. I've been buried under a slew of articles and of course the third season of Lost on DVD. Don't tell me what happens! :)

Braggin'

Another of my articles from the Uptown Neighborhood News got republished at TC Daily Planet. You can read it here!

More Publication Fun!

The new issue of Poetic Monthly is out, with an article about poetic manifestos by me! The link is a PDF, and I am on page 13. There are also other great articles in here, including one abut Seamus Heaney and another about the struggles of women writers. Enjoy!

Milkweed Names New CEO...Finally!

According to this article in yesterday's Publisher's Weekly, Minneapolis publshing house Milkweed Editions named Daniel Slager as publisher and Chief Executive Officer.

Milkweed is a respected independent/non-profit publishing company that produces literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's books, as well as books about the environment. They are perhaps best well-known and admired for founding publishing Emilie Buchwald's reputation as a pioneer in non-profit publishing and champion of the little presses. Buchwald stepped down in 2003 and it has taken quite a while for the company to replace her.

Luckily, Daniel Slager has spent much of his career at Milkweed as an editor, so there should be a smooth transition. It will be interesting to see how he distinguishes himself as publisher, especially considering the reputation of his predecessor.

Gimme Some!

I haven't been paying much attention to the Writers Guild strike, partly because I can't imagine a world where poets would strike and Entertainment Weekly would write cover stories on it. Also, I just am a little wary when people who are paid well and have dream jobs ask for more. (Although producers feigning poverty is pretty laughable too.) I am simply dreading the moment when the episodes run out and I am forced to watch drivel or perhaps write more.

However, this opinion piece put the issue into perspective for me. The author of this NY Times article works in the internet content industry and asks some good questions. Most importantly, is it feasible to charge for content on the internet? Or is it soley going to be an advertisement driven medium?

I think its interesting that the WGA is striking on this issue, since they develop content for one medium (film/television) and it ends up on another (DVD and internet.) Does that change the nature of the value for the viewer? We already get it for "free" on TV, and by free we mean we have to watch ridiculous commercials and pay for cable if we want clear reception. But, we don't pay the writers of Lost directly for their work. Would it be natural to pay for it online? We already pay for it directly on DVD, thereby endangering future syndication revenue for writers. I also wonder what this means for user produced content like blogs, since those tend to be a low paying enterprise, unless you write about rehabbing celebrities.

It's an interesting issue and this article is the first time I've seen it articulated in a way that makes it understandable for unpaid writers like me.

Shameless Self-Promotion & Other Random Bits

I had a nice surprise earlier this week when the editor from Dark Party Review emailed me. He asked to republish my poem, "Walking to Work, 5:42 AM," which I wrote for Totally Optional Prompts two weeks ago. You can check out the poem here. This was an especially nice surprise because the editor was kind enough to give me advice about starting an online journal and I got to discover a cool journal to add to my Google Reader.

Also, my editor for Uptown Neighborhood News let me know that my November article on the Minnesota Book Awards will be republished on TC Daily Planet, an aggregator of community newspapers in the Twin Cities metro. It'll be up in the next couple of days. Two good publication news in one week! I scored!

In non me-related news, Fertile Ground is hosting an interesting monthly prompt for November. They picked an anthology that the members will submit to, after completing some online workshopping of the potential submissions. I think this is brilliant! Pursuing publication can be so inherently competitive that it's really daring to create a collaborative community around publication opportunities. I'll definitely be participating in this challenge...

Grand Opening: Asphalt Sky Literary Journal

I am thrilled to announce the opening of submissions for a new online literary journal, Asphalt Sky. Asphalt Sky's motto:

...Plant Your Feet...

...Arch Your Back...

...Reach Towards the Sky...

Asphalt Sky will publish poetry, prose, and artwork on a biannual basis, perhaps more often, depending on submissions. This journal will be dedicated to the publication of emerging artists and writers who present engaging and thoughtful work.

For more information...

...read Asphalt Sky's manifesto.

...read Asphalt Sky's submission guidelines for art, poetry, and prose.

...email me at asphaltsky at gmail dot com.

Why start an online literary journal?

I'm coming up on the year anniversary of this blog and I've been astounded by the quality of poetry and prose that I've found here amongst my blogging community. I hope to help formally publicize and publish a small fraction of the work that's inspired and motivated me to work harder.

How can you get involved?

The easiest way would be to submit your work. Submissions are open until December 31, 2007 and I'm looking for a good sturdy issue's worth of work before I publish.

I would also appreciate it, if you like the manifesto and what I'm trying to do, to tell others about it. I know that while I've carved out a little space online for Asphalt Sky, that space only becomes bigger through word of mouth.

Last, if you have a little free time to spare, I am looking for an editorial board. If you're interested, please email me at asphaltsky at gmail dot com. Later tonight, I'll post an editorial board announcement on the Asphalt Sky website for more info.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

Big Announcement Coming Tomorrow

Yesterday's working day was very successful, so I have a big announcement about a project that I've been kicking around for awhile. I've been spending too much time shuffling my feet on it, so I've just decided to jump on in!

Check back here tomorrow for more information.

Poet is a Verb: Using My Voice

I originally was going to title this post "Finding My Voice." That wasn't quite right, though, because I found my voice years ago. However, just because I know where my voice is, doesn't mean I use it all the time nor in all of the ways it could/should be used.

When I woke up this morning, I read this opinion piece in the New York Times, which talks about young writers at Gustavus Adolphus College in western Minnesota, trying to find their own voices as writers. The author states that there is a certain amount of authority that comes with being a writer. I liked this piece, especially this morning, on a day when I choose to honor my writing practice, because you can read authority for arrogance, truly, because you do have to believe in the importance of your voice in order to be a writer.

If writing is this arrogant act, this belief in the significance in what I say and think, what are the things that I do to honor writing, in spite (or because) of this? Today, I will be honoring my writing in the most simple and obvious ways. I will be actually writing. And doing a lot of it, considering my major procrastination this past week. The biggest way that I can honor my writing practice is by actually writing. Putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard is the one true way that I honor and engage in my writing.

But once writing becomes a product, it needs to be put out there. Once my voice has been found and used, it needs to be heard. Because, why else would I write, except for other people to read it? The type of work that a writer has to accomplish in order to be heard can be a stark contrast to the act of writing, in some ways. Writing can be solitary and make you vulnerable -- publicizing your own writing can seem crass and may open yourself up to criticism. But, I think it's incredibly important to go that extra step, to further honor the work that I've done in creating a piece of writing.

One of the ways I may be helping to publicize my writing is to create business card. The image for today's post is the card that I designed at the Office Max website. For about 40 bucks, or 30 if it's all black and white, I can have 1000 calling cards that publicize my writing and help me to connect with other writers. When I went to the book fair this weekend, I realized how incredibly helpful it would have been to have business cards. I was meeting editors and more successful writers, and they had business cards to distribute. So why not me? By the way, I would love opinions on the look of the cards. I've blocked out my personal info, for safety reasons. The logo didn't translate perfectly, so there are actually lines all the way around the word "to", as if it were encased in a box.

Another way I can be engaging in this practice of using my voice, is to help other writers find and use their own. I've been struggling with whether or not to engage in a pretty big new project, and after a lot of thought and traveling to the book fair, I again thought why not me? So today, I will be also working on this project, in between playing with business cards and meeting my deadlines.

As I look at this list of actions that I will be doing today, I realize that writing is a lot of action and a lot of work, more than just sitting at my desk and pounding my thoughts into my computer.

Weekly Word Count, September 30-October 7

This has been an excellent writing week.

In the poetry realm, I have written two poems this week, one for the wonderful Writers Island and the other for the now sadly defunct Traveling Poetry Show/Poetry Thursday. 1000 words for poetry.

Then, I found a new website that I just love, called Woman Tribune. It was started up by Holly at Menstrual Poetry and Amanda at Pajama Mommy as a forum for feminism and women's issues. She was looking for volunteers, so I signed up. You can see my first post pretty soon, so check it out. Since I plan on contributing there about once a week, I'll leave a little sidebar widget for all of my articles. At any rate, I wrote 590 for them.

That brings my total to a whopping 1590 for the week. 24,566 for the year.

Writing is fun, when it goes well.

The Paperless Doctrine of 2152

My husband, a budding science fiction writer and author of The Soulless Machine Review blog, recently got published in a journal called rock, paper, scissors. As part of this publication experience, he got to read his story for the CD version of the journal. (Click here to see a really cute picture that I took of him that night.) And, he will be doing a live reading with some other authors published in the journal at the end of the month.

If you are in the Twin Cities area and intersted in hearing some great literature read aloud, here is the information:

JITTERS AT THE TIMES (205 E HENNEPIN AVE, MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414-1013)

COME CELEBRATE THE 1ST EDITION OF rock, paper, scissors, WESTEGG’S STUDENT-RUN LITERARY JOURNAL, FEATURING THE DIVERSE VOICES OF HAMLINE’S GLS STUDENTS. MUSIC BY BATTLE CATE, READING.

COME LISTEN, CELEBRATE, GET YOUR COPYOF rps (the journal or CD version!!!) HOT OFF THE PRESSES.

Jessica Fox-Wilson, Poet, Educator, Writer...and Book Reviewer?

I've been trying to figure out ways to practice my writing more and get a jump start on my writing career. About a month and a half ago, I remembered that a friend of mine is the editor of a neighborhood monthly newspaper and he was looking for a book reviewer. I thought to myself, I can do that. So, I emailed him and lo and behold, I now have a regular book review column in a monthly newspaper.

My first column appeared in this month's Uptown Neighborhood News. (My column is on page 11 of this pdf file.) In this column, I reviewed a pretty amazing book called Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, by professor and academic Robert Jensen. I picked this book because the author will be reading at Magers & Quinn, a local bookstore in our neighborhood. I'm lucky that I happened upon this book, though, because I really liked it.

Since this is a monthly column, I'll be posting the pdfs each month, once they come out.

The Books That Are Left Behind

I have been haunting the bookstores lately, as I am in between books and searching hungrily for the next one. It's a panicky feeling, having no book to read. I keep scanning my bookshelves, looking for something to catch my eye. I struck out at home, so I ventured to the two big bookstores, looking for something new.

It had been awhile since I had ventured into the big box bookstores. I've been hanging at my local independent bookstores, and striking out, so I've been to two larger bookstores in my area, to try them on for size. Rather than notice what they had, I was busy noticing what they didn't have.

My first beef: the lack of poetry sections.

When my husband worked at a big box chain, they had a kick-ass poetry section. It could have been due to the neighborhood, or due to the diligence of their workers. But it rocked -- it had old stuff, new stuff, local stuff.

At one of the big-boxers-who-shall-remain-nameless, I wandered for 20 minutes to find the poetry section. When I finally asked an employee, she guided me to a section adjacent to the sex books. It was only 1 eight foot tall book shelf high. That wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was the books that it contained -- past their prime anthologies in the "Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul" style, aging rock/pop stars' books, and the "classics." Oh, and the "how to write poetry" books. This selection (or lack thereof) brought to mind two issues: first, why would anyone want to write poetry with these books as their only examples? Secondly, isn't the best tool for learning to write poetry reading current poetry? Grrr...

My second beef: remaindered books

While I am all for cheap books (who isn't?), the variety and depth of both chains' remainder section was astounding. It felt like the reject wall at a junior high dance. A Mary Cheney memoir sat next to a Hilary Clinton bio, special edition selections of Dostoevsky slumbered with their Jane Austen cousins, bargain priced art books gathered dust in the corner. I felt bad for the books, with their embarrassingly low prices and their precariously over stacked piles. But at the same time, I didn't want to buy them. I was lured by their prices, but then turned off by their content.

These two beefs lead me to a question: what does the publishing industry value? It seems, with these two highly unscientific case studies, that there is a value of quantity over quality, conformity over diversity. Of course, publishing is a business, and a not very lucrative one at that, but this side of the business is unseemly. Rather than print zillions of "hot for the moment" memoirs that will eventually be remaindered and forgotten, why not publish quality work that people will pay to read?

Good News for the Little People

Publisher's Weekly reported earlier this week that a new form of philanthropy has hit the small press market. Literary Ventures Fund, a non-profit organization committed to spreading literature to new readers, proposes to help small presses promote single titles. While they will not publish titles per se, they will provide funding for the marketing of books and the promotion of books at the bookstore level.

According to the fund's mission statement, the organization was inspired to take on this task due to the pressures in large publishing houses to promote and sell books that appeal to a larger market. Currently, they do not help single authors promote their works to publication, but they have plans to do so in the future.

Hallelujah! This is fantastic news for all types of writers, from literary memoirists and novelists to poets, of course. Poets often are published exclusively through the small press, so any support for a small press is support for a small poet somewhere.

Would You Like A Scone With Your Book Review?

Whenever there's a new movement in writing, the establishment gets scared. Actually, whenever there's a new movement in human community, the establishment gets scared, but let's stick with writing for now. I've just read an article that sounds like the dying battle cry for "the old way of doing things" in journalism and writing.

This article from the LA Times is infuriating. The author, Richard Schickel, attacks the rise in literary blogging, specifically book reviewing online. I believe this is in response to an article from a few weeks ago on the rise of book review blogs. He says that a rise to a democratic reviewing of books will lead to the degradation of quality in book reviewing as an art. He claims that book reviewers need to be educated in literary history, criticism, and the author's oeuvre of work. He picks specifically on a reviewing blogger who is also a car parts salesman.

Now, I agree that book reviewers should be knowledgeable and educated. But just because the book reviewer doesn't publish in the New York Times, doesn't mean that he or she is uneducated in the literary arts. I would like to remind the author of the scores of writer who must work another job to support their art. (Hmmm, the author of 9 to 5 Poet and the spouse of a fledgling book reviewer is a little biased in this regard.) Most people who get undergraduate and graduate degrees in English do not necessarily walk off into the sunset to write beautiful reviews for famous newspapers. We teach at community colleges, work at retail emporiums, and are no less dedicated to the literary arts than someone who has more opportunities.

When Mr. Schickel writes lines like, "a purely 'democratic literary landscape' is truly a wasteland, without standards, without maps, without oases of intelligence or delight," he seems just a bit elitist, which is his whole point. But is this truly an elitism of quality or of social standing?

The Art of Losing Isn't Hard To Master...

I have written an article on villanelles, which has just been published at Poetry Thursday. I love to write about forms and I was so glad to have this opportunity. Enjoy!

Faster, Faster, KILL KILL KILL

Here's an article I just got published in the Uptown Neighborhood News on the best dang sport in the universe, the MN Roller Girls. The newspaper doesn't have a website, so this is a PDF file that gets opened in your browser. To see my article, go to page 9.

Dear TV Executives,

While getting ready for work this morning and trying to hear the headlines, my morning news program spent 10 minutes interviewing a radio personality about American Idol. I'm as into cheesy reality shows as the next American, but enough is enough. If you are going to spend valuable news time, forcing this show down our throats, can I make a programming suggestion?

I humbly suggest that you create Poetry Idol for your new fall lineup. It's true, reading poetry is in decline in some segments of our population, but it is no less intriguing than cooking or modeling or designing. While poets are not always photogenic, we are prone to depression, theatrics, and on occasion, embarrassingly bad poetry.

Please, at least consider my suggestion. And, if you use it, I will wait outside in the rain with all the other aspiring poets, waiting for a celebrity panel to thrash my sonnets.