So it's summer and I broke out my toe rings.... No wait, sorry, this blog's about my writing life.
The Festival of Arts and Spirit (on the link between creativity and spirituality) is coming up at St. Jeromes' over the July 4th weekend. I'm reading on the poetry panel. I know, it's hard to get worked up about poetry. But Anne Michaels and Dennis Bock will both be there, making the $7 and $5 tickets worth your time if you're completing a life list.
I don't have many submissions out just now. I've been distracted by finishing Sir Gawaine, by finding my way towards a manuscript design for the biblical poems and devotionals, and by completing final edits for Ghost Maps. There are a few things out that should be drifting back soon -- the big milieu portfolio submission, and the Malahat Long Poem submission. A few magazines should write soon, too: Blink has had a sub since January, Carousel since December, and Prairie Journal since last October. I'm excited about Blink-- the others are B-list in my book.
But I'm putting a few things out, as I do have to have some reason to watch my mailbox. I submitted some Biblical poems to the Eden Mills Fringe today (a deadline coming up on June 30th), and I'm working on a submission to the new Breathing Fire anthology of young Canadian poets (a deadline on August 31st). I need to work on a new round of magazine submissions. The language poems could go out again. And there are some stray poems that are probably ready: "Brady's Ghosts," "The Greening," "My Mother and Her Brother Tim Dance at a Family Wedding," and a couple of others. And I'm seeking a home for my handful of tanka.
Random news: feralchildren.com put up the Amala and Kamala poem, "What a Word Can Hold." "Letter Home," from Ghost Maps is going to be in some sort of distance education high school course in Alberta. And this week "like your site" mail out-numbered "you're disrespectful of our Lord Jesus and his infallible word (the Bible)" mail by two to one.
And James bought me two algae eaters. I named them Drudge and Geraldo. Oh, right, writing, sorry.....
Do youhave any information on the distribution of your book once it hits the presses? I would love a copy and was wondering if it will be coming to, say, McNally Robinson stores all over Canada? =)
*Ghost Maps* is being distributed by the Literary Press Group (LPG). Unless you've got a great bookstore that carries a broad range of current poetry, you might not find it on shelves. However, LPG is an established distributor, and bookstore -- or you, personally -- should have no trouble ordering it. That goes for US readers, too.
I may buy and re-sell a few copies here, too. I'm not sure.