Book of Kells (Kelli Russell Agodon)

Valentine's Day Gift Idea: Ted Kooser's book VALENTINES

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:36:50 PST

"Map of the World" by Ted Kooser

If you're looking for gift ideas for your favorite loved one on Valentine's Day, I may have an idea for you...

For twenty-five years, Ted Kooser wrote a valentine poem and mailed it out in February. These collected poems are available in the book, Valentines by Ted Kooser.

Here's the Amazon description of the book--

For Valentine’s Day 1986, Ted Kooser wrote “Pocket Poem” and sent the tender, thoughtful composition to fifty women friends, starting an annual tradition that would persist for the next twenty-one years. Printed on postcards, the poems were mailed to a list of recipients that eventually grew to more than 2,500 women all over the United States. Valentines collects Kooser’s twenty-two years of Valentine’s Day poems, complemented with illustrations by Robert Hanna and a new poem appearing for the first time.

Kooser’s valentine poems encompass all the facets of the holiday: the traditional hearts and candy, the brilliance and purity of love, the quiet beauty of friendship, and the bittersweetness of longing. Some of the poems use the word valentine, others do not, but there is never any doubt as to the purpose of Kooser’s creations.

I have the book, though mine is the letterpress version through Brooding Heron Press in Washington State and is called "Out of That Moment." If you can find one of these copies, they are gorgeous, but only 50 were made so I truly treasure mine.

I love this idea of writing a poem every year for a certain occasion and mailing it out. And Valentine's Day is the perfect poet holiday!

Also, if you've never read Kooser, he's extremely accessible, so if you wanted to get this gift for someone who didn't really read a lot of poems, it would be a great introduction to poetry without that scary "I don't understand what I'm reading" feeling some new poetry readers have.

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Thankful Thursday: Ordinary Genius & Writing Dates

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:18:24 PST

I met with Martha Silano yesterday for good conversation and some writing too.

We situated ourselves in a French cafe that doesn't just serve French food at a large table that could hold both of our laptops.

It was good to see her. I needed to discuss some mom/poet stuff with another mompoet. It's amazing how checking in with someone else can help me feel better.

We used Kim Addonizio's book, Ordinary Genius to help us revise two poems-- Make a short poem longer and make a long poem shorter. I had heard good things about this book, but never owned a copy. After browsing through Marty's, I'm buying a copy for myself today. (Martha said it's one of her favorites.)

Also, while revising these two poems, I went into my New Work file and found 2 other poems I had written but forgot about (and never moved over to my "Done" file), so I now have 2 extra poems added to my work-in-progress manuscript. (For me, finding a completed or almost completed poem in my "New Work" file is similar to finding a $20 bill in my pants pocket.)

After a few hours in the restaurant (we were there so long, I ordered both breakfast and lunch, then we finished with a keylime tart for dessert), we headed over the Starbucks. Marty pulled out a bag of Dove chocolates and we made ourselves comfy at a small table where we wrote longhand instead of on our laptops.

So that was my writing day, a sort of mini-retreat with good coffee and conversation in a busy world.

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A Month of Letters (for February!) Take part...

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:46:23 PST

Drew Myron connected me with this incredible project-- A Month of Letters Challenge.

Here's the thing-- if you know me, you know I adore snailmail, realmail, postcards, mailart, notecards, and stamps.

I always have.

So when I read that writer Mary Robinette Kowal came up with this idea, I had to take part.

Here it is with a link to her original post:

I have a simple challenge for you.

All you are committing to is to mail 24 items. Why 24? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 24 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month. You might enjoy going to the mail box again.

I plan on taking part. I do Valentines, so I feel slightly ahead of the challenge, but will sit down by the fire and write some special correspondence as well.

happy letter writing.

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Confession Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:32:01 PST

Dear Reader,

It's been 5 full days of straight sunshine, a straight-shot of sunshine here in the Northwest since I've last written. Been writing, working in the yard and kind of in the house. Enough so I don't feel that I could be an episode of Hoarders; I'm cleaning up and cleaning out.

But enough on that, it's time to confess. Let's start with the weather and the Northwest. To the confessional--

I confess I learned this week that the Seattle area has only 58 (!!!) days of sunshine a year, the rest is overcast and cloudy. 58! No wonder we lead the country in suicides and serial killers (we all suffer from S.A.D. - Seasonal Affect Disorder), but we also have the most percentage of library card holders and we buy 2x as many books as the rest of the country.

I realize why so many writers, bands and artists come from the Northwest-- we're the kids that are always inside and we have to do something to keep us entertained.

But only 58 days of sun? That seemed so low.

Still, I am thankful for the days I stay inside and write because it's pouring outside.

~

I confess I've been sleeping better now that the haunted armoire is out of my house. Except for last night. Last night, my golden retriever woke me up crying. Do you need to go outside? Are you okay? My dog is frozen still on his bed and won't move, but keeps doing this long sad cry.

So in the dark, I rush over to my golden panicked that he's hurt or dying or in pain.

Turns out, he is fine, but our 20 lb. cat had fallen asleep next to him on his sleeping bag and he was afraid to get up off his bed and move to the floor. He outweighs the cat by 65 lbs and yet, he is afraid to disturb the cat.

I moved the cat and all was well for another four hours until the cat returned to sleep with the dog.

~

I confess I've been working a lot on manuscript 3 because I'm swapping it with another poet on Valentine's Day. I confess it does not have a title yet, but the above image from my vision board this year is a huge inspiration for it.

I completely lose myself while working on this manuscript, but deal with a huge worry that it's not very good.

I haven't submitted many poems from the mss, so of the 40+ pages, only 3 have been published. I tell myself this is not the fault of the poems, but the fault of the poet for not submitting the poet. But the poet says she so dislikes submitting work that she hasn't done so very much this year. Bad poet.

But I still love the manuscript even with its quiet existence.

~

I confess I think I'd feel a little better if I had a title.

Amen.

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Want a Poet-Inspired Valentine? - Sorry this year we are FULL!

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:43:40 PST

Thanks for all your addresses! I am now poet-full! Valentines to go out shortly!

If you didn't know, Valentine's Day is the Poet's holiday (despite Hallmark's insistence that it's theirs.)

So for Valentine's Day, I'm sending out Poet Valentines and I have a few extras I'd like to send to you.

The above image is NOT the valentine you'll receive, but just a nod to who inspired this year's card...

I'll let you know when I've run out on this post by updating it or deleting it...

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@webbish6 Jeannine Hall Gailey Writes about her path to becoming a poet -->

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:50:18 PST

Kelli & Jeannine in tiaras as they should be.

I am always interested in how we ended up as writers, poets, and artists because the path is never the same, nor straight.

Jeannine Hall Gailey writes at SheWrites how despite health issues and being a tech-writer first, she ended up as a poet and going back to school to get her MFA.

And you know what I wanted to do? The same thing I wanted to do when I was ten years old: write poetry. My husband encouraged me to go back for an MFA in poetry, to try to send out a book of poetry. Why not give it a try? What did I have, at that point, to lose? The answer was: nothing.

If you want to see the path Jeannine took from child who loved poetry and wanted to be a poet to now, you can read the whole post here.

I think it's a good reminder that we each have things that take away from our time. We each make a choice every day to write or not to write. Make your challenges work for you and listen to that inner voice to tell you where to go.

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Confession Tuesday - The Haunted Armoire Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:48:18 PST

Dear Reader,

It's been one week and two full nights sleeps without a visit from the 2 hours-of-insomnia Fairy. I have a lot on my mind, so let's just begin.

To the confessional--

I confess after WAY too many years (eighteen, I think) I am getting rid of my haunted armoire.

Hello, I must be going...

For the last eighteen years, I have had sleep issues that I have blamed on this armoire. From waking up in the middle of the night searching for medicine (I don't have or take) in the armoire to believing a keep a small bird in there that I've forgotten to feed.

I use the haunted armoire to keep my lingerie and pajamas in. So you can only imagine what my family thinks to find me standing in front of it at 2 am digging through my bras asking questions like, "Do I take medicine?" And saying random things like, "Oh my God, I've forgotten about the bird."

You may wonder why someone would keep a haunted armoire for so long, especially one that I have such a strange midnight relationship with.

Well, because as much as I've blamed my sleep issues on this armoire, I guess I really haven't believed it's been the real cause of it. I mean, can you imagine me telling my doctor that I have terrible sleep issues (and have since I was 24) and it's not because of anxiety or stress, but because I purchased a haunted armoire in 1993 that brings me over to at night searching for medicine or birds. She would think I was looney.

So I've kept it, for the last 18 years believing it's not you, Armoire, it's me.

But this weekend I visited my friend Nancy Pagh (who is an incredible poet by the way--here's her book, No Sweeter Fat) and I went to sleep in her armoireless room and slept for 10 hours straight. No waking up, no insomnia, no trying to feed dead birds that don't exist. It was magical.

I texted my husband from Nancy's house, "When I get home, we must move the haunted armoire out of our bedroom." When I came home, the had already moved the armoire out. And for the past 2 nights I have slept.

I now however am taking the next big step, I sent out an email this morning to my friends that says my haunted armoire is up for grabs or it's going to our local donation center this Friday. Yes, I am breaking up with my armoire (and I should have done this YEARS ago).

Oh and I did include the details that the armoire is in fact, haunted, or has weird energy that makes you think that birds and medicine live in it, but they already knew that--it's not as if I haven't spent the last eighteen years talking about this.

So I feel as if I'm moving on. I cannot wait to get to it out of my house completely.

I told my daughter I was thinking of dragging down to the corner and putting a FREE sign on it and she said that we'll probably look out window and see all our neighbors looking for medicine in it and not understanding why. Which made me laugh. Which made me realize I have put way too much energy in this armoire and while I love how beautiful it is, it really needs to go.

Amen.

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Fran Lebowitz, Public Speaking Documentary: Movie Recommendations for Writers:

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:38:17 PST

I just watched the documentary Public Speaking with Fran Lebowitz, which I highly recommend.

Okay, I should of course, point this out-- if you don't like Fran Lebowitz or think she's incredibly funny, witty, and smart like I do then you'll hate it because the whole film is her talking, Fran being Fran.

I became a Lebowitz fan a couple decades ago when I read her book, Social Studies. (You can get both her books, Social Studies & Metropolitan Life here for a lower price in the Fran Lebowitz reader--but I think Social Studies is a much better book). But I hadn't heard anything really about her in years...

You can imagine how thrilled I was to find this DVD on Netflix (no, it's not play instantly, I had to order the DVD old school).

The film was wonderful in how it explored writing, her life, and her opinions of the current culture. I watched it all including the special features (which I also recommend at the end if you enjoyed the movie).

I just love how her mind works, from her thoughts on women having babies to the color of her car (It's such a subtle shade of pearl gray, straight men think it's white).

I know some people will find her annoying, judgmental, and opinionated, which are all the things I love about her.

Below is a clip from the film that starts out with an old interview clip of a younger Fran talking about writer's block and moves into Fran today. If you have never seen Fran, this might be a good intro to her and her style--

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Northwest Poets--1 Day Class with Poet Elizabeth Austen @hugohouse

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:04:40 PST

Ready to try something new?

Elizabeth Austen is teaching a couple of poetry writing workshops in February:

Poems from Poems: Call and Response

“Good poems are the best teachers. Perhaps they are the only teachers,” writes Mary Oliver in A Poetry Handbook. This workshop explores ways to let others’ poems not only teach you, but lead to new poems of your own. We’ll experiment with po-jacking, sonic translations, echo translations and other ways to use one poem as a jumping off point for another. Come prepared to write and stretch your craft – participants will leave the workshop with fresh drafts of new poems.

February 4, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Richard Hugo House $96/$86.40 for Hugo House members. Registration is open online or via phone at (206) 322-7030.

Elizabeth will also teach a shorter, free version of the class on February 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Lopez Island Library.

Contact Elizabeth at eaustenpoetry(at)gmail.com for more information.

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thankful Thursday: storybook mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:24:11 PST

On the ferry home from a literary day and thankful for writer friends as well as my life as a poet, editor, and writer. This is how writing makes my life feel-- a red umbrella sheltering me in a gray world.

Yesterday I felt sad. I felt as if I couldn't or didn't do anything right. I felt worried and anxious and all the emotional stuff that comes with being human and caring about other people and wanting to do a good job. I was a gray world. Today my writing life reminded me that there can still be beauty, art, friendship, inspiration, even when another part of your life feels bad. I needed to be reminded of this. I needed to remember I am more than just a mushroom, but a storybook mushroom. I have no idea what my purpose is, but I do my best to be me.

Confession Tuesday - the Yin & the Yang

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:32:43 PST

"Purple Love" by Lawrence Yang - http://www.blowatlife.blogspot.com/

Dear Reader,

It's Tuesday again and time to confess all I've been up to. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Brenda Miller's class at Western Washington University, where the students are making their own blogs. They were a great group who asked smart questions and their blogs varied from life in the Roller Derby to making beer. Pretty interesting stuff.

But now, it's my turn again to confess confess confess. So off we go. To the confessional--

I confess I do censor myself on my blog and on Confession Tuesday.

This was a question asked by one of the students and I thought it was an incredibly intriguing question. My first gut response was to say, "No, I share what's on my mind," but I realized there are things I don't post--say confessing how there's a male poet who annoys me just for being him or personal things about my family as I try to keep their lives private.

While my main promise to myself when doing this blog was --be honest--I also have a stronger belief that comes first-- do no harm.

So instead of ranting about a specific poet who drives me nutty (and not in that good happy way), I leave out names. I guess I feel life is hard enough for all of us and who I am to smack down someone who could be an incredibly kind and wonderful person, but through my dark-cloud sunglasses, I only saw ego, coldness and more ego.

~

I confess while I do censor things on my blog that may hurt other people, I think it's important to point out the bad stuff along with the good.

Like rejections. Like feeling down about the writing life, or stuck, or just unconnected.

I think a blog that just shows a well-painted home and happy smiley people leads others to believe their lives are inadequate.

And it's not true. We all struggle with something.

I think blogs like poetry, needs to be a mix of both, the sugar and spice. The wow-I'm-so-excited-about-this and I-may-never-write-again-I-have-been-fooling-myself-for fifteen-years-that-I'm-a-writer. Two completely true thoughts that can happen in one person's life.

John Berryman would wake up feeling like a genius and go to bed feeling like a failure, a hack.

While regular folks have these feelings, I think many times they are stronger in artists. Sometimes I wonder if it's because we are responsible solely for us and what we achieve, accomplish, or spend our time doing.

There is no middle manager, no receptionist to blame that we didn't get that call. Our lives are our own creation, they can please and disappoint us daily.

~

I confess I used my birthday money to buy a surfboard--a SUP board (stand-up paddle board). It's currently in my living room taking up a huge amount of room.

Amen.

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Hello Western Washington University!

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:39:18 PST

I'm heading up to WWU today to talk with Brenda Miller's class about blogging!

Brenda (author of Listening Against the Stone & Season of the Body: Essays) has started her own blog here, Spa of the Mind. You may want to check it out as her posts are small gems about the world around us and our walk through it.

Today in class we'll take a tour of Book of Kells, share how it developed, and the role of blogging in the writing life & the business of writing, along with a few other things.

I'll do a follow-up post to this one and let you know how the day went!

And HELLLLLLOOOOO Brenda's Class!

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Carbon Copy Magazine Issue #1 is Fantastic!

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:00:13 PST

Just received my contributor's copy for Carbon Copy Magazine in the mail. I LOVE it. (You can buy a copy here, or learn how to submit to it here.)

It's a pop-culture issue so it's ridiculous fun. I have a poem called "Because I'm John Stamos" which basically makes fun of myself for being a B-list poet, along with another poem called "American Gothic in Technicolor" and "Unfinished," a poem which suggests God was Marilyn Monroe.

There are other pop culture poems throughout, my favorites being "Word of the Day" and "Upbraiding Amy" about Amy Winehouse by Allison Joseph, and three incredible poems by Denise Duhamel, my favorite being "Facebook Kisses Off."

But the magazine is packed full of poems mentioning Anne Sexton & Grace Kelly, Batman, Graceland, & Abe Lincoln.

It's what I loved about the magazine, each poem a surprise, and full color artwork included in the pages. I know how much it costs for full-color pages, so I appreciate Carbon Copy for going the extra mile there.

Oh and they are playful with their bio notes, which I love. None of that, Kelli was published here, here and here, they have me admitting to using lines from a Marilyn Monroe biography on my dates when I was younger. How can I not love a magazine that turns bio notes into intriguing reading

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Thankful Thursday: Diane Lockward Reviews Fire On Her Tongue @dianelock

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:44:44 PST

I'm so thankful to read this incredible and generous review by Diane Lockward on her blog, Blogolicious

Here's part of the Fire On Her Tongue: An eBook Anthology of Women's Poetry Review

This 460-page anthology includes over 70 women poets. Each poet is represented by 2-5 poems. Each poet's poems are preceded by a brief bio and a link to the poet's website. Acknowledgments follow each poet's poems. Given the way an ebook works, this arrangement makes good sense as it eliminates the need to scroll to the end of the book to find this information.

As might be expected, there is an enormous variety of poetry—formal, free verse, prose poems. The poets cover the US landscape from East Coast to West Coast. One characteristic the poets have in common is that they are all still living.

and

This book is ideal for curling up in a comfortable chair but also makes a terrific traveling companion. In print such an anthology would most likely be priced around $30. But this ebook is available for a mere $7.99!

***NOTE: I just checked and it's on Kindle for $6.59

As I said, you can read the full review from Diane on her blog, Blogolicious and check out today's post on what's the right time to submit a poem... It's a good one!

Thank you, Diane!!

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Asking for a vote is a sign of desperation, but life is short and ...

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:18:05 PST

I've never won a trophy.

For good karma points, click below. Thank you all!

Nominate Kelli Russell Agodon for a Shorty Award

What's @Klout? How I raised my score & why I received free #MOO Cards #socialmedia

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:16:00 PST

For the last couple months, I've been trying to figure out what Klout is.

When I first went to their website, it said I had a "Klout Score" of 36. I had no idea what that meant, but I could see that it wasn't the lowest score nor the highest score. But what was I being graded on?

What Klout says on it's website is that it believe "Everyone has Influence" and "Our goal is to help you understand and leverage that influence."

I learned it uses social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. to measure your ability to reach and/or influence others and then Klout gives you an overall score.

Because I had a relatively low score, I decided to challenge myself to raise this score.

I wasn't sure exactly what to shoot for, but I realized you're invited to "Perks" (something I'll talk about more below) if you have a score over 40, but being a competitive person, I decided wanted to shoot for a Klout score over 50 and figure out how to do it.

As I said, one reason for choosing this number is that I noticed there were these things called "Klout Perks" where you could get free items (from business cards to $10 at a sports store) or be part of things. To be eligible, you needed a higher score. I would see these perks and all of them said, "You are not eligible." (Gee, thanks for giving me a low score then keeping me out of the prize club too.)

So I added the Klout website to one of the first webpages I checked in the morning and they gave me perks (such as +K, which were Klout points I could give other Klout users I liked such as Collin Kelley, Jeannine Hall Gailey & Michael Wells.) And usually, whoever gives me Klout, I give them Klout back in that good karma sort of way.

What I learned was, checking in to see my Klout score daily, made me use Twitter more and Facebook (because if people share your tweets or respond to your posts, your score goes up...) This fascinated me. And I loved that I could see it rising, though honestly, wasn't really sure what would make it go up.

I don't take part in Google+ (honestly, it confuses me), but I have a Twitter, blog and Facebook account. I began to use Twitter more, tweeting articles I found interesting, using it in ways I hadn't really-- like engaging more in conversations with others and when I found things other writers and creatives would find interested, I tweeted them.

In the last few days, my score took a big 4 point jump and have no idea why. I had a few people retweet me and a few Facebook posts people responded to, but nothing huge.

And since "joining" Klout, my score has risen from 36 to 57.

Here's my page on Klout if you want see what it looks like. Each person who has connected with Klout get their own page with information created for you.

But what does this mean?

I'm not sure except I have finally earned a few perks from all of it.

My favorite perk being Moo Cards (which are the coolest business cards ever). I have known about Moo Cards forever, but never bought them because they were $20. I know, that makes me sound a little cheap (I prefer thrifty), but I just never wanted to buy a set and be disappointed as I had only seen the online.

Here's what I received from MOO-- very cool literary cards I created myself--

I chose image of my book and other writers for the backside, then the front is just your basic information. They are about half the size of regular business size. I ended up just paying shipping for them ($6).

And if I understand this correctly, I can send this same benefit to you with this link. (let me know if this works or not, if you choose to do it. I don't get anything out of it, I'm just still trying to figure out the point of Klout.)

So if that works, that's cool.

I also received this Person of Interest TV Show Screen Cleaner (that they mailed to me at no cost). And I think 10 people can receive these too. It's kind of weird because Person of Interest is not my type of show, but I like the cleaner and I maybe getting a surprise in the mail--okay, I liked getting a surprise in the mail, I am a twelve year old girl.

So I like that aspect of Klout, you get things and you can share the wealth.

Also, when you're signed into Klout, you can search for people who are "experts" in certain areas, and I like being able to find new people on topics I'm interested in such as creativity, books, authors, etc.

Klout also has decided I'm "influential" on a few things-- poetry, writing, eBooks, spoken word, books, libraries, and coffee. Coffee? That one made me laugh, but I am in Seattle so I still think Starbucks is a good thing. Plus, I do have a beautiful large cup of coffee every morning, and I'm guessing I must put that in my blog or status update more than I thought.

The other strange topic to me is I'm influential about economics. Economics before editor? This is the part of Klout where I'm just not sure where they grab their info from.

As for my final thoughts are that I'm still not 100% sure I even get what Klout is or why it's important. I wonder what they will do with this info, of knowing who is influential in what? If you have a high influence in coffee, will coffee companies want you to try their coffee? Or does it just mean, I'm highly addicted to caffeine.

Whatever it is, Klout does have a fun element to it as well as one that can help you find other interesting people or topics, and there is satisfaction of the score going up... of course, what goes up, must come down...so I'm guessing as this experiment comes to an end (and as summer comes and I'm not as active online) my score will drop. And that's okay.

I will stay on Klout and as I learn more about it, will let you know. I'm hoping one day to get a better understanding of lists and doing more with those. And maybe use it more as a tool for helping me research topics I'm interested in.

In the end, I doubt my Klout score will be featured in my obituary, so it's something to know is out there, but it's probably not something that will change your life too much, with the exception of perhaps, some new business cards.

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Confession Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:32:49 PST

Dear Reader,

It has been one light snowfall and an unused sled since my last confession. I have been busy with writing and creative thoughts.

Last night after watching one of my very favorite movies ever-- Midnight in Paris (with Owen Wilson, a must-see if you're a reader or writer) I had a literary dream and I confess I did not write it down, I can't remember the exact authors I spoke with, but I know they had interesting and inspiring things to tell me. I am so bummed I have forgotten. Note to self: Do not trust that you will remember the dream in the morning.

But there's more, so to the confessional--

I confess I recently heard Oprah say this quote and I so believe it--

When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.

I want to add something more here, to say something interesting about this quote, but I think it speaks itself better than I do.

But it does also remind of this quote I love: If you see crazy coming, cross the street.

~

I confess there's a snowstorm coming to our state and I'm thrilled. We don't get a lot of snow, but I love how snow makes you have to stop and slow down. We plan to go sledding and take long walks followed by hot chocolate (I better get whipped cream, I think we're out). I love being home and "stuck" in the house.

On a recent writing date with Susan Rich, I told her, "I know this might sound weird, but I'm looking for new ways to be productive, creative and to also support myself financial without having to leave my house." She laughed and said, "That doesn't sound weird to me at all!"

Susan also loves her house, being home, and appreciates her alone time as well, she's a writer. I'm realizing more and more, my favorite place is home, I prefer it over adventure, over exploring, or going for a drive.

If you've read Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room, you may have noticed that part of my anxiety was causing me to become the next Emily Dickinson (not in sense of writing, but in her reclusiveness). I could be the woman lowering bread down from my bedroom woman to the children below. And I think, in certain ways I moving towards that.

But this other love of home and solitude, comes from a healthier place. It's not that I'm afraid to leave the house, but I am just so happy here, I make sure I only say yes to things I really want to do.

My present-time optimistic self is always signing my future-self up for events I don't want to do. My optimistic self thinks-- how much fun, yes I'd love to do that. When the event comes around, future-self rolls her eyes and says, I'd really like to stay home. I'm always seeking that balance of extrovert activities vs introvert activities. It shouldn't be so hard to do, but I struggle with it.

~

I confess some of this love of home and solitude comes from my introverted side in needing alone time to recharge. For every hour with people, I need about 2-3 hours to myself. I know, it's kind of crazy, but I realized it.

I'm not someone who loves big groups. I like one-on-one time with people. A large group to me is anything more than four. It took me quite a long time to realize this about myself. I hadn't understood why in high school, I used to hope we didn't win the football game because then my boyfriend wouldn't want to go to the party afterwards. When we lost, we stayed home and watched movies...and I loved staying home.

I think this learning about yourself and always remembering your future-self is so important. Sometimes, when I'm about to do something half-arse, I think about my future-self and how annoyed she'll be that I didn't do it right when I had the time to do it.

~

Here's a great article called The Rise of GroupThink from the NY Times that begins "Solitude is out of fashion..." But Susan Cain writes:

Solitude has long been associated with creativity and transcendence. “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible,” Picasso said. A central narrative of many religions is the seeker — Moses, Jesus, Buddha — who goes off by himself and brings profound insights back to the community. . .

Privacy also makes us productive. In a fascinating study known as the Coding War Games, consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister compared the work of more than 600 computer programmers at 92 companies. They found that people from the same companies performed at roughly the same level — but that there was an enormous performance gap between organizations. What distinguished programmers at the top-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. It was how much privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption they enjoyed. Sixty-two percent of the best performers said their workspace was sufficiently private compared with only 19 percent of the worst performers. Seventy-six percent of the worst programmers but only 38 percent of the best said that they were often interrupted needlessly.

_________

Anyway, lots to think about on this snowy day. And I can, quietly, as the snow continues to fall.

Amen.

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New Fire On Her Tongue Anthology Book Trailer & How To with iMovie

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:17:32 PST

So here's our new book trailer for Fire On Her Tongue: An eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women's Poetry.

Last year I wrote this post about other book trailers and how I went about mine with iMovie.

This was created with iMovie as well. Took about 3 hours. The images and photos had been taken a few days earlier while visiting Susan Rich and I had no idea they would end up in here.

Some Thoughts on Switching Over to Facebook Timeline: #socialmedia

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:31:35 PST

So, I've decide to make the switch to Facebook's Timeline (now that I made the commitment, I will have 7 days until it's published --it will go live on January 21 unless I choose earlier.)

I decided to make the change because I didn't want to wake up one morning and find my page in Timeline and not have had the chance to view the information and choose what they call "Your Cover Photo." (My worst case scenario is I walk up to my giant face plastered across my Facebook page in my most unflattering photo ever...) So vanity won out as it usually does and today I began creating my Facebook timeline.

I wrote some notes as my status for others making the change and I'll include them here along with others--

1) If you choose to do Timeline you have 7 days before you have to publish it. The bonus with this is that gives you the opportunity to take anything off Timeline that you want to keep private.

2) While you can still keep your friends private, your Timeline will show when you become friends with someone, so it looks like you will need to delete these updates on your timeline if you want them private.

3) There is a little bit of the "creepster" element to timeline if you have checked into places, as it allows people see where you were and if you use location check-in, it will show where you are (it does this now, but for some reason, having maps seems creepy to me).

I have learned you can go into your privacy settings (under "tags") and set it so people can't check you into places.

4) I just realized you can delete maps (choose Hide from Favorites)-- I'm hoping it doesn't show up anywhere else once I publish this.

5) If you are friends with people you don't know, I'd recommend being careful with any dates since sometimes those are used for security measures with your accounts

6) When choosing your cover photo, something simple works best

7) You can still see if how your page looks to other if you click on the little star next to "Activity Log"

If I learn anything else, I'll let you know.

Surprisingly though, I'm not hating Timeline as much as I thought and do see a few benefits with it.

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What's a Blog Hop? Meet New Writers & A Chance to Win a Free Kindle!

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:50:47 PST

Not a Bunny Hop, but Blog Hop

Collin Kelley is participating in a Friday the 13th blog hop today.
What a fantastic idea!

Basically, what you do is you go from writer's blog to writer's blog until you get to the end when you have a chance to enter to win a Kindle among other prizes.

The fiction authors sure get things done!

Here's what I liked about it:

1) You get to "meet" new authors and learn about their books.

2) Authors get a chance to increase their readership and have more people connect with them through their books and blog.

3) It's rewarding-- both in clicking through the links, then finishing and being able to enter to win a Kindle

4) It's fun and was set up on a very memorable day-- Friday the 13th!

5) Each author had his/her own style, but you could see how this blog hop was all connected.

6) Everyone did it correctly-- the concern with such a big blog hop is that one person doesn't link up correctly or forgets to do their post, then it would be a not-so-happy mess (but it wasn't).

7) I think it's a win/win for readers and authors.

Poets should do something like for poetry month to learn about new poets.

Anyway, a great idea!

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Thankful Thursday - Beatles Photobomb!

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:33:47 PST

I know, what kind of gratitude is this? But this photo makes me smile. In fact, I love it.

Paul McCartney in the background, George Harrison with the girls. Maybe the first photobomb, but I'm grateful for this photo because it makes me happy...

Confession Tuesday - In Bed

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:17:09 PST

Dear Reader,

It's been a week and I'm a year old since my last confession. Amazing math is happening at my house, from being the meaning of life (42) to being another prime number (43).

But we're readers here, why am I so caught up in numbers? Could it be that I was always better at math? (Truth: I was.)

To the confessional--

I confess that I spent most of my birthday in bed.

If I had turned 23, this statement might suggest the day included champagne with two glasses and whipped cream. If I had turned 30, you might think I was depressed. In my early 40's, when I say this people assume I'm sick or that I've pulled something.

What's really going on? I'm down with a cold and having been knocked down by it a few times in the last weeks (thinking I'm better, but am really not), I'm taking it easy, super-easy, babysteps to my regular life, that kind of thing. Since I'm never sick, I find all this sickness a drag, a limiting drag.

But don't feel bad for me, I actually *love* my bed and love spending the day in it. To me, this is a treat, a luxurious life, a love affair with down comforters, pillows, and a new electric blanket.

While there is another part of me that signs up for ridiculously long races that include paddleboards and medals, my other self loves lounging, reading in bed, napping, and lollygagging the day away. This is the self I feel like today, as I type this from my bed, laptop on lapdesk, two cats asleep next to me, and a view of the sky.

~

I confess one reason I love my bedroom is that it's on the second floor. I hate being on ground level, I love being up. Someone told me that this is because I'm a Capricorn and we climb mountains. I have never climbed a mountain (besides a day hike), but have climbed stairs to get a good view of my neighborhood.

~

I confess I've been reading and reruns of Will & Grace.

I have returned to rereading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, which is one of the most quotable books, I have highlights & notes all through it.

But mostly, I've spent my first hours of being 43 in bed just reading birthday wishes on Facebook and sleeping. I remind myself that time isn't wasted if you enjoy what you're doing, but still, I'm ready to run at the world, clean the house, get into my writing studio and create.

But not today.

Amen.

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It's My Birthday - I'm a Prime Number...

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:54:56 PST

This is not what I look like today. I've been resting in bed trying to allow the last of this cold leave me for good. I'm wearing yoga pants, a thermal t-shirt and a fuchsia scarf around my neck. It's not sexy, but this is what 43 looks like today.

43 is optimistic despite this long dragged-out cold.
43 isn't so sick she couldn't eat carrot cake and chocolate chips all day long.
43 has not watched televisions but instead watched her Facebook page fill up with well-wishers.
43 did shower, she loves to shower, long hot showers where she gets her best ideas.
43 sometimes thinks of Frida Kahlo right before she gets into the shower, she isn't sure why.
43 realizes she may be thinking of Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo and not Frida Kahlo as Frida Kahlo.
33-42 has watched that movie quite a number of times.
43 is not in the best shape of her life, but she just signed up to paddle 10K on her stand-up paddleboard in August.
42 also gave 43 a kick in the pants by signing her up for a half marathon.
43 does not like to run, so 43 will walk it...with friends.
43 thinks/hopes/prays this will be a good year of health, happiness & success.
Though really, 43 is searching for a four-leaf clover in a glass of champagne.

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For the LOVE of Typewriters...

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:51:39 PST

Midge Raymond at Ashland Creek Press helped create this little Adopt-a-Typewriter Public Service Announcement. The Ashland Creek Press videos always make me smile.

And Ashland Creek Press also sells the cutest Typewriter Notecards here (12 for $15).

I own 3 typewriters my favorite being this one:

And speaking of Typerwriters-- I LOVE this:

Thankful Thursday - A Year of Success

noreply@blogger.com (Kells) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:23:50 PST

In December, a friend and I were talking about goals for the New Year and she asked me what I was most happy about achieving in 2011 and I said, "Well, I didn't really do too much."

Really?

"Well, I worked on Crab Creek Review and did a few readings, but that was about it," I said as if her tone was completely uncalled for.

My friend responded:
Hmmm, that's interesting, Kelli, as I remember your book winning the ForeWord Book of the Year Prize in Poetry and that it was a Washington State Book Finalist. You also edited an anthology and co-directed Poets on the Coast Writing Retreat. And didn't you start Two Sylvias Press, have two writing residencies, teach at Centrum, Western Washington University, Field's End, have poems published on The Rumpus, in the Alaska Quarterly Review, Cerise Press and continue to volunteer with seniors helping them write their stories?

My response?

"I forgot."

* * *

This conversation with a friend made me realize how easily we forget all the good news, accomplishments (large &small) and successes we have throughout the year. So I decided to change that this year; I created a Success Chart--

I created this chart to keep on my desk and write down any successes that happen in 2012, from Fire On Her Tongue showing up in the #1 spot for downloaded books on Kindle in Poetry to being asked to being contacted by a stranger who liked a poem of mine. Anything that made me feel good about my writing life will be included.

And maybe you need one too to help you remember.

So I've uploaded onto MediaFire (something else I'm thankful for)--

if you want a copy of the Success Chart for yourself, you can download it free here.

I think it's easy to forget what we've achieved, so today I give thanks for remembering and for all the successes of last year and the ones in this year to come (and be documented).

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