Welcome back, Gentle Readers, to my dispatches about making and reading books!

I have good, sweet poetry book news to share with you! Good news comes alive and is multiplied when shared!

On March 4, my second manuscript of poetry marched forth into its life as a book when I answered a call from poet and editor Claudia Keelan, who told me 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 won the Test Site Poetry Series Prize!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 won the Test Site Poetry Series Prize!

I cried and laughed, and fell to the floor, praising the Poetry Gods. My poet’s heart taking Deer leap and Owl Eagle flight!

My second book will be coming forth in the autumn from the University of Nevada Press! Hurrah! What does this acknowledgment mean to my life as a poet? I have been thinking about how, in part, this acknowledgment gives space to my voice in an expansive poem-making conversation. The conversation with and companionship of other poets is everything.

I bow in the direction of Claudia Keelan and Andrew Nicholson series editors, and the series board editors Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen, and Ronaldo Wilson. I admire these writers and love their poems, so to be given their confidence, well, my heart fills with exclamation points!

Interim offers two awards. The Test Site Poetry Series Prize I won and the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award. Hurrah, parallel good poetry news! Congratulations to the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Winner:

𝑨 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉, by Geoffrey Babbitt.

Throughout the selection process, my manuscript was in the company of several hundred other poets’ manuscripts. Though some of these poets remain anonymous to me, I acknowledge their word efforts and companionship. To the 12 poets with whom I have spent the last two months as a semi-finalist and then finalist (listed below): I trust I will hold in my hands your books soon, soon! Thank you for your good, sweet company, dear poets.

There is a story about when and how the poems in 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 came to words. I will tell you that story in another post. For now, the story sums to two words: Persistence! Perseverance! Between December 2020 and December 2023, I offered this manuscript for consideration 41 times. Persistence! Perseverance!

Persist! Persevere! A writer must!

Persist! Persevere!

Tell me, Gentle Reader, about your life as a writer. Tell me how you persist. Tell me how you persevere. Send your comments below.

: :

The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! Welcome, welcome to those of you new to these dispatches on reading and writing books. May you find inspiration for your writer’s life!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ I bow to Claudia Keelan and Andrew Nicholson, series editors, and the series board Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen, and Ronaldo Wilson of Interim’s Test Site Poetry Series and the Besty Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry.

+ I bow to the hardworking editors, publishers, readers, and printers at literary magazines who publish individual poems and who have supported my writing.

+ I bow to the editors who support my reviews and the publications where they were published: Denise Hill at NewPages; Manahil Bandukwala at Canthius; James M. Fisher at The Miramachi Reader, and Jay Ruzesky at The Malahat Review.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to my publisher Stephanie G’Schwind, and Mountain/West Poetry Series editors Donald Revell and Kazim Ali, et al interns at the Center for Literary Publishing (CLP) for making The Minuses (2020) with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al staff at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp, whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!