Poetic Entanglement
Ivy’s thoughts on life.

I turned in my notice at my full-time job today! I cannot wait to start teaching! What a year. Several journal publications, the book publication, and enough adjunct work to support my family! I feel very blessed.

I promised to start writing about the process I have gone through, and I will. I am going to post those as, “Learning to Write.” Original, I know!

For now, it is late, and I need to get some rest to train my replacement at work tomorrow.

I am posting tonight to tell you that my first book will be out in March, 2012! Any Other Branch, the collection I worked on while in graduate school, is being published by Salmon Poetry of Ireland. I am thrilled!  On to the next!  I am working on a new collection.  I have yet to title it, but am leaning towards, Eating Earth.

It didn’t sink in for about a week. It occurred to me after about a week that this meant that I could start to move forward with my career path. Since starting school in 2002, I have wanted to teach, write, and publish. After the MFA program at New England College, and some encouragement from those closest to me, I started submitting poems to journals. I never expected that I would find such success in finding homes for my work. It is an exciting and humbling experience to send your work out. Over the next few months, I have decided to write about the experience for those trying to do the same.

So, stay tuned!

As I sit writing this, the fireworks are going off just up the road. Every once in a while, a big one cracks the air and both of my German Shepherds jump to attention and whine. The heat of summer seems to have settled into the White Mountains.

In my last post I wrote that Sargent Press, a very kind and generous press based in New Hampshire had accepted my chapbook for publication. Unfortunately, I had to turn them down. After much consideration, and reviewing the proof they sent, I decided that I really wanted to wait to place it with a press that offered isbn’s and could possibly pay me, rather than having to pay for the printing myself. If only I had enough money for everything I want to pursue. I have a few friends who have published with Matt at Sargent Press, Heidi Therrien and Ryan McLellan. Their books are great! You should definitely check them out!
OVS Magazine’s 2nd issue should be out any day now! I am simply waiting on Beth, our lay-out and design guru to wrap it all up. Then we send out the proofs to all who were accepted for review, and finally we place it on the site! OVS Magazine is also holding poetry and art contests for our anthology. The hope is that there will be enough people that enter the contest to,not only pay the contest winners, but also fund the printing of OVS Magazine.

Next week I will be hosting another Poetry Open Mic at The Mill Fudge Factory in Bristol! Our featured poet is a good friend of mine, Jenn Monroe! She actually taught my freshman composition class, and encouraged me to start writing! Thanks, Jenn!

Until next time,

Ivy

Well, Spring has come and gone it seems. While the nights in the foothills of the White Mountains are still cool, the bugs are coming with the heat of the day. It is shaping up to be a great year so far! I have been lucky enough to find homes for some of my poems in Writers’ Bloc, decomP magazinE, and Foundling Review. I am waiting on word from Salmon Poetry about my manuscript, and recently heard from Sargent Press. Sargent Press is a small publisher here in New Hampshire. They have accepted my chapbook, and I am currently waiting on a proof from them!

OVS Magazine Vol. 2 will be out shortly! We have a wonderful bunch of poets and artists in this issue. Patricia Smith is our Poetry feature, and Mike Lewis is our Art feature! Both amazing artist have new work and interviews in this issue.

I am running two open mics a month right now for poetry. One is in my kitchen, and the other is at The Mill Fudge Factory in Bristol, NH. I am also blessed with a lovely group of writers that I work with monthly at D Acres! I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep a community of writers around me after graduating from NEC…but here I am among many talented people!

I am currently working on a new book of poetry and art with Mike Lewis. It is a labor of love as I work around the loose theme we have…sssshhhhh it’s a secret! I will let you in on it soon.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend everyone!
Ivy

Over the next three days the weather in New Hampshire is supposed to be beautiful.  I am forever thankful for this, as it has been cold and rainy.  Now we wait.  We wait for the frost to cease, the ground to thaw, and spring to break.  Personally, I am waiting to plant some over-grown seedlings, and get some sun!

I have agreed to be the host for a new open mic in Bristol, NH at The Mill Fudge Factory.  How wonderful to combine lovely fudge with poetry.  For the first open mic, my fellow poet Tony Brown will be featuring!  I am thrilled that Linda, Noah, and the other wonderful folks at The Mill Fudge Factory asked me to be a part of this.

The publishing is chugging along.  Foundling Review will be publishing one of my poems soon.  However, I haven’t submitted very much myself lately. I  have been busy editing OVS Magazine. Cinnamon Stuckey and Terry Lucas have been wonderful to work with on this issue.  We have had over 160 poets and artists submit work!  I can’t wait to see what Patricia Smith has in store for us!

I am still waiting to hear from Salmon Poetry concerning the possible publication of my manuscript.  I still check my email regularly with the hope that I will have one waiting with good news on this front.  I told one of my poet friends, “I am so invested in this being a real possibility, I don’t know what I will do if/when it doesn’t pan-out!”  She smiled and said, “Submit it to other publishers!  Keep trying!”   I know she is right, but a girl can hope.

The White Mountain Kitchen Sessions are starting to pick-up.  I have been able to get Christina Cook, a local NH poet to agree to be our feature for May.  I am still working on someone for April, as Christina had originally planned to be our April feature, but had other plans that conflicted.  Stephen from 103.9FM has faithfully been coming to record the sessions.  I am delighted that he has been involved, and been able to help us share the wonderful work from my kitchen with others.

The D Acres Writing Workshop that I have been running is going beautifully!  It is wonderful to see the amazing break-through work these guys are doing!  I love working with them.

Happy April, everyone!

I realize that no matter how hard I work, it is about me being happy with what I have done.  No matter how many times we try to work harder, better, or reach our goals, there will be pitfalls and hurtles that stand in our way.  After receiving a run of rejections from literary presses, dealing with an individual who doesn’t give  a pat on the back due to frustration and economic concern, and generally feeling the Spring blah, I have decided to just let all of the stress of it dissolve.  In order to do this, I need to cut myself some slack.  Recognize that I have worked long and hard to get to a point in my life where I can support a family, dabble in my writing, run a few open mics, and teach as time allows. Is this my dream?  No, but it is something to be proud of!

I generally try and keep my blog up-beat, and this may sound depressing, but here is the twist.  We all need to hear that we have done well.  So many wonderful writers, artists, and teachers I know never really hear, “You are wonderful!”  Let’s face it, as professions go, none of the above will ever make a ton of money and be able to live on their art.  There are a very few exceptions.  In reality, every one of us hopes and dreams of being one of those exceptions.

If we give up on that, does it make us failures?  When does giving up on a dream become just facing reality, and not giving up?  How many kind words have you received at your work this week?  We are all focused on ourselves.  Obviously, I am.  I write this blog.  I am not saying that some focus on the self isn’t necessary and healthy.  What I am saying is, part of what I consider to be being a good person is working hard for those people in your life that you love, and finding a way to do things that you love.  Sometimes these things don’t work well together.  Life never goes the way you hope it will, and there are always more bills to pay, and people who will refuse to be kind.  With that said, take a moment for yourself.  Recognize the hard work you have put in, the small things you do daily for family and friends, and the spirit you have to never let go of the things you love.  Now, from me to you, “You are amazing and unique, and love lives in you.”  Spread the love, to sound a little cliche and hippie-child-like.  Choose one person, tell them they are amazing, and unique.  Do this every day.  Mean it!

Look out! Two blog posts in one month!
It has been a long weekend for me. I took a couple of extra days off of work this weekend, for sanity’s sake. As it is with every company, my day-job has felt the proverbial crunch of the current market. Because of this, we have all taken a 10% pay-cut for the second time in a year. Thank goodness for teaching part-time! So many people I know are picking up second jobs just to get by, that is, if they can find one.
As I consider how it could be worse, I am thankful for all that I have. A warm house is among the things I am thankful for tonight. The temperatures this weekend have dipped as low at 1 degree! Welcome to an after-the-January-thaw New Hampshire freeze. The other things I am thankful for are an amazing husband, good friends, a loving and supportive mom and dad, and my beautiful daughters. Without the support and love that we get from people like these in our lives, times like these would be unbearable!
Just recently I submitted my manuscript to a few publishers. The first that showed an interest was, Plain View Press. After discovering that they were a cooperative, and offered to look at my manuscript with the understanding that I would foot the entire publication bill, I turned them down. Now, there is nothing wrong with co-ops.  However, the co-op should offer something more than putting their name on your book. You should always look into whether the co-op offers help with distribution and promotion.
The second publisher I queried was Salmon Poetry, out of Ireland. I felt this was a long-shot, but if I didn’t try I would never know. After sending my query letter and 10 poems as a sample of my work, the Managing Director, Jessie Lendennie asked to see my whole manuscript. Their list is full until 2012, so even if they do decide to publish me, there is a wait. Not that I mind! I would be honored to be published in Salmon Poetry. They are the biggest publisher of poetry in Ireland, and they published Ray Bradbury’s poetry!!! (Crossing fingers and toes at this point!) I should hear from them in the next few weeks!

There are other publishing houses like,  Write Bloody!  I love Write Bloody Publishing, and I previously mentioned in this post that they were a co-op.  Mr. Brown, of Write Bloody corrected my information.  They are not a co-op!  Mr. Brown states in his comment, “We are a publishing house. The author fronts nothing as in all traditional houses. They also receive royalties and we do promotion. Our difference is that authors must tour.”  Thank you Mr. Brown for letting me know.  I do enjoy what you have published!  Some of my good friends, Might Mike McGee, Lea Deschenes, and Victor Infante, are all wonderful poets that have been published through your press.  I am sorry for my confusion on this matter.

I am thrilled to say that OVS Magazine produced the first issue, and it is lovely.  We are in the throws of receiving submissions for the second issue.  I am thrilled that we are getting more art submissions, and the poetry submission are coming in fits and starts.  I feel confident that we will have another wonderful copy in May!

As usual, I am remiss in my postings. I keep promising myself I will post once a week, minimum! Alas, I have been far too insane with other projects.

As I sit writing this tonight, I am printing off my application to the McDowell Colony. I do hope, as all that apply there do, to get in. After being out of my MFA program for six months, I need the time to spend writing. Alone! I love my family, but when you have a project you are trying to work on and you have homework, dinner, and such after working eight hours…it doesn’t leave much time for writing. I still find it here and there, but not as often as I would like.

January 25th I start teaching for Axia College online! Axia is the University of Phoenix two year college. I will be teaching COM/150. It is an expository writing class with a business focus. I am in the final stages of the syllabus, and hope to get approval on that in the next couple of days.

In other news, Organs of Vision and Speech Magazine, (OVS Magazine) is now available! Thanks to Stephen Page, Beth Page, and Cinnamon Stuckey. They all played a vital role in helping me bring this magazine together. None of them will ever know how thankful I am for such talented friends.

Since my last post, I have been able to get almost all of the poems I have sent out published. The Smoking Poet will be publishing one of my poems, and Underground Voices will be publishing the rest from the last group of poems I sent out.

Now, off to bed. I have been under-th-weather today and I am hoping that I am not catching what the kids had! Yikes!
Ivy

Life has been crazy busy for me. I have been fortunate to receive a number of great submissions for OVS Magazine, and I have started the White Mountain Kitchen Sessions. Since I decided to start OVS Magazine with Stephen (my hubby), it has taken on a life I never expected. We envisioned a literary magazine that featured both black and white art and poetry. I have done poetry/art collaborative work with Mike Lewis in Halo, and loved working with the two mediums. This was the inspiration for the content for OVS Magazine. I am looking forward to the first edition next month, and all of the work on OVS Magazine between now and then. I have had a wonderful team working on OVS with me. Beth Page, my sister-in-law, an award winning illustrator and artist, and Cinnamon Stuckey a beautiful poet from Arizona.

My own submissions were put on the back burner for OVS Magazine, and the White Mountain Kitchen Sessions. In September Mike Lewis and I attended one of Mighty Mike McGee’s Kitchen Sessions. After Mighty Mike suggested that we start one in New Hampshire, I did. The first White Mountain Kitchen Session was a small event, as these things often are when they first start. It was lovely. Liz Ahl, my friend and an amazing poet of Plymouth New Hampshire was our featured poet. She read from her soon-to-be-published manuscript, “Luck.” My good friend Beverly Walker, from the D Acres Creative Writing Workshop I teach, read some of her poems for the first time ever! My two daughters also enjoyed reading their poems for the first time. The White Mountain Kitchen Sessions are a place for poets to read new work for the first time aloud.

Tonight I submitted to about ten journals! I am very excited about these poems. They were the first I have written and completed since graduating from New England College.

Good luck to all of you in whatever it is that makes you fly!

Ivy

As I sit here in front of the fire, listening to the Cranberries, I think about how life changes so quickly. The frost on the car in the mornings, crisp air, and the impending doom or delight of winter is creeping in. I constantly battle being “still.”
I once had someone ask me why are you always keeping yourself so busy? There are so many reasons I could give. Because I: …need to work this much to make ends meet.
…have to stay busy or I get a little down.
…want to do so many things.
…like it.
…can’t say no.
…want to be successful.

The last one is a double edged blade for me. I then have to define success. Success could mean being a great mom, great wife, great poet, or great friend. It could also mean being a published writer, a business owner, or the lead guitarist in Guns ‘N” Roses…okay that way supposed to make you laugh!
All I know is I keep myself busy, and I need to find a way to accomplish all I would like to, while still having a little time to be still.
So, I will throw this question out their to those on the internet that read my blog…how do you define success? Leave me a comment, please.