A poem is a body of words, not a body of thoughts and feelings. Before you keep reading, check in with your own perspective: Agree? Disagree? A useless distinction? A valuable aha? “Both,” you think? After all, who among us hasn’t had poetic language spill from our heart, […]
Welcome back. If you haven’t read my first post, The Art of Reframing Your Poetry Manuscript, you may want to start there. Today, let’s lean into unifying your manuscript through theme. You’ve arrived at a place where you’d like to re-engage with your poetry. Maybe you’ve worked your […]
I’m teaching a persona poem community workshop starting next week, so this seemed like a good post to share again. Enjoy! As writers we are so often told to “write what you know.” And this is good advice. But this “rule” should not be taken literally, especially when […]
At some point, every writer reaches a stale mate. You scan your growing stack of contributor copies and don’t feel that flutter anymore. You reread your manuscript that has made it so close to being accepted by several excellent presses and yet, it remains unpublished. Friends keep asking, […]
Guilty pleasure confession: I love classic KISS. Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and Paul Stanley. Yeah, the whole make-up, pyrotechnics, costumes, stunts, and usually loud songs KISS. They were my first rock band and they will always have a special place in my overly-nostalgic heart. This week I’ve been […]
I’m pleased to announce I’ll be presenting a session at the upcoming International Women’s Writing Guild conference coming up this October in New York City! In preparation for the event, they recently published a new article I wrote about submission strategies on their blog: Do I need a […]
I just went to the kitchen to put my coffee mug in the sink and the mesh drain filter was full of assorted debris: food scraps, a chunk of cat food, and something I can’t identify. Yuck! As I knocked the filter into the garbage can to clear […]
