This is just so funny! And so true! And still so relevant even all these months later! My goodness.
Month: January 2019
My New Book and Upcoming Author Events!
This is going to be a quick post because, wow, it’s a busy week here in Authorland! But a good one. Let’s just get to the news right away, shall we?
The Sharp Edges of Water is out from Odeon Press! Yay! And there was much rejoicing!
Honestly, I’m going to be so happy to be done with logistical details and get back to working on the new novel that I just can’t even. But for now, it’s all about the logistical details, such as…
Scheduling author events right and left! It’s exciting, even if it’s a lot of work. I hope you’ll come out and see me on one or more of these fun occasions.
January 25, Houston — I’ll be at the book launch for the new Mutabilis Press anthology, ENCHANTMENT OF THE ORDINARY, which contains one of my poems. We’ll be at the Jung Center, 5200 Montrose Boulevard, 77006. Doors open at 6:00, and the reading starts at 7:00. I recommend coming early to find good parking.
February 19, Houston — I’ll be one of the featured readers at the Poetry FIX Reading Series at FIX Coffee Bar, 415 Westheimer Road, 77006. The reading starts at 6:30, and the place tends to fill up. I’ve heard Fady Joudah might also be reading that night — exciting!! — and there is always an open-mic opportunity for audience members to sign up to read one poem if they wish.
February 23, Manvel (very near Houston) — I’ll be at BrazCon once again! This was one of the best events I attended last year, and I’m so excited they asked me back. BrazCon is like Teen Book Con meets Comicpalooza — so much fun, really well organized, and totally family-friendly. I’ll be selling my books there and also speaking on at least one panel (details coming soon). BrazCon is held at Manvel High School (an excellent facility) and gets bigger each year, with thousands of attendees generally geeking out to their literary fandoms. Many even come in cosplay, so don’t be shy! This event goes from 9:00-4:00; the address is 19601 Hwy 6; Manvel, TX 77578.
March 16, Austin — I’ve been asked to speak and read at the Austin Poetry Society meeting that afternoon from 1:00-2:15, at the Carver Branch Library. The address is 1161 Angelina Street, 78702. We’ll be talking about writing, Kickstarter, and some other fun things and just might even do a little poetry writing that day. This event is open to the public, so come join us!
ALSO, since I’ll be in Austin that weekend, I would love to get in another reading or signing for either Saturday night or Sunday midday. Watch this space for more details.
If YOU would like to have me talk with your book group or organization or class about writing — poetry or fiction — I’d be happy to! I’m available in person or via video chat. Contact me and let’s go over the details.
And that’s all the news that’s currently fit to print, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to working on that new novel I mentioned. Oh happy day!
Monday Earworm: from Hamilton
So I bought my daughter the soundtrack from Hamilton for Christmas because it’s her (and my) favorite musical ever and probably always will be. So naturally we’ve been listening to it pretty much ever since. Just about every other day I have a different favorite song, and at the moment, “Yorktown” is it. I swear that song makes me feel like maybe even I could fight a revolution. And even though this video from the Tony Awards will give you the idea, it doesn’t have the energy of seeing the actual play or even listening to the soundtrack all the way through. But it will definitely work for a Monday Earworm.
Enjoy.
To Help With Your New Year’s Resolution To Read More Books…
Remember when I mentioned yesterday that I’m trying to read more books for fun? Are you in the same situation? I can help with that…
You might have heard that Odeon Press picked up Finis. and released a 3rd edition of it. It’s looks slightly different and has more back matter — but the content of the story and the illustrations are identical. I still have some copies of the 2nd edition on hand, however, and I’m doing a giveaway right now in exchange for honest reviews. These reviews could be on Amazon or Goodreads or your book blog or anywhere else that publishes reviews!
Did you know it takes fifty reviews before Amazon will put your book into their searches? It does. Finis. has about sixteen reviews last I checked, and I’d love to bump that number right up!
So if you’re interested, please let me know, and I’ll happily mail you a copy. You can leave a comment here on this post, or email me at forest [dot] of [dot] diamonds [at] gmail [dot] com (putting “FINIS. giveaway” in the subject line), or ping me on social media.
Thank you!
Happy New Year! (Also, Have Some Turn-of-the-Year Ritual)
Happy New Year! Now that all the time zones are in, I think we can safely say ciao to 2018 and look eagerly forward to 2019.
As a creature of habit, I appreciate the measure of structure and stability that routine and ritual provide, and at this time of year, I enjoy indulging in a little bit of year-in-review. I also tend to make public my writing resolutions for the new year, as if publishing them will help hold me accountable. (I mean, sometimes that works.)
So here we go!
On Sappho’s Torque this past year, the most popular posts, hands-down, were the ones in which I shared either my or other people’s poetry. In April, to celebrate National Poetry Month here in the US, I curate a poem-a-day series. It has been going strong for several years now and remains one of the most popular features on my blog. Here are a few of the other top posts — ones which had nothing to do with poetry — this year:
My Little Free Library
What We Say, Or Don’t
The Pep Rally I Cannot Forget
Interestingly, that last one is from 2015, but it always makes a big splash again during high school football season.
A couple of years ago, I made a commitment to read more books just for fun, and doing so has improved my quality of life exponentially. I became a writer in part because reading has been one of my absolute favorite things to do since I was very young; I loved reading stories and felt compelled to create new ones. Teaching and parenting tend to drain away one’s free time, and so reading just for fun (like other things I did for self-care) fell by the wayside.
Disregarding one’s self-care generally doesn’t end well.
So I started carving out the time to read, even if only for ten minutes before bedtime each night. It reduced my stress and improved the quality of my sleep. I incorporated free choice reading into some of my classes; that helped, too, because I did it alongside my students. And then I began keeping a list of the books I was reading for fun each year. I try to read a wide variety of things, but I will also concede that I most enjoy reading books in the genres I write or want to write, and at least half a dozen of the books on this list were for research for my writing or teaching. So here is my list for 2018; you’ll find a preponderance of fantasy and magic realism and poetry, as well as some science fiction, realistic fiction, romance, and comics. These titles are not ranked in any way but listed alphabetically by author. I strongly recommend maybe a dozen of them (starred). (A few of these books were re-reads from many years ago; I’ve also not listed books which I began reading but did not finish, for one reason or another.)
Dawn (Octavia Butler) *
Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)
Close to the Edge (Zara Cox) *
Unleashed (Caitlin Crews) *
When a Scot Ties the Knot (Tessa Dare)
The Mistress of Spices (Chitra Divakaruni) *
Like Water for Chocolate (Laura Esquivel) *
Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
Shadow of Night (Deborah Harkness) *
The Book of Life (Deborah Harkness) *
The Midnight Queen (Sylvia Izzo Hunter)
Justice League: Volume 1, Origin (Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Scott Williams)
At the Bottom of the River (Jamaica Kincaid)
Hallow Point (Ari Marmell) *
His Majesty’s Dragon (Naomi Novik) *
Binti (Nnedi Okorafor) *
Wicked Like a Wildfire (Lana Popović) *
the magic my body becomes (Jess Rizkallah)
The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan) *
Mala of the Heart (various authors) *
This brings me to my writing resolutions for the new year. Most of my Writing Career Time has been consumed the last few months with finishing up my forthcoming book of poetry, The Sharp Edges of Water. We’re on track still for a January release date, which is awesome, but this process has really taken a long time (as it does). My goals for this year include finding some way to write at least 200 words a day (or a complete poem or blog post). What would be amazing is if I could finish the first draft of the new novel I’m working on, which has really taken a backseat to the book of poetry (as it had to).
But this week, I’ll be getting back to the WIP, and I’m super excited about that! I’m happiest when I’m writing a story I love.
I have a few other resolutions, too, such as hitting 100 rejections this year (which I came close to in 2018, I think, though I wasn’t honestly counting). The idea behind this is that if you’re submitting your work out often enough to hit 100 rejections in a year, you’re bound to get some acceptances. I’ve found this logic to be quite sound: the more I submit my work, the more publications I garner. The main obstacle for me is just making time to do it. (Don’t get me started on the millions of ways the publishing industry makes it a financial, emotional, and logistical challenge for writers to get individual pieces published. We’ll be here all day. I’m in the game and aware of it; that has to be enough for now.)
I’m also looking forward to participating again in the August Postcard Poetry Fest; last year was my first time to do it and it was awesome! And as if that weren’t enough, I have yet another collection of poems which will go into editing later this year. Watch for news on that when it manifests.
I won’t say it’s easy being both a fiction writer and a poet. I will say it’s fulfilling to do both, though, and for me, each type of writing informs the other.
So that’s all for now. I’ll write more later with some fun opportunities you might be interested in. Until then, enjoy the book you’re reading, and if you’re not reading one, find one. It will likely do you good.
Sappho's Torque 