Of course, we start with the fact that the winning team is named after a poem: Poe at the Superbowl. Then we add a poem-as-commercial, “God Made a Farmer,” one of the more stunning moments of an evening mostly blah except the last-half play following the power outage, when the 49ers made it an interesting game. To my ear, it was poetry, Whitmanesque and rangy, and decidedly a poem, with its repetend, “So God made…
The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is a chance for authors to tell you what they’re working on. The author answers 10 questions about their next book and tags the person who first tagged them plus at least five other authors. I’m excited to be part of this progressive blog-hopping self-interview of authors on books we’re working on. I was tagged by poet and teacher Ren Katherine Powell. I’ve read many fascinating NBT blogs.…
New additions to my website page: Poetry Book Publishers. These are book publishers who read outside of contests. If you have a manuscript and are tired of the contest round, check it out. People have written to me to say they found their publishers with this list. You can also search on New Pages and Poets and Writers, under Small Presses. Keeping this list up has made me more discriminating in thinking about where to…
My first poetry book, Earth Lessons, is now available for the Kindle! Very excited to have my first e-book, and planning lots more. I love reading on my phone or computer. Print may be alive and well, but it’s so heavy! Plus, it kills trees. I have plans to make book trailers and some other multimedia things involving poetry. Stay tuned! (Ideas welcome.) Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.
A great article by Erika Meitner on compiling a poetry book manuscript. She talks about project versus what she calls “mix-tape books”– a great term for the classical general poetry collection. She discusses the way a “project” related collection can suffer from weak poems forced into being and into the book to support the theme. It’s a concern I have, this rampant trend for themed poetry collections. While a themed collection that’s strong and can…
Here’s a short list of journals where your published poems (in books, anthologies, journals) can get a second life. I’m working on compiling such a list, as I don’t find one readily available. Reincarnate your poems! How can they be remembered if only seen once (in a journal) or twice (then in your book) or even three times (anthologized)? I’m for poems circulating widely! Borderline Poetry JournalQarrtsiluni Houseboathouse Another short list – journals that take…
First of all, I hopped to a new blog site, but got spammed out of existence. So here I am at Rocket Kids again! I hope you’re still here. Found some fun new places to publish poetry. Angle, editing from England and Australia, has a strong preference for poetry in received or nonce forms, but are open to considering any work which has a strong element of rhythm or ‘music’, however achieved. I like that…
I’ll be posting regularly on the new blog because it’s part of my new poet/writer site: https://racheldacus.net. I’m still a Rocket Kid over there, and comments are as always more than welcome. Latest topics I’ve blogged about: The Gift of a PoemInside ForeverSpiritual Intoxication a 12-Step Program?Po-Biz: Marketing Your Book And more. Come on by and let me know what you think, add ideas, links, your blog or website address. Thanks! Visit https://racheldacus.net for more…
I’m happy to pour the champagne and toss the balloons to announce that I’m blogging now (still a Rocket Kid!) over at my new author site. Here’s the blog. Come and talk to me. There will be all the same topics and any you’d like to start! Comments, as usual, are welcome and can well start a new topic. Today I blogged about writer’s routines, an endlessly fascinating topic. See you there! Visit https://racheldacus.net for…
In Northern California we have funny pseudo-seasons. Warm and bright November days that fool you into summer feelings, roses that act as if they’re going to make bouquets more, and this year winter will take a vacation. And then at nightfall, the temp falls, and suddenly you’re in wool and looking at stars like icicles and wondering whether you should just stay home until February. I find myself writing less and less as the season…