Coming soon: Spring class at Hugo House

What: Building the Long Poem: Writing in Sequences
When: May 1, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Here are the full details from the Richard Hugo House site:

What's the difference between poetic sequences and series? How do you extend metaphor and imagery across long-poem sequences? How do you maintain compression and build tension, creating an arc without depending on narrative? What roles do form and structure play? In this class, we'll investigate poetic sequences and how they build the long poem. We'll look at examples from Charles Wright, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Kate Fagan and others—and we”ll write, generating our own sequences. If you've wanted to dig deep into an idea and explore it, this class is for you—and you”ll leave with drafts you can build on.

To register: http://www.hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=20#Group5

(Note: When I say, "we'll write," I mean a lot.)

Write-O-Rama!

It's coming this Saturday, December 4!

From the Hugo House website:

Write-O-Rama is a full day of more than 30 one-hour workshops offered by Hugo House's writing teachers. Sample Hugo classes, dabble in different forms and genres and share your fresh, new writing before the ink even dries at two open mics.

I'll be doing a fragment-inspired Break It Up: Short-Burst Writing workshop at 10:00 and at 2:00—and you can read about loads of other workshops on the Hugo House website.

Come, and come ready to write!

Writing poems in a series

It's coming soon…

...and spaces are still available.

I'm teaching a class on Writing Poems in a Series at Richard Hugo House, November 13, 1:00-5:00 PM.

(It's my favorite way to write—a good way to avoid the blank page for as long as possible.)

Here is the official description:

Writing Poems in a Series

How do you follow that great idea—that fabulous first poem—for an entire book? Do you ever get an intriguing idea and then wonder how you'll keep it going? In this class, we'll discuss different ways to explore a theme and its variations through images, narrative and voice. We’ll read examples of how other poets—including Louise Gluck, Carolyn Forche and Oliver de la Paz—extend themes and weave multiple themes, and we'll write through some exercises to help unearth those extensions, to explore and expand our basic idea while maintaining a connecting thread through each of the poems.

Truth: I'm lazy, so I love already having a direction when I sit down to write. And that's why I love creating poems in a series.

I hope to see you then and there.

A new look and a new outlook

I've given my blog a little remodeling, like a coat of new paint.



Now, I'm trying to match those colors on my website, and maybe recode parts of it. That part of the project will take longer. (How can the same HTML color code show up differently on two different sites?)



Over the weekend, I went to the Finding Your Readers in the 21st Century conference at Richard Hugo House. The conference focused on getting your work published and then getting it into the hands of readers. (Okay, I'll say it: Marketing.)



I figured that if my goal was to get my manuscript published and into the hands of readers, I should show up and learn as much as possible.



During the sessions, I learned more about Espresso Book Machine and also about Publication Studio. These look like viable, and very different, self-publishing options, and I'm considering both of them (basically becoming my own gatekeeper).



I also heard some good strategies for researching presses without going the contest $25 check contest $25 check contest $25 check route.

Alice Acheson gave some dynamic hands-on sessions on pitching and promoting, and Wendy Call provided fantastic insights on writing query letters. And Kelli Russell Agodon provided some really helpful information on writing grants.

Much of the conference was geared toward the prose publishing landscape, but I think that knowing how to talk about a project, write a good letter, and promote a project will help with poetry, too.

Now, it's time to put some of that good information to use. And write!

Reading tonight in the Cabaret!

Rose Alley Press presents:

VICTORIA FORD, KRISTEN McHENRY, BELLE RANDALL
&
JOANNIE STANGELAND (me)

7:30 at Richard Hugo House
1634 Eleventh Avenue, Seattle
Tel.: 206-322-7030

I couldn't decide what to read, so I have three separate lists, ready to select one on a dime. David will have trivia questions and gift certificates.

Join us for the fun!

P.S. The photo is from Lummi Island. I was going with the rose theme.

Whatever you do, don't type that TOC

My new video is live now, and it covers how to compile a manuscript and add a table of contents—without typing it in by hand. See how to do it, and get your next book ready!

The live action in the video is at Richard Hugo House in Seattle—an inviting space and a very supportive place for writers, with classes of all kinds and a packed schedule of events.

Next up: How to add page numbers to that manuscript.