Ask the Author: Michael Dickel
Answered Questions (7)
Michael Dickel
Yes, I have self-published.
Why? To get my poetry out there, after sending my manuscript out.
How? I used Lulu.com for that book, which was my second, but my first print book. The first was with a publisher of free e-books, now defunct. I don't recommend Lulu for everybody, but if one is willing to work at promotion and get interviews and reviews, it could work for one or two books.
That said, Is a Rose Press is a micro press that three others and I started. Since the four of us started it, two people have moved on because of other commitments related to academic jobs. So far, we have published five books (including two of mine) and are working on our sixth, which, when it comes out, would include four authors.
Is a Rose Press is not exactly self-publishing, although the two of us remaining started with our own books to work out the kinks. We use Lightning Source International (LSI), a print-on-demand service associated with Ingram's wholesalers. In another sense, as we have expanded to include other authors and intend to publish more, we are a micro-press now.
I like LSI for having a press doing a number of books—however, if you are only going to do one or two books of your own, I think that CreateSpace.com (Amazon's service) or Lulu.com are probably better. Neither have upfront set-up costs (unless you choose to have your own ISBN number—which is a whole other topic, but isn't that much, and you have to buy them if you use a service like LSI).
I am currently helping a client prepare a book for publication on CreateSpace. I have used Lulu. They both are satisfactory for someone wanting to publish a single book (or two). I think there are advantages to going through a different sort of printing service, like LSI, if you want to publish more books (say, at a guess, more than four).
Why? To get my poetry out there, after sending my manuscript out.
How? I used Lulu.com for that book, which was my second, but my first print book. The first was with a publisher of free e-books, now defunct. I don't recommend Lulu for everybody, but if one is willing to work at promotion and get interviews and reviews, it could work for one or two books.
That said, Is a Rose Press is a micro press that three others and I started. Since the four of us started it, two people have moved on because of other commitments related to academic jobs. So far, we have published five books (including two of mine) and are working on our sixth, which, when it comes out, would include four authors.
Is a Rose Press is not exactly self-publishing, although the two of us remaining started with our own books to work out the kinks. We use Lightning Source International (LSI), a print-on-demand service associated with Ingram's wholesalers. In another sense, as we have expanded to include other authors and intend to publish more, we are a micro-press now.
I like LSI for having a press doing a number of books—however, if you are only going to do one or two books of your own, I think that CreateSpace.com (Amazon's service) or Lulu.com are probably better. Neither have upfront set-up costs (unless you choose to have your own ISBN number—which is a whole other topic, but isn't that much, and you have to buy them if you use a service like LSI).
I am currently helping a client prepare a book for publication on CreateSpace. I have used Lulu. They both are satisfactory for someone wanting to publish a single book (or two). I think there are advantages to going through a different sort of printing service, like LSI, if you want to publish more books (say, at a guess, more than four).
Michael Dickel
Pretty much doing what I wrote in what inspires me — reading, walking, talking, looking at art, listening to music, playing music and just sitting down to write. I think that if a writer spends too much time thinking about being blocked, the writing stays away. However, doing other things, letting it be, accepting that these other activities are "pre-writing" activities — this let's the words ferment, bubble, and in time become wine.
Michael Dickel
There's a best thing? I am driven to write. If I don't, I become sullen and withdrawn. Writing is living, for me. So the best thing about being a writer is that I am most alive when I write, alive at all because I write. Writing is often difficult, hard work, and always challenging. I suppose the best thing for me is when a reader tells me something positive about their experience reading my work—then I know that the writing works, it reaches another human being in a way that the other human values. That's spiritual in nature.
Michael Dickel
General advice probably is not worth that much—we are all such individuals and what works for one writer might not for another. That said, I would suggest reading widely both from various traditions ("classics") and from lots of different contemporary streams. Find what you like and study why you like it, what makes it work, how the writing works as writing. Share your work with others, preferably an experienced writer among those others, and listen to their comments about what they see in your work. Don't listen so much to their solutions — except as a guide to why they see something you didn't see. Find your own solutions (usually). Don't follow other people's rules or guidelines, including mine.
Michael Dickel
I just collected some older and recent political poems in a chap book by Locofo Chaps (Chicago — available as a free PDF download at http://www.moriapoetry.com/locofo.html — scroll down the page, as my book is several rows down, but I suggest that you browse the other titles as you do). I have a novel that I return to from time to time, but has yet to bubble to a boil. I regularly post on my blog (https://MichaelDickel.info), often poems that respond to current cultural, social, political realities. Mike Stone, a poet-colleague-friend and I have noticed that we each have several poems that fit together, often through theme or imagery, and are working on pulling together a group of these into a collection (currently, a couple of these intersections can be found on my blog)>
Michael Dickel
Mostly by sitting down and writing. Even when I am not inspired or excited at that moment, if I let the writing lead me, it almost always leads to some energy that wants out, needs to be expressed. That said, obviously there are times when it is difficult to sit down to do the work.
Then, I read. I go to a gallery or museum to look at art. I listen to music (or play my guitar). I go for a walk. Somehow, I turn my attention elsewhere and let the words simmer until they are ready to boil up into my conscious.
Then, I read. I go to a gallery or museum to look at art. I listen to music (or play my guitar). I go for a walk. Somehow, I turn my attention elsewhere and let the words simmer until they are ready to boil up into my conscious.
Michael Dickel
The Palm Reading after The Toad's Garden began in a way through intersections with another writer. I had been reading Flash Fiction, and in particular the work of Meg Pokras, in preparation for an interview and article I was writing about Meg and her work. I very much found an affinity with her work, which suggested to me a hybrid between prose poetry and short narrative forms.
As a poet who also writes some short stories, I decided to play with the form. The first story in the book came from a list of five prompt words Meg posted online. The woman with a beard, the "main character" in the first section of the book, emerged in this piece. I have always been interested in the Dadaists, Surrealists, and automatic writing, so I started a social media experiment — asking for five free-associated words from followers of my blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter. I would use several of these to write a new piece 2-3 times a week, which I posted on my blog. The woman with a beard kept insisting on her presence in each piece, and then a toad with a garden joined her.
I've continued to write flash — hybrid experiments, sometimes with non-fiction, sometimes with poetry and narrative (or prose, no narrative) — for about five years now. The Palm Reading after The Toad's Garden collects this work. The first half follows the woman with a beard and the toad, in and out of his garden. The second half begins with a palm reading that has a tangential connection to the woman with a beard, and moves out into a collection of very short readings on contemporary life, society, culture, gender, and, occasionally, politics.
As a poet who also writes some short stories, I decided to play with the form. The first story in the book came from a list of five prompt words Meg posted online. The woman with a beard, the "main character" in the first section of the book, emerged in this piece. I have always been interested in the Dadaists, Surrealists, and automatic writing, so I started a social media experiment — asking for five free-associated words from followers of my blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter. I would use several of these to write a new piece 2-3 times a week, which I posted on my blog. The woman with a beard kept insisting on her presence in each piece, and then a toad with a garden joined her.
I've continued to write flash — hybrid experiments, sometimes with non-fiction, sometimes with poetry and narrative (or prose, no narrative) — for about five years now. The Palm Reading after The Toad's Garden collects this work. The first half follows the woman with a beard and the toad, in and out of his garden. The second half begins with a palm reading that has a tangential connection to the woman with a beard, and moves out into a collection of very short readings on contemporary life, society, culture, gender, and, occasionally, politics.
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