Anne Marie Wells's Blog, page 3

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter September 2024

Hi Poets! Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Y’all, August was a wild month for me.

Firstly, I had an issue regarding *plagiarism.* The story is so long and complicated, but the TL;DR version is many years ago I had a best friend when I began my writing journey in playwriting. I wrote a number of plays and she provided editing. Because we were best friends and I wanted to bolster her self-esteem, I insisted on putting her name on the byline alongside mine even though she was the self-proclaimed “polisher” and never actually came up with any of the ideas or wrote any of the text. She was my person. My ride or die. People mistook us for a couple. I never dreamed we’d ever “break up.” But our friendship dissolved pretty epically for reasons that aren’t important to this story.

Years later, she confronted me via email about listing the plays with only my name on them. This happened two days after the first Christmas after my father died, and I had absolutely no mental or emotional capacity to handle her bullshit. I responded with an unhinged email saying (among other things) that I’d take the plays off my CV completely, and I didn’t care what she did with them. WELL, I never imagined that four years later, she’d submit the play that *I* wrote to a play competition as if it her were her own original idea and own original writing. (Honestly, the audacity.)

When the theater company wasn’t taking action, I lawyered up. Turns out there needs to be very specific parameters met for an email to be considered a legally binding contract. I also had all the original drafts timestamped from 2017 and 2018 in my Google docs, whereas she only had the final PDF copy and no drafts at all.

My ideal would have been that the theater pulled the play completely, but they offered the compromise to add my name to byline since I can’t really prove that she didn’t write any of it. (Even though she didn’t write any of it.) And I think that this is a good compromise because she shouldn’t have submitted work she knew she didn’t write. (I honestly don’t know how she is not beyond embarrassed to do that in the first place and beyond embarrassed to also very publicly admit that she hasn’t been able to come up with her own original idea for this entire time.) But you know what? I should never have put her name on the byline in the first place. Even if it was as a symbol of best friendship. I should have given her an editorial credit from the start, and then I would never have had to deal with this bullshit.

(I know this doesn’t seem like it could be the TL;DR version, but believe me, it is.)

ANYWAYS, I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON.

And allllllll this brings me to this month’s writing prompt.

Writing Prompt

During this unfortunate situation, I was feeling very inspired by Margaret Keane’s story.

She was a painter best known for creating portraits of whimsical people and animals with enormous eyes. Initially her husband at the time, Walter Keane, claimed credit for her paintings, going as far as exhibiting them across the country under his own name. After they divorced, Margaret came forward as the true artist and sued her husband for claiming credit. During the trial, the judge ordered Margaret and Walter to both create one of the iconic paintings. Walter claimed he had a shoulder injury and couldn’t participate. Then Margaret finished her painting in less than an hour. She was awarded $4 million in damages, but the award was overturned in appeals court. Despite never seeing a penny, Margaret said she didn’t care about the money, but only wanted to be credited as the true artist.

Write about a time when you reclaimed what was rightfully yours.

Writing Challenges

This month I am participating in two writing challenges.

3-Day Chapbook Contest

The first is a 3-day Chapbook contest through The Peter White Public Library in Michigan. The challenge is to write 15-40 pages of poetry in the three-day timeframe with the theme of “Room for Love.” Participants are able to bring notes and ideas to the challenge, but all the actual poems must be written within the three-day timeframe!

Y’all, it is NOT going well hahahaha

I went into the challenge with a gameplan of sorts. My forte is poetic forms, so I made a list of forms that I knew I’d want to include: ribcage (of course), abecedarian, pantoum, duplex, ghazal. I also made a list of poems that’d I’d write “after” poems for. For example, Steven Wallace’s “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” I have seen many variations on this poem (13 Ways of Looking at a Glacier, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, 13 Ways of Looking at a Black Boy), and knew I wanted to created “13 Ways of Looking at a Room.”

But you know what? Even with the plan, I am struggling. And I think that’s because I struggle to write when I have to, when it’s forced. My best work has always been spur-of-the-moment, lightning bolt-style inspiration.

When I am re-reading the poems I wrote for this challenge so far, I *cringe.*

BUT! I’m going to submit my work anyway. It didn’t cost anything to register for this challenge, and they cap the entries at the first 100 participants which means if I don’t submit something then I am potentially taking the spot of someone who would have submitted their work.

My final draft is due tomorrow, and I’ll be turning in my chapbook whether I feel confident in it or not.

Mark your calendar for next year if you want to participate in the challenge next time.

60-Day Writing Challenge

The second challenge is heftier and started today. Camari Hawkins (founder of Mama’s Kitchen Press) is hosting a 60-day creative writing challenge.

The tasks are:

Write for 30 minutes

Read 10 pages of a writing craft book.

Complete a writing exercise. This can be a shared prompt or idea from the book you are reading.

Review and edit yesterday’s work.

Engage with the Audacious Writers Community via Accountability Chat.

Every day! For 60 days! EEEEEEEP!

(I’m counting writing this newsletter as writing for 30 minutes)

I created a spreadsheet for myself so I can keep track of my daily progress. If you’re doing the challenge with the group (or would just like to do the challenge on your own) you can use my spreadsheet as a template. (Just click “file” in the upper lefthand corner then click “make a copy” from the drop-down menu.)

“Routine” has never been my friend, but I’m hoping that participating in this challenge with give me the jumpstart I need to prioritize my craft, to make time for my writing even when I am tired from being a mom and trying to make ends meet.

I hope next month I can report that I’m meeting my daily tasks regularly!

Book Recommendation

One book I’m taking inspiration from for the 3-day chapbook contest is Ian Williams’ Word Problems

His use of blank space and poem structure blew my mind!

If you want to explore poetry outside the traditional (read: boring) left-justified alignment, I highly recommend reading this collection.

Where I submitted work (so you can too)

It hasn’t opened yet, but I plan to submit my chapbook Mother, (v) to the Michael Marks Awards

The Garden Party Poetry Contest

Society of Classical Poets Haiku Competition

Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry

Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge

Upcoming Events

I am so excited to be teaming up with Tiny Spoon Literary Magazine as their “Tiny Resident.”

Saturday & Sunday September 28 & 29 from 10 AM  to Noon MST / Noon to 2 PM EST

In this two-day workshop Anne Marie Wells will guide participants through a brief history of traditional poetic forms before diving heart first into modern poetic forms that give a throbbing middle finger to convention. Together, the group will explore constraint as a means of defying constraining societal structures as well as a means of experimentation and fun! Poetic forms don’t have to be metered or rhyming or trite. Poetic forms can be cultural, they can be political statements, they can contain secret messages, they can be puzzles, they can be math, they can be nonsensical, and they can be even more than all that when the participants in the class invent their own forms, adding to the diversity and beauty of the literary universe. This workshop is for the established form fetishist, the form curious, and form skeptics.

The workshop will take place virtually via Zoom. Upon registration, you will be sent the link closer to the event.

The registration is pay-what-you-will. To register follow this link. I hope to see you there!

Synonyms for Grief

On October 5th, the Middlesex County Public Library will be hosting me for another iteration of Synonyms for Grief, my creative writing workshop that leads participants through a series of writing prompts aimed to support individuals as they navigate their grief journey.

Registration is free. Follow this link to sign up!

✏️🖋👍

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love,Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

AITA? To One-Star, or Not To One-Star

Receiving a negative review for a book can be a challenging experience for any author. I know I have felt disheartened or defensive when faced with criticism, especially after pouring so much effort, creativity, and time into my work. On the other hand, as a reader, I feel a sense of responsibility to provide my honest opinion—even if that means giving a one-star review.

Before you continue reading

Let me preface by saying that I only give one-star reviews to books that are so bad that I can’t finish them. Even if I thought a book was horrible, if I could still read it all the way to the end, I will give it two stars.

Okay, so…

I recently finished a poetry collection that was gifted to me. (For this article, I will refer to it as “the book” and its author simply as “the author.”) The sentiment was genuine as the collection centered around grief and my two poetry collections Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems and Mother, (v) also center around grief. But this book was not for me. Deplete of any specificity, each poem provided a generalism about grief with little to no descriptive language, metaphor, or imagery.

Before writing this article, I donated my copy of the book, but going on the author’s Instagram page, one example of a poem is

“every cell in my body
is mourning you.”

That’s it. That’s the poem. And this style of poetry is just not my thing.

That’s not to say I can’t appreciate bite-sized poems. I can! W.S. Merwin’s “Separation” is a masterpiece in my mind:

One of my favorite poems.

Anyway, I left a one-star review for the book. Here it is:

DNF not a fan of “insta-poetry,” but if that is your jam, then you’d probably enjoy it. To me, each poem says something generic and so lacks the kind of specificity that builds connection with a reader. Ok, grief is hard. Why? How does the poet/speaker know grief? What happened specifically? I want to know the story behind the sentiment. I don’t need to be fed dozens of pages of generalisms on grief. I know grief is hard. Why was grief hard for *you*? Take me on the journey. Show me what caused your grief. There was also zero variation in form and no unique use of enjambment—that I discerned anyway. But again, this style of writing à la Rupi Kaur, Amanda Lovelace, and the like is really popular, so readers who enjoy that style of writing will likely get more enjoyment out of it than I did. Sorry :(

And I thought my review was very fair!

I didn’t one-star the book and just leave it, and I didn’t one-star the book and write “This is literally one of the worst collections on grief and maybe of all time that I have ever read.” (Which is how I really felt/feel!) I wrote why exactly it wasn’t for me so that people who do like that style of poetry can know that they would probably enjoy it.

So when a fan of the author’s popped into my DMs a month after leaving the review, I was caught off guard.

I saw your comment on [the author]’s book on Goodreads. I responded to it. It really stuck with me how unnecessary and kinda cruel it was 😞 In a world where women should be building each other up, it reflects very poorly on you to write something so negative on a fellow author’s book… makes me wonder if you are a very unhappy person 😞 If that’s the case, I’m sorry, and I hope you find some peace in life… if not, maybe reflect upon your motives for writing it? Not only do you insult her but also her readers.

Oh my god, what?!

And the thing is, I’m not a very unhappy person. In fact, my life is GREAT right now. I just fulfilled my dream of having a child. My partner and I are in the best relationship I’ve ever had. My second book was published earlier this year. I would love some financial stability in my life and am struggling with some internalized fatphobia in my post-partum body, but really… compared to other eras in my life… I am experiencing a golden age.

Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash

So I did reflect on my motives for writing it.

And I took to social media

I asked my writer friends how they felt about giving negative reviews. I created a poll in my story. “What are your opinions on giving negative reviews?” I asked. “A. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Or B. If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all. Or is there a gray area?”

One writer friend wrote, “People take shit too fucking personal with reviews… I mean you are bound to get a mix of people’s different opinions.”

Another writer friend wrote,

I think bad reviews are a part of the review process. But they need to be good bad reviews. Like the person actually read the book, they can articulate why and where the book fell short for them… A bad review shouldn’t be “this book fucking sucked, I didn’t even finish, and the author is stupid.” That helps no one.

I am no stranger to receiving negative feedback either! One guy wrote of my poetry, (one second while I copy and paste the direct quote) “how many poems do i have to read about dying parents and cancer? poetry is supposed to read well. this is just words.”

LOL.

And I agree with my writer friend. Bad reviews are a part of the review process. If you’re a professional writer and you’re not open to criticism, then you’re in the wrong industry, my dude. That’s why I can read “how many poems do i have to read about dying parents and cancer?” and laugh! That’s literally what my entire book Survived By is about… my father dying of cancer… if you came for poems about walking barefoot in the grass, you’ve come to the wrong place :-)

A few writer friends, however, felt that leaving bad reviews was bad karma.

One writer friend said,

I tend to keep my negative reviews to myself or share what was meaningful to me (even if I didn’t/don’t love the work). For me, leaving negative reviews isn’t productive or helpful and I find that I feel more connected to the writerly community when I celebrate what I do love.

Another friend who is a professional book reviewer wrote, “On my posts I do not do bad reviews and save them for [social media] stories, but even then I usually just say ‘DNF’…”

I shared my one-star review and the story of the disgruntled fan with respondents to my poll, and received mostly validation.

“Your review wasn’t unnecessary or cruel—you challenged her to write deeper. You focused on the craft,” one friend said.

But another pointed out that referring to poetry as “Insta-poetry” was derogatory and a slap in the face.

It was?! I honestly didn’t mean it insultingly. I thought that was the genre people used to describe that style of writing. I didn’t ask that friend, but I’m going to ask now… if not “Insta-poetry,” how else would one describe the style of writing that is written by Rupi Kaur, Amanda Lovelace, Pierre Alex Jeanty, etc?

I would also write that “traditional poetry” à la Keats, Whitman, Frost, Donne, etc. is also not for me. I absolutely hate rhyming and metered poetry, probably even more than I hate Insta-poetry generalisms. But I don’t think anyone would be offended by my referring to it as “traditional.” IDK.

After polling and interviewing my writer friends, I decided to ask the fan directly, hoping that I wouldn’t start an all-out WWE brawl. Photo by Jason Pofahl on Unsplash

Hi [fan], I've been thinking a lot about your message, and so have some follow up questions. I actually am very happy in my life, and you wrote if I am not really unhappy in my life to reflect upon my motives for writing a negative review on [the author]'s book. So I did. And it's merely because it's one of the worst poetry collections on grief and maybe ever that I have read. And I'm not trying to be mean by saying that. It literally is. I am a professional writer and editor. It is literally my job to read poetry manuscripts and to provide feedback on how to strengthen them. I have done this professionally for multiple entities as well as independently. So, I read dozens of poetry manuscripts every year. If you look at my Goodreads page, you’ll see I have read over 700 books on Goodreads, and I write reviews on most of them. Some reviews are glowing because I absolutely loved a book. And others are not. I am honest in my opinions. I write lots of 5-star reviews, and probably most of them are for female authors and poets. It's not like I'm some catty, petty, jealous female author who tears other female authors down because I'm threatened by them or something. I leave lots of 5-star reviews. [The author]'s isn't one of them simply because I really disliked it. I actually felt like my one-star review for [the author]'s book *WAS* nice. I stated specifically what about it I didn't like. I didn't write a one-star review and just leave it. I didn't write a one-star review and write "this is literally one of the worst collections of poetry I have ever read." To me *that* would have been cruel. But to say the specific reasons why the collection didn't resonate with me and to also say "hey I didn't like this, but if you like this style of poetry then you would probably like it" was very fair, I thought. I'm not sure how it was "insulting." And I am also very confused why it deserved such an outpouring of hate from you. Was it just because I really disliked something that you really liked? So *you* feel insulted because you liked it? I also really dislike… Mary Oliver's poetry. Her collection Dog Songs is another one of the worst collections I have ever read and it won the Pulitzer….

On Goodreads, I actually wrote back to someone who left a one-star review on my friend Laura's book that centers around grieving her dad who passed away in a car accident. The person wrote something along the lines of "I hope writing this book brought her some healing, but I think she only wrote this for the publicity and attention." Like, what?! It's one thing to criticize someone's work, but it's another thing to question someone's integrity when you know nothing about the person at all. That person has since deleted their review.

My one-star review said nothing about [the author] as a person either. So I’m really confused as to how it could have been considered "cruel."

So my follow-up questions are: In your opinion, is it wrong to leave a one-star review at all? Why, if so? In your opinion, how could I re-write my negative review in a kinder way while still sharing the same sentiment: that I don't like insta-poetry. I don't like poetry that is all generalizations without any specificity, that I didn't connect with the content because of those reasons, and I don't like poetry that doesn't use enjambment or interesting line breaks and is all left justified aligned?

I am genuinely asking for a suggestion and am willing to alter my review while also staying authentic to my true feelings.

To my relief, the conversation took a stark turn for the better!

Thanks Anne Marie for this thoughtful response. You raise some interesting points! I’m sorry you felt that you received an “out pouring of hate” from me. That’s just not who I am or would ever want to be…

I’m still unsure if you needed to say that the poetry wasn’t going to connect with its audience when you didn’t even finish it…

Your point about should people leave one star reviews is a good one…? I guess I feel so strongly about this book and how much it’s resonated with my grief experience that your words in your review (and this message) only serve to disrupt/undo that and I guess I don’t have the resilience I’d like to have at the moment.

Sorry if you felt hated though.. your review does read as someone who is looking for details to someone’s trauma and that felt unfair… but can see that it’s more than that.

Thanks again for your response x

So I went back and revised my review, letting people know that I DNF-ed at 50% and changing “To me, each poem says something generic and so lacks the kind of specificity that builds connection with a reader” to “To Me, each poem says something generic and so lacks the kind of specificity that allows me to build a connection with it.” And then added examples of grief poetry that does allow me to build a connection with it because it is specific and does take me along on the journey.

TL;DR

-I was affirmed that it is okay to leave a one-star review for work that doesn’t resonate and when leaving a one-star review, it is better to explain that one star rather than just leaving one star with no explanation.

-I want to encourage other reviewers to keep their one-star reviews about the work itself and only your response to it. Leave personal commentary about the author themself off of it. (Or if you do criticize the author as a human being, bring your receipts. Write a specific quote that makes you say what you say.)

What do you think?

Have you left one-star reviews? Why or why not?

AITA for leaving a one-star review in the first place?

How would you re-write my review to be gentler?

Tell me in the comments!

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love,Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection (and please leave a review… even if it’s one-star haha!)

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter August 2024

Hello again, poets!

Let’s jump right into a writing prompt!

Writing Prompt

Chloe Flower is an American composer famed for blending classical style piano together with pop, rap, and R & B. She calls her style “popsical,” and her unique blend has garnered her fame and accolades having performed on widely-viewed stages such as the Grammys and Oscars.

Explore writing in a way that blends two seemingly opposing genres or styles together. Historical fiction meets space opera? A murder mystery for children? Erotica written in Dr. Seuss-like rhyme? Classical mythology written as modern journalism? Where does your mind/heart take you? Break all the rules!

Guest Post

I wrote a guest post for Wild Roof Journal’s Substack about how I learned to not just accept but to celebrate **REJECTION**

Read my essay “Rejection as Blessing” here :-)

Negative Reviews Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

Speaking of rejection, I am working on an article about negative reviews. If you’ve been to my Instagram lately, then you saw my poll in my stories asking for opinions on negative reviews.

Is everyone entitled to share their opinion even if it’s negative?

Or if you don’t have anything nice to say, should you not say it at all?

Or is there a gray area?

Tell me what YOU think in the comments!

Positive Reviews

Okay, enough with the negative. Here are a couple of books I loved recently:

Talicha J.’s - TAKING BACK THE BODY

A giant middle finger to misogyny, misogynoir, patriarchy, fatphobia.

So many powerful lines:

“Yes, fat. Sometimes bitch.
Always being picked from the teeth
of insecure men who have never been taught no.”

“I was able to exist because they worked the way they worked without asking to be something as bold as a heart.”

“How best to say body
without saying body?
should I say I feel more elephant
in a bird’s nest?
more empire state building
in the tools shed?
more ocean
in a shot glass?”

Trapper Markelz - Childproof Sky

This collection is the kind of healing ache I recognize. My healing ache was my collection Survived By. For Trapper, it is Childproof Sky. A masterful tribute to his late daughter. The essence of “take your broken heart, make it into art.”

Some of my favorite gems include:

“You were exactly what you needed to be
—a prism. One that bent light
in a way I’d never seen before. “

“When someone dies, we bring the family food,
a sign of some continued living.”

“But we know the shock of which they speak,
how it builds a living promise
—pulls it from the dirt, polished into gem.”

The entire poem “Sleeping Together”

“… Space
and time are said to be the same thing: one open
like a deep pit, the other filling it, like you,
radiating your small heatwave into the sky…”

Where I submitted work (so you can too) Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash

Last month I submitted to Washington Writer’s Publishing House Tiny Odes Contest, and I’m delighted to learn that my ode, Ode to Motherhood, will be included in the Tiny Ode anthology. Once it’s published, I’ll share it with y’all on my socials.

This month I have submitted or am submitting work to:

Lucky Jefferson Poetry and Prose Contest.

Northwind Writing Award.

Morioka International Haiku Contest.

“Kusamakura” Haiku Competition.

I am currently booking events!

I am excited to facilitate a virtual creative writing workshop in August on utilizing time in poetry, but I’d love to book more — both in person (within a 1-2 hour drive of Washington, D.C.) and virtual (anywhere in the world!) So if you/your organization would like to host me and one of my workshops, please be in touch. Also, if you would love for me to partner with your local bookstore or library, I will reach out to them and try and make it happen!

AND I am taking on new editorial clients!

I have created and/or edited content for social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, press releases, public statements, articles, children's books, poetry collections, memoirs, educational materials, marketing materials, websites, and more.

Previous clients include: Mama's Kitchen Press, Community Literature Initiative, Alegria Publishing, Jacob Addington for Congress, Arne Jorgensen for Town Council, Devon Viehman for Town Council, Rise Self Defense, Yellowstone Capital Advisors, Engel & Völkers, and private contracts.

Check out my website for testimonials and published editorial credits.

Reach out to tell me about your writing project and receive my sliding scale pricing chart.

✏️🖋👍

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love,Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter July 2024

Happy summer, Poets!

It’s July! My birthday month! I share my birthday month with a gazillion movers and shakers including Jeffrey Marsh.

If you don’t know them already, Jeffrey Marsh is a nonbinary writer, artist, activist, and social media influencer (and I would include sage), best known for making viral videos focused on encouragement, self-love, and LGBTQIA+ celebration. I had the pleasure of joining them last year during their virtual book launch party for their memoir Take Your Own Advice. During the Q&A portion of the event, a fan told them that she was fully estranged from her abusive mother, but finds that sometimes she deeply misses her. Jeffrey’s suggestion? If this fan knows the best thing for her to do is to maintain zero contact, then in the moments that she is missing her mom, she can work to embody the qualities that she misses. Does her mom make the greatest meatballs? The fan can work on her own recipe. Did her mom have an angelic singing voice? The fan could take voice lessons herself. In doing so, even if her meatballs never reached the same level as her mother’s, she would be taking active steps to empower herself rather than brooding, wallowing, or furthering her suffering.

Writing Prompt

Write about someone you miss. It doesn’t have to be someone you’re estranged from. What qualities of theirs do you admire? In which ways can you embody their qualities yourself?

AWP Mentorship

This month will bring my 12-week long mentorship with nonfiction writer Laura Carney to a close, but I know that we are going to stay in contact even after the AWP writer-to-writer program officially ends.

Under her guidance, I went through ANOTHER round of revisions of my travel memoir, Happy Iceland. Normally revisions take me forever to complete, but she just filled me with so much enthusiasm and vigor that I completed my edits for my 350-page manuscript within three days (while also copy editing for clients and taking care of an infant!)

I sent my latest iteration of Happy Iceland to my layout designer, and I am really excited to start shopping this book out again. I feel so certain the manuscript will be successful this time around!

Exciting Goings On

One of my poems won the Luzerne County Poetry in Transit contest, which means it will appear on public buses starting in August! I am not allowed to share what poem was selected until after the reveal party early next month. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!

My prose poem “Fetch” was shortlisted for The Prose Poem’s 2024 Spring Short contest, and my prose poem “Mothers” earned honorable mention! I’ll be sharing those on social media once they are posted on The Prose Poem’s website.

Another library has added Survived By to their stacks! If you’re located in the Alexandria, VA area, you can now borrow my book directly from the Burke Branch or at your local branch through inter-library loan.

Poet You Should Know

I had the pleasure of reading Shakeema Smalls’ unpublished poetry manuscript as she prepares to shop it out to publishers, and, boy oh boy, it is immaculate. It filled me with LIFE. I cannot wait to see which publisher will have the honor of publishing this book, and I cannot wait to hold a printed copy in my hands. For real!

You can check out her website here (and do yourself a favor and read some of her pieces published in literary journals.)

Where I submitted work (so you can too)

Tiny Odes Contest

Thrush Poetry Journal

I am currently booking events!

I am excited to facilitate a virtual creative writing workshop in August on utilizing time in poetry, but I’d love to book more — both in person (within a 1-2 hour drive of Washington, D.C.) and virtual (anywhere in the world!) So if you/your organization would like to host me and one of my workshops, please be in touch. Also, if you would love for me to partner with your local bookstore or library, I will reach out to them and try and make it happen!

AND I am taking on new editorial clients!

I have created and/or edited content for social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, press releases, public statements, articles, children's books, poetry collections, memoirs, educational materials, marketing materials, websites, and more.

Previous clients include: Mama's Kitchen Press, Community Literature Initiative, Alegria Publishing, Jacob Addington for Congress, Arne Jorgensen for Town Council, Devon Viehman for Town Council, Rise Self Defense, Yellowstone Capital Advisors, Engel & Völkers, and private contracts.

Check out my website for testimonials and published editorial credits.

Reach out to tell me about your writing project and receive my sliding scale pricing chart.

✏️🖋👍

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love, Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter June 2024

Hi again, Poets!

I’VE GIVEN UP!

That’s right, I HAVE GIVEN UP!…

…on my New Year’s Resolution to only read the books I already have on my shelf before buying new ones. It’s just not a realistic goal, I’ve discovered. But this exercise DID teach me to toss books that I don’t enjoy reading. I do not have enough time in my day or my life to keep reading books that are not filling me with joy.

Books I read last month:

Talicha Johnson’s Falling In Love With Picking Myself Up. (Unfortunately it is sold out and not available on Amazon... yet…) It was a *fantastic* read. I plan to write a full book review soon.

Olaf Olafsson’s Touch. I read this for my monthly book club. Part love story, part mystery, part historical fiction. Novels are not usually my thing, but I just ate this up. The film adaptation is coming out in July of this year, and I will look forward to seeing it in theaters.

Last month I mentioned that I was accepted into AWP’s writer-to-writer mentorship program and would be working with Laura Carney on my Happy Iceland manuscript. She wrote this beautiful memoir, My Father’s List, about discovering her father’s bucket list more than a decade after he was killed by a distracted driver. Laura set out on a quest to complete the 54 items on his list include skydiving, watching the Superbowl live, traveling to Vienna, and owning a tennis court. I really loved the story. Very touching.

Books I DNFed:

I am fully embracing the DNF because like I said… I don’t have time to read books I’m not enjoying.

Tony Hoagland’s Real Sofistikashun: Essays on Poetry and Craft and Sara Rian’s Find Me There. I won’t elaborate on my one-star reviews, but if you’d like to read them, you can find them on my Goodreads.

Listener Poet Program Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Last weekend, I traveled to Winchester, VA for a reading and book signing. Since I am not from Winchester, I recruited two local poets — Joseph Jablonski and Kristin Zimet — to accompany me, hoping to increase local interest in the event. Unfortunately, not a single person turned up. I was certainly bummed because I had driven an hour both ways when I have a breastfeeding infant at home. It’s a lot of prep to be away from home for hours just to have no one show up.

The silver lining was meeting and getting to know Joseph and Kristin. We sat around a table and read our poetry to each other, and the exchange lifted my spirits. Joseph also shared with me that he volunteers as a Listener Poet — a person who goes to hospitals and hospices and listens to people’s stories in order to create a customized poem inspired by what they heard.

That sounds right up my alley.

Future Crowdfunding Photo by Aneta Pawlik on Unsplash

I went to the Good Listening Project’s website to learn more, and I’m interested in participating in their certification program. HOWEVER, even if I earn a scholarship, the cost of tuition is $1750 for 12 weeks. YIKES!

I have an interview with them at the end of June, and if I do earn a scholarship, I’m going to attempt to crowdfund as much of the tuition as possible through hosting creative writing workshops and providing feedback on poems.

Stay tuned for updates!

Where I submitted work (so you can too) Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Elyse Wolf Chapbook Contest

International EJCA Spring Haiku Contest

Writing Prompt Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Last month I celebrated my first ever Mother’s Day as a mother. This month, my partner will celebrate his first ever Father’s Day. This has made me contemplate the definitions of “mother” and “father.”

I titled my poetry chapbook Mother, (v) because prior to bringing my son into the world, I always felt like I knew how to mother even though I wasn’t one. I could mother (the verb) even though I wasn’t a mother (the noun). But the word “father” doesn’t have that same double meaning.

Google says the definition of “mother” the verb is “to bring up (a child) with care and affection” and “look after (someone) kindly and protectively, sometimes excessively so.”

However, the definition of “father” the verb is “to cause a pregnancy resulting in the birth of (a child).”

Writing prompt: What does it mean to “father” someone if it were to parallel the verb form of “mother.” Can people besides men be “fatherly”? What does that look like?

I am currently booking events Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

I am excited to facilitate a creative writing workshop in Staunton, VA at the end of June, but I’d love to book more — both in person (within a 1-2 hour drive of Washington, D.C.) and virtual (anywhere in the world!) So if you/your organization would like to host me and one of my workshops, please be in touch. Also, if you would love for me to partner with your local bookstore or library, I will reach out to them and try and make it happen!

I am taking on new editorial clients

I have created and/or edited content for social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, press releases, public statements, articles, children's books, poetry collections, memoirs, educational materials, marketing materials, websites, and more.

Previous clients include: Mama's Kitchen Press, Community Literature Initiative, Alegria Publishing, Jacob Addington for Congress, Arne Jorgensen for Town Council, Devon Viehman for Town Council, Rise Self Defense, Yellowstone Capital Advisors, Engel & Völkers, and private contracts.

Check out my website for testimonials and published editorial credits.

Reach out to tell me about your writing project and receive my sliding scale pricing chart.

✏️🖋👍

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love, Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter May 2024

Hi again, Poets.

As you may know, I left Medium in February and tried my newsletter out on my website platform in March, but I didn’t love it. So! I gave Substack a try last month in April! I’m currently resisting monetizing my newsletter as I was making only a few cents from my newsletter on Medium anyway. This is more of a way that I can connect with community (and god how I loathe how our capitalist hellscape makes it necessary for folks to turn everything into a way of making money.)

Goings-On

National Poetry Month is now over — SAD!

Thanks for reading Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

I participated in Shelly Holder’s 30/30 class again this year, and although I only ended up writing one poem, I’m choosing to still see this as a WIN.

I recently picked up KC Davis’ How To Keep House While Drowning, and as a result am embracing the philosophy “anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.”

Similar to Brené Brown’s divorce from perfectionism and embrace of “good enough-ism,” giving oneself the permission to do something poorly oftentimes means giving oneself the permission to complete a task at all. I know I have struggled with feelings of inadequacy that sound like, “If I can’t attend every day of the 30/30, then why both?” or “I don’t have the energy to do a workout, so I’m not going to bother.” or “I feel overwhelmed by all the revisions needed on my manuscript, so I’m not going to bother with it today… tomorrow… the next day…”

Giving oneself permission to do something poorly changes those self-defeatist statements into possibilities. “If I can’t attend every day of the 30/30, I will still benefit from the days I do attend.” “I don’t have the energy to do a workout, but I can do a single pushup.” “I feel overwhelmed by all the revisions needed on my manuscript, but I’m going to set a timer for three minutes, and do three minutes worth.”

Writing Prompt:

Perfectionism is rooted in a fear of shame, blame, and pain, and being able to accept a more effective, comfortable, and graceful outcome or result leads to greater happiness, less stress, and more self-compassion.

Write about an occasion in which the all-the-way perfect thing might be replaced with the partially perfect, good enough thing.

AWP Mentee

I’m excited to announce I was selected as a mentee for season 20 of AWP’s writer-to-writer mentorship! I will be working with Laura Carney author of My Father’s List on my travel memoir, Happy Iceland.

I hope through this mentorship I can improve Happy Iceland and subsequently find an agent to represent it or an indie press to pick it up. (I’ll keep y’all updated on my progress).

Article on Aubades

Read my recently published article Morning After Poems: Exploring the Aubade here

Photo by Matt Ridley on UnsplashWhere I submitted work (so you can too)

Split/Lip Press 2024 Tenth Anniversary Open Prose Chapbook Submissions

The 10th Singapore Poetry Contest

Shenandoah

GLCA New Writers Award

Photo by Road Trip with Raj on UnsplashWhat I’m Reading

My New Year’s Resolution this year was to read all the unread books on my bookshelf before buying any new ones, and it’s still not going amazing.

Books on my shelf that I finished reading:

Felicia Rose Chavez’s The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop was on my shelf forever. But I finished, and felt very validated by this book. Two years ago I had a dreadful poetry teacher (read about it on my Facebook here), and if I hadn’t been an adult woman with previous experience in the literary field, if I had been an 18- or 19-year-old taking creative writing for the first time, I’d probably have been so shamed and discouraged by her that I’d never write again. Reading The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop and seeing the model for a different, better way of providing feedback and critique gave me hope for the future. Traditional academe’s methods are dead, y’all.

Books that were not on my shelf that I finished reading:
Greer Kirshenbaum’s The Nurture Revolution (wasn’t on my shelf)

Books I started but haven’t finished:
Amanda Gorman’s We Are What We Carry (on my shelf)
Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart (not on my shelf)
KC Davis’ How To Keep House While Drowning (not on my shelf)
Ocean Vuong’s Time is a Mother (on my shelf)
Robin Behn and Chase Twichell’s The Practice of Poetry (on my shelf)

Books I bought:
NONE! (During National Poetry Month?! WHAT?!)

Books I started that were not on my shelf but that I didn’t buy:
Olaf Olafsson’s Touch

I am currently booking events Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

I am excited to have a reading in Winchester, VA at the beginning of June and a creative writing workshop in Staunton, VA at the end of June, but I’d love to book more — both in person (within a 1-2 hour drive of Washington, D.C.) and virtual (anywhere in the world!). So if you/your organization would like to host me and one of my workshops, please be in touch. Also, if you would love for me to partner with your local bookstore or library, I will reach out to them and try and make it happen!

I am taking on new editorial clients

I have created and/or edited content for social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, press releases, public statements, articles, children's books, poetry collections, memoirs, educational materials, marketing materials, websites, and more.

Previous clients include: Mama's Kitchen Press, Community Literature Initiative, Alegria Publishing, Jacob Addington for Congress, Arne Jorgensen for Town Council, Devon Viehman for Town Council, Rise Self Defense, Yellowstone Capital Advisors, Engel & Völkers, and private contracts.

Check out my website for testimonials and published editorial credits.

Reach out to tell me about your writing project and receive my sliding scale pricing chart.

✏️🖋👍

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love, Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

Thanks for reading Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Book Review: This Body by Andr��s S��nchez

This Body debuted in December 2020 from World Stage Press.

Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter April 2024

Okay, so! I left Medium in February and tried my newsletter out on my website platform in March, but I didn’t love it. So! I’m giving Substack a try! Let’s see how it goes :-)

It’s National Poetry Month finally! As a poet, I basically wait all year for April to roll around again. It’s like my Christmas. The number of free poetry events available online skyrockets, and I inundate my calendar with as many of them as I can I fit.

Upcoming Events

One of the events I have looked forward to every year the last few years is Shelly Holder’s 30 for 30 group.

Her donation-based group takes place every day during the month of April from 8:00am - 9:30am Pacific Time. She provides an example poem, a writing prompt, time to write, and then time to share (optional). It is very low key.

No feedback or critique is provided. Just snaps.
Show up once, or show up every day.
Write to the prompt or don’t.

Both in 2022 and 2023 I was incredibly prolific thanks to her very unique prompts and gentle encouragement. If you would like to join me this year in participating, you can get more information and sign up on Eventbrite. You only need to sign up once to receive the Zoom link that will be the same every day. Suggested donation is $30 for the month, but you are allowed to pay what you’re able with $0 being an option.

Click here to register for Shelly Holder’s 30 for 30 group

Where I submitted work (so you can too) Photo by Matt Ridley on Unsplash

(All of these are free to submit to, by the way!)

Bacopa Literary Review

The Letter Review Prize for Poetry

The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction

Hugo House Extracurricular Visiting Guest Proposals

Poetry Foundation 2024 Visiting Teaching Artist in Forms & Features Workshop (July-December)

The 2024 Erbacce Prize

Prynne Press (full-length submissions)

Poetry in Transit Contest

What I’m Reading Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

My New Year’s Resolution this year was to read all the unread books on my bookshelf before buying any new ones, and it’s still not going well, but I’m doing better this month than last month. (Last month, I bought two new books without finishing a single book from my shelf.)

Books on my shelf that I read/am reading:
I am still working on Felicia Rose Chavez’s The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop that has been on my shelf forever. But I am also done! And I really am enjoying it! It’s just.. you know.. not as fun to read as a shiny new poetry collection.

I picked Amanda Gorman’s We Are What We Carry back up. I started reading it a couple of years ago but then got distracted, so I started it over.

I also started reading but did not finish (am not going to finish) Glyn Maxwell’s On Poetry. You can read my 1-star review on my Facebook page here. Kicking this book to the curb. (And by that, I mean I’m donating it to my library.)

Finished books:
Maggie Smith's You Could Make This Place Beautiful (wasn’t on my shelf)
Ada Limon’s The Carrying (was on my shelf)
Vievee Francis’s Forest Primeval (was on my shelf)

Books I bought:
Talicha Johnson’s Falling in Love With Picking Myself Up
Krystle May Statler’s Prayer for Relief

Books I started that were not on my shelf but that I didn’t buy:
Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart
Greer Kirshenbaum’s The Nurture Revolution

So, overall, not terrible this month. I finished two books that were on my shelf and am getting rid of a third. I’m working on two books that were on my shelf, two books that weren’t on my shelf, and I bought two additional books haha. Do I hAvE a BoOk PrObLeM?

I am currently booking events Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

I have a couple of local, in-person events happening in my home state of Virginia this month, but my next scheduled workshop isn’t until August. So if you/your organization would like to host me and one of my workshops, please be in touch. Also, if you would love for me to partner with your local bookstore or library, I will reach out to them and try and make it happen!

I am taking on new editorial clients

I have created and/or edited content for social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, press releases, public statements, articles, children's books, poetry collections, memoirs, educational materials, marketing materials, websites, and more.

Previous clients include: Mama's Kitchen Press, Community Literature Initiative, Alegria Publishing, Jacob Addington for Congress, Arne Jorgensen for Town Council, Devon Viehman for Town Council, Rise Self Defense, Yellowstone Capital Advisors, Engel & Völkers, and private contracts.

Check out my website for testimonials and published editorial credits.

Reach out to tell me about your writing project and receive my sliding scale pricing chart.

✏️🖋👍

Writing Prompt Photo by Johnny Kaufman on Unsplash

Every full moon has a special name based on natural or cultural events that happen around its viewing in the sky. For example the full moon in March is sometimes called the Worm Moon because of the worm trails that begin to appear after the melting of the snow. The full moon in April is called the Pink Moon, not because the moon itself is pink, but because of the pink wildflowers that are bountiful at this time of year. (In my neighborhood the cherry blossoms have been bringing me so much joy!) The full moon in September is most commonly called the Harvest Moon because this is when crops are gathered at the end of the summer season.

Write about what the full moons would be called if their names were based on the natural and cultural events in your own personal sphere. Perhaps “Bikini Moon,” “Finals Moon,” “Pumpkin Spice Moon,” or “Mosquito Moon” can get you started.

In January I wrote this haiku for the Golden Haiku contest. It didn’t win, so I will share it with you here now:

Wolf moon howls
at its reflection--
my pregnant belly.

Alright, that’s all folks! Thanks for reading!Love, Anne MarieCheck me out in the places:

Facebook; Instagram

Or support me by buying my poetry collection

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Thanks for reading Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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Anne Marie Wells Poetry Newsletter March 2024

Okay y'all, I'm experimenting with using my website's built-in blog platform for my monthly newsletter instead of Medium.