Diane Lockward's Blog, page 47

I'm Having a Baby

No, not that kind of baby! More like a brainchild, though the amount of brain may be debatable. What I'm hatching is a monthly poetry newsletter. My intention is to send this out once a month, ideally on the 1st of the month, allowing for an occasional missed month or a late send-out.



Why, you ask. Just because I thought it might be fun and useful and because I have the time to do it. If it turns out not to be fun or useful or if I end up feeling overburdened, I can throw out the baby with t...

Trailers and Book Promotion

The New York Times recently posted an intriguing article, The Author Takes a Star Turn, which discusses how various authors, e.g., Mary Karr, Jeannette Walls, and Kelly Corrigan, have used video to promote their books, something that the article concludes is now almost a necessity. If you visit the article, you can click through to trailers by a number of the authors. My favorite is "Book Launch 2.0," the winner of this year's Moby award for Best Performance by an Author. That author is Denni...

Poems, Blogs, Books

On Sunday, July 18, I was honored to have my poem, Blueberry, featured at Your Daily Poem. This site is the project of Jayne Jaudon Ferrer. In 2001, Jayne started delivering poems to a limited group of friends and relatives during the month of April. She did that each April for several years. Then as the list grew, Jayne decided to create a daily website that would be available to everyone. That website is now just a bit more than a year old. You can get your daily poem by visiting the Your...

Some Thoughts about Poetry Book Contests

Entering poetry book contests often seems like a necessity if you want to get your manuscript published. But what an insidious process it can be. Not to mention expensive. And time-consuming. Before my first book came out in 2003, over a period of maybe six years, I entered the manuscript in dozens of contests. I spent several weeks each summer weeding out the weaker poems and substituting with what I hoped were stronger ones. I reconsidered the order of the poems. I redid the page numbering ...

Small Town Girl Makes Good

This past week my local newspaper, The Progress, ran an article about my new book. Nothing huge. It's not the New York Times, but it was nice. The neighbors still don't seem to know me or that a poet lives up the street. No one hailed me at the pizzeria Friday night. But a waitress at the diner where my husband gets breakfast told him she'd seen my "advertisement." Advertisement? I've got a dentist appointment this Friday. Maybe Dr. J. will ask for my autograph.

Poetry Salon: Susan Rich

It is my pleasure to host a poetry salon for Susan Rich whose latest book, The Alchemist's Kitchen, was recently released by White Pine Press. Ideally, I'd like to have this party in my home, but since I live in New Jersey and Susan lives in Seattle, that's not possible. I've known Susan for several years on the Wompo listserv. Then we met in the fall of 2007 when we both read at the Burlington Book Festival in Vermont. We met again later that same year at AWP in New York.



Everyone, please g...

The Poetry Salon

I've recently been lucky enough to have a friend who hosted a poetry salon for me at her home. The purpose of the salon was to celebrate the publication of my new book. It was a special day and a wonderful way to spend time with friends talking about the book, reading some of the poems, socializing, snacking, and signing.



After the party, I set my brain to figuring out a way that I could celebrate the books of poets I know who live too far away to invite to a salon at my home but whose...

Book Trailer Contest

Since I've recently made a poetry book trailer and posted several times about the process, I was immediately interested in this contest sponsored by the journal Quiddity. Maybe you too?



Book Trailer Contest for Writers and Small Presses:



Two prizes of $350 as well as broadcast, Web, and print promotion by Quiddity will be awarded—one prize each in the categories Manuscripts and Books. (Runners-up and/or honorable mentions may also be selected.) This contest closes October 20, 2010 (postmark...

Poetry Salon: A Celebration

Yesterday my good friend, Jessica deKoninck, held a poetry salon to celebrate the publication of my new book, Temptation by Water. I think that the at-home salon is my favorite kind of reading. I feel very fortunate to have a pal who offered to host such an event for me. I also feel fortunate to have good friends/poets who came to celebrate with me and to pick up a copy of the book. I am a big proponent of poets supporting each others' work. Yesterday was a great example of poets doing just t...

A Poem for Belle Yang

Where do poems come from? That's a question I'm often asked during school visits, at Q & A's following readings, and in workshops. It's not the same as that other question I'm often asked: Did that really happen? The second questioner wants to get into my personal life; the first questioner wants to get into my brain. That person wants to know where I find the ideas.



I say that the ideas come from all over the place, from everything around me, from bits of overheard conversations, song...