Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 48

Find the Vampires in your Life & Let them Go--

This is so true for writers, artists, and actually for all people. I've rid myself of a few vampires over the last 10 years. It's a good feeling.



I also think of "Sometimes you have to burn bridges so the crazies can't follow you...."



Anyway, something to think about--





Show Your Work! Episode 1: Vampires from Austin Kleon on Vimeo.





Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Another Great Poetry Project that Needs Funding in NYC @kickstarter

I just backed this project and I'm not anywhere close to NYC, but here's the thing-- this project helps bring poetry to a larger audience by creating a website and videos of poets reading their work in landscapes that reflect their subjects.



Realize, any amount helps.



I'm a big believer in we all need to help each other out. If you can spare $5 (or more) and want to support the literary arts, you might want to check this out--











Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Just Write...

in case you forgot--



[image error] Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Confession Tuesday

Dear Reader,



It's actually Monday night when I am writing this, but I have told myself I cannot go to bed until I submit some poems, so I am procrastinating my blogging.  Ah, the life of a writer.



To the confessional--



I confess I know that submitting is part of the job of a writer, but I've been terrible (read: TERRIBLE!) at it this year.



It's very sad to see how many poems I've written and haven't sent anywhere.



Maybe sad isn't the right word. Maybe it's disappointing.  Or boring.  Or I-can't-get-any-good-news-if-I-don't-submit-my-work.



When I realize this I wonder what it would be like to be a regular human being who doesn't get acceptances.  What do they look forward to?  Babies?  Marriages? Vacations?  Paychecks? Commissions?



I know I love to receive the validation of an acceptance letter.  Of course, I must not love it that much as it has been 84 days since I last submitted.



Next subject...



~



I confess I joined Twitter a couple years ago not really knowing what I was doing (Thank you Martha Silano for creating my account as we sat in a Starbucks.)



The other night I was watching the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and following the West Coast funny comments on Twitter.  It was really the first time I had spent such an amount of time on it.



While I was there one of my favorite actors whom I follow who never tweets came on and said, "I'm thinking about following some random people..."



I am a scaredy cat when it comes to such interactions.



If I adore someone, I cannot speak to them. I become neanderthal girl and say things like "Me Kelli."  Well, this was/is an actor I adore.  (There are really only 2 celebrities I adore, this guy and Conan O'Brien.  Though I often act like an idiot around favorite poets too, sometimes I just hide near the appetizers exploring the cheese while others have memorable and life changing encounters.)



Normally, I'd just ignore such a tweet, I mean, why put myself out there for rejection?



But here's the thing-- hitting age 40 a few years ago and having that weird eye disease (optic neuritis) and losing my vision (then getting it back) at 37 has kind of given me this "F-it" attitude.  The life-is-too-short, and if I am rejected, embarrassed, humiliated, so be it.



So I sent Favorite Actor a tweet saying something like "I think you should follow a poet/editor...just sayin'."  And here's the thing-- he did.  95,000 and some people follow him and he follows me, plus 107 other people.  That's it.  Much of this is good timing.  But for me, there was a bit of risk.  No one wants to be rejected or ignored.  No one wants to be embarrassed.



But I guess I'm just at a point in my life where it's easier not to care if I look ridiculous, because honestly, life is too short.  In this world, we act as if life is this long event where we have time not to take take risks or do the things we want to do.  We save that stuff until we are braver, or stronger, or smarter.  But here's the thing-- who knows what the future holds.  Carpe diem.    Seize the Carp, I mean, day.



What --really?-- do we have to lose?



So I'm now am followed by an actor I admire.  1 degree of separation.  And if you're wondering who it is, you can check out the image below because I took a photo of it with my iPhone because that is the kind of dork I am, a smart one who knows how to use her iPhone to take a screen shot.





~



I confess if Conan O'Brien followed me, I'd truly believe life is a magical place.



~



I confess these are two of my favorite celebrity people.  There aren't many others I like because I'm picky like that.  And not very knowledgable in celebrity.



~



I confess I wanted to talk to Robert Pinsky at the Seattle Arts and Lecture event last fall and was invited to the reception before his reading to meet him.  And do you want to know what I said to Mr. Pinsky?  Nothing.  Because I was hiding by the appetizers.



~



I confess my goal this year is not to hide.  Wish me luck.  (And no matter what happens, at least I'll be eating less cheese.)



Amen.



Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Support Your Indie Press-- White Pine Press Book Sale! Signed books & Collectibles:

For the readers, writers, and book collectors--





Dennis Maloney is selling much of his book collection to help raise money for White Pine Press.



Here's the Facebook blurb--



White Pine Press founder Dennis Maloney is selling off his forty year collection of signed and first editions of poetry and more to raise funds to support White Pine Press. The sale includes significant collections of several poets including Pablo Neruda, Wendell Berry, Joel Oppenheimer, Wendell Berry, Tomaz Salamun, John Montague, John Logan, Rolf Jacobsen, Ted Ensilin, a selection of early work by Native American poets and smaller selections of many other authors.



Some pretty amazing books!



Here's a link if you'd like to browse the inventory.



White Pine Press is a non-profit organization, and sales of material donated to a library or other institution or purchased for above the fair market value of the items will be eligible for a tax deduction. For additional information, questions, or purchases please email Dennis Maloney at dennismaloney (a)yahoo.com. 



~



White Pine Press published my book Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room in 2010, so this is a press close to my heart.



It's rare to find an independent press that has survived so long and has published such an enormous amount of great work.  Dennis has dedicated his life to exceptional literary talent and supporting poets and writers, so if you want to improve your own library or have some extra money to share with this press, I do recommend that you do.



Also, you can LIKE White Pine Press on Facebook here.





Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Should You Be Writing Right Now?

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Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Be Yourself

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Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Confession Tuesday

Dear Reader,



First, thank you for all your great comments on last week's confession (Are Blogs Dead?)  I will be keeping my blog for a few reasons... maybe that will a different post (I'm supposed to be confessing, right?)  Though two main reasons are: it helps me organize my thoughts on things.  And Facebook can tire me.



So with that, let's get on into what we're here to do.  It's time to confess.  To the confessional--



I confess I woke up today with that uncomfortable feeling of imbalance between what I have and what I want.



It's nothing major, but it tells me I'm not feeling grateful for my life and I hate that feeling.



For example--



What I have: a beautiful house that I love.

What I want: a beautiful house that I love with organized cabinets.



It makes me annoyed with myself when I focus on the minuscule and not the big picture.  That said, focusing on the minuscule is what makes me a poet and helps my work become better.



Still, I hate feeling as if that the picture in my head of what my life "should be" doesn't match up to what the picture in the world of what my life is.  I need to take another picture in my mind and this time, focus on the good and what I have.  



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~



I confess yesterday on a walk with a poetfriend, I realized I was getting in that place where I'm ready for summer to end and I'm yearning for fall.



I know, some of you want to bop me on the head for saying that.



But I love autumn, it's my favorite time of year and I feel as if I get a pre-autumn in August when the blackberries ripen and the scent of summer changes so you can begin to smell fall in the air.



While many poets I know write and do much of their writing in summer, summer is the one time of year I don't write, I'm not interested in poetry or writing or doing anything that feels like an indoor activity.  I want to be out and away and on the water or looking at the water or sleeping in the sun or working in the garden or doing anything besides writing.



But I feel that beginning to change.



~



I confess I plan on doing the Artist Way this fall.



If you haven't done this, you should.  It's basically a 12 step program for creatives.  I do it about everything 3 years, though I think it's been 5 years since I last did it.



Here's the book-- Artist Way Starter Kit (with Morning Pages Journal)

or if you just want the Artist Way book, go here.



Maybe this year, I'll post my weekly responses on my blog and maybe if others want to do the Artist Way as well we could connect here.  Hmmm...



I hadn't thought to do that, but doing the Artist Way as a group is much better.  I have a few writers whom I'll be checking in with via email, but I like the idea of putting it out here for others as well.  Would anyone be interested?



I'm thinking we're going to start the Artist Way in mid-September and then it will go 12 weeks from there-- so through much of November. (November seems like a long way away...)



Anyhoo, if you'd be interested in doing the Artist Way this fall as well, drop me a note or leave a comment.



~



I confess I'm going to shake myself out of this-- my life would be better if I had organized cabinets mode-- and get on with loving all I have.  Bad perfectionist controlling voice...



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Amen.







Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

7 Habit of Successful Writers

The blog Beyond the Margin has a great post on 7 habit of successful writers-



Here's 3--







Write. Daily if at all possible, even if it’s for just a few minutes. Grit and drive are arguably more important than raw talent in achieving even artistic success.*
Read. Scrutinize every good story you read to see how the writer accomplishes what s/he does. Good reading inspires, and moreover, provides specific insight into how you can engineer your writing for maximum effect. Francine Prose offered a personal example of this in Reading Like a Writer: In the process of writing a story she knew was going to end in violence, she was struggling to make it sound natural and inevitable rather than forced and melodramatic. At the same time, she happened to be reading some stories by Isaac Babel and noticed that in his work, a violent moment is often preceded by a lyrical one. “It’s characteristic of Babel to offer a lovely glimpse of the crescent moon just before all hell breaks loose. I tried it – first the poetry, then the horror – and suddenly … the incident I had been struggling with appeared, at least to me, to be plausible and convincing.”
Nurture your inner schizophrenic. When you have written a draft of your story and it’s time to revise, you have to be able to look at it with a cold eye and take the ax to it as needed.  If, on the other hand, you sit down to write the first draft while agonizing about how not original or not interesting your work will be, and how many grammatical mistakes you’re bound to make, odds are your work will be…neither original nor interesting. You’re actually not one person, but two: a dancer and an ax murderer. Love both of these people who live in your brain, but keep them apart. (This is, by the way, really, really hard to do. Dorothea Brande’s book Becoming a Writer is helpful in guiding you to live this way.)




Read the rest here...



Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com

Friday Funny: Future English Major

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Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com