What I Did While Away

Or, Hats in the Ring

I wasn’t resting on my laurels while I was resting. I was trying to get more laurels to rest on, to be honest.

That seems to be the modern poet’s job—to get acceptances and residencies and fellowships to boost the career, and to spread the word to spread the work.

Along that line, I submitted to a few new, interesting things. All of them are fairly long long-shots. I always end wind up where I need to be, so why not see where that might be?

One of the most interesting opportunities I applied for was through the Georgia Writers Club. The club offered a scholarship to take a summer class at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, so I tossed my hat in that ring.

The FAWC is a super-elite residency facility. I got to buzz past it on my bike while I was at a super-elite fiction workshop with Marita Golden at the Norman Mailer House back when the NM Foundation owned the house. FAWC’s a beautiful beehive bustling with top-tier artists working on all types of fine art. Thus, the name.

Along with residencies, FAWC offers summer writing classes, taught by super-elite instructors. The course list is stunning: a veritable smorgasbord of writers I’d love to study with. GA Writers is still grappling with the onslaught of applications, so for now, my application’s a veritable Schrödinger’s cat in a box—possibly alive

Two more interesting rings I threw hats into were at the Poetry Society of America. The first thrown was to participate in an advanced poetry workshop with Layli Long Soldier. These four online workshops will start in March…but I’m still a cat in a box. They’re probably grappling with applications too. Stay tuned.

The other ring at the Poetry Society of America was even more wow-ser. I applied to be a Fellow with a very cool writer, Lynn Melnik. This Fellowship would mean spending a *week* in NYC to take daily workshops with LM there at the Society’s Headquarters. Yep, wow.

As per the website, Fellows will have access to the Society’s library, to its garden, to its garden parties, and to its VIPs. This hat-toss was a stretch and a reach and a dream—a true crossing-fingers sort of thing. Id love to find out I would up there.

Closer to home, I applied to participate in the Atlanta Writers Club mentorship class. This course will teach me how to market my forthcoming chapbook of poems, The Higher Call. I was accepted, and on Saturday I had my first meeting with my mentor, Deanna Repose Oaks.

Deanna’s a powerhouse! Before meeting her, in terms of marketing The Higher Call, I had felt alone atop a windy hill. But after one hour zooming with Deanna, I can sense her warm and supportive hand in the middle of my back. Deep breath.

I couldn’t be happier that I applied for that mentorship and was accepted. Deanna has tons of new-to-me marketing idea ideas, ones I’m sure I’ll use when presales for The Higher Call start—possibly as early as next month. Eeek!

Stay tuned for that—I’m gonna need your support.

Next week I’ll tell you all about a great thing I did get. Until then, thanks for following along on my journey into print.

Hats tossed in a ring—-see what I did there?