Of Elsewhere
The grad school bug is waning. This because I remembered viscerally rather than intellectually that Evernost needs all the time I can give it and then some (it is a long, potentially extremely long, poem with bits of prose that are almost prose poetry, and I want to illustrate it copiously, so….), and I want […]
Today I bring tidings of two minor projects I’m working on as a result of the Grad School Bug: reading Elizabeth Ammons’ Brave New Words, a call for optimistic, inclusive, and activist teaching in the humanities, and writing an essay exploring the concepts of truth Diana Wynne Jones develops in four pivotal poems in her […]
I just finished reading C.S. Lewis’s English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama. I’m exhausted, and not (overall) excited. This is not Lewis’s fault. He has to cover so much material, so much of which bores and annoys him, that—even though he expresses his boredom and annoyance with a great deal of wit—I too […]
So, one of the supposed Rules of Writing is that one should use “active” verbs instead of “passive” verbs, and usually this boils down to avoiding forms of the verb to be. In an effort to drill this into our tender high school brains, a teacher gave us a handout with the following sentence: It is the act […]
I mentioned earlier that an agent requested my manuscript Pet. Last Tuesday, she turned it down in a kind and personal way. I am disappointed but grateful for and pleased by her kindness. I’m also a little relieved. I’m growing increasingly dissatisfied with Pet itself. I’m doubtful about the quality of the verse; I am definitely interested […]
I mentioned that I took a free, local poetry class last year, and one of the really excellent things about it was that the teacher asked lots of insightful and provocative questions, and I found myself thinking much more about my assumptions about what poetry does and how to read it than I do on […]
This year I’ve been writing a lot of poetry. It is fun, interesting, rewarding, and also potentially crucial to Evernost—if the thing really does want to incorporate poetry. As a result of this, I am in the process of submitting a (regular-length) chapbook manuscript to several contests—out of the desire to motivate myself to produce […]
This is a brief and heterogeneous update post. First, I am trying to put together a chapbook of poetry to submit to real publishers. Um. this is a challenge. And probably premature. But I’m trying it anyway. I may send out some individual poems to publishers as well. I am also trying to figure out […]
Well, the title is something of an overstatement. I am not convinced that either Evernost the imaginary place or Evernost the real writing project will ever be complete. There is poetry to be written and illustrations to be created and new plots to explore and innumerable whatchamacallits off to the side. What is complete is […]
I hope, at least, to get back on track with this blog in the New Year, if not sooner. In the meantime, I’ve been writing away at Of Evernost, though rather more slowly than before, and I’ve also been giving myself a crash course in poetry. This involves: Taking an actual, free poetry class. Trying to […]
Of Elsewhere 