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Friday, May 24, 2013

Recommendation + news

One of many green man heads made by Clive Hicks-Jenkins
for my poetry collection, The Foliate Head (UK: Stanza Press,
2012.) This leafy one wasn't used, though it's a sweet face.
Useful (very!) new daily roundup of things literary: Prufrock. Subscribe here.
"Prufrock is a daily newsletter on books, art and ideas, edited by Micah Mattix. It contains links to the best reviews and most worthy literary news items, a daily essay with relevant responses, and a little bit of literary smack."

Today's roundup included links to first-person accounts used by Patrick O'Brian and the first draft of Finnegan's Wake, as well as essays and posts on dreams in fiction, why literary criticism is important, and much more. I just imagine that Prufrock will save time for the literary-minded. Blog readers who are writers may be especially interested in one of today's links, Jane Friedman's "Infographic: 5 Key Publishing Paths." 

Publishing paths are changing, even for those of us who have always published with publishers. I have a mix of Big 6, university press, foreign houses (UK and CA first editions, plus translations), and one small press in my publication list. One thing I notice is that my recent and forthcoming contracts are far more varied than the ones I had years ago. I have some contracts where I keep all rights except the right to publish print editions. I have some where I give away print rights for one year only and keep most other rights. I have some where I don't worry about it much--surprise, that would be the poetry! Even in the world of traditional publishing, a lot more negotiation is possible than it used to be, and it's worthwhile to consider what variations are possible with each publisher. (And what must be my greatest change: I've had two agents--serial monogamy--and now have none.)

If you haven't seen it, please slide down to the next post and read some fat clips from a review of A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage at Commonweal (June 2013.) (The online review is hidden by a subscription wall.)

I am feeling jolly about an almost-immediate acceptance of a 40-page long story or novella--"ruddy bloody brilliant" is quite acceptable! And now I am going to go look at p. 80 of Thaliad to see what writer Scott G. F. Bailey found frightening and "beautifully and graphically observed." (Thanks to Scott... I love it when people say a book of mine is "excellent.")

My determination to be sparing with the internet and catch up on writing deadlines, house repairs, and lots more is not working out all that well, thanks to the demands and ferryings of motherhood. However, without life there is not art, so I will be content with being behind-hand a while longer.

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Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.