The first featured writer is up on www.ladywordofmouth.blogspot.com: North Carolina poet Jeffery Beam. He is much published, but as he is a poet, he could use some more visibility. Please go take a look and enjoy--lots of links. Jeffery is a real-life friend of mine, a poet who combines the spiritual and the earthy in lovely, spare poems.
Why do I like the whole Lady Word of Mouth project? I do like it, and I hope it works. And I'm pretty clear on why I like it.
First, it's a little tiny disrupter of the way things are normally done. The status quo does not work all that well for most writers, so I tend to like that idea. Interrupting the way things are done is often a good, and even if it fails, it's a positive good.
Second, I like the idea of making a little community. Here it's a community of people I know and e-know who write. Some of them write poetry, some literary novels, some fantasy or science fiction or horror, some nonfiction, and so on. Some high fences segment those areas. But in my little world of Lady Word of Mouth, they can all meet without judgment being passed.
Third, it's fast. You have a new book of poetry out, and there's nothing on the web to signal that aside from its presence in e-shops and your own website? Here's one more place to put up your signposts and information and increase the book's presence on the web.
Fourth, much of the labor of the website is shared, a thing that is good in my busy life.
Fifth, it adds to the sum of beautiful information in the world, setting up signposts to what is of value in the culture.
Sixth, it's just a good thing to do for friends. There's little enough one writer can do for another, and I've always liked the idea of helping other writers. It does not hurt me to help you; in fact, it makes me feel a little less lonely in my corner as I write. And it's not intended as a site for judgment or reviews, though I've asked people who are featured to come back and leave a comment about another book some time.
Seventh, as I'm drawing from my friends and e-friends, many of whom are now friends with one another, there's already a built-in audience.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
2 comments:
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.
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Lovely idea Marly.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes lovely ideas work--let's hope this one does.
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