Shade

Finally got finished applying for an NEA fellowship.

Yes, I know how hilariously slim my chances are, but I figure with a book coming out (and enough published poems for eligibility), I might as well get used to applying for as many fellowships as I can: national, regional, state-wide, etc.

Plus, it was mostly for practice at this point (to get used to the annoying process of filling out the forms), so I can try to do it every two years from now and not take over six or seven hours to get it submitted.

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I think I have the blurbs for Ghost Lights finally in the bag.

I have an idea of what I want the back cover to look like too, so I'll have to see what Bear thinks.

I feel like I picked a good mix of blurbs: those I feel would give the hypothetical back-cover-glancer a good idea of what's inside the pages, which is most important to me.

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Though the cover art's still up in the air, I'm trying to not let it drag on for too long.

If we can't find something I'm completely in love with, I have a pretty good idea of something I'd really be extremely thrilled to have for the cover if nothing else works out.

I've also talked to the artist, and they've agreed to let me use it if I decide to go with it, which is awesome.

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I've been asking friends for better suggestions about the title of my new manuscript. I still don't feel as strongly as I would like to about it.

It's on its second title now, and I think I just got a suggestion for the working third title I'm becoming more excited about.

I'm going to live with it for a bit and see what develops.

Palindromes

Thanks to Redivider for taking a new-ish poem. I was in an issue a few years ago, and I was sold on the quality of their published work right away, so I'm honored again that they chose some more work on my end to be included.

I usually write in very long lines, which is something for whatever reason I haven't been able to escape from lately, but this is a more mannered, short-lined poem, I think, and I'll probably try to do some more experimenting with the shorter lines as new poems pop into my head.

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Congratulations to all the NEA Fellowship winners this year. A lot of familiar names, some bloggers, and much talent among the group.

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Just got an email that Gulf Coast has finally updated their website. It's had submission information and everything, but as far as contents and things go, it's been a long time.

That said, the new site's very sexy and user-friendly, and clearly they were putting a lot of time into in the last how many months, which is a good reason to not update the site of course.

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I can't believe I'm almost done with these Ph.D applications. Every day now more and more is coming together, and in a couple weeks or less, envelopes will be stuffed, and everything will be mailed out.

Then the waiting game...