Today, ridiculously hot outside. The lakefront was beckoning on the way to work today, though I suppose calling in sick to say "sorry, I'm at the beach" wouldn't work. It was tempting.
I'm trying to get over my bouts of rejection and crappy news--another chapbook contest--Tupelo's SnowBound Series--different manuscript, but same result. And even though I was planning on retiring it, having noticed several weaknesses since submitting it in February, the news still sucks. Though, in the finalist pool were both Mary Ann Samyn, one of my faves, and Stephanie Strickland, who I had as an instructor this past semester. Basically, I didn't stand a chance. I remember looking through the actual winner, Joy Katz's book Fabulae back in the fall, but don't remember much about it. So, yeah, that chapbook, defining, which contained an odd mishmash of stuff is being retired. Most of them are in the longer manuscripts anyway. Entering it was sort of a impromptu decision anyway, unlike errata, which I really hoped would get chosen. Ah well...I've already decided what that cover may look like. I'm again still trying to get over that self-publishing stigma. Though this is probably the only arena where I feel I have some sort of control level over my own work. You're basically at the mercy of everybody else when it comes to the publication of individual poems, and certainly when it comes to books. At least this way, I have sole control over the print run and won't have to purchase copies beyond the free ones I get, which is what happened with The Archaeologist's Daughter.
On the cover front, also finished a preliminary design on the next dgp chap. Usually, we use photographs, and have pretty simple covers, but this time it's some actual artwork gracing the front, a friend of the author, and it looks very cool. This will also be our first hand sewn book as well.
