1) I have two of the new books already up on the site with three more coming in the next few days) I'll make a more official announcement as soon as I've got them all ready on the blog and mailing list. I've been furiously stapling every night this week in the studio, so I should be able to get author copies on most out over the weekend. Good old Stanley Bostitch, my booklet stapler, oddly seems to have decided to work again, very good considering I was hating Stella (okay, yes, I name my staplers), the fussy long arm number that never seemed to land the staple along the fold easily. However, yesterday, I was stapling a galley at the library on our new Swingline booklet number and fell in love with how much less force it took, but at nearly $200, the grass is always greener I suppose..
2) I am also finishing up the layout on the full-length project by Robyn Art/Robin Barcus and it's proving less of a nightmare technologically than I thought previously (at least so far). I am still investigating ISBNs and Distribution and all that stuff that's never been an issue before with chaps, though. I'd like to have it at finished and out before the end of the summer since we're already months and months behind schedule on it as it is...
4)This Friday night I'll be doing another open studio, probably not a wise idea in the middle of chapbook assembly amageddon, but I have Friday afternoon off beforehand to make the place presentable. There will be books and papery goodness, artwork, jewelry, heavenly smelling soaps, and other lovelies, so if you find yourself in the loop that night, stop by.
5) Next week, I will be heading up to Woodland Pattern for a reading in the wilds of Milwaukee. I've never been to Woodland Pattern though I'm hugely excited since it has oft been described to me as the poetry mothership, so it should be fun. After that, I'll be in Rockford for a couple days for a little break.
6)I recently finished X saves the world : how Generation X got the shaft but can still keep everything from sucking , which defines the early to mid 90's as the Generation X cultural "moment,"--all that flannel wearing, Nirvana, listening that sort of ended with a bang in 1999 with mindless vacuousness like Britney Spears and the rise of Reality TV. I had a very surreal moment near the end, though, when they started talking about the Wave Books Poetry Bus, very much akin to seeing a unicorn on a busy city sidewalk, in which poetry culture merged with popular culture. Very weird. The author apparently hopped on board for a segment of the tour and considered it an example of how X-ers were still doing their creative things despite popular culture (well duh I say..haven't they always?).
