Wednesday, November 25, 2009
dgp angst
I am beginning to wonder if it's more grueling to whittle down to 20 chaps from a current 32 contenders (and that's after 2 rounds of cuts) or to just publish the damn things, which actually seems like less work, or at least less mental work/anguish, than deciding among them which to keep, which to reject. Argh... I am hoping to decide by this afternoon. On one hand, I've been feeling the burn of being too overloaded. Things have been going very well as far as sales and income, so while budget concerns aren't really a determining factor, time is definitely an issue, even if I had some help. I am such a control freak, I doubt I could handle help anyway. I am thinking maybe I could plan for the next year and a half of books, which would work with the 32 I have, and then not accept submissions until the summer of 2011 for the following year. But then I also don't like giving poets such a long lead time until their books are out. Argh...
In the meantime, I am finishing up a couple of galleys to send to poets and just waiting til 5 o'clock when I can head out of town for some Turkey Day festivities, which will no doubt involve excessive stuffing consumption and Black Friday shopping exploits. I plan to buy everything on etsy this year, but I like to window shop and look for decorations. The goal was to get my tree up last weekend, but it just didn't happen, which means it will have to wait til the first weekend in December. I am actually a little excited by all the holiday glitz and twinkle lights for once. Christmas usually blindsides me, but this year I am ready.
In the meantime, I am finishing up a couple of galleys to send to poets and just waiting til 5 o'clock when I can head out of town for some Turkey Day festivities, which will no doubt involve excessive stuffing consumption and Black Friday shopping exploits. I plan to buy everything on etsy this year, but I like to window shop and look for decorations. The goal was to get my tree up last weekend, but it just didn't happen, which means it will have to wait til the first weekend in December. I am actually a little excited by all the holiday glitz and twinkle lights for once. Christmas usually blindsides me, but this year I am ready.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
things (both random and profound)
*I have a new poem in the inaugural issue a nifty little UK based journal Blue Eyed Boy Bait. Since I don't have the time to submit much new work out into the world these days, my new publication frisson was badly in need of a jolt. Maybe I will work harder on trying to fix this..
*In dgp news, Critical Mass, the blog for the National Book Critics Circle, gives a nice little nod to Flood Year and dgp...Karen Weyant also has some complementary things to say here.
*I will be announcing final decisions on next years publication slate in this next week, as well as releasing a couple of new titles as I finish them. I have just about every book for this year laid out and ready to go to the authors if they already haven't, so amazingly am feeling pretty much caught up if a little tardy. I have been working like a madwoman to get book stock built back up after the sale craziness and have been in the studio every morning over the last two weeks making books. My arm hurts a little from the trimmer and I have a couple of rather wicked papercuts but we are in good shape, especially since I inherited a hardly used swingline booklet stapler from the library when they were moving departments around that doesn't require me to jimmy the staples every time I use it..
* Next weekend I am participating in a poetry panel during the Open Books grand opening. It's two days of festivities and a bookstore with a great cause behind it. See more details here.
*I'm hitting that point in the year where the lack of daylight starts to make me a little melancholy. I feel like I notice it more on the weekends when I sleep later and then have only 5 or so hours of light in which to accomplish anything. At night, I keep thnking it's later than it is. At least during the week, I am up earlier and notice it less. There aren't any windows within my vantage point at the library, so it's not much different than a couple months ago, the plunge into nightfall so early. This is the time of year when I feel most like I could just give everything up and move toward the sun, how easily I could abandon Chicago and everything here, the life I've built, and run off to Aruba or somesuch. A few years ago, I even went so far as to search for jobs somewhere in the south, but was tethered here by the MFA program at the time. Even I know spring will come around again and I will be in love with Chicago all over again, but the winters just seem to get harder.
*I spent the weekend mostly on random crafty things, wrapping a ridiculous number of bars of soap, making a few more of the japanese teacup candles, tea towels, and some pillows that were actually a bust (well temporarily until I can get something else to do them correctly.) Last night, watched the original version of Quarantine, Rec, which was pretty much shot for shot the same, except in Spanish, but the end was a bit clearer and hell more scary. I also caught up on Fringe, but despite drooling like a schoolgirl over Joshua Jackson, have yet to warm to the characters enough to really like it, even though the premise and plotlines are interesting enough. I have also been reading a book called Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott that dovetails nicely with that, all weird science and ghostly repetitions. I find myself devouring alot of fiction these days, novel after novel, mostly because of my problem with the sideways seating buses that allow less bouts of staring out the window and daydreaming. It also allows less time for obsessing, so maybe it's a good thing.
*In dgp news, Critical Mass, the blog for the National Book Critics Circle, gives a nice little nod to Flood Year and dgp...Karen Weyant also has some complementary things to say here.
*I will be announcing final decisions on next years publication slate in this next week, as well as releasing a couple of new titles as I finish them. I have just about every book for this year laid out and ready to go to the authors if they already haven't, so amazingly am feeling pretty much caught up if a little tardy. I have been working like a madwoman to get book stock built back up after the sale craziness and have been in the studio every morning over the last two weeks making books. My arm hurts a little from the trimmer and I have a couple of rather wicked papercuts but we are in good shape, especially since I inherited a hardly used swingline booklet stapler from the library when they were moving departments around that doesn't require me to jimmy the staples every time I use it..
* Next weekend I am participating in a poetry panel during the Open Books grand opening. It's two days of festivities and a bookstore with a great cause behind it. See more details here.
*I'm hitting that point in the year where the lack of daylight starts to make me a little melancholy. I feel like I notice it more on the weekends when I sleep later and then have only 5 or so hours of light in which to accomplish anything. At night, I keep thnking it's later than it is. At least during the week, I am up earlier and notice it less. There aren't any windows within my vantage point at the library, so it's not much different than a couple months ago, the plunge into nightfall so early. This is the time of year when I feel most like I could just give everything up and move toward the sun, how easily I could abandon Chicago and everything here, the life I've built, and run off to Aruba or somesuch. A few years ago, I even went so far as to search for jobs somewhere in the south, but was tethered here by the MFA program at the time. Even I know spring will come around again and I will be in love with Chicago all over again, but the winters just seem to get harder.
*I spent the weekend mostly on random crafty things, wrapping a ridiculous number of bars of soap, making a few more of the japanese teacup candles, tea towels, and some pillows that were actually a bust (well temporarily until I can get something else to do them correctly.) Last night, watched the original version of Quarantine, Rec, which was pretty much shot for shot the same, except in Spanish, but the end was a bit clearer and hell more scary. I also caught up on Fringe, but despite drooling like a schoolgirl over Joshua Jackson, have yet to warm to the characters enough to really like it, even though the premise and plotlines are interesting enough. I have also been reading a book called Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott that dovetails nicely with that, all weird science and ghostly repetitions. I find myself devouring alot of fiction these days, novel after novel, mostly because of my problem with the sideways seating buses that allow less bouts of staring out the window and daydreaming. It also allows less time for obsessing, so maybe it's a good thing.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
oh my, I am in love
Kono Barei, 1883
more
I've been looking over the past couple of days and old antiquarian botanical designs in hopes of using them for the labels of a new line of soaps, one of which will be a sweet green tea, a wine/floral flavored beaujolais, and a citrusy mimosa. I was working on the latter last night and my apartment smelled so delicious I hated to leave it this morning.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
in progress
I am heading ever closer to my deadline for completely restocking the shop, which initially was mid-month, but now is looking more like Thanksgiving. I have some new candle projects, new slips in fallish colors, new postcards (pictures above) but also some other things still in the works, including pillows, some lovely hand-dyed silk scarves, new lip balm flavors and more. I will unveil more this week..keep an eye on the twitter feed to your lower right for updates...
Thursday, November 05, 2009
people, places, things (November Edition)
to see: Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage
to read: Marguerite Duras' entire oeuvre
to eat: cinnamon toast
to wear: this sweater dress
to watch:Fringe, Season 1
to listen: Fine Frenzy's Bomb in A Birdcage.
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