I've been working on an actual writing related post for this space, but somehow the week has involved gasping for breath amid freelance doings and press doings and a lot of things falling due all at once. In between, however, there have been cinema outings (a double feature of Maxxine and Longlegs--both of which I highly recommend and may write more about later this coming week.) There have been luxe croissants for breakfast and frozen custard in bed after 1 a.m. in delicious flavors like peach and lemon. Summer feels slow and fast all at once and its strange to be moving in on August. My mother always said summer might as well be gone as soon as you hit the Fourth of July, even despite efforts to hang onto it. Soon, I'll be longing for fall, maybe less this year since we have actually have A/C now and the dog days less dogged, but it will inevitably happen.
Work continues on CARNIVAL GAMES, a project which continues to grow both visually and textually. There are others that flit around my mind that make little bits and starts even while my head is down on this one. I have managed to establish some equilibrium again between paid (ie. the writing I do for others) and unpaid creative work (the work I do as an editor and writer/artist) and that means my days feel far saner, though packed tight with good things. I've been drafting at least one poem a day again, though now its in the afternoon during my informal lunch break in instead of mornings over coffee (or well, my morning, anyways, that starts around noon.) Art things still tend to happen in the dead of night after a usually late dinner.
I spent the latter half of the week considering reviving my now-slumbering Patreon, and had some really good ideas for subscriber perks like bonus video poems, deluxe hardcover editions, special book art projects, but in the end rather like offering things up a little more freely. Don't get me wrong, income from creative work is amazing what little of it comes the way of poets, but nevertheless, the decision of what to put behind the paywall and what to put in front of it, would likely just be too annoying to have to make every month. I like sharing work--whatever it is--and will continue to make things available at no cost beyond the things you can purchase in the shop. I feel like adjusting my attitude last year about what I am doing al this for has made it much more enjoyable. Instead of the push to promote, promote, promote, I've started looking at it more like my weird little inner museum you can totally visit for free, but if you want a souvenir (a book, a piece of art, some postcards or a journal), the gift shop is to the left. Not always to be looking at times of slow sales or comparing a new book's figures to the last one (whether in a good way or a bad way) or wondering why sales are slow (and worry if its the economy, attention spans, social algorithms or, good god, do I just suck?..lol...) So for now, the Patreon will continue to slumber, as will the Paper Boat, my newsletter, which went underwater when Tiny Letter closed up, but which I still would eventually like to revive. A Substack feels redundant since I already have a happily homed blog here (which will somehow be celebrating its 20 year anniversary next spring.) but maybe something else.
I did spot a new flip book platform through another writer who had posted an e-version of her book there. Issuu was charging me $30 a month and pestering me constantly to upgrade to a higher tier (and still putting ads in) so this is a much better option for e-zines at only around $50 for a whole year (and its so much easier to read without constantly having to zoom.) I spent last night uploading everything there and changing links over on my website. I was even able to upload a few that were previously just pdfs hosted on the dgp site like eleanor and the machines and ghost landscapes. A couple weeks back I was filling an order and realized I was completely out of honey machine copies, my Plath cento chapbook, so it seems a good time later this year to release an e-version of that, maybe around Plath's birthday in October. (though you can also find those poems without the collages in SEX & VIOLENCE too.)
