Beware the Ides of March

I feel there is a poem here. Oh, I forgot Shakespeare already did.

May your day safe and joyous!

No Clowning Around

So Saturday has arrived. Big sigh. Even though is was a short work week for me it seemed long.

Since I've been back, I've received a rejection letter. I've completed a journal and started yet another. I'm filling them up at a rate of about 1 every three months. I've received my copy of Mortal from Ivy, which I have enjoyed and will have more to say about in a later blog post. And this morning I've been sending out more work.

I'm trying to decide if I want to the the Annual Poetry Month broad side I've done for the past two years. I've got a couple poems in mind and I've had positive response from people the past two years, but these are different economic conditions and I'm awaiting a price figure from a different printer. If I'm going to do it, I really need to decide in the next 48 hours.

The picture above is to top of a beaded vase my wife did with a bouquet of clown noses in it. It was pretty cute.Below is another view if the lower part of the vase.

  It's not the sharpest picture (from camera phone with poor lighting) but you get the idea. Just thinking of the concept was creatively genius much less the execution of the idea itself. I'm not sure how she can do these things with no pattern to guide her.

Anyway, I'll tie this into my post today by saying that this year there will be no clowning around. I submissions last year were down from the previous year. I'm writing more, I just need to work harder on rewriting material and keep sending the stuff out that is publishable but has come back. Some of it just needs to find the right home.

Technorati Tags: C.J. Wells bead art,life as a poet,Mortal by Ivy Alvarez,Poetry Month

File Management for Writing

This is a great resource for creating a file management system for your working drafts. Not only is it an excellent organizational tool, but a way to simplify working on rewrites and keeping track of drafts.

Joannie Stangeland takes us through the process in this short video. All you need is Microsoft OneNote.

I had toyed with it a little before viewing this video. Now I have an even better appreciation for what it can do. Click here to view video.

Technorati Tags: Joannie Stangeland ,OneNotes,managing your writing,writing poetry

Sunday Evening - catching up on the week

Mood: exhausted

It's been a quiet evening and we stayed in, ate fried ravioli and played baseball on Playstation. Three games. I took the first two and Meghan beat me the last one. She played a really good first game and I came back in the bottom of the ninth to beat her by a run. The second came was a blowout and the third she won by a single run. I'm a tough competitor so while I won two of the three, she is getting better because two of those games were really competitive.

Things I have marveled at during this visit:

• Cathy Ann's grapefruit tree in her backyard. The fruit is awesomely sweet.
• Percy's size. (Percy is Meghan's dog) He's really grown since I last saw him.
• A life size Zen Garden on ASU campus. I didn't know there were anything but miniatures.
• How young many of the Giants players at Spring Training look this season.
• How nice the dog parks are here.
• How much I continue to hate daylight savings time in spite of the fact they don't have it here. In reality I lose that hour when I get back home just the same.
• People still drive like bats out of hell here.

We'll take in another Giants game tomorrow at Scottsdale. Sadly it will be the last time I see the team in person for a while.

Also planning to go to the Melting Pot after the game for dinner.

I've been able to get some writing in this week, and this morning did some sketching.

Some Journal bits from this week:

March 1

• What color ink do I spill upon/the pages that tell nothing/that scream the silence/to no end
• It's impossible to fold idle chat./I've tried to four square it and shove it/in my shirt pocket.

March 2

• sleep, the manna of horizontal incline/the presence of an absence of mind

March 5

• Quote "Every poetic image asks why there is something rather than nothing, as it renews our astonishment that things exist," - Charles Simic
• (thought) every war has veterans what about veterans of peace? We never give attention to those who dedicate themselves to the idea of peace becoming a reality. Note to self - this could be a future poem topic.
• a Kleenex box on the end table/extends it's hand

March 8

• Quote "It's the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silence around things." ~Mallarme

Technorati Tags: Vacation,journal bits,Things I have marveled at

From my journal tonight...

My pillow is a bed for tender thoughts. Speaking of which, it's way past my bed time.

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Theory ( draft)

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Theory

He’s a maniacal man of means

with no notion for nurturing.

Neither can he be summed up so easily

as to say that he fits into any fast track

prefabrication that is so often assigned

to many of his peers.

He cheers for one person

only, it is not clear who that person is.

There are factions that spend their spare time

in hasty debate over whom.

One theory is a brother

no one can recall ever meeting.

Some point to a woman of mystery

who has been woven in and out of his life

at various points.

There are good arguments made for each

in their own time. I however hold on

to my own theory—

He is his own best cheerleader.

Writer House on ASU Campus

 Spent some time yesterday at the Virginia Piper Writer House on the ASU Campus. What a tranquil setting.

The evening we were back on campus for the ASU / Holy Cross baseball game.   

ASU struck first with a run in the third and broke it open in the 5th with 4 more runs to make it 5-0.

ASU pitcher Mike Leach pitched 7 innings giving up only one hit and no runs. Brule Klye came in to relieve him in the 8th and gave up two hits but no runs and the ASU offense rolled on to a 15-0 win.

Besides the pitching, outstanding performances were turned in at 2B by Zack MacPhee who shined with his glove and Jordan Swagerty who homered in the 8th.

Today, Meghan and I catch the San Francisco Giants against the Angels in Tempe. Go Giants!

Technorati Tags: vacation,ASU,Writer House,Devil Rays Baseball,San Francisco Giants