Katie's Blog

Submitted this afternoon to New Plains Review! I sent out Black D'orsays, Just Words, and Upon Hearing Bruno Speak Spanish. You know, I've been meaning to do another submission to this publication all week long and I've been putting it off and putting it off. And now, finally, it's done, out there, can't take it back. I think I just felt really intimidated, and everytime I go back and look at my pieces I feel less confident about them. I need to write more, better... I don't know, I'm having more self doubt lately. I think I'm ready for some more poetry classes. I've done a lot of work this summer, but it is hard to stay motivated on your own. Entering into a community of poets helps, just because I can bounce ideas, images, ect off on other people and I don't feel so weird, say - for example, writing about seducing a man in the poetry section of the library while reading Whitman. Aye. I'm a weirdo. I shouldn't be afraid of my obsessions.

http://asweetlife.blogspot.com/2006/03/poetry-thursday-sensuality-and-sex.html That poem is just beautiful. I could write from now until the moment I die and I'll never be able to write like that. Well, news for today - I'm off to a PhD info session to learn more about applying to and choosing a school. I have lots to learn, and I'm glad to have this opportunity. Hopefully more good news to come, but we shall see.

Read it, and had to post the link. It's hilarious. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/127.html "The blue-green jewel of sock lint I’m digging from under by third toenail, left foot, hates you." How does she come up with that? Ahh... poetry :)

Found this today while surfing. Top 10 Productivity Pitfalls for Writers to Avoid http://writersdigest.com/article/productivity-pro Oh boy, do most of these apply to me or what? I mean, I'm pretty good at setting goals and following through. Lately - I've been true to my goal of writing daily, submiting biweekly, and polishing up more or less a poem a week. And I'm working towards my larger goal of the thesis. I understand that everything is one step at a time. But my problem is that sometimes I let negativity get the best of me. Fear is something that I'm used to now, and I really try not to let that get in the way of TRYING. I honestly think that my control over my fear is what separates me from many of my collegues. Failure? I hate it, but I'm not afraid of it. And as far as the whole isolation thing, well... right now I suffer a little from that but taking my workshop class this coming fall will help :-) I think I'm well on my way. Anyway... I just have to e

“As We Are So Wonderfully Done with Each Other” by Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen As we are so wonderfully done with each other We can walk into our separate sleep On floors of music where the milkwhite cloak of childhood lies O my lady, my fairest dear, my sweetest, loveliest one Your lips have splashed my dull house with the speech of flowers My hands are hallowed where they touched over your soft curving. It is good to be weary from that brilliant work It is being God to feel your breathing under me A waterglass on the bureau fills with morning . . . Don’t let anyone in to wake us.

I am thinking about entering... are you? http://prism.arts.ubc.ca/ Just thought I'd share, plus if I post it here then I feel somewhat obligated to follow through and submit myself. My goals for the week: Submit to... something! Either Toronto Quarterly, or perhaps enter that nifty looking prose poetry contest. Get at least one new poem written to add to the thesis collection, and tie up loose ends on summer pieces. I have a very busy week ahead. I washed my USB drive on accident, but luckily I've been able to recover most of my work. I'm so stupid sometimes. Aye.

Hurray! I will be reading in San Antonio at UTSA on November 5th as part of the El Mundo Zurdo Conference. I will post more info soon, but I am very excited about this. Not only do I get an opportunity to share my work at a conference, an awesome line on my CV, possibly some books sales, a hopefully romantic weekend at my favorite San Antonio B&B (Gardenia Inn!) with the BruBru, but ALSO, I get to meet the Mouthfeel Press ladies and present with them! I don't think I'm going to be able to contain myself. I will likely run up and hug my wonderful editor and thank her for the wonderful opportunity of publishing my first book :) Teary eyed! LOL, I'm such a dork. So finally, some good news to report, right? After the last slew of rejections, I was feeling unmotivated, disheartened. But every little success, every small victory, leads to the greater goal of being an awesome poet ;-) This is just another part of the ride! Yay!

So I've been pretty good about writing everyday. I'm not journaless, and for awhile I was allowing this to be my excuse for not writing everyday. How lame am I? Very. But this week, determined to get out of my rut, I've returned to my Ordinary Genius book and have begun writing a minimum of one page per day. I'm currently reading a chapter on visualization before writing, to help you get all the wonderful details in. Mostly, what I've been visualizing is stuff from my past, and it is making my poems more... memoir like. Ugh. Who wants to know the nitty gritty details of my boring life? A few things I've come up with: MONDAY the way my feet hit the ground and the ground still receives them tongues pink and flailing against the baby blue of the sky while the pink is exposed on their cheeks. Pink – the color that reminds us where we came from. sometimes it all just comes flowing out in tears Or screams of pink joy, joy that’s made of flesh, the flesh we cover up a

I write like Chuck Palahniuk I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software . Analyze your writing! Give it a try! Ever wonder who you write like? I got several different responses depending on what piece I entered, if I was putting in stuff from the blog or from my more edited stuff, ect. So it's not really that accurate, but it sure is fun :D

I think I must have written over 100 versions of my author bio by now, each one making me sound like an entirely different person. Here's a resent one: KH lives in Edinburg, Texas with her five cats and her soul mate that she affectionately refers to as Bru Bru. She is an MFA student at the University of Texas Pan American and the author of an award winning chapbook Among the Mariposas. While she would never admit to it in public, K spends much of her spare time playing old school RPGs and World of Warcraft. Harharhar... ok so maybe this is the MOST accurate author bio I've ever written. Different bios for different purposes, right?

Cool essay contest I stumbled upon. Check it out! It's a way to get invited to AWP, which, would certainly be awesome. http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/submittocnf.htm#MFA

So its Monday again - Recently (Friday, I think?) I submitted to Sugar Hill Review, something like that. Let's see what happens. I submitted a new piece, That Sort of Woman, which I had been working on... maybe for the past three weeks on and off. The piece went from poem, to essay, to prose poem, to essay again, and back to poem. Aye. If only my genres would quit... mating. Other news... mmm... nope there is none. Other than the fact that I am super excited to be hiring a maid. Hah. I am finally conceeding to the very obvious fact that I am a feminine failure. But I will not be a poetic failure. So while someone is scrubbing away at my dirty kitchen floor, I will be typing away. That's the theory, at least. Let's see how this turns out.

Ok, so I've been a bad poet lately. I know I haven't been updating, leaving little breadcrumbs to mark my way to... what is seeming more and more everyday like failure. Yes, I'm being melodramatic but that's how I've been feeling. Self doubt has an ugly face, and she's been peeking into my thoughts what seems like daily. I guess it's common, right? Well - this self doubt has been keeping me from writing. It's my fault for letting it get to me. I keep thinking, what do I have to say? Ugh, another vagina poem? Get over it Katie no one wants to read this garbage. I've had several rejections lately. First - Texas Book Festival. I was a little down. Bruno had put the ominous envelope on the kitchen counter unopened. I knew what it was the moment I saw it. Rejection. I was right. Looks like I won't be going to Austin anytime soon. Also - Minnetonka Review rejected my work. I was disheartened. I really like their publication. Well, I am determined to tr