Katie's Blog

There's the Texas Poet Laureate Jan Seale reading at the Mcallen Creative Incubator last Friday. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to read, too! I sure had a fantastic time. It helped, also, that I was in the company of many many friends -- El Valle's very own poetry community. I could write on and on about what happened, but perhaps some pictures would be appropriate? Yes, yes of course! Me, taking the stage in all my dorky excitedness, which seemed to emerge on more than one occasion this particular evening. Here I am! Reciting my "Goddess in Cowgirl Boots" sonnet. Oh what fun, what fun! I'm a big fan of candid shots! But me, I'm front and left, next to Vanessa Brown, then Brenda Nettles Riojas, Rossy Lima, and Shawn Elliot. Up on top? From left -- Edward Vidaurre, some girl I don't know, Daniel Garcia Ordaz, Kaitlin Martin, JAN SEALE! Rachel Vela and Erika Garza Johnson. Yeah... we're a fierce bunch.  Oh oh oh! I was just abou...

Oh oh oh oh oh! I have a few things going on at the moment, but for today's post, I think I'll talk about blurbs. Asking for blurbs is hard. I feel like such a needy pathetic turd asking for them, but it's so necessary. I want my book to be taken seriously, so I'm trying to get a good list going of poets I know and respect. But most importantly, poets who might be nice enough to say "yes" and actually come through in the end! At my last meeting with Editor last week, he set me up to the task of blurb finding. He outlined the three main "target audiences" for my book, and said I should try to find a blurber for each area. I agree that this is, indeed, sound advice. My three areas are: 1. Borderlands 2. Feminist 3. Sensuality Ahhh here we go again... Editor asks me if I know certain poets, drafting ideas who I can ask for blurbs. I nod, sure, I can ask her, yeah, she might do it... but it seemed as though finding a blurber for the ...

Fantastic, thanks for asking. Here are a few pictures, taken by, you guessed it! My BruBru. There's me! In all my mistress of ceremonies glory Oh! That's my dad at the guitar. And my mom...  It was pretty packed, as usual. Here's a nice group picture! Oh, I stand out I don't need to point myself out. But! My mom's standing next to me. And who is that?  To my other side is Christopher Carmona, Beat Poet extrodinairre. And standing next to him in that adorable little hat is Edward Vidaurre, general manager of Carinos by day, Barrio Poet by night. Oh! I just love this picture. Lily and I! Lily's such a great host :) Her hubby's Edward... who is equally awesome, and who I am forever indebted to for helping me put this wonderful event together at his restaurant.  Let me recap the evening: I only slaughtered a few peoples' names. I sold a good stack of books. I recited my sonnet without hiccup or slur. I drank sangria, and was very merry by t...

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile now, but life's gotten so complicated in a completely good way. A few days ago, I met with Editor. He swang (that's a funny word) by my office earlier this week to talk about my manuscript, and we got to talking quite a bit about my book, plans, edits, and... poetry in general. Apparently, what Publisher likes about The Garden Uprooted is how I handle the oh so delicate topic of sensuality. Why thank you -- I say graciously, though slightly uneasy with where this is going. If you've been following this blog, you may know that I like to write, for lack of a better word, sexy poetry. It's fun -- there are tons of metaphors, the language is always intriguing, and when handled well, sex can be a great undertone to a poem. I like playfulness in poetry, that's my style, my voice. I don't write about "sex for sexy sake" though. I usually use sensuality as a tool to open up discussions, mostly about g...

It came yesterday! X-D I need to find a way to get a little counter for these things... and post them somewhere here on the blog. If only I was slightly more internet savvy. Oh well. With my new attitude towards rejections, I actually found my heart flutter a bit when I saw it in my inbox. I'd gone quite a while without getting a rejection letter, so it felt good -- just knowing that someone, an editor, was reading my work. The best thing? It was a personal rejection letter! What a good way to kick off 2012. So here's to many many more... and hopefully some acceptances sprinkled in, too! 1/99! In other writerly news: I'm getting all geared up for tomorrow's reading. I've even memorized my new sonnet X-D Got a good feeling about this! On my kitchen counter sits a big old box of books from Mouthfeel Press, and I can't wait to see those books in the hands of my Valleyites! And I can't wait to get back in the swing of the poetry community. I haven...

It's coming! :) Just around the corner. Here's some info, finally -- it's ready to post. Pasta, Poetry & Vino Nove FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 @ 7:30PM “We’re back!” Carino’s Italian will donate 15% of the proceeds from this event to: MOUTHFEEL PRESS and BORDERSENSES   MC: Katherine Hoerth Katie is the author of three books of poetry: Among the Mariposas (Mouthfeel Press, 2010), a chapbook which received the Nuestra Voz Prize in 2010, The Garden of Dresses (Mouthfeel Press, 2012) a forthcoming chapbook, and her first full poetry collection, The Garden Uprooted , which will be released this year by Slough Press. Her work has also been published in several journals, including Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Front Porch , and Conte: A Journal of Narrative Writing . She serves as Assistant Poetry Editor at Fi fth Wednesday Journal , and teaches writing at South Texas College. Featured Readers: Rossy Lima Julie Corpus Edward Vidaurre Arturo S...

So I've been hibernating lately, and it's been absolutely wonderful. You see... for the past two months, I've really been focusing on my own writing, on me, on my ideas/goals. Katie's been a hermit, but... eh... I've been a productive hermit! This winter break has been fantastic -- yes, I've still been in "the office" but no one stops by since the campus is pretty closed, and I haven't touched or thought about my spring teaching, which ah... starts up again in about a week. This time of reflection has done wonders for me, though. The quiet has really taken me to a place where now I have direction, focus, and plenty of creative juices. It's been lovely lovely lovely. But that ends next week. I have a lot of exciting readings and poetry events on the horizon, and it's time to shed this hermit skin and put my social face on again. Yikes... ok, note to self -- wear make up. LOL. I just hope I'll be able to keep up this magical pac...

You knew it was coming, right? I can't survive without my goals :-) So here they are! I will write like a madwoman. I will write like crazy. I will write, explore new genres and styles, I will push push push on the boundaries of my abilities. I will write until ink gushes from my pupils. In 2012, I will: Write 50 poems . That's about one per week. Write a new chapbook -- it's in my mind, and starting to materlize on paper, too. Tenetively, she's titled Texas Exodus, but we'll see. She should be done done done and submitted to publishers by the close of 2012. I will continue writing fiction, too. I will challange myself, I will feel uncomfortable, and I will learn to like it. I will finish my novel. I will rewrite it. I will edit it. He will sit on an agent's desk by the close of 2012. I will read and study short stories, and then I will go back to writing them.  I will write 4 short stories in 2012 , one of them relating to an idea I have for a...