Katie's Blog

I know I'm a little late, but I figured it was still more than worthwhile to reflect on what 2014 was for me as a writer. It was a very, well, let's just call it "eventful" year. One of my writer friends, David Bowles, shared a picture of his writing achievements on his facebook page on NYE, and I decided to copy him and do the same :-) So there, pictured above, is my 2014! Books, magazines and journals I either had something published in, edited, or wrote entirely myself.  First from the left, we have Edward Vidaurre's book, Insomnia, which I had the pleasure of writing the introduction to. It was the first time I'd ever written an introduction to, well, anything really, so it was a bit intimating. I really love the idea, though, of helping others celebrate their successes. And that's exactly what Edward's book was, a success. Here were are at this release party! Next to Edward's book, is RiverSedge, the new literary journal of UTPA that ...

So it's time for a change of gears! My grades have been submitted. I'm spending the majority of my days in my bathrobe. The air conditioner is blaring. Yep. It's summer again! And my goodness, am I grateful. I've been on vacation for about a week, and so far, it's been pretty amazing, and believe it or not, pretty productive, in my own Katie sort of way. Of course, I had to decompress after the craziness that was April and early May, but I'm coming off of that now, and I'm in the mood to get things done, which is a good thing. I'm off of work until July 9th, and as always, I've got a good stack of things I want to accomplish. 1. My poetry manuscript. Very, very important. So, this is the same ms. I slaved away over last summer, and I thought I was done with it. I'd been submitting it a handful of places, got a few sniffs, and things are looking good. BUT, it's too short. So guess what I'm doing now? :D And believe it or not, it...

Katie the Critic is up to no good! So a friend of mine asked me about how to write a poetry book review. Damned if I know! That's not a very good response, is it? So here's a nice blog post about my own process: I don't think I ever learned a proper way to write book reviews -- I taught myself to do it, and it's a craft I'm still trying to hone. If you're wanting to write reviews, I think a good place to start is to read a bunch of them. I like the LARB.  Of course, writing a good review isn't all about emulating another person's style, but it's a good way to kind of get a feel for the genre -- and yes, book reviews are their own genre (at least I like to think so). I start by reading the book just for the sheer enjoyment of it, cover to cover. Some people like to read poetry books a bit here and a bit there, but when you're writing a review, you're trying to get a sense of the whole, the book's argument. So you'll ...

So... Yeah. I know. I've been a punk lately. I've been blogging, yes, just not here. Booo me. Today marks the beginning of my vacation state of mind. It also marks the beginning of delving back into my crazies and thinking of myself as a writer again. Gone are the burdens of wearing pants three days out of the week! I have a month off from work, and I'm determined to make headway on my novel. I know, I know, eyes are a'rollin' -- you always say you're going to work on your novel, Katie! But you know what? Since I've last blogged, I've cranked out a first draft of my first novel X-D That's right, that's right, that's right. My plans are to revise it for the next six or so months, so by the time summer rolls around, I'll have another submittable manuscript in my hands. It's an entirely new project, and I'm a little excited about it.  It feels eerily strange to have time to myself now, to not have a slough of student e...

So... the conventional writerly wisdom is to not read your reviews. I ignored this advice. Last Thursday, my local newspaper, the Monitor, ran a super review of The Garden Uprooted (alongside a review of Brenda Nettles Riojas' La Primera Voz Que Oi ). I knew the review was going to run, and I had been thinking about it since their reviewer, David Bowles, asked me for a review copy. It was a little agonizing. Come Thursday morning, I was on my way to work and of course, the review was on my mind. I was obsessing. I ended up buying a copy along the way, before my first class even began. I opened it up, scanned through the paper, and there it was, the review. I think David hits my book spot on, calling my book " a rich hybrid verse." That's exactly right, both in content and form. I love it. Truth be told, I'm a little self-conscious about The Garden Uprooted . I know, I know, I shouldn't admit that in public but here I am, admitting it. I mean, I'm...

I'm a poet in transition; transition isn't easy. I enjoyed the peace of mind that summer provides, the seemingly endless days, the inherent laziness that comes along with it. I wrote, I had the mental "space" to focus on my writing throughout all of June, and produced a good amount of (nearly polished) poetry -- about twelve new poems. What Plagues the Goddess, my chapbook project, is in a very happy place. I'm pleased enough with her to call her complete, and to begin working on a new project (or really, expanding on this old project into a larger book-length manuscript). And of course, the fact that it cleared at least the quarter-finalist round of the Casey Shay Press annual competition makes me a bit more confident in my efforts. Speaking of chapbooks, I also, of course, mused on the form. And the fruits of my labor? Why, this just came out: Katie Reviews Black Birds : Blue Horse for Fifth Wednesday Journal!  This summer was also a time for self-promot...

A Gentle Asking : A Review of Eve Asks by Christine Redman-Waldeyer Muse-Pie Press , 2011 (50 pages) ISBN: 9780918453235 Christine Redman-Waldeyer’s chapbook, Eve Asks , is a lyrical journey through everyday life that highlights both the quiet beauty on the surface and the complexities that exist just beneath. The poems are carefully arranged to take the reader by the hand through love, marriage, child-bearing, mothering, and beyond. With emotional honesty, they hit close to home. These poems celebrate who we are as humans, and ask us to dig deeper and examine how we perceive the world around us. The collection’s first poem illustrates this succinctly. The title “Breast Cancer Survivor” is heavy, but the language of the poem is light, airy, and lyric: She stays every summer at her shore house Warm weather in the spring brings her weekends Her dog waits in the car while she chats I stop at hello (5). But as a reader, we can’t just “stop at hello.” We know that bene...