Katie's Blog

So, y'all know I'm an editor, right? And I think it's pretty clear, at this point, that I'm a woman.  And apparently, it's hard to be a woman doing anything because misogyny exists, and it manifests all the time, sometimes in humorous ways. Take this, for example: A male submitted a poem to me. The poem's title was something along the lines of "Drunk Poem." It was bad. Not offensively bad, but, well, bad. I send him my customary rejection letter, which goes something like this: "Thank you for your submission. I appreciated the chance to read "Drunk Poem," but it's not a good fit for our journal at this time. I wish you the best of luck in placing this piece elsewhere. Sincerely, K"  To which submitter responds: "Thanks, Babe. What kind of poetry do you publish, then?"  -_- At first, I chuckled. How ridiculous. It reminded me of Rush Limbaugh. Or even something Donald Trump ...

For day #2, I'm going to share with you a poem from chapter 1 of Goddess Wears Cowboy Boots.  But before we get to that, I'm going to update you on some things that have been going on in my writing life :-) Lately, I've been having an absolute blast serving as Poetry Editor of Devilfish Review . I don't think I've ever blogged about it, so let me tell you how that came to be. Back when I was a lowly MFA student, I was in a requisite fiction writing class, and one of the classmates was Cathy Lopez. We got along pretty well, connected over the usual nerdery, but what I remember most was how different her writing was from everyone else's. She wrote (gasp) "genre" fiction, which, ok, if you're in academia, you learn that it's kind of a dirty word. I'm putting "genre" in quotes, though, because that's what our professor said Cathy wrote. I thought they were just good, interesting stories about being a superhero or liv...

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 this poet is pretty proud today, well, yesterday, but I just got around to writing this today because... well, reasons. Anyway, the first issue of Amarillo Bay with me as poetry editor was published. You can check it out here. So what does the editorial process of a literary journal look like? Well, now that I'm so experienced (hehehehe) let me shed a little bit of light on the process. The whole thing began oh, about three months ago in May. I got the "job" and my first task was, of course, slush sifting, which means, of course, going through a bunch of unsolicited submissions in search of gems. I started receiving said submissions right away, and each time my inbox was full, I have to admit, I felt a little excited and honored. Poets from all over the world (and I can say that because some dude sent me a batch from Brazil!) were sending ME their poems to read. My process for slush-sifting looks like this: I read the batch of poems. The ones I knew weren't...

I feel like it's time for me to return to the subject of, well, rejection letters. Let's talk. With the completion of my second poetry manuscript, I'm now in what I like to call "submission mode" which inevitably means I'm also receiving heaps of rejection letters once again. Part of the process, I know, and I'm totally over it already. On Wednesday night, I sent off a handful of submissions before bed. I'm using Duotrope again to research new markets, and found two that I wanted to try. I spent a little time reading their online content, figured, hey, looks like it might be a good fit. I sent off a submission of poems to each journal that I thought might fit with their aesthetic. The whole process took me about an hour to put together two packets and send them off. A typical evening. Well, the next morning, I'm going about my routine. First coffee, then email. And in my inbox, there's a message from one of the two venues. I figured it ...

I have some exciting news to share! First of all, I have a handful of poems up at Amarillo Bay And second of all, I'm going to be taking over as Poetry Editor, starting with the next issue in August! I couldn't be more excited about this news. I've been an assistant poetry editor before, I've been on editorial committees and have helped make decisions, but this time, it's all up to me. I get to read the submissions, decide what gets in, send out rejection/acceptance letters, copy edit, the whole nine yards. So far, I've really enjoyed working with AB. The other editors are super nice and welcoming. And believe it or not, I like sifting through slush piles. For me, it's an exciting prospect, to dig through submissions, looking for gems. I even sent out my first rejection letter yesterday :D So do take a look at the journal, and if it suits your fancy, send a submission in. My goal is to respond back with personal notes to everyone who submits. No fo...

Cover from Twenty Twenty : Poems in Memoriam, El Zarape Press, 2014. $10. A caveat: This isn't a review, an analysis, or an advertisement. It's simply a personal reflection on a book I had the pleasure of working on for the past year or so.  Twenty was released on Amazon today. It's a collection of poems in response to the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I remember the day, hearing about the horrible shooting. I was sitting in my car, just listening to the radio, thinking, oh, another school shooting, and then the stark realization that this time it happened at an elementary school. It was a cool day, a grey sky. It was hard for me to believe this world was still a beautiful place. That night, my good friend Daniel had organized a poetry reading, and I'm so glad they decided not to cancel it, in light of the events. We met at a local BBQ shop, ate, and read poetry into a mic to the small crowd of mostly poets in the est...

This summer (so far) has been pretty laid back. I've had the house to myself, and while I'm getting work done, it's not necessarily as much as I had dreamed of. I'm learning that my poetry pace is, perhaps, a little slow, and that's ok. My work is evolving, changing, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm also learning that cats can be a serious distraction :-P And that I really haven't found the occasion to blog as much as I'd hoped. Since my last blog post, I've written 8 new pieces, though they're not exactly polished just yet. I need workshop. I've also written and found a home for a new book review (yay!) which should be out shortly. I'm working on another review, too, so my goal before the fall rolls around will be to finish that, too. I've also been doing a lot of editing. I'm working as a book screener again this summer, which is always rewarding, yet time consuming. I think it's important to see what ot...

This summer I was invited to take part in a panel of judges for a poetry book contest. OK ok ok, that sounds all official... it wasn't quite so glamorous. It went a little more like this: This summer, I got to scour the a publisher's slush pile of contest submissions and toss a few up that seemed worthy of a second look. And you know what? I think I learned a thing or two about contest submissions and judging in the process.And wouldn't you know it, I'm a very generous person, so I'm passing that oh-so-sagey wisdom on to you (no, not saggy... though... hmm). How the Process Looks: We've all heard those horror stories about poetry book contests, yes? They're just big scams set out to make publishers more financially solvent. Their secondary function is to tack a fancy award title onto a special person's name, the crowned winner, who is probably just publisher/judge/book god's student/friend/lover. Sound familiar? Well, being on the inside...