Tuesday, February 3rd

The State of the Me

I screwed up my caffeine cut-off yesterday evening, and then last night I slept only lightly and woke up every two hours. Whoops. Felt like old times.

The Daily Report

Yesterday was an encouraging day on the poetry front. First I received an acceptance notice for a poem I sent out in January. It is for an annual zine, so it's likely to be a while before the contract is signed, much less the issue comes out. Then my poem "Institutional Memory" was highlighted on the #diversepoems hashtag by @bogiperson (Bogi Takács). Bogi is the mastermind of the poem "The Tiny English-Hungarian Phrasebook For Visiting Extraterrestrials", a favorite in our household.

The acceptance letter alone was enough to motivate me to send out some more submissions, including one that I consider to be a kind of reach-for-the-stars wild shot. But hey, ad astra per aspirations, right?

In a less external way, it was also an encouraging day for fiction writing. The thing I started writing on Sunday was based in a dream. Writing from a dream always requires a bit of creative interpretation, unless you're very lucky... luckier than I was. So while the concept was there when I woke up, it wasn't all there. But over the course of two days of writing, it's been firmed up and fleshed out.

Plans For Today

The caffeine/insomnia problem means I'm going to be playing things a bit by ear today. It's a MU posting day, so that's priority number one.

Chapbook to benefit Pope Lizbet.

So, popelizbet has had a run of bad luck with a debilitating rotator cuff tendon injury and a stonewalling insurance company. She needs surgery within weeks in order to avoid suffering a range of motion loss, insurer is only willing to pay for physical therapy, a painful prospect that translates into permanent debilitation.

Lizbet is always willing to put her now-injured shoulder to the wheel for others, but she's not accustomed to asking for help. She did allow me to create a PayPal link for people who wish to help, which I have done.

Lizbet means the world to me personally, and I know there are many artists and writers who have been touched by her friendship or benefited from her fierce and dedicated support over the years, as I have.

So again with her permission, I'm going to try to put together an electronic chapbook that will be offered on a "pay-what-thou-wilt-shall-be-the-whole-of-the-price" model. My intention right now is for anyone who has PayPaled her money to receive a copy as well, if that proves feasible, but I can't really speak to the details of the chapbook (who, when, how big) right this moment because it's just an idea and the only contributor I know for sure is myself.

If you're a poet or author and you have a piece you'd like to contribute--any length, ficlets/flash fiction fine-- please send an email to me at contactme@alexandraerin.com with the subject line "FOR POPELIZBET". If you have something lying around, go ahead and send it. If you want to contribute but you don't have anything at the moment or can't think of what you'd like to give, please send me a query with the same subject line just to let me know you're interested. I will also take artwork, if anyone wishes to contribute.

Previously printed/posted material is fine, as long as you hold the rights. Just include in your email where it was printed before. We are not asking for any rights except non-exclusive publication rights to put it in this chapbook.

Because I will only be using donated material and will be donating the labor myself, the only expense in producing this chapbook will be the transaction fees. All other money paid will go directly into Lizbet's account.

Apart from gratitude, the only thing I can offer is a courtesy link to your own website and/or literary endeavors managed under your aegis. If your donated piece appears somewhere else, we'll happily hawk it for you. I hate to be the person saying "do it for exposure," so I won't. Do it for love of a lovely person. This is not a general submission solicitation for a general market.

The general theme of this volume will be... well, right now, it'll be "beggars can't be choosers", but fantastical and fearful poems and stories are particularly welcome. I dream of getting enough material that curation into a theme will be possible, to say nothing of necessary.

Once I have some responses and some material to work with, I'll be able to work out some more details like publication/sale venue, timeframe, et cetera. There is a ticking clock element at work, so I'll ask that potential contributors reach out to me by February 20th, and the sooner the better. The line-up doesn't have to be final, but if I have a solid enough beginning to start promoting it within a week, I think we'll be in better shape.

Again, please send your submission or query/statement of interest to contactme@alexandraerin.com with the subject line "FOR POPELIZBET".