5/09/2007

if i cobble them all together i can call it a post

1. i'm going to Ottawa for the weekend and won't be able to blog, so i may shrivel up and die without the constant glow of a computer screen feeding me its cosmic energy. apparently though, the National Archives want two copies of all the back issues of High Altitude Poetry - that's thirty-four issues!

after not checking our (non-virtual) mailbox for a year and a half, i opened it a few days ago to find four letters from them requesting the things. they are persistent little devils. so i figure i'll go drop them off in person and tell them i flew there with the zines handcuffed to my wrist in order to ensure their safe passage.

2. the May issue of High Altitude Poetry is complete, but isn't online yet. Liam, our trusted graphic designer, abandoned us and headed to the mighty north, leaving Colin and i in charge, and me in charge of cover design. needless to say, i produced the ugliest cover in HAP history. it revolves around a hate-haiku we received during one of our poetry production lines:


3. one cool word # 5 (featuring my poem "two pasty crescents, descending") is going to be launched this Satuday (May 12th) at the Lamplighter. $12 gets you in the door, and lands you a free copy of the mag. all the details can be found here.

4. the new issue of Vancouver Review, featuring my poem "the new phoenix," has been released. i'll post the poem once i'm back from Ottawa.

5. on Friday, May 25th at 7 PM at Upstart Crow Bookstore (238 Lonsdale Ave, North Van), a number of living poets (including David Zieroth) will be reading the work of a number of dead poets (including John Newlove and Irving Layton). i'm planning on attending if anyone is interested in going together.

6. One Ghana, One Voice continues to plug along. the conversations being generated by our "five questions" section have proven quite interesting.

7. i'm liking this magazine/blog: blueskiespoetry

8. i've set up a fansite for tv's newest superstar, Stephanie Mercier, co-host of CityTV's "Sport of Kings" - the best damn horse-racing show in metropolitan Vancouver! check it out: The Mercienaries.

9. the wholesome fun of Saturdays in the Park is back for another year.

10. it's good to end on a nice round number. oh, and SALE SALE SALE!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robo,

How often do you send your stuff out? Seems like you're always getting published. Obvious quality aside, you must send out fairly often, no? I never seem to have any energy for doing this...and I'm just curious how often others do this, how long they wait for a response etc... Not that I'll change my ways, but I'm curious how other authors I respect go about it.

Oh, and people should buy your book. It's good and cheap and I think they'll like it. This is unsolicited praise here, folks, from someone who bought it for FULL PRICE.

Rob Taylor said...

ha...thanks for the comment-promo.

as far as submissions go, i was thinking at one point of keeping a running list of submissions: how many magazines and how many poems i currently had sent out, and how many total i had had rejected/accepted, just so people could see how depressingly often i get rejected ;)

in brief, i usually have 15-20 submissions on the go, with 100-180 poems, tho both of those numbers have dipped of late with the writing-that-one-poem-about-don-cherry-since-february problem.

it's not really all that hard, considering that the big mags (bless them) take six months to respond (or over a year and a half...that's right "The New Quarterly," i'm talking about you). its keeping submissions active with the small mags with quick turnarounds that is tricky. not that im complaining about quick turnarounds.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a lot. I think I submit about 2 times a year. Maybe a total of 10 poems! Lately I've been invited to submit to stuff, so that makes it easier. I just can't be bothered to submit to places who won't take my stuff, so I don't even bother with 'big' journals. 90% of the time they don't even write back. Thank goodness for places like zygoteinmycoffee.

Maybe if I have time away from building my house in the not-so-distant future I'll resolve to send more.

Thanks for the info!