Sandra Gail Lambert

Planning for the Future

Here's something for all of us no-book-published-yet writers.  You know how we imagine being interviewed?  Don't deny it.  I, in the midst of a plot doldrum, will veer off into a full-blown, mouthing the words enactment of that glorious day when Diane Rhem and I are chatting on the radio.  She's asking me insightful questions (about this book that in real life I haven't written yet) and I'm answering them with a dazzling articulateness (so unlikely in real life).  Off-air she says wants to be my friend and shall we go for coffee.  Sigh. 

Hey, it could happen.  And here's a great training video.  It's Tayari Jones' TV interview about her just-released-in-paperback novel Silver Sparrow.  Now, this is how it's done - genuine, informative, and gracious.      

Bridges and Borders - Jane's Stories Press Foundation's Upcoming Anthology

Bridges and Borders is the Jane's fourth anthology.  (And I'll be included!)  It's almost ready to go, but they could use a last bit of cash.  Here's their Kickstarter site.  Donate because Jane's Stories has done so many years of worthy, much needed work to promote women's writing .  Donate because the sultry-voiced Glenda in the video below tells you to.  (Really, doesn't her voice make you want to purr.) And donate because you'll end up getting to read all these stories. 

Multi-media poetry!

Take a poem and add a whole collaboration of musicians and actors and all the people and locations and props it takes to make a film.  Now you have Alice Teeter's double sestina The 103rd birthday of Emma Regina DeGraffenreid Smith lifted off the page and made dimensional.  It thrills me, the thought of all that effort and time by all those people, young and old, focused in on one poem.  It makes me want, well, something - maybe get some of my dialogues acted out, have a scene put into song, or at least form a poetry study group of some sort.  Anyway, here's the video.      

Bacopa: A Literary Review - Another Reason to be Glad You Live in Gainesville

Were you at this weekend's unveiling of the latest Bacopa?  If not, you missed something quite grand.  Each year the Writers Alliance of Gainesville's Editorial Team produces Bacopa: A Literary Review, and it is fast gaining a reputation for excellence.  Last year's volume was well-reviewed in New Pages ("Strong first lines.  That's the enviable trait . . . ")  The 2012 issue is also beautifully produced and chock-full of talented writers.   

WAG has monthly meetings and this one was given over to a celebration of the newest issue.  The editors shared selections from an international array of authors and local contributors like Stephanie Seguin, Mary Bast, Bruce Hoch, Mary Bridgman, and Tad Karmazyn read to us.  We responded with the deserved celebratory applause.  

Afterwards I tried to go tell each and every one of the editors what a good job they'd done, but I missed a few.  So Denise Ahlberg, Jani Sherrard, Pranada Comtois, Gen Aris, Kaye Linden, Dorothy Staley, and Eldon Turner - thank you. 

Next month's WAG meeting (Sunday, June 24th, 2:30pm at the Millhopper Library), which is open to non-members, will present Sidney Wade - one of my favorite poets.    

The suitcases are out and waiting. Three weeks left to pack.

In case you were wondering, Beall's Outlet Store has a fine selection of writing mumus.  I just brought some home and all the chicken/head cut off pacing the house and scribbling lists in the kitchen, by the TV, at my bedside anxiety is gone.  I'm set.  I'm ready.  The mumus and that stack of yellow pads already in a suitcase - that's all I need.  

Well, I should probably also pack some jeans and shirts and refills for my pens and the transfer bar for the tub and that little pillow that fits into my lower back and bras since I may never relax enough to wander over for the communal breakfast in just a mu-mu.  And earrings.  And a power strip.  And printer ink.  And a flashlight because it's important to always have a flashlight, don't you think?  And there's more.  The list beside the computer is the longest. 

    

Post-acceptance

So, I thought, this is it.  After getting accepted to an artist's colony, one just doesn't write anything at all anymore.  Why hadn't someone warned me?  But, of course, with relief, there was a morning when I revised an essay rather than listen to another Tell Me More podcast while I played solitaire.  And a next morning when I worked on the first chapter of a novel.  And another day when I poked around on the essay some more.  It was like a train's slow chugging forward from a standstill.  But these last days have been all errands and social events.  For sure, this isn't an express train.  

And why all the train allusions?  Probably because right this moment five weeks from now, I'll be snuggling into my bunk bed in the Amtrak Superliner accessible bedroom.  It's the first leg of my journey north to Saratoga Springs.  And it is an express train. 

Pat Spears - One of My Favorite Writers

The Saints and Sinners Short Fiction Contest results are out, and Pat Spears is the runner-up in what must have been a squeaky-close decision by the judge, Dorothy Allison.  The story, "Pink Moon," will be published in an upcoming anthology.  Now, I've had the great privilege of already getting to read "Pink Moon," and it's a stark, intense, and beautiful piece of writing.  "So good it makes my heart hurt" was the response of another member of the Pat Spears Fan Club.

Anyway, I'm thrilled that Pat's work is getting to be more and more known.  Someday soon that novel she's shopping around will find a home and world - watch out.       

Cockles and Mussels, Alive, Alive-O!

She's not a pretty Molly Malone from Dublin like in the song my mother used to sing, but here's a photo of a real fish monger in London in the 1800's.  John Thompson used this then brand new technology to record the lives of chimney sweeps, merchant women, maids, travelers, and shoeshine boys. 

My mother was from London.  Her dad was from Wales, but her mum, she was a many-generation Londoner.  My great grandmother could be one of the kids in these photos.  Not could in the general sense, but actually be that little girl yearning for baubles.  It makes me want to write something.  I don't know what yet. 

   

VIDA - Women in Literary Arts

VIDA is most famous for "The Count" - their annual pie charts showing the rates of publication between women and men in literary journals.  For example.

They've also put together an "anti-list of under-acknowledged authors."  They include Gina Berriault, Kamala Das, Jennifer Tamayo, Nikki Grimes, and the never under-appreciated by me, Judy Grahn.  Right now I'm reading their recommendation The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, and Alexandra David-Neel's My Journey to Lhasa is waiting on the bedside table.  

How about ya'll?  Any suggestions for the list?      

Inspirational Quotes

"I hate to bludgeon you about the head and neck with a hammer forged in the volcanic fires of Mount Obvious, but the only way you can finish something is by not stopping.  That story isn’t going to unfuck itself" -- Sage and profanity-laden advice from Chuck Wendig.  Repeating the last sentence is an especially helpful way to get oneself out of bed.