I’ve read the manuscript in various forms, from the first drafts of the main story, The Bike Mechanic, to proofreading the final version. I am so impressed with the scope and ambition of the work, as well as the execution. I really encourage you to read it.

The Many Lives of Inez Wick follows the alternate possibilities that one character could have in her life. Inez Wick is an eco-heroine: part Lara Croft, part Hayduke. She fights injustice wherever she finds it, from power plants in China to waterbottling plants in Michigan. She is also vulnerable, in the interactions with the various men in her lives and in her future.

But don’t take my word for it. Check out Aaron’s post, which includes a description of the book and some advanced praise from other writers. And after you’re done with that, pick up a copy at Lulu.

In an effort to bring this part of my aesthetic to light, I am reposting the majority of my original March post. Consider this the answer to the question: “Why are there so many fairy tale and mythology poems in Blameless Mouth?”

I write about fairy tales and mythology because:

I Am Reinterpreting the Female Journey

Most of the stories we tell in Western culture seem to center upon the male quest. In some ways, this seems to be the main trope of the stories we tell each other. From Beowulf to The Hangover, a man (or a group of men) battle against a series of obstacles to emerge victorious. In all of our mediums, we can quickly see the arc of male development. Strike out on your own. Defeat the monster. Earn fame and glory.

But, if you scratch the surface of these stories, there is a female journey running concurrent with the male journey.  Even better, a lot of fairy tales, myths, and children’s stories highlight the female journey over the male journey. We can see the outlines of an arc for female development. But in these journeys, it isn’t always as clear cut as the male journey. Navigate a maze. Find your path. Escape.

Prior to the modern feminist movement, the female journeys we celebrated and retold focused on the pursuit of a mate.  Become beautiful. Win the prince. Live happily ever after. But in the more interesting stories, we find female characters navigating a perilous path in order to find themselves.  When I think about the stories I like to rewrite and re-vision, I choose Alice in Wonderland or Persephone over Cinderella. Or more accurately, I attempt to dig deeper in all of  the stories to find the journey towards the self.

I Am Making Sense of Unintelligible Worlds

As I mentioned above, the female character often has to navigate a maze or a perilous path. In stories like Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz or The Little Mermaid, the main character has to make sense of a world that is not her own.

In my mind, this is an excellent metaphor for living as a grown-up in modern times. All of us live in a world that we did not create, yet we have to find its internal logic and obey its rules.  Sometimes, we wake up to find ourselves in a landscape we don’t understand and we have no idea how we got there. We have to learn the language, find the landmarks, and forge ahead.

At the ripe old age of 33, I have found that so much of my life is lived in a state of internal confusion. I spend so much time making sense of the world I live in that I neglect my internal development. What’s so interesting to me about these narratives is that the character often develops as a person while she navigates the strange exterior worlds. I struggle against this part of the character arc, because it doesn’t always ring true to me.  I find myself writing that struggle, between the internal and external, over and over.

Of The Persistence of Archetypes

My final reason for working within these narratives was actually my primary inspiration, back when I begun this practice.  Within feminist literature, I admired those women who came before me and rewrote myths and fairy tales. I’m thinking of poets like Sylvia Plath, Rita Dove, H.D., Louise Bogan, andLouise Gluck.

Often, these women highlighted and explored the archetypes in the fairy tales and myths. Of course, the narratives are chockfull of archetypes: the witch, the virgin, the ugly sister, the mean stepmother. When I began rewriting myths, I consciously explored the archetypes and looked for ways to subvert them (or at least poke holes in them). For a  long time, I found this to be valid work.

However, the longer that I write within this tradition, I find that this work is not as important to me as it once was. Mostly, I think that there are writers (like the ones I’ve listed above) that have done it better than I can.  There is a huge body of literature that subverts the archetypes and stereotypes and I don’t know how much more I can contribute to it.

***

If you want to stay connected to my progress with bringing Blameless Mouth to publication, I hope that you will join the Blameless Mouth Facebook page .

If you would like a copy of Blameless Mouth of your very own, I hope that you will check it out on Lulu.

What is Blameless Mouth all about? Click here for my book description, advanced praise from other writers, and an archive of all of my previous posts about the book.

If you would like a copy of Blameless Mouth for your very own, Lulu is generously offering a 15% discount on the price, until December 15, 2010 (11:59 PM E.S.T.).  Simply enter the code STOCKING305 at checkout to receive the discount.

And, since we’re having a party, I am giving away  2 copies of the book (for 2 separate people). In order to enter, simply post a comment answering the following question:

What would it mean for you to be blameless?

You can leave a short answer here if you like, or if you’re inspired, you can write a longer answer on your own blog and post the link. I will leave the comments on this post open through December 13 at 11:59 PM C.S.T. and then pick from all the responses using a randomizer. Or a blindfold and my finger, if there aren’t many entries.

Now that the book is officially available, I hope that you will provide me feedback, after you’ve read it. If you’re so inclined, I would really appreciate it if you would write a review on the product page.  I would also be honored if you would review the book on your own corner of the internet, and generally share your experience with the book with others. I know that my best shot at promoting this book is through the good work of happy readers, so I hope that you will help me spread the word.

Let’s start the party!

EDIT: You can also check out my author spotlight page here, which is prettier, but some folks were having problems with it, so I redirected my links to the product page.

***

If you want to stay connected to my progress with bringing Blameless Mouth to publication, I hope that you will join the Blameless Mouth Facebook page .

If you would like a copy of Blameless Mouth of your very own, I hope that you will check it out on Lulu.

I think one of the most difficult things about being a writer, as opposed to a visual artist, is that you very rarely make anything tangible. A painter works with physical materials and creates an image on canvas or paper. A collage artist works with scissors, paper, and glue to make a bumpy, layered mosaic. Even a photographer can either work in a darkroom or with a high end printer to create a glossy image, if necessary. But a writer just clicks keys on a computer or scribbles in a notebook to create something that never really lives outside of them. It’s ideas on a page and those ideas are not often made physical.

That is, unless, you choose to publish your work in the print medium. Up until starting my own publishing process, I think that I discounted the importance of making a physical object out of my writing. I knew that I wanted to put Blameless Mouth out in the world, because I believed it had value as a work. I thought it should be read, that the ideas should be “heard’ by others. Even while working diligently over my manuscript, removing typos, making the poems fit into the template, and working with an artist to create the cover, I didn’t realize the importance of making an object of my writing.

But then, I received my proofs in the mail. (I have two, so that I can send one to the Library of Congress for my LLCN documentation.) I cannot tell you how eerie and wonderful it is to hold an object that is made out of my writing. I’ve built something out of words, something that someone else can hold in their hand and read. It has weight and heft. It has texture. When handling my proofs, I’ve been touching them gingerly, by the corners, as if they might break. I know that it’s silly and superstitious, but it’s new for me to have an actual object to pass along to others.

Of course, that’s the important part. I didn’t publish Blameless Mouth so that I can hold it in my hands, even though it’s really exciting. I made it so that others can hold it in their hands, take it to their favorite reading spots, and read it. Tomorrow, I will be releasing my book into the world, and I hope that you will join me for the celebration.

Tomorrow, I will post something here with a special discount code (15% off, thanks to Lulu) and the URL for the book. I will also be hosting, as part of my Virtual Release Party, a giveaway for 2 lucky people to receive a copy of the book. If you want you can RSVP to the Release Party here and join the Blameless Mouth page here, if you want to share the experience with others.

I hope that you will join me in my celebration.

Minneapolis, MN – November 16, 2010

The poet is not uncomfortable with words. She prefers them to most other things in life. But today, she has to dig through dictionaries and thesauruses, to pluck out the words she never wants to use. She has to learn to use words like purchase, discount, and buy. She is gritting her teeth. She is doing her best.

The poet gets nauseous around numbers. She can tick syllables off her fingers faster than most can count to one hundred. Put a dollar sign in front of them, and it’s all over. But that’s not exactly right. She has no qualms with the dollar signs in front of her expenditures. She doesn’t mind the thousands she’s invested in books, pens, notebooks, degrees, and even the project. These are taken out of her with no remorse. It’s the figure she asks for: the dollar sign, numerals and decimal point that make her sick. The numbers swim in front of her, float past her reach.

The poet prefers anonymity, but she still wants you to buy her book. She wants you to buy it without having to ask, like the wife who wants her husband to do the dishes because he wants to do the dishes. (In real life, the poet rarely does dishes. She writes instead.) She wants her work out in the world, but really she wants to release them. She wants them to be someone else’s problems now. The poet wants the poems to live lives of their own, outside of her head. She wants to see them someday, on someone else’s reading list, and barely recognize them.

The poet wonders about the provenance of the words: publish, press and release. She traces publish back to public, populous, and people. Words that she knows only in the abstract. She links press to pressure, feels the weight of it on her skin. And then, she thinks about release and feels that weight dissipate in the air. She feels it alight on someone else, carrying the eighty-seven pages of poems that she just wants that someone else to take home.

***

This post was inspired, of course, by my gross attempts at writing a press release for Blameless Mouth yesterday. In my frustration, I tweeted the title line and Dave Bonta encouraged me to use it as a blog post. Of course, I had to agree.

It’s strange to me that poets have to be involved in the publicity of their own work, whether the poet publishes with a press or becomes her own press. I feel like this isn’t a skill that anyone taught me, in my two writing degrees. (In fact, there was a good post yesterday about the dangers of young writers getting involved in the publication process without knowing more about the process.) But I also think, as a poet, that it’s my responsibility to toughen up and do the work.

So, I did some research yesterday and received some sample press releases from two generous friends. And now, today or the next day, I have to grit my teeth and write it. Because that’s the only way that it’s going to get done.

Sing for the bartender sing for the janitor sing
Sing for the cameras sing for the animals sing
Sing for the children shooting the children sing
Sing for the teachers who told you that you couldn’t sing
Just sing

And then here’s the full length video, which is worth a watch.

I thought that my iPod gave me such an apropos song for the day, because today, I am beginning to sing. Don’t worry, I’m not going to torture you with my actual singing. Instead, I am going to be using my voice in a new way (for me). I am starting the scary and treacherous part of self-publishing: publicizing my own work. As you know, I’ve been working on readying Blameless Mouth for publication and I am now relatively sure of my timeline. Barring any misfortune (knock on wood), I’m anticipating a December release date. Since that is just around the corner, I now have to invite people into the process.

This is a terrifying experiment for me. I’ve prepped and prepped so much that I’m ready to share my work with the world, but it means that I must actually open my mouth. It’s so scary because I don’t know what the response will be and how this work will be received. I also don’t know how to do this “marketing” gracefully, so I hope that you’ll bear with me.

I’ve been thinking through the ways that I want to do this and I’m convinced that the best way to share my work is to build on the relationships I already have. The miracle of the internet is that I am in contact with lots of talented poet-friends; people who knew me when I was writing in grad school, college and high school; various and sundry acquaintances, as well as the people I see in real life on a regular basis. All of these kind people are connected to my writing, or at least they are aware that I write poetry, because they’ve plugged in with me via Facebook, Twitter or this blog. (Or you know, from real life.) Certainly, these people would want to keep track of my progress as I publish this book. And if I’m lucky and they’re interested, they’ll tell their friends who will also get connected.

I also want to be conscious of the fact that I don’t want to turn into an infomercial. I don’t want to turn off all those folks who stay connected with me via these various networks because they just want to know what 80′s movie heart-throb I would be or they know me outside of my writing practice. So, I think I’ve developed a structure that will allow me to sing, but also allow me to be myself.

Here it is:

• First, I’ve opened up the Blameless Mouth page on this blog. This is a static page that will allow me to archive the posts I write about the book and my publication process. I wondered whether I should open my own Blameless Mouth site, and I decided to err on the side of caution. I think this blog has the most potential for reaching folks.
• Second, I’ve started a Blameless Mouth Facebook page. There are so many wonderful poets and journals who use Facebook as a successful means of connecting readers, so I really hope that this takes off. If you’re on Facebook, I hope that you’ll join the party over there. I plan on posting discussion questions about the themes in the book, as well as updates on the publication.
• Third, I will post one weekly post about Blameless Mouth, starting on Monday. I’ll alternate between telling the story of the book and my writing process and sharing excerpts from the book. These excerpts will be audio as well as visual.
• Fourth, for my rare friends and family who are not Facebook or blog savvy, I’ll be sending out a few brief group emails via an email list, which I’ll launch shortly. I’ll post a sign up link in my sidebar and on the Blameless Mouth static page when it’s ready.

So, if you’re interested in my work on Blameless Mouth, I hope that you’ll join me in one or more of these avenues. As I delve further into the marketing aspect of self-publishing, it is my hope that this structure balances the publicity with the regular work of this blog and my creative practice.

It’s all singing, after all, just different types.

As you know, I’m preparing my manuscript Blameless Mouth for publication through Lulu. However, what you may not know is that I’ve been dancing around this idea for a long while. I’ve been asking myself: Should I do it? Do I have time to promote it? Will anyone buy it? Can I ready the manuscript? These questions were dogging me, because there are no answers for these questions.

Finally, over a month ago, I decided to just go for it. I began editing my manuscript and getting it ready to put in the template. This was nothing new. I’ve edited this manuscript more times than I can count. What’s different is that I took that next step.

I am now in a new world, as  a writer and creator. I am now fully out of the editing process and into the publication process. I’ve never formally self-published any book and it’s complex and scary. But, like I said, I’m learning a lot. And I’d like to share those lessons with you.

Lesson #1: Brag About Yourself

Did you know that when you publish a book, you have to write about yourself in the third person? It’s true…and completely awkward. I wrote a bio for myself, which I’ve added to my new About page. That was difficult, but certainly not insurmountable.

Then, I had to write a blurb about the book, for the back cover. This was again, not insurmountable, but incredibly challenging. I’ve spent years on this manuscript. It’s the most significant piece of writing I’ve ever created. And yet, I could not distill this book down into four or five persuasive sentences without feeling like a complete phony. I am not quite ready to unveil the blurb yet, because I want to show it to a friend who’s reading my manuscript now. But, the rough draft is there.

Lesson #2: You Need Other People’s Help

It was also recommended to me from several folks that I get a few blurbs for the back cover. I really dragged my feet on this at first, because this involves asking for favors or God forbid help from people. I am not good at either.

During one of my 5 AM creative times I realized that I am not asking on behalf of myself, I am asking on behalf of my work. Certainly, my poetry deserves the effort and potential rejection, if I’m going to all the time and expense of self-publishing it. What I have learned, of course, is that people are generous and are willing to review my work.

Lesson #3: Cultivate Patience

Also, I’ve learned that self-publishing involves a lot of waiting. I am not a patient person, so this has been challenging. Apparently, there are a lot of technical steps throughout the publishing process. Without a formal publishing company to work with, I have to do this work myself. I don’t mind, but I didn’t expect that it would take time.

I discovered early on in my research that Lulu provides an ISBN to your book, if you buy their Global Distribution package. But, the ISBN lists them as the publisher. I have nothing against Lulu per se, but I was a little disappointed when I learned this. Luckily, thanks to awesome Twitter advice, I learned that you can buy your own ISBN, which I bought this morning. (Goal achieved!)

The ISBN form asks for a Library of Congress Catalog Number. It’s not required, but I thought that I should have one. So, I filled out the first step of the form this morning. And I learned that I’ll have to wait up to a week to get this part of the application approved, before I can request the LCCN.

The cool part about applying for all these acronyms (ISBN, LCCN) is that I had to name my publishing company. Today, Everything Feeds Process Press was born. That made me feel good.

That’s where I am now. I am waiting for friends and acquaintances to review my work and potentially provide blurbs for me. I’m waiting for my LCCN application to get approved. My manuscript can’t become a book until all those things happen, so I wait.

It’s exciting and I feel like I’m just going to bubble over with energy. But it’s also nerve-wracking. A big part of me just wants this book out in the world. But now, I have some time to prepare some posts about the book and my writing process, record some poems for audio or video poems, and build a Facebook product page. These are the benefits of waiting to go through the process correctly.

***

Despite (or perhaps because) of all this learning, I am really enjoying this self-publication process. I have something to look forward to during my morning creative time. Each time I check another item off of my to do list, I feel like I’m building towards an end result: a finished, published book. I guess I can wait  a few more weeks for all of it to come together.

You see, I’ve been planning and hoping to self-publish this manuscript for quite some time. In all of this planning, I told myself that I would make the cover myself. I’m a serviceable enough photographer that I could certainly create a nice cover for my book. Unfortunately, my ideas for the cover outpaced my artistic and photographic talent. My wheels would turn: I can’t finish the manuscript until I have a cover, but I can’t make the cover that I want, so I won’t finish the manuscript. This has been quite a convenient excuse.  Finally, after discussing this with Aaron, I realized that I needed help. He reminded me that between the two of us, we are friends with dozens of talented artists. We could put this request out into the network of artists and find a solution. Therefore, my open letter.

I am saying it here in public: My husband was (and is) right. Because here is the product, the cover of my forthcoming poetry collection:

Squee!

By putting the request out through this blog, Facebook, and Twitter, I came into contact with several talented artists who were excited to help me. I am so very thankful for every person who contacted me or passed on my link. I am truly lucky to know so many talented and generous people.

However, I had to choose just one artist to use. After conversing with a few very talented artists, I began working with Susan Sieber. Susan is a very talented illustrator and silk painting artisan from Illinois, and a fellow alumna of Beloit College. Her official bio reads:

Susan Sieber is a commercial illustrator and art instructor, working with both digital and traditional media.  She grew up in California, has lived in Morocco and Japan, and received her B.A. in English from Beloit College, WI.  Currently she lives in Illinois and is pursuing her MFA Illustration.  In 2008, she was named an Illinois Artisan for her silk painting, and sells and exhibits her work at various Illinois locations.  Her illustration gallery is located at:  http://susans-art-portfolio.daportfolio.com/

Within a few hours of my request, she had created a version of the cover that rocked my world. When I opened the file she sent, I just about squealed with delight. (I’ve been doing that a lot lately.) I had a real version of the cover and it was beautiful. The great thing about working with Susan is that she was so open to feedback. We chatted over email about some changes to the image and she turned around a revised image within a few days. I am so grateful to have worked with such a receptive and talented artist as Susan.

I would highly recommend that you take a look at Susan’s work on her portfolio website and consider her for any of your own illustration needs. Also, check out her silks, because they are just beautiful.

Within less than a week, I have a cover for my book. It’s all starting to come together very quickly, after spinning my wheels for months, and if I’m truly honest, years. I hope to put my final touches on the manuscript this weekend and upload the darn thing to Lulu.

I think I’m going to order and receive a copy from Lulu and check it over, before I officially release it into the wide world. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to share with you my process for writing the book, a few samples of the poems, and more about the theme of the work.

Now that it’s starting to feel real, I am so excited to begin sharing more of my process and my work with you.

(Please note that the cover image is Copyright 2010 by Susan Sieber, used here with permission.)

For the past few months, I have been preparing my poetry manuscript Blameless Mouth for publication through Lulu. I am hoping to publish this book within the next month or two.

I am at the point in my process where I need cover art. Early in this process, I realized that I should check in with my talented artist friends and readers (that’s you!), to see if anyone would be interested in working on the cover art with me. So, here I am, querying you. (As a note, I am cross-posting this as a message on Facebook, so I apologize if you get to see this twice.)

If you’re interested in helping me develop cover art for my book, please read on.

Artistic Details

My manuscript focuses on the theme of hunger and the ways that hunger influence women’s lives, both personally and culturally. Therefore, the Adam and Eve story and apples figure prominently. My own ideas include:

1. A series of apples in a line, in snow. I would like the apples to take up much of the visual space, with the snow as white space.
2. Sailor Jerry-style tattoo art of an apple with a snake wrapped around it. The title would be emblazoned on a banner above or below the apple.
3. The same tattoo as listed above on a woman’s bare shoulder.
4. A red flower blooming out of a snow covered field.
5. Artist choice!

I am really open to collaboration and suggestion on this project, because I am only a dabbler in the visual arts. I am also open to a variety of mediums.

The Business Details

I am absolutely willing to compensate you for your work. Since this is a self-published, self-financed project, I have lots of creative ideas for compensation:

• Signed Copy of The Book – priceless on its own
• An “About the Cover Artist” Page, with picture, bio and links about your own work – definitely in the book and on the book’s blog, as well as on the Lulu page if they allow it.
• Work in Trade – I am a pretty good writer and editor. I am happy to help with a project that you are working on.
• A small, one-time fee – I am definitely willing to negotiate this with the artist.

All of the above is negotiable. Please let me know your expectations and we can talk.

In terms of copyright, I am planning on licensing the poetry in this book with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike License. For the cover art, I am leaving that up to you. If you would also like to play along with the Creative Commons license, great. If you would prefer to retain the copyright, I am happy to accommodate that as well.

Great! How Can I Help?

I was hoping that you were going to ask that. If you are interested in helping me with my cover art, please message me on Facebook or Twitter, leave me a comment on this post or email me at my real email address:

fox dot jessica at gmail dot com

Thank you so much for your help and support!

If you haven’t checked out Read Write Poem yet, you better start soon!