everything feeds process

Since we last checked in, there have been two lovely posts about Blameless Mouth from two poets I admire deeply. What was neat about these posts (yeah, I said neat) was that they addressed two very different aspects of Blameless Mouth, that haven’t been addressed in other reviews thus far.

The first was from Carolee Sherwood. I’ve known Carolee from the good, old Poetry Thursday days. I’ve always admired her writing, as well as the seemingly effortless way that she blends her art, her writing, work and motherhood together. She is disciplined with her practice and manages to produce excellent poems (and co-manage Big Tent Poetry with Deb Scott) with what little time she likely has.

Carolee wrote here about Blameless Mouth and addressed, in part, the structure of the book. I spent a lot of time structuring my book, as it was a difficult manuscript to wrangle. I was honored to have Carolee address that part of the work.

The second review came just yesterday, from Texas poet James Brush. I met James more recently, through the Read Write Poem site and then again through my ill-fated attempt at writing small stones in January. James’ poetry, especially his micropoetry at his microblog A Gnarled Oak, is gorgeous and almost photographic in its clarity and detail.

James addressed a secondary theme in the book, that of consumerism, in his review. When I was wrestling with the early forms of this book, I knew that hunger and consumerism were linked, but I didn’t know how and I didn’t know if I could link them successfully. James’ review makes me so glad that I left the poems in, since he explores that link so well.

I am very grateful to both of these fine poets for their reviews. I hope that you will go by their blogs and check them out!

Today, the Blameless Blog Tour hits its second stop over at Deb Scott’s Stoney Moss blog.

I’ve known Deb online since I was participating in the now defunct Poetry Thursday community. She and I both moved over to the also defunct Read Write Poem community, where we both began contributing more significantly. Deb eventually took over organization duties at the site and I must say, she did a wonderful job. It was such a large project to wrangle and she did so with grace, dignity and kindness. Now, she hosts the Big Tent Poetry circus, along with Carolee Sherwood, and while I don’t participate there, I really admire their work.

In addition to her community building and organizational skills, Deb is a phenomenal poet in her own right, as well as a wonderful nature photographer. I often look forward to her hiking photos in the spring and summer. They make me wish that I still lived out west.

In today’s Blameless Blog Tour stop, I understand that there will be a reflection/review of the book. She also sent me a very intriguing interview question, which I answered yesterday. I hope that you will stop by Stoney Moss this afternoon and check it out!

Two weeks ago, I posted an invitation to join the Blameless Blog Tour, to help promote Blameless Mouth. The idea is pretty simple. I’m looking to recruit any bloggers who have read the book and would like to write anything about its themes. I also offered three free copies of the book, to those who would like to something, but didn’t have the book yet.

I am happy to report that the slots for the blog tour have been steadily filling. So far, here are the lovely and generous bloggers who have joined up:

Stop 1: January 30-February 5 – John Hayes, Robert Frost’s Banjo
Stop 2: February 6-February 12 – Deb Scott,  Stoney Moss
Stop 3: February 13-February 19
Stop 4: February 20-February 26 – James Brush, Coyote Mercury
Stop 5: February 27-March 5- Laurel Klein, Simple Spoonful
Stop 6: March 6-March 12
Stop 7: March 13-March 19
Stop 8: March 20-March 26
Stop 9: March 27-April 2 –  Catherine, Still Standing on her Head

As you can see, I still have spots left. I also have one remaining free book to offer a lucky blogger who wants to join. If you’re still interested in joining the Blameless Blog Tour, please leave a comment here or email me at fox dot jessica at gmail dot com.

Thanks for your help!

Friendly readers, now that Blameless Mouth has been out almost a month, I would like to organize a blog tour for the book. Basically, I am hoping to spread the word about Blameless Mouth, through people who have read (and hopefully enjoyed) the book. I hope that the blog tour can start during the first week in February and proceed weekly, with as many stops as I can possibly organize.

Those stops could include:

Stop 1: January 30-February 5 – John Hayes, Robert Frost’s Banjo
Stop 2: February 6-February 12 – Deb Scott,  Stoney Moss
Stop 3: February 13-February 19
Stop 4: February 20-February 26 – James Brush, Coyote Mercury
Stop 5: February 27-March 5- Laurel Klein, Simple Spoonful
Stop 6: March 6-March 12
Stop 7: March 13-March 19
Stop 8: March 20-March 26
Stop 9: March 27-April 2 –  Catherine, Still Standing on her Head

I am happy to go beyond 9 stops, if there is enough interest and response. I’ll also launch the tour, even if I have only a few stops. I’m both ambitious and realistic.

I will promote the blog tour through four main avenues: the Blameless Mouth Facebook page, this blog, Twitter, and my email mailing list.

Would you like to participate? All you need is a blog and a copy of my book to get started. You can put your post up at any time during your week and I’ll promote it as soon as I see it. I don’t want to limit the nature of the posts about the book. I would just ask that you write about your experience with the book in any way that inspires you and link back to the book’s product page on Lulu. Other than that, the sky is the limit. If you have a copy of the book and would like to play along, simply leave me a comment in this comment thread. (Remember to include your blog URL.) If you have a preference for a date, please let me know in the comments.

If you don’t have a copy of the book, but would like to participate, I will give away three copies of Blameless Mouth to bloggers who promise to participate in the tour.  These copies will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. If you’d like a copy and want to participate in the tour, simply leave me a comment here and be sure to include your URL. Once the free copies are taken, I’ll update this post.

I feel a little awkward organizing my own blog tour, but I would love to be able to reach out to readers in a creative way, as is my goal in 2011. I feel like I have spent a lot of time talking about this book, so I would love add other voices to the mix.

Thank you, in advance, for your willingness to participate in the tour and for your support of Blameless Mouth!