A Writer's Autobiography and Publishing Record

Poetry News
I'm a reader for the Bywords Quarterly Journal. In the summer of 2008 I was one of the feature readers for the Factory Series. I was on the billet as one of the Ottawa Hot Voices with Tree, and was one of the readers at Ottawa Night at the AB Series.

My chapbook from above/ground press is out Oath in the Boathouse. Upcoming with unarmed.

Publishing

Submitted poems placed:

• Peter F Yacht Club, issue 12
• Whack of Clouds, chapbook with Amanda Earl, Marcus McCann, Nicholas Lea and Roland Prevost, Angelhouse Press, June 2008
• happy birthday warren dean fulton dirty packrat press, June 2008
• state full and other poems, Peter F Yacht Club, issue 11
• universals & thoughtcycle, Puddle leaflet #23, Griddle grin issue, May 2008
• haiku, Spring Wind, Kado Ottawa broadsheet, Spring 2008
• transports dental obstruants and fill in the blank face in Some Assembly Required, Pooka Press, 2008
• Oath in the Boathouse chapbook from above/ground press, March 2008
• untitled pakupaku vortext, self published, March, 2008
• got it all away again and near 5 Irma Bombeck books in Cultural Shifts, March 2008
• Walk out where we can talk, every sentence is wetter snow gravity, again makes same rounds, Furnivall, F.J. and flashes in Ottawater, Issue 4.0
• Interview with Jenn Bredl in Mipoesias.com
• 2 untitled in issue #384 of 1cent, winter 2007
• poems in Listenlight 12
• Who's counting but, assignment: to make, each year hotter, safe: pretend numbers are, all straw talking in Womb, equinox issue, 2007
• untitled epigram and Drier Birch Leaves, Autumn-Blonde, Fly Past High Window in Collected Iron Works, chapbook, Rideau Review Press
• Meg narrates to herself, age 3.5 in Photobooth broadside series of Pooka Press
• Passing Dorval in London Times
• Old Uncle in Best of Cafe Cafe, Summer 2007, MiPo
• Better Ways to go than by Aspartame, chapbook, self-published, Fall 07
• Making Connections won 3rd Place in the Ray Burrell Poetry Contest to appear in the 2007 issue of The Gristmill
• In the Middle, Paddling, Congestion, Little Brown Bats, Damselflies, It Takes So Few Watts, and Thatch in English and translated to Romanian at LuminitaSuse.com
• Kindness won Honorable Mention in the Ray Burrell Poetry Contest, published in the 2006 issue of The Gristmill
• Pick me up? You said, was picked up again by Bywords to go into the Moments Not Monuments: Remembering John Newlove chapbook in 2004.
• Pick me up? You said in the John Newlove Memorial Issue of Bywords.ca, April 2004
• (Untitled) in Valley Writer's Guild Newsletter, March/April 2003
• Haiku Quiet, Eaten with a Spoon and Watermark Me Free I, Watermark Me Free II, pdfs, self-published online, Page Half-Full Poems, chapbooks
• Bubbles, Peacekeeper and Eleven as Poet of the Week at www.PoetrySuperHighway.com for the week of January 6 - 12, 2003
• Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Part 2, in Valley Writer's Guild Newsletter, January/February 2003.
• Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Part 1, in Valley Writer's Guild Newsletter, November/December 2002.
• Well, in www.watermagazine.com, March 2002
• Why Write? p. 51-52, in Canadian Writer's Journal,Vol. 17, No. 3, http://www.cwj.ca/1703.htm, Fall 2000.
• Taking Her Lumps and Ambition, Bywords: Poetry and Ottawa Literary Events, Volume 10, Number. 6, May 2000.
• Digits, in Barefoot Press (South Africa)
• What do you say at and Around a bulb in Box 77, Vol One, Number Two, Winter 1995.
• At 24, Bywords: Poetry and Ottawa Literary Events, Volume 6, Number 1 November 1995
• Night is Near Delivery, Bywords: Poetry and Ottawa Literary Events, Volume 5, Number 12, October 1995.
• Night is Near Delivery, Bywords: Poetry and Ottawa Literary Events, Volume 5, Number 8, June 1995.
• In the Basement, The Morpo Review, Vol 2, Issue 1, January 1995
• Dream of a Past Place, Atmospherics 1.2, Fall 1994 edited by Susan Keeping
• Child in The Oscar, p. 9, Vol 21, No. 10, June 1994
• From Morning Til Night, Valley Voices Column, p. B10, The Record News/EMC, Dec 8, 1991

Although I had articles and editorials published through professional newsletters from late 90s, as far as poetry in print, in 2002 I realized that I hadn't submitted a single poem anywhere for more than 300 poems!  In fact my last biggest burst of submissions (6) at that point seems to have been in 1995. (That came more of a shock to me than you, I realize. :-))   I'm [theoretically] remedying my submission deficit as we speak though. Which is to say, I submitted 3 things in 2004-2005 and 1 thing in 2006. And a burst of a dozen in 2007. The chapbook I was putting together with another poet seems to have fallen off the back burner. Arg. On the plus side, I have a few manuscripts underway, a few chapbook-sized series and two book-lengths being built. Check up on how I've been doing since then.

Wish me, not luck, but strong teeth to bite many bullets!

Pearl, circa 2001

I have a blog of poetry drafts and the beginnings of thinking about the broader field of poetry and poetics at Pesbo. You know, of course, about the Humanyms blog. In life beyond poetry reading and writing, there are other things...

Ottawa has so many options on the poetry calendar. I've attended and read in open set of readings at Sasquatch, Dusty Owl, and the Tree reading series on and off for years.

The Ottawa International Writers' Festival is great to soak in. It's twice a year of outstanding speakers. I've also attended 5 out of the 6 CBC Canada Poetry Face-Offs, as well as the occasional poetry slams, Wordlympics, and other poetry readings (in Ottawa, Canada and while on vacation in London, England and NYC, USA). I attended the 4-day Geraldine R. Dodge International Poetry Festival in New Jersey, USA. I recommend it to anyone who loves poems or storytelling! Go in 2008! [I hope to.]

What else can I tell you?

Writer's Statement

Word by word, I write in faith that I am on a path to making the vital interconnections that translate knowledge into understanding, form, wisdom, community for myself and for others. Through art, craft, study, mentoring and practice, I hone my blade and whittle away at inarticulateness until I'm left with essential shapes of what it is to be humane and human, gentle and strong, humorous and celebratory.

Poetry is music reachable by the conscious and unconscious mind. Chosen words are decorations and scars that mark one's life, one's tribe, one's faith. Poems are inukshuit, shadowed footsteps showing the brightness of snow around where one has been, making one aware of where one is and directions one can go. Poetry encompasses many ways to interact, learn, breathe, move and teach. By writing poetry -- this calling that I echo -- I learn to more keenly observe and bring these observations to insight.  (circa 2006)

Workshopping and Festivals
I am something of a "workshop junkie". I love conferences and training days and continuing education courses. I generally have taken 2 or 3 workshops or terms of classes a year for the last 15 years. I took Mandarin, Spanish, editing for plain English, pilates, Canadian Bill of Right and Freedoms, emergency lifesaving, Islam, Tai Chi, massage and everything in between. (What would be between?) I have taken everything from proxemics and proofreading to bellydancing and yoga.

Language-wise, I workshopped poetry for the first time in 1987 with Mike O'Shaughnessy (who now is publishing fantasy short stories). Sometime in late 80s I met with the writer-in-residence Tim Wynne-Jones to get his feedback on my clutch of religious allegory poems. (I eventually got over them not being heralded as being from the next John Bunyan.)

I frequent writer's groups online and face-to-face. I've been a regular at the Poetry-Workshop listserv for since 2003. I am part of the Omnigoths poetry workshop group, Tuesday Rubies and a group of us that we haven't named. In 2007 I attended a Haiku Canada conference and became a member of the national group, and of the local kado. I have been a member of the Valley Writers Guild for a few years. It holds workshop sessions, round tables and has guest speakers (I was its web designer).

Since the early to mid-nineties, I've participated in writing courses under Christopher Levenson (1993-1994), Ruth Latta (2001?) Scott Wiggerman (2003). I learned in a few led by rob mclennan in 2006 and 2007, and one led by Stephen Brockwell in 2007.

I have also participated in shorter writers' workshops. I took a Stuart Ross Poetry Bootcamp in 2007. Earlier ones were under Sheri-D and Wendy Morton in 2004's Words Aloud festival. There are a number of writing retreats I salivate over but haven't gone to yet.

Family

I am married to a like-minded creative, scientific-minded professional. He is romantic and understanding and loves to design things (such as a shoji-inspired lamp, a computer, ledge-edged bed and a Star Trek-looking dining table, which he then builds and in some cases, rebuilds. (3 iterations for table so far.) He made a water fountain [fountain video] He also likes to set up sites. He had previously created insightcentral.net about Honda's gas/electric hybrid. He now has another project at architypes.net for architects to use as a design resource and another at East Market.

I also have a memoirs page and web portfolio of the sites I did ages ago.

We had 2 cats (one crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2005, the second in July 2008) who are pictured here. They were largely indifferent to getting or making their own websites. But then, that's hardly surprising for cats. Although, Valerie blogged for about 4 years, Zoe did once swat a paw at the idea of blogging, set one up then promptly forgot her address, user name and password. (We didn't let her wander the streets alone.)

Think that's about it.

Thanks for Reading