Writing Activity, January 2021

When I was on sabbatical in the first half of 2020 (which feels like “a million centuries ago,” to borrow a phrase from Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, an apt title for our present times), I kept a monthly list of what I accomplished. In the new year, I’ve decided to do something similar with my writing activities. I will do so partly as a form of encouragement for myself–to show that I am still able to do some writing despite the energy-sucking terrors of the pandemic–and partly as an archive that I can look back on in the future. As such, I will include negative happenings (e.g., receiving rejections), not just positive ones.

I think that it is important for me to share my list publicly as a queer writer of color because mainstream discourse tries to either pretend voices such as mine do not exist or actively tries to suppress them. Whether one is part of a marginalized group or not, writing is an essential act of resistance in these terrible times, so I hope that my list offers encouragement to others.

I got a lot done this month because the semester hadn’t started yet. I doubt I will be able to keep up this level of productivity in February, and that is okay.

Without further adieu, the list, which is basically in chronological order:

1. Wrote at least one senryu or haiku per day in my journal.

2. Attended the January virtual meeting of the Haiku Society of America (HSA) Social Club.

3. Typed up a bunch of senryu/haiku from a notebook that I got to the end of.

4. Added some work to a book manuscript about theapoetics that I am working on.

5. Researched some haiku presses.

6. Filled out an information form for the HSA Mentorship Program.

7. Attended the Modern Language Association (MLA) annual convention (a virtual meeting this year), and co-chaired a panel.

8. Updated the Mennonite/s Writing Bibliographies website.

9. Had a senryu published in the December 2020 issue of Kingfisher, which arrived mid-January.

10. Updated the Selected Publications page of my website with information about my MLA panel and my Kingfisher poem.

11. Worked on revisions to another book manuscript I am working on.

12. Got a rejection for an essay I had submitted to an anthology.

13. Gave a friend feedback on a short story draft.

14. Checked in with a publisher about the status of a book proposal I had submitted and heard back that they were not interested.

15. Revised the above-mentioned book proposal and sent it to another publisher.

16. Got asked by a prominent journal in one of my fields to review a book and said yes.

17. Began reading submissions for an anthology I am co-editing. We are accepting submissions until June 15!

18. Had my first meeting with my mentor and fellow mentees as part of the HSA Mentorship Program.

19. Typed up all of my senryu/haiku for January.

Books Acquired Recently: Desk Copy Edition

The new semester starts on Monday. Here are the books I have received as desk copies.

For Written Communication II:

Aciman, André, ed. The Best American Essays 2020. Boston: Mariner Books, 2020.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say, I Say with Readings. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2018.

For Introduction to Literature:

Rekdal, Paisley, ed. The Best American Poetry 2020. New York: Scribner Poetry, 2020.

For Queer Literature:

Chabon, Michael. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. 1988. New York: Harper Perennial, 2011.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. 1982. New York: Penguin Books, 2019.

Book Acquired Recently: Martín Espada’s Floaters

Espada, Martín. Floaters: Poems. New York: W.W. Norton, 2021.

I received Martín Espada’s new poetry collection in the mail yesterday and tore through it in two sittings. It is an excellent book that everyone should read. As with his previous work, it epitomizes what it means for a poet to be a prophet. His work is so necessary for our terrible times.

Books Acquired Recently: Aurora Levins Morales Edition

I recently read Aurora Levins Morales’s Remedios and loved it. I went to her website to see whether there were other books of hers that I haven’t already read available and discovered these three books. I also love her previous book that is co-written with her mother Rosario, Getting Home Alive, so I look forward to reading more of Rosario’s work in Cosecha as well. Note that there are not purchase links for Kindling, Silt, and Cosecha on Levins Morales’s website. They are apparently only available on amazon.com.

Levins Morales, Aurora. Kindling: Writings on the Body. Cambridge, MA: Palabrera Press, 2013.

—. Silt: Prose Poems. Petaluma, CA/Maricao, Puerto Rico: Palabrera Press, 2019.

Morales, Rosario, and Aurora Levins Morales. Cosecha and Other Stories. Cambridge, MA: Palabrera Press, 2014.

Books Acquired Recently: Post-Holiday Edition Part IV

As I’ve said in my last three posts, I ordered a bunch of books with some holiday cash that I received. The last two of these books have finally arrived!

Febos, Melissa. Whip Smart: The True Story of a Secret Life. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2010.

Peters, Torrey. Detransition, Baby. New York: One World, 2020.

Books Acquired Recently: Post-Holiday Edition Part III/PM Press Edition

As I mentioned in my two previous posts, I ordered a number of books with some holiday cash that I received, and they continue to arrive (there are still a few more on the way!).

Levins Morales, Aurora. Remedios: Stories of Earth and Iron from the History of Puertorriqueñas. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.

McCloud, Cedar. The Thread That Binds. Los Angeles: Numinous Spirit Press, 2020.

I received my monthly packet of PM press books today. They are my first books with a 2021 copyright date!

Mamatas, Nick. The Planetbreaker’s Son Plus…. Oakland: PM Press, 2021.

Ostertag, Bob. Facebooking the Anthropocene in Raja Ampat: Technics and Civilization in the 21st Century. Oakland: PM Press, 2021.

Springer, Simon. Fuck Neoliberalism. Oakland: PM Press, 2021.

Books Acquired Recently: Post-Holiday Edition, Part II

As I mentioned in my previous post, I ordered a bunch of books with some holiday cash that I received. More of them have arrived the past two days.

Knisley, Lucy. French Milk. 2007. New York: Touchstone, 2008.

Koch, Kenneth. Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? Teaching Great Poetry to Children. 1973. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.

Nielsen, Kim E. A Disability History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012.

Ortiz, Paul. An African American and Latinx History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2018.

Wong, Alice. Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. New York: Vintage Books, 2020.

Books Acquired Recently: Post-Holiday Edition

I ordered a bunch of books with some holiday cash that I received, and they have begun to arrive.

Bronski, Michael. A Queer History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011.

Crispin, Jessa. The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.

Febos, Melissa. Abandon Me: Memoirs. 2017. New York: Bloomsbury, 2018.

Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi. Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018.

Travisano, Thomas. Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop. New York: Viking, 2019.

Books Acquired Recently: Holiday Gift Edition

I received a number of books as holiday gifts. They encompass many of my usual interests: queerness, Latinidad, poetry (especially haiku), tarot, and memoir. I’m glad I still have a month of break left in which to read them!

Christmas, Jillian. The Gospel of Breaking. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020.

Epstein, Robert. Pandemic Haiku: Living Through COVID-19. West Union, WV: Middle Island Press, 2020.

Foster, Tonya M. A Swarm of Bees in High Court. Brooklyn: Belladonna*, 2015.

García, Elizabeth. Healing Memories: Puerto Rican Women’s Literature in the United States. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018.

Greer, Mary K. Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2006.

Machado, Carmen Maria. The Low, Low Woods. Illustrated by Dani and Tamra Bonvillain. Burbank, CA: DC Comics, 2020.

Nezhukumatathil, Aimee. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2020.

Books Acquired Recently

Baker Swann, Julia. The Moon is Always Whole. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker Books, 2020.

Baker Swann is a Mennonite writer whom I have gotten to know via several Mennonite writing events over the past few years. I am very excited that her first poetry collection has just been published.

Smith, Zadie. Intimations: Six Essays. New York: Penguin Books, 2020.

I picked up this slim (97 pages) volume while doing some brief in-person holiday shopping at my local bookshop. I am obsessed with literature being written and published about the pandemic during the pandemic (there is definitely a book of literary criticism there if I can ever find the time and energy to write it, haha), so the first line of the book’s blurb–“Written during the early months of lockdown”–had me hooked. Smith is donating all of her royalties from the book to antiracist and pandemic relief organizations. I appreciate that she has chosen to extend the book’s activism in this way.