{"id":853,"date":"2011-06-11T20:13:35","date_gmt":"2011-06-11T20:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=853"},"modified":"2011-06-12T21:22:03","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T21:22:03","slug":"our-next-reading-event-and-contributor-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2011\/06\/our-next-reading-event-and-contributor-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Our next reading event and contributor updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big news is there is \u00a0another reading event \u00a0for Solace in So Many Words<\/em>— it will be July 21, Thursday, at 7 pm at The BookMarket<\/a>,<\/strong> 2651 Navy Blvd, Glen Town Center, Glenview (phone: 847-904-7304). \u00a0Contributors who will be reading include: Joan Corwin, J. Scott Smith, Kathleene Donahoo, D. J. Lachance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Weighed Words celebrated the short story in May — the winner in the collection giveaway was Erika Dreifus<\/strong> although the two runners-up also received Solace in So Many Words<\/em> as a consolation prize. \u00a0(Groan if you must.)<\/p>\n

A number of contributors have written short stories that should have been mentioned during Short Story Month. Constance Vogel Adamkiewicz’s<\/strong> story “Family” appeared in the anthology called Christmas on the Great Plains<\/em> (University of Iowa, 2004). \u00a0Jayant Kamicheril<\/strong> has three short stories published; they are: “Shaap #3” in Descant<\/em>, which is a lit mag out of Canada; “The Physics of Kharma” in Rosebud<\/em>; and “Wings” in Open<\/em>, a New Delhi magazine.<\/p>\n

I mentioned Joan Corwin’s<\/strong> novella “Safe Shall be My Going” last month, but she has an extensive list of stories that have won or placed in contests and appeared in print. \u00a0I have always been particularly fond of Joan’s work and so will you when you read: \u00a0\u201cHindsight,\u201d<\/strong> which was Chicago Stories on Stage Winner published in\u00a0River Oak Review<\/em>, No. 20 (Spring\/Summer 2003); “Sinners” <\/strong>which was published in StoryQuarterly<\/em> 39 (and in the Hourglass anthology Falling Backwards<\/em>), “Elm”<\/strong> which was a Tusculum Review<\/em> Fiction prize winner (Volume 2, 2006); “Wings”<\/strong> which was a finalist for the Roanoke Review<\/em> prize (volume XXXIII ,2008); “Point Man”<\/strong> which was published in Crate \u00a0(Volume 5, 2009);\u00a0\u201cSettling Accounts\u201d <\/strong> in\u00a0Inkwell<\/em>, No. 28 (Fall 2010); and “Wonderland”<\/strong> which won the Chris O\u2019Malley Prize for Fiction and was published in\u00a0The Madison Review<\/em>, Vol 32: No. 1\u00a0 (Fall 2010). Work is forthcoming in\u00a0\u00a0Pearl Magazine<\/em>. \u00a0Lit agents take note: Joan is at work on a novel.<\/p>\n

How interesting that Jayant <\/strong>and Joan<\/strong> both have stories titled “Wings.”<\/strong> I think there must be others. How about it–do you know of another story called “Wings?”<\/p>\n

Solace in So Many Words<\/em> participated in a Goodreads<\/strong> giveaway in May and sent the book to seven of the 460 who responded to the promotion. Now we have four reviews (all raves) on this site. I will add the widget for Goodreads just as soon as I learn how.<\/p>\n

As to contributor news, Jan Bottiglieri has two poems “The Fairy Scientist” and “Dear Mrs. Death” in Apercus Quarterly<\/a><\/em> and Brent Calderwood has a book review in\u00a0Lamba Literary <\/a><\/em>of Michael Montlack’s new book\u00a0Cool Limbo<\/em>. Donna Hilbert just began a\u00a0blog<\/a> in the BelmontShore-Naples Patch; it features insightful poetry. Don’t forget to check out Kathleen Kirk’s\u00a0blog<\/a>. \u00a0She always seems to say something thoughtful about what she is reading.<\/p>\n

I am finding that keeping a blog is no easy task. I am not at the point where I sit down and write it routinely. \u00a0Some people, like Mary Beth Coudal, manage several blogs:\u00a0My Rules<\/a>,\u00a0Running Around<\/a>,\u00a0The Connected Life<\/a>, and\u00a0My Beautiful New York<\/a>. I don’t know how she does it; blogging to me is still a daunting task though I am sure it will become second-nature.<\/p>\n

I also started reading a great blog on improvisation called\u00a0The House That Del Built<\/a> and\u00a0described as “The Intellectual Musings of an Improv Wonk.” Like much great writing that focuses on a specific subject, the blog’s lessons have greater applications. For instance, in the March 24 post on practice, I found this to be particularly useful: “The point of drills is three-fold: isolation, repetition, and experimentation. Isolate the skills, repeat them in well-thought out drills (or \u201cexercises,\u201d as we usually say in improv), and encourage the team to experiment so that you can both push the parameters of your skills and note where the edges start to fray.”<\/p>\n

I should apply this strategy to blogging. To be quite honest, some days I don’t think I have anything interesting to say. Especially like the days I have had lately in which all I do is send out letters that plead for a review or coverage of Solace in So Many Words.<\/em> My big excursion is a trip to the post office. \u00a0And wouldn’t you know I missed out on the only excitement there this week when an elderly driver plowed into the building<\/a>? \u00a0The report says the driver is still hospitalized so my thoughts will go to her when I visit the p.o. in the next few days. \u00a0Usually, however, when I am there, I think of Jayant Kamicheril’s wonderful essay “Waiting.”<\/p>\n

Anyway, the blog on improv says the way to get better at something is to isolate that skill, practice it, and then experiment. \u00a0Since I’ve already I blew it this week as far as isolating blogging and practicing it (tomorrow is another day), I will experiment. \u00a0So I am already preparing my next blog–it is a poem called “Everyday is a gift.”<\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0I have uploaded much better pictures of our May 12 event at Barbara’s — \u00a0many thanks to\u00a0Shama Yusuf Patel<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The big news is there is \u00a0another reading event \u00a0for Solace in So Many Words— it will be July 21, Thursday, at 7 pm at The BookMarket, 2651 Navy Blvd, Glen Town Center, Glenview (phone: 847-904-7304). \u00a0Contributors who will be reading include: Joan Corwin, J. Scott Smith, Kathleene Donahoo, D. J. Lachance. Weighed Words celebrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,313,187,302,300,301,127,308,230,322,303,315,12,224,44,323,239,240,229,233,4,299,314,312,319,316,305,311,13,306,304,317,324,307,297,318,298,320,321,309,310,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-anthology","8":"tag-apercus","9":"tag-brent-calderwood","10":"tag-christmas-on-the-great-plains","11":"tag-consolation-prize","12":"tag-constance-vogel-adamikiewicz","13":"tag-contributors-2","14":"tag-crate","15":"tag-d-j-lachance","16":"tag-del-close","17":"tag-descant","18":"tag-donna-hilbert","19":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","20":"tag-erika-dreifus","21":"tag-fiction","22":"tag-improv","23":"tag-j-scott-smith","24":"tag-jan-bottiglieri","25":"tag-jayant-kamicheril","26":"tag-joan-corwin","27":"tag-kathleen-kirk","28":"tag-kathleene-doanhoo","29":"tag-lamba-literary","30":"tag-mary-beth-coudal","31":"tag-my-beautiful-new-york","32":"tag-my-rules","33":"tag-open","34":"tag-pearl","35":"tag-poetry","36":"tag-river-oak-review","37":"tag-rosebud","38":"tag-running-around","39":"tag-shama-yusuf-patel","40":"tag-story-quarterly","41":"tag-the-bookmarket","42":"tag-the-connected-life","43":"tag-the-glen","44":"tag-the-house-that-del-built","45":"tag-the-intellectual-musing-of-an-improv-wonk","46":"tag-the-madison-review","47":"tag-tusculum-review","48":"tag-weighed-words","49":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":909,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}