Bits and Pieces

Last month I attended the AWP Conference in Washington DC. I wanted to introduce the world of writers to my new press, Terrapin Books. So signed up for a table in the Book Fair, packed up all the books the press has published in the past year, and drove myself to DC. Three of my poets were there to sign their books. Jessica de Koninck, Patricia Clark, and Christine Stewart-Nunez each had a signing at the table on Friday morning. I also booked a room in the Methodist Church across the street from the Marriott Marquis and on Thursday evening hosted a Terrapin reading there. Each of the three poets read from their books. They were followed by 14 poets from The Doll Collection. I also participated in a panel on small press anthologies. This included four other publishers and was moderated by Lucille Lang Day. Each of us spoke about our press and our anthologies. This was the first time I ever served on an AWP panel. I enjoyed it and wasn't particularly nervous. I sold a bunch of books at the table and met lots of people.

Speaking of anthologies, Terrapin Books has committed to publishing another one. This one will be co-edited by Jason Lee Brown and Shanie Latham. The topic will be donuts! Our submission window at Submittable will open on April 1 and will remain open thru May 31. So think donuts, eat donuts, and write donuts. And check out the Guidelines.

One last thing that I found quite delicious—my poem "For the Love of Avocados" was featured by Ted Kooser on American Life in Poetry, week of February 20. Please pay a visit. The poem is from my most recent poetry book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement.  I've also had a lovely new review of my book. It's by Sherry Chandler and appears in Phoebe.

Poetry Update

Since starting up Terrapin Books, my new small press for poetry books, I've been giving scant attention to my own poetry. The bulk of my time has been spent learning how to make the books happen, i.e., how to obtain the manuscripts, how to format a book, how to make a book cover—and a score of other tasks. But I've got the basics covered now, our first four books have been published and two more are underway, the original The Crafty Poet has been published in a revised edition by Terrapin, and the new The Crafty Poet II is out in the world. So I find myself with some free time! Time for poetry.

First an update on my own still new poetry collection, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement.

Click Cover for Amazon

I've had several nice reviews to boast about.

Satire on the Menu
by Zara Raab  

Better View of the Moon
by Karen Craig 

Washington Independent Review of Books
by Grace Cavalieri, includes the poem "Your Blue Shirt" 

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene
by David P. Miller


I was also interviewed about the book, about how it fits in with my earlier books, what my intentions were, and some craft issues.

The Schuylkill Valley Journal
by Adele Kenny


In September I drove up to Manchester, New Hampshire, to participate in The New Hampshire Poetry Festival organized by Jennifer Militello. I'd sent in a proposal to give a presentation about Terrapin Books, a kind of behind-the-scenes look at what's involved in beginning a new small press. The presentation was called "Terrapin Books: From Seed to First Fruit." The culmination was a group reading with poets from The Doll Collection, Terrapin's first publication, an anthology, the first-ever to focus on dolls. I had a great time!

In October I participated in the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, NJ. As a Dodge poet, I worked there on Thursday and Friday, hosting a few events. That's a great opportunity to hear some poets and do a bit of service for the poetry community. Friday was the most populated day as it was Student Day. Look at all these teenagers!

That's inside the Performing Arts Center. If the weather had been more cooperative, many of these kids would have been outside enjoying the food court, walking around, and sharing poetry. But trust me, they had a great time!

The highlight of the festival for me was reading on Saturday. I read in the beautiful Trinity & St Philips Cathedral, one of several festival locations. My co-readers were Robin Becker, Marty McConnell, Christian Campbell, and Aaron Smith. I last read at the 2006 festival, a whole decade ago. That time the venue was the Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ, a rural setting.

I was also happy to see that I sold a boatload of books in the B&N bookstore at the festival. Sold a bunch of my poetry collections and completely sold out of The Crafty Poet and The Crafty Poet II.

Here's a onesie I couldn't resist buying for my new granddaughter. Poet-in-training?

Now, of course, it's also time to pick up the pen and get back to writing new poems. I'm happy to say at least that these past few weeks have seen the completion of two poems that I started long ago—one 3 years ago and one maybe a year ago. That feels very good. I need more.

Reading at the Jackson Inn in DE

If you're in Delaware this Saturday, please join us!

I'll be reading from my new book, 

The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement

Book Launch Invitation

If you're in New Jersey this Sunday, May 22, please come to this book reading. 

Would love to see you there.

There will be homemade cookies.

Win a Free Copy of The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement

There's a Giveaway running now until May 22 for a single copy of my new poetry collection, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement. You have to belong to Goodreads in order to enter, but if you're not already a member, it's easy to become one. It costs nothing to join Goodreads or to enter the Giveaway. Somebody has to win; it might as well be you.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement

by Diane Lockward

Giveaway ends May 22, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Self-Promotion: When to Say Go and When to Say No

We all know that when you have a new book out a certain amount of promotion is necessary. That's certainly true for those of us with small presses, but it's also true for poets whose books are from larger presses. Several times I've had the experience of learning that a poet I know has a new book out—and that it's been out for months or longer. Why didn't I know that sooner? Because the poet never told me or anyone else. That's a big mistake, one that costs the poet a bunch of sales.

My new book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement, came out mid-February. Since I believe that if we poets want readers for our work we first need to let them know that it exists, I prepared a simple flier with cover image, one blurb, and Amazon link included. I sent the flier flying off to my email list.

Within a matter of days, the book sold out at Amazon. Good news, right? Should have been and in the past would have been. But for unknown reasons, my listing at Amazon then indicated that the book would ship in 1-4 weeks. Most people don't want to wait up to 4 weeks. I began to get emails from people telling me they'd deferred ordering or would buy the book when they next saw me. I assumed this was a temporary situation. It was. Soon the book was listed as "Temporarily Out of Stock," even worse. I called Amazon repeatedly and was told that books had been ordered and the listing would go to "In Stock" as soon as the order arrived. One Amazon rep even suggested that I tell people to order from B&N! Weeks went by. Finally, the listing went to ships in 2-3 weeks. Better but not great. Then several people told me that they'd actually received the book within a week. Not a bad wait.

I debated whether or not to send a second e-mail flier to let people know that they could now get the book at Amazon. Would that be pesty, overkill, obnoxious? Then I remembered several times when I'd received a second notice from someone else and was thereby reminded that I'd meant to order that book but had forgotten. I went ahead and ordered that person's book.

Also, in the weeks when my book was not listed as "In Stock," it had become available as an e-book. And the print book was being discounted 25% at both Amazon and B&N. So I had new news to include.

I went ahead and sent the second flier. I immediately began to get return emails. Oh no, I feared, this person is going to demand to be removed from my email list. But that didn't happen. Instead, some people thanked me for the reminder and said they'd just ordered the book. Others wrote notes of congratulations—worded in such a way that it was clear they had missed my first notice. One person wrote and requested a review copy.

Lesson learned: People do need and often want reminders.

So let people know your good news. And if you have a good reason for sending a follow-up note, go ahead and do it.

And by the  way, in the second note, I took the Amazon rep's suggestion and included a link to B&N.

Now as of today, my Amazon listing has finally, finally stopped showing the ships in 1-3 note. Progress. This morning it said Order Soon, Only 4 Copies Left, More on the Way. Definitely progress. And the book is now discounted at 28%. But I won't be sending a third note. That would feel obnoxious.

Eat Your Carrots

Click Cover for Amazon

It's finally here! My new poetry book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement, arrived several days ago. I won't bore you with the details, but this was supposed to have been out last summer. Many delays and aggravations, but now all is back on track. I'm very happy with the cover done by artist Brian Rumbolo who also did the covers for my earlier three books. I love how he uses size and color. I hope you'll like the poems inside.

Many people have asked what the title means. To somewhat answer that question and to whet your appetite (I hope), here is the poem from which the book's title is taken:

Original Sin

When Karen told my father I’d pulled off
my rabbit’s tail, he asked, Did you? And I
said, Yes, though in truth it was Karen

who’d grabbed the tail and tugged and tugged
until it came loose in her hand. My father
slapped me hard, then said I’d been cruel,

and asked why I’d done it. I confessed I didn’t
know and took the strap for Karen’s crime.
In the days and weeks that followed, I never

questioned or accused Karen, and she never
acknowledged what she’d done or apologized.
We did not speak of her lie, or mine.

One morning at summer’s end I found my rabbit
dead in her pen. Her sweet body, already stiff,
lay among the uneaten carrots of atonement,

and where the tail had been, a small red circle,
an accusing eye, reminded me of my deception.
I wondered then and wonder still why I took

the blame for hurting the pet I’d loved. I only know
that once Karen said I’d done it and my father
looked at me as if I had, I was guilty,

as guilty as those unbaptized babies
in Purgatory. I must have understood even then
that I’d been born bad and the only reason

I hadn’t yanked off my rabbit’s tail was because
Karen got it first. Some part of me, the part
already destined for Hell, had wanted

that soft talisman that promised luck, wanted it
in my own hand, and wished I’d moved faster.

That poem won the 2012 First Place Prize in the Naugatuck River Review contest, selected by poet Pam Uschuk, a poet I admire. I rarely enter contests; therefore, I rarely win. But it was really nice to win that prize.

So that's one carrot from the book. You should, of course, consume the entire bunch. As everyone knows, carrots are good for your eyes.

New News and Old News and Uncovering the Cover

The first piece of news is that my long overdue poetry book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement, is almost here. I've said that several times before, but this time it really is almost here. I received a sample review copy, made a few corrections, and am now awaiting the revised review copy. So we're looking at just a few weeks now. I'm delighted to uncover the cover here! Once again, artist Brian Rumbolo has provided a gorgeous original painting for the cover. He's now done the covers for all four of my poetry books. I have to admit that I love this cover! So stayed tuned for more news on this publication.

Next item: Terrapin Books is fully launched. The poems for The Doll Collection have all been selected. I'm still stunned by the great response to the call for submissions. You can see the list of poets at The Doll Collection page at the website. The book is underway. Formatting is just about done. Credits done. Bios done. Fantastic introduction by poet Nicole Cooley done. Cover in the works but not done.

Next item: The Call for Submissions for Terrapin's first open reading of full-length poetry manuscripts opened on January 25 and will run until February 25. If you have a manuscript, please visit the Guidelines and consider submitting. The submissions thus far are very promising. I am very grateful that poets are entrusting me with their work. I signed onto Submittable, so will be accepting submissions only there. That's much more convenient than taking them by email—for me and for the poets.

Old news: Poetry editor Charlie Bondhus featured one of my poems at The Good Men Project. "The Gift" appeared on December 21 just in time for Christmas, though it's hardly a cheerful poem. (The sole comment, however, is from someone who seems to have found the poem amusing. Maybe I don't get my own poem.)

That's it for now.

Catching Up

Looks like I’ve been slacking off here. That’s because I have been. However, I’ve been busy elsewhere doing other things.

I’ve just finished the first round of proofreading the galleys for my forthcoming poetry book, The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement. I sent the edits back yesterday morning and hope to get back another set of galleys for one last chance to pass my critical eye over the manuscript. If all goes well, the book should not be too far away.

Then I’ve also been busy all summer working on the sequel to The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop. It’s a ton of work to organize the material of the past three years, material compiled from my Poetry Newsletter and the Poet on the Poem series I run here on this blog. It now looks like the book will be ten sections, each with three Craft Tips, three model poems, three prompts, six sample poems, and one Bonus Prompt. The structure will be similar to the original Crafty but will be a bit expanded. My intention is that this new book will continue the work of the original Crafty but can also stand alone. I have all the material put together except for one last Craft Tip which I expect to receive in a few weeks.

Now I'm working on the bios. Then onwards to the Table of Contents, Index, and Credits. And I’m still revising and editing this new craft book, so a good deal of work remains to be done. Once I have the first draft in pretty good shape, I will put out a call for submissions for the sample poems. Stay tuned for that.

So it hasn’t been all lallygagging around and eating bonbons here.

Letting the Rabbit Out of the Hat

This is not the cover.

I’ve blabbed my news to a handful of people but have not shouted it to the world yet, so here goes: I have a new poetry book coming forth! It’s called The Uneaten Carrots of Atonement, a title drawn from one of the poems. The manuscript was accepted several months ago by Wind Publications who has published all three of my previous poetry books and my craft book, The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop.

The revised manuscript has been sent in, blurbs are underway, and the cover art has been produced. The magnificent Brian Rumbolo who did the original art for the earlier three poetry books has also done the art for this new book. Again, he has used big bold colors and added a touch of play. I’m not going to reveal the cover just yet, but it’s pretty darn cool.

My last book, Temptation by Water, came out in 2010. Since then I’ve had one chapbook and the craft book published, so I haven’t been idle. But I’m excited to have another full-length collection of poems coming soon. Sort of like going home again after a long time away. I’m expecting to receive the galleys in a few weeks. My publisher has given me a publication date of late summer or early fall.

I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out one of the poems, "Original Sin."