Quidditied

Hello good people,

I'm so excited to share the audio version of my poem "Losing Your Daughter in the Bookstore," from Quiddity. Click on the "National Poetry Month" episode and gorge your ears on all the delicious poetry there. 

The Submission Count

I attended AWP in Boston last week, where there was much talk of women's place (or lack of place) in contemporary literature. (If you haven't seen VIDA's somewhat disheartening count comparing the number of men and women appearing in journals in the last three years, you can find it here.)

One response to the disparity found in the charts is the suggestion that women submit less often than men, and at one of the VIDA panels, Laura E. Davis, editor of Weave Magazine, asked women to give a show of hands if we had five, ten, or fifteen submissions out in the world currently.

I guessed that I had more than fifteen, but I wasn't really sure.

When I got home I decided to do my own little submission count. Keep in mind that I'm submitting poetry almost exclusively, usually three to five poems at a time, but also  poetry manuscripts.

My results for 2012:

Submissions sent: 71

Form rejections: 34 (ouch)

Personal Rejections: 12

Acceptances: 13

Other: 12 (mostly due to my poor record keeping)



As of today, I have 29 submissions drifting in the winds, waiting to land in the soft hands of a kind editor. I'm wondering how that compares to others.

If you've got a minute, and you feel inclined, drop me a line. Let's compare numbers. Men are invited, too, of course.

Futurecycled

My poem, "Since You've Been Away, the Garden" is now available from FutureCycle Press. Order your copy today!

The folks at FutureCycle are creating an anthology in honor of Malala Yousafzai as part of their Good Works project. Head on over and submit. 

Plugging In, Branching Out

Portait of a Lady at a Drawing Table by Paul Sandby

Hey folks,

I've got a new website where you can learn more about me than you ever wanted to know. Have a look-see: www.patriciacaspers.com.

Don't worry, though. I'll still be hanging around these parts.  

The Next Big Thing

Medusa by Jacek Malczewski, courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons

I've been invited by Cynthia Reeeser to share about my work in progress through the blog series The Next Big Thing. So, here it goes:

What is your working title of your book? _In the Belly of the Albatross_





Where did the idea come from for the book? It was sort of organic. I was combing through my poems and realized many of my poems were a variation on a theme.





What genre does your book fall under? Poetry





Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Ooh, I like the idea of a short film for each poem: Halle Berry, Meryl Streep, Keiko Agena, America Ferrera, Ralph Fiennes, Olympia Dukakis . . . .





What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? These poems give voice to historical, mythological, Biblical and contemporary women, and sometimes their stories are unexpected.





Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I'm peddling it to manuscript contests at the moment.





How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The first poem was written probably ten years ago, but I've just recently gathered these poems into a collection.





What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Within my genre, I'd compare it to work by Carol Ann Duffy, although that seems pompous. Fiction readers might think of it as a poetic cousin to Anita Diamant's The Red Tent.





Who or what inspired you to write this book? I read these stories from the bible, myth, or legend, and so little detail is given that, as a writer, I can't help but try to fill in the empty space. Eventually I became interested in the way these stories mirror women's present day narratives.





What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? The title is take from Chris Jordan's photographs of the plastic-filled bellies of dead albatross as well as Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."






Thank you to Cynthia Reeser for the invite. Read about her Next Big Thing, Lefenstrausse, at Abstractions.


A few other writers you will enjoy:


Cassandra Dunn


Lisa Ahn


Marie Gauthier


Tarfia Faizullah


Laura Grodrian

More Adventures in De-Wheating

I realized that I left you all hanging with the half baked stout bread in my last post (from The Joy of Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Baking by Reinhart and Wallace), and I know how curious you must be. Here's the dealio: Buckaroo and R liked the stout bread. Buckaroo has eaten it for breakfast and dinner.

I, however, was not a fan. The bread is bready for sure. It has a fabulous-- dare-I-say wheat-like?-- texture, but as it turns out I just don't like the flavor of garbanzo bean flour, which is odd because I love me a chickpea. Dagnabit anyhow. It would lend itself well to a beer bread, though, and my friend Sparkle Mama has just the recipe to go with it. 

Sparkle Mama's Dragon Breath Dip

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbs. chopped fresh chives

1/4 Tsp. thyme

1/4 Tsp. marjoram

1/8 Tsp. pepper

2 Tbs. milk

Blend and serve. We call it Dragon Breath Dip for a reason, and I think the spiciness of this dip would be enough to overpower the garbanzo flour flavor of the stout bread.