Two things are taking a shocking amount of time these days: gardening and promoting Fierce Aria.
At this point, the garden doesn’t surprise me much with its endless needs of watering, fertilizing, pruning, harvesting, fretting and enjoying. (The picture above was taken in early June, when we had just started planting the veggies. It’s looks manageable, but you aren’t seeing the rest of the garden.)
The book promotion is all new to me. It’s challenging to fit in all the time needed to research virtual reading series and approach them, try to find reviewers and review venues, follow up after readings I’ve given, research podcasts and radio shows I might be featured on, research awards and apply for them (haven’t gotten to this yet at all), and the hundred and one other things I’m supposed to do according to all the lists, pundits, experts, plus making and maintaining connections with other writers.
Very tough to do all this amidst my busy teaching schedule, the garden, writing and the rest of life. I’m spending hours on it and barely scratching the surface. Most weeks I’m horrified by all I didn’t get to. But that’s the way it goes. There’s only one of me—thank goodness, I couldn’t take anymore!—so I can only do so much.
If you or anyone you know would like to have me on your radio show or podcast or would like to review Fierce Aria for a literary magazine, please let me know!
If you’ve read the book and would like to post a reader review on Amazon or Goodreads, I’d love that too.
If you’d love to see what I’m writing now and learn about my creative process and more of the nuts and bolts of living a creative life, including publishing and book promotion, join me on Patreon here.
Keep reading poems. They provide a much-needed balm in these times.