Happy Halloween! And poem commissions!

Hello, ghouls and boys!

It is fall here in Madison, or so say the lovely yellow-leaved trees and few bare branches outside my window. Halloween in Madison is traditionally a pretty big deal, so there are plenty of ways to celebrate. I am still deciding how I will do it up this weekend, but I'm sure I'll have fun. I like to celebrate both the sacred and secular meanings of Halloween/All Soul's Day. The pagan name for Halloween is Samhain (pronounced "sow-en"), and typically that is when the veil between this world and the next thins. One Day of the Dead tradition involves leaving a trail of marigold petals to your door so that your beloved departed can find you. I tried that one last year, only to realize when I got home that I'd bought the wrong kind of flower. So it goes. I bet most of those I've loved and lost would rather have a trail of whiskey anyway.

Though I'm not publishing right and left (a few links below) right now, I think this is the most active writing life I've ever had. I have so many projects, including my first screenplay, and I want to work on them all, all the time. However, starting at midnight Halloween/November 1, most of my projects will take back burners on a really giant stove. That's right, I'm doing Nanowrimo again this year, and you should too. I did it back in 2004 and 2005. Both years, I was able to finish despite grad school responsibilities, so I'm not worried about finishing this year now that I have more time to spend on it. I do hope that I'm able to pull this off better than the others I tried, though. I'm not going to give too much away about it, except to say that it's dark fantasy and Pan's Labyrinth has been a big inspiration.

A new writing project that I'm excited to offer is poems by commission! For a donation of any amount (well, at least a dollar!), I'll write you a one of a kind poem on the topic of your choosing. You can also pick the tone (funny, sad, etc.) or leave that to me. Hopefully if you're reading this, you've read enough of my work to know that the chances of getting a mushy love poem are slim and your chances of getting something weird are high. Please just drop me an email if you'd like to sponsor a poem: erinlyndalmartin at gmail dot com is my address. As I writer living on disability, you have no idea how much every dollar I get means to me, so your generosity is appreciated. I also love to write for people and hopefully improve their worlds a bit, so I like to hope this is a win-win situation. :)

Finally, here's a round-up of stuff:

-Still reading for the Buffy-inspired poetry anthology. Email me at the address I just gave above if you have a submission.

-My Kickstarter to publish Pneumolalia! is still active: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1955099502/pneumolalia-a-play-in-verse

-New interviews with Jolie Holland, Over the Rhine, and Times New Viking at Pop Matters: My contributor page

-Review of Peter RIchards' Helsinki in the new Sink Review: Sink Review

-Poem at Ghost Ocean Magazine

-And, as always, tons of great music interviews at Euterpe's Notebook.

Thanks for reading, and hope you get the good candy when you trick-or-treat.

Kickstarter for my verse play

Hello!

I'm excited to announce that I've begun a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish my verse play, Pneumolalia!

This play is a dramatization of a case of pneumonia I had. If you watch the Kickstarter video, you'll see that this play involves throwbacks to Weimar Germany, a fever that speaks in sonnets, and references to Nouvelle Vague cinema and snuff porn, among other shenanigans. I have some really exciting plans for the illustrations/cover art as well. Donate $12 or more and I will send you an autographed copy as soon as I get some made!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1955099502/pneumolalia-a-play-in-verse

Hospital Days

Hello everyone--

If you haven't seen me around much lately, it's because I've made the UW hospital my second home. At the beginning of July, I had an attack of pancreatitis which turned out to be caused by over 50 (!) gallstones, so out went my gallbladder. I had some phantom abdominal pain after that, so I went back for some more dilaudid. (I was happy to be on a painkiller that shares a name with a Mountain Goats song.)

Then, last week, I was en route to the hospital for my surgery follow-up when I stopped to move some garbage cans out of my driveway. There was a hole in the pavement, and I fell, spraining my ankle, which instantly swelled to the size of a tennis ball. Good thing I was already en route to the hospital.

I do have to say that if you have to use a hospital, UW Health is the way to go. They took care of me through and through, and there's wifi there, and I had great friends who brought me my laptop to take advantage of it and books so I could work on a book review I had due.

That review was of Josh Ritter's first novel, Bright's Passage, and it can be read here.

Speaking of my stay in hospitals, I wrote about it for The Rumpus' "Where I Write" column: here.

And, speaking of the Rumpus, yesterday my interview with Marissa Nadler (whose great show I recently saw) just went live: here

And on my own website, I have recently posted all kinds of good stuff, like an interview with Blake Sennett (The Elected, Rilo Kiley), Gold-Bears, and a two-part interview with Her Space Holiday.

Hope everybody out there in the ether is doing great. No surgeries or sprained ankles for y'all, ya hear?

Deadline for Buffy Anthology Extended

Hi all--

I haven't been getting as many submissions for the Buffy anthology as I'd hoped, so the August 1 deadline isn't going to be happening. I'll be accepting poems until further notice. Scroll down for more info about the Buffy poetry anthology and please email your poems to me at erinlyndalmartin at gmail dot com. Thanks! :)

New!

Hello, everyone!

How are you?

I hope this finds your late spring going well. It's feeling like summer already in Madison, up in the 90s so far.

I've been doing a lot of work lately on various writing assignments. I don't have all that much to show for it, but here's what I got:

Bee poems in The Offending Adam.

Review of my recent insomnia in 300 Reviews.

A review I wrote about Matthew Henriksen's wonderful Ordinary Sun for Tarpaulin Sky.

My interview for the Rumpus with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper.

And a whole boatload of interviews up at my new music site, Euterpe's Notebook. You'll find interviews with Hauschka, Psychedelic Horseshit, The Feelies, Milk Maid, Rasputina, Mia Doi Todd, the Lonely Forest, and many more. Johann Johannsson, Clem Snide, One AM Radio, and more to come soon.

...and in some more dour-but-hopeful news, I'm still involved in helping out those affected by the April tornado in Tuscaloosa, AL, where I lived for three years during graduate school. The Red Cross and many other organizations are still accepting donations for the cause. The Offending Adam put together a week's worth of Tuscaloosa writers for an early May issue. My work is on Monday's post, but there is fine writing from throughout the week. In a similar vein, my classmate Brian Oliu assembled Tuscaloosa Runs This, a free e-book comprised of writers with Tuscaloosa connections, myself included. You can read the book free, but you can also make a donation to go to tornado relief. The book is an incredibly moving read, especially for the pieces by those who were there during the storm. Check it out and give as you are able.

As always, thanks for reading, and take care!

Forgot!

I forgot to share my other exciting news. I have now joined the fantastic Nate Pritts and Matt Dube, among others, on the team of http://www.h-ngm-n.com, as associate fiction editor. Send in your stories and Matt and I would love to read them!

It's alive!

Hi all--

I've been working for a while on generating content for my own music journalism site, and I'm thrilled about this project. It's nice to be able to interview musicians without worrying about a publication's genre constraints and such. While I have wonderful editors at the other sites for which I write (and will continue to write for), it's nice to be my own editor, even though we all need outside eyes at some point.

My first interview is live now, and it is with the amazing Mia Doi Todd, whose music I have loved for a long time. The look of the site might change soon, but here is the link:

http://www.euterpesnotebook.com

I hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends. I have a lot of exciting treats coming up soon to share with you there! :)

Looking for S.P. Campanella

This is an odd post, but I'm looking for my old friend S.P. Campanella, as his email address doesn't seem to be working. If you ever read this, please message me at erinlyndalmartin @ gmail.com . I would love to hear from you!

Call for Submissions: Buffy Verse Anthology

Hello, dears!

I'm thrilled to be editing Buffy Verse, an anthology devoted to poetry inspired by one of my favorite shows.

Here are the submission details:

I am seeking submissions for Buffy Verse, an anthology of quality poetry inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I am looking for lively verse that engages with the Buffy mythos. For example, you may choose to revisit a certain episode, examine the intersection of some aspect of Buffy and real life, or simply write a poem with a relevant Buffy epigraph.

Submissions should be sent either as a Word document or pasted in the body of an email to me at erinlyndalmartin@gmail.com. No cover letter or bio is necessary at this time. Send as many poems as you like. Please put "submission" somewhere in your subject line.

In response to a few questions I've been asked:

-I will consider "Angel" poems, but not other shows from the Whedonverse.

-I don't yet know if contributors will be able to be paid

-I'm not interested in "fan fiction" type of poetry

I will be reading submissions until August 1, 2011.

I have already sent a proposal for this book to several agents and presses, but if any of you are involved in publishing and would like to discuss this project, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for reading this, and please do circulate this call for submissions around your friends, colleagues, students, etc.

I'm looking forward to reading your work!

Madison, Early Spring

I'm typing this from my bed where I'm lying on my side with my cat perched on my hip. Soon I will leave to seek juice, but for the meantime, I don't want to disturb him.

It's been one heck of a late winter/early spring here. In all ways, not just politically, but it does feel strange to have the nation's eyes returning to Wisconsin again so soon in the wake of the Prosser/Kloppenburg race.

As the isthmus begins to wake up for springtime, things are looking busier. I celebrated my 29th birthday last weekend among old and new friends and felt quite loved and at home here. I am now also a contributing music writer for The Rumpus and The Quietus, and I'm thrilled to be working for such quality people and quality websites. I'm extra extra thrilled that the amazing Katy Henriksen is the music editor for The Rumpus, and I will get to work with her. I'm also starting my own music interview and review blog (which will be updated more than this one), but I'm still generating material for a proper launch. You'll have to wait and see what I've lined up already!

This is going to be a busy writing weekend as well. Thanks to my friend/writer/teacher extraordinaire Miriam Hall, I'm taking a workshop with the legendary Natalie Goldberg, and I think it's just what I need right now.

Finally, recent publications:

"Harvest" in Guernica

"We Will Sing the Songs of the Revolution" in InDigest

Three Poems in PANK

Dispatches from Ground Zero

Has it really been since November that I've posted? Wow. Time flies when you're getting ready to make a big move, which I did on New Year's Eve & Day.

I'm now back in Madison, WI, and I wanted to add my voice to all of those who are blessedly filling our streets and Capitol building with their peaceful voices. In the wake of this garish bill by an equally garish governor, I want to express pride in a lot of people. I am proud of all the demonstrators (including myself) for their peaceful, yet vigorous protests. I sprained my foot this past weekend and haven't been able to stand on it too much, but I've been to the Capitol and spent some time there. I am proud of all my friends who have been spending their days there, bringing their children, and sharing their experiences online. I am proud of local law enforcement, who haven't been at all intrusive (that I know of). I am proud of my roommate's Saudi students, who have joined the protests despite not understanding most of the chants. I am proud of my favorite coffee shop, Motherfool's, for giving out free coffee today to protestors. I am proud of everybody (especially that person in Egypt!) who has been ordering food for the protestors. I am proud of bands for playing here and keeping people revved up. I am proud of the Daily Show, who came yesterday, apparently bringing John Oliver and a camel (who did not do so well on the ice).

I do not know what will come of the protests, but I fear that it's all going to be for naught. The unions have agreed to give up certain financial benefits in order to keep their collective bargaining rights, but Gov. Walker won't agree to even that. Attempts to negotiate with him have fallen on deaf ears. There is, of course, the fear that the protests will turn less peaceful if the bill goes through, but we can only wait and see.

As for why I care about this, there are many reasons. Most of them should be obvious--I believe that civil servants are entitled to band together to protect their rights. But for me, it goes much deeper than that. My mother is a teacher. She has never had the opportunity to belong to a union, but perhaps her career would have been rosier if she had had that chance. My father has been a political organizer and campaign manager for as long as I can remember--longer than I've been alive, in fact. And as for me, the offspring of these two hard-working, monumental individuals, I'm on Medicaid and can't afford for it to be otherwise.

I'm typing this from Motherfool's while I transcribe an interview for PopMatters. The art installation here is political, entitled Corporations Are People Now. I'm sitting beneath a framed bumper sticker that says: "Whhy do they hate us?" with "now more than ever" underneath it. This show was put up before the bill was introduced, but the sticker seems appropriate.

But I'm going to keep fighting the good fight, and I'm glad for those around the world that are joined with us in solidarity. Thank you.