RachelVB.com

Category: Writing Life

  • well-oiled machine

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    rachelvb
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    I can’t think at length anymore. Everything is short city blocks of thought. This morning is cold, my skin is peeling. I’ve been told to stay out of the sun, but who purposefully avoids warmth? There is nothing in this post, I’m just out of practice. Gold skin, but underneath just skin and bone. I…

  • Put your hand out…

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    rachelvb
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    It hurt, but we talked shop while I sat under her light. The writing ebb and the squirts you might consider the “flow.” She’s a writer, too, an artist. I sat like a champ. I didn’t tear up. I didn’t flinch. I viced bubble mint gum between my teeth and watched a dream become my…

  • Gather Kindling

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    rachelvb
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    Saturday, I got word from Gather Kindling that a short poem of mine is going to appear in the March issue. When I first submitted this 3 line poem, I figured it was a long shot, but I did it anyway because I loved the idea of this “magazine.” I hope you check it out…

  • Interview with Kim Hyesoon

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    rachelvb
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    “I gradually realized that speaking as an outsider is the most authentic voice for a poet.” Kim Hyesoon A South Korean poet who is rewriting the role for female poets in her native country. Read the whole interview here

  • Thoisday

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    rachelvb
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    When I woke up this morning I got another rejection which makes it 3 for 11 poems in 24 hours. Bite the weenie. Fortunately, our aeropress arrived in the mail yesterday along with our nespresso milk frother and it distracted me from crying about it. I also got my Timbuk2 bag in the mail last…

  • Galleys!

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    rachelvb
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    I got an email of galleys for “Menacing Hedge” AND I’M ON THERE I’M ACTUALLY ON THERE! Two years ago I didn’t even know what the hell “galleys” were – they sound like a mix between gutters and valleys – for the people who (like me) don’t (didn’t) know what they are: proofs, basically, but…

  • Thanks

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    rachelvb
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    I just want to thank every one who reads and comments here. You keep coming back and it’s such a great support knowing you guys are out there. I’ve decided to start celebrating my rejections – I’m not sure how yet – but I keep getting them and they keep bumming me out and I…

  • Just what I needed

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    rachelvb
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    This is an amazing interview with Billy Collins from 2006. “there’s this pet phrase about writing that is bandied around particularly in workshops about ‘finding your own voice as a poet’, which I suppose means that you come out from under the direct influence of other poets and have perhaps found a way to combine…

  • This is insanely hard!

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    rachelvb
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    When you graduate from young poet to intermediate poet to adept poet to grand poet, is there a medal or sign or celebration with confetti and hats and noise blowers? A trophy with your name on it saying “take off your headgear and smile!” I feel like one of those people who thought they were…

  • Rejecting rejections

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    rachelvb
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    This one hurt a little. They’d been looking at them since the end of July and I had hoped that meant they wanted them around and maybe they did, maybe these poems got farther than others, but rejections seem to come in waves. Nothing for months and then two in one week. Damn. Oh well.…