Write Bloody book contest videos are now up and in one place! Please visit our contestant playlist on our Youtube channel to view the submissions and show your support by upvoting your favorites. Thank you so much for being the best fans in the history of fans ever!
Hey, folks!
Check out this here fine sampling of our upcoming Fall titles!
Fall 2013 authors include Ernest Cline, Jade Sylvan, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, Daniel Nester, Aaron Levy Samuels, and Gregory Sherl…therein lies magic. See for yourself.
No easy task. Hundreds and hundreds of submissions this year to join our family. These 24 or so advance into the final round where they submit a video of a poem read via youtube (can be creative) and a full 40 poem manuscript. Deadline May 15.
14 editors choose and decide what is the best of the best, where just a handful of these finalists win a book deal and distribution with write bloody.
If you know them, give the author love for making it this far. The competition was stiff as a splint this year.
2013 FINALISTS:
Ronnie Stephens
Matthew Zellmer
Daniel Sullivan
Arianne Benford
Jessica Helen Lopez
Isla McKetta
Rebecca Bridge
Patrick Matam
Lauren Banka
Stephanie Lane Sutton
Melissa Rose
Danez Smith
Frankie Sanchez
Alex Sparks
Xavier Cavazos
Jayme Lackey
Hieu Nguyen
Chris West
Wendy McCutchen
Shelley Geiszler
Megan Falley
Franny Choi
Charlyne Yi
Amy Saul Zerby
Annelyse Gelman
John Paul Davis
HOLY MOLY. NATIONAL POETRY MONTH SALE. APRIL ONLY. HOODIES-40% OFF. T SHIRTS- 25% OFF (creme, black, space and font)
POSTERS-50% OFF
WOOT WOOT CITY!. CLICK STORE AND THEN APPAREL TO PEEP.
Happy April 1.
In coordination with the Texas Book Festival, poetry heavyweights Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani will battle it out at Lavazza Espressions on Monday, March 25th at 8:00pm! Come check it out!
Come catch some intimate performances from our very own Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani at The Parish on March 28th, 8P.M. and celebrate the release of Foxing Quarterly’s second issue! Shwing! Don’t miss out on a night of poetry and kick ass music.
The rejection letter is a lingering nightmare that can either crush you or push you. I get them all the time and it still hurts like someone dogging you in your youtube comments.
The only people I know that succeed in this writing business drink away the burn and laugh it off, saying ‘not my time.’ I used to get a lot of emails from folks when we first started this submission process, just a lot of venom that they weren’t chosen, that the rules weren’t clear, that we were racist/sexist/elitist for not choosing them, that we were short sighted about what true talent was, that we are egoists for forcing these poor souls to make a video of themselves reading a poem out loud if they make it to the final round, that they demand to see a list of the 12 editors so they could tell the world what a bunch of insipid, blind jellyfish they were. I used to just print up my friends cause I liked their style.
It died down a bit last year, I have no idea why. Maybe because we only could afford to choose 4 authors. That’s always been our model, since submission years, 3 years ago. If we don’t get a lot of returns and book sales are jamming, we can do 12 one season and 6 to 8 titles in the fall. It is crazy work but exciting to do that many. We did better than okay so this year we are doing 8 books in the spring and 5 books in the fall. Most folks would tell you that its still a lot for a press with one employee and some dedicated interns working a few hrs a week.
Things to remember:
1. Our press is a small press. It’s wonderful that we finally got international distribution, a pr agency, physical bookstore, street sales team and have a sweet list of places to book readings, but the book deal is always going to go to the author who can not only write well, read well out loud (that only means not awkward-not everyone has to be the real anis mojgani.) but can also get their shit together and work as a team to promote the book. The days of having an agent do all the nasty icky work of social media and bookings are over. Be nice. No one is getting rich. This is a passion and is often only fueled by that.
2. Show diversity in your manuscript. No need to have 3 poems about family or trauma in a row. Remember that the editors usually read about 10-20 submissions a night. Be the one that stands out with beauty.
3. If you have a shorter poem that is strong, make that one first. Editors eyes get tired just like the rest of us. Hook them.
4. Show that you understand the difference between prose and poetry, or prose laid out like a poem.
5. Don’t get caught with your pants down, meaning if you make it to the final round, but only have 12 decent poems, the editors will smell it when reading your 40 poem manuscript. It is hard to sustain skill for 40 poems. Most of my books dont and it kills me to read the ‘junkers’ in some of my books.
6.Every year we have to make a catalog and a sales team person goes around the country (30 of them) and each one sits in a room with that catalog and book buyer and has 30 seconds to pitch why that bookstore should carry your book. ‘Because its so fucking tasty’ isnt enough. You don’t have to be a minority or have some crazy adventure that you identify with only, but what is it about your writing that makes it one of the 700 books I will read before I die?
7. If you never have money and can never save money, wait and submit when you do. If you get brought on to a small press, you will need a good press photo, a great website for booking shows and book stock to buy and sell on the road. That is the fastest way to make money as an author and to build a fanbase. Touring is a mandate at write bloody, but its not too crazy. 20 dates your first year out.
8. Read. Read the authors on our press. See what makes their poems work. But be careful. Do not write 3 andrea gibson poems. We have andrea gibson. We want the real you. Feel free to look at authors we admire outside of the press like Jeffrey McDaniel, James Tate, Kevin Young, Anne Sexton, Mark Doty, Bob Hicok, Natasha Trethewey, and Tomas Transtromer.
9. If you don’t get this, there are other presses. If you don’t get the book deal, what a great chance to do what Cristin Okeefe Aptowicz does and submit to a buttload of journals to get their name out there in the Lit world.
10.No poem submitted in the first round should be longer than 2 pages.
11.Title your poems. Set the scene or mood with the title.
12. All lower case poems look lazy, I wouldn’t recommend it for your first three poems but you can experiment when submitting the full 40 poem manuscript if you make it to the final.
13. Cover letters can be pasted in the cover letter box. Do not attach it to the manuscript. Some editors like to read the manuscript without dwelling on the name or info. I like to read it for all 20 finalists to get a feel of the authors region and taste.
14. What’s the twist? It’s always possible to write ‘this bad thing happened to me’ or ‘Let me count how beautiful you are’ poems. Beware of the grandstanding we have often seen where someone does “To the person that said I was a bad bowler” and the poem ends with triumph- “well guess what, I may be a bad bowler… but I am one. hell. of. a. stepdad.” Show us a unique view of the problems you address. Can you put yourself in the shoes of Laura Bush while she watches her husband sleep deeply? (Size 7) It’s much more interesting than being mad at George Bush and ranting. Can you address gun violence from the perpective of a bullet maker, or a dog and not make the poem too precious? We are a press that loves the tweak, the surprise, the nuance.
15. We are not a slam press but it is true that the slams can be a wonderful family and a great place to feature. I dont think I even know what a slam poem is. It’s like me asking you if you’re a farmer cause there’s an apple core on the floorboard of your car (Anis!) You put on roller skates once and said something beautiful when you ate shit. What is it like to be a roller derby poet? (I think I’m onto something great.)
An incredible poet on our press, Jack McCarthy has sadly passed on this week.
I met Jack McCarthy in the late 1990s, when I was first turned on to modern verse by the OC and LA poetry/ slam/spoken word scenes. Something happened, maybe an overdose of poetry that soon turned me into a kind of rowdy persona in my performance style, opting for more of an Andy Kaufman kind of performance tick with people getting tackled, reading Spinal Tap lyrics earnestly, smashing pies into my body and realizing that I was just bored with my writing and open mics. Jack was quiet, funny and spirited. He would read poems about farting and then a powerful poem about getting his ass kicked by a girl. I soon turned my craft more subtle, and I’m sure a part of what I became was from his influence, as much as it was Jeff McDaniel’s. I never knew I would turn into a publisher in 2003, once the presses I was on folded. I told Jack I get the same thrill launching a book for someone else as if it was my own.
I realize the correspondence below may not be very interesting to most outsiders to the poetry world. But I thought it would lend an interesting insight to the world of bringing a book to life. I feel this legacy book by Jack is important, and it means so much to me, I don’t know what else to do.
Our emails back and forth started when Jack wrote to me in the end of 2011
mentioning that he loved my older book, Scandalabra, kind of. He at first thought it was all going to be horny stuff and would bore him, and then he got into the book after the romance section was over. I gave him the newer volume, Strange Light, after a horrible show we both performed at in LA. “Horrible” because it simply wasn’t a room that could honor Jack or any other quiet poetry due to the noise and yuck of those eating, the high entrance fee, and being decorated like a Dr. Phil Sex Den. But I loved chatting with him and friends. We started up the correspondence about a book right after.
(Jack saw the sweet review from the New York Times for my book Strange Light.)
From Jack, 1.20.2012
Derrick–
The New York Times!
Congratulations!!!
What a coup!!
And just in time for Valentines Day.
I sent him an email asking him why he was so sick. He sent me a poem and mentioned he’d like to do one last book cause he was dying. Here’s what I wrote back to him
(From Derrick)
Dear Jack,
My God, The Dad cry. How cleanly you pull us into moments that strike true.
I loved the poem.
I love the idea for your book.
I must admit that I am not that comfortable, you typing to me with those good, living fingers, talking about death.
You don’t seem too upset by it, but maybe that is just email and it’s snowy nature. It was good to see your face in California.
I wanted to die at that ———- show. It, that show, is what I want poetry to stray away from- loud restaurants, 15 dollar cover prices. I wanted them to honor you. You might’ve thought it was okay, but it wasn’t what you deserve, or need. ——–. It saddens me that I can’t tell them (without them getting offended) and they will just go on and on. I love that many folks are changing things in poetry, I feel a tide.
I was at this writers conference, prose and poetry. I sat down to have a beer with some fiction professors from Denver. I asked them if they loved Denver. One male prof said ‘I try to not throw around the word love. I prefer to say that Denver satisfies me.’
What a dick. I said ‘ooooooooh. Sooomebody’s a writer.’
So I still say the word now. I love the idea of ever doing any book with you.
I wonder how possible it would truly be for fans of your work to read your writing and not know it was you.
It is possible to release a book as anonymous, then after death, release your name on it.
It’s called a metadata change.
One of our authors Bucky, did a recovery book. Bucky Sinister is the name. Great fella who beat the hell out of his demons, but he didn’t want to keep all the god stuff, so he started a kind of punk rock AA and he released it on a far away press.
I would love a book of recovery and poetry. I feel that is what poetry is anyway.
I also will admit that the first two poems in Scandalabra are a bit horny for many folks tastes, I think I was backlashing after that break-up. I didn’t want to write a purely break up book. I kind of enjoy that it seems like some kind of sweaty romance and then everything goes all pear shaped and dark. I’d love to send you the revised version. I fixed a lot of the wonky stuff and deleted a few. I even misspelled Pinata as Pie-ta. Ugh. Now we have tighter proofreaders for every title. How in the hell did my eye and spell check both miss that? May I send the new one to you?
I feel a sadness and a kind of joy writing this email back to you. I don’t know if you are sick of people prying about your health, but I wonder. I also understand a man’s need for quiet.
I’d love to look at the book. Do you like working with editors?
I would make sure it is a gorgeous cover and give you two or three looks to gander at. I look forward to not only hearing news about the book, but just corresponding with you. I really respect your work and how you make an audience feel good. A great good.
D
From jack, March 3 2012
Dear Derrick,
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. As you might imagine, my days are pretty full right now.
As to my condition, there’s really nothing to talk about. The breathlessness is sometimes frustrating and sometimes embarrassing, but there’s no real pain involved. If they actually did tell me I had 6 months, there’s not one thing I would do differently.
But I do ask that you keep my confidence for the time being.
The last time I sent “Megan & the Bridge” to somebody, I told him I thought there was one line in the poem that justified the whole thing. You went right to it: the Dad cry. I don’t know whether to be impressed with your critical faculty or disappointed that the rest of the poem falls so clearly below those three words.
I’m not worried about people who know my work recognizing me. The anonymity principle doesn’t demand that it would take a good private detective to track me down. I’m free to break anonymity with live audiences and people who know me, just not at the media level. If the book does get published while I’m alive, I’ll take down some of the poems on my website, but I think that will cover me.
I’ve heard some of Bucky Sinister’s stuff on Berkeley CDs, and I’ve liked him a lot.
I love working with editors, but I don’t think they like working with me. Time after time they force me to think hard about the choices I made, and about 80% of the time, I discover (or remember) that I had a really good reason, and I dig in. I like to live with a poem before I publish it, usually for a long time. I’m never comfortable putting something in print that has been recently band-aided. Sometimes, rather than do that, I’ll pull the poem and try replacing it with another one.
Attached is my working MS for “Drunks–and Other Poems of Recovery” (even though there’s some prose).
Actually, what is attached is not quite my working MS: it’s my working MS +2. I’ve added two pieces that didn’t quite make the cut after all my pre-readers had weighed in. I have two reasons for adding them: 1) in spite of the lack of enthusiasm on the part of some pre-readers, I really like the two pieces myself; and 2) this gives you open season to pick out two poems that you don’t think measure up.
I know that #2 is probably redundant; I understand that that if you feel that any of these poems don’t measure up, your role as publisher is all the license you need.
So please take a look. And don’t hesitate to say no. I’d really like to do the book with you, but it’s not like it’s A Dying Man’s Last Request. There are plenty of other possibilities for this one.
all best,
Jack
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 7:11 PM
Howdy jack
Okay sir.
I say let’s do it for sure.
You absolutely have my confidence, except for maybe the two other people that will help work on it. And I will swear them to secrecy.
We usually have two release seasons. Mar 15- April 30 and Sept 15-Oct 30 due to our distributors schedule, SCB.
Would you like to aim for Mar 2013? Maybe even having advance copies way earlier?
I can be the only editor if you like, but for sure a different proofreader, someone who is real good at that thing.
I am absolutely OK with releasing it as an anonymous book, and then putting your name on it, when God sees fit.
Let’s talk about cover options and colors and covers you admire.
And now the strange question of where would you like your royalties to go to when and if you pass. My heart gets a little lead-like writing that sentence. jesus.
Derrick Brown, President
Derrick–
I’m good with all of it; should have answered sooner, but got distracted with a recording project.
Trusted editors are fine. March 2013 is OK, tho I’d prefer fall 2012; but maybe advance copies will fill that gap.
As to royalties, why don’t we set them up as going to Carol from the gitgo?
———-
An unrelated question: long term, what’s your personal commitment to Write Bloody? How long do you expect the press to be around?
all best,
Jack
I wrote him back that at least another 5-10 years, unless I just get ground down.
Derrick —
Don’t read anything into my slowness; I’ve been much distracted lately. For once, not health issues; if anything, health is improving.
And tomorrow Carol and I are going away for a couple of days to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary, so it will be even a few more days before I can get back to you on this.
“No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
all best,
Jack
I then wrote to him, no problem about slowness in replies, cause I was moving to Austin. I couldn’t believe he remembered how I did at a national poetry slam from 14 years before.
Dear Derrick,
How is Austin? That seems like a good place for you. Isn’t that where you took 2nd at Nationals?
Carol and I are pretty well settled in our new place, a 3-room apartment in senior housing. I think we got the best apartment in the place: top (7th) floor corner (so we get cross-ventilation), facing east, so the heat of the occasional hot day comes too late to bother us.
Most important: the New York Times: the zombie book got reviewed, and you have a personal blurb from them on your website. Have any other WB books gotten their attention? Do you have some kind of in? I know this isn’t the kind of thing you can make promises about, but can you get a foot in the door?
This isn’t about money; if I wanted money, I’d have gone into Amway. And it isn’t about fame; I’ll be dead before my name gets attached to this. This is about making a difference in the lives of alcoholics I’ll never meet. I don’t want to leave a single stone unturned if turning it might get this book into the hands of one more alkie. And something from the NYT would get the book into a lot more bookstores, and from there into the hands of a lot more people who need it.
I’m sorry if I’m coming across as a prima donna. Believe me, I’ve always been pretty easy to work with. Just having a book at all has always felt like a personal gift from God. I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you wanted to wash your hands of this whole project.
But I want to work with you.
I apologize for keeping you dangling (though I doubt you lost any sleep over it).
all best,
Jack
I had an intern contact him, an amazing and bright talent named Hannah, to sort out some of the issues of trying to make pre-promotions anonymous.
Dear Hannah,
Hannah was my mother’s name, and is my sister’s, and my daughter Kathleen’s middle name. It’s nice to meet you.
The schedule is reassuringly aggressive. In my poetry dealings, I’m not used to so businesslike an approach, but I like the feeling.
I want to make sure that you understand the constraints around this particular book. Derrick has assured me that they can be handled.
This book draws heavily on my 50 years in Alcoholics Anonymous. The word we need to be concerned with is “Anonymous.” AA has a powerful tradition of anonymity, and I have complete respect for the wisdom, the spirit, and the letter of it.
Accordingly, if this volume is published before my death, it has to be under a pseudonym or anonymously. Once I kick the bucket, I’d like my name and bio to attach to it. Derrick says this can be done.
I’m not suggesting that you include a line-item for “Author kicks the bucket.” I think my chances of holding an early copy in my hand are quite good. I bring all this up to make sure that there won’t be any unwelcome surprises down the line.
I look forward to working with you on this project. It means a lot to me. If a guy like me can leave a legacy, this will be mine.
all best,
Jack McCarthy
The main reason jack wanted to work with us was to get the recovery book in as many hands as possible and still have a lot of control. He asked for a list of why we were a great little press. At first I was real annoyed, like getting drilled on a first date, but then again it was Jack and I’d do much for the dude.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 11:45 AM
Howdy Jack
Some positive points about our press
1. We have the best book designers on the market. Too many poetry book covers are aesthetically terrible. We come from a rock album designers approach.
2. We have the best royalty rate for poets on the market for a small press with world wide distribution (50%)
3. We have contacts at the new york times, pank, and other reviewers sweet on our press. Filter magazine called us the number one indy press on the market and Forbes came to us wanting to know about our new model.
4. We have the best website for any small press.
5. We have a sales team from SCB distributors, 30 personnel dedicated to the US and Canada. We also have digital sales in Europe, UK, germany and Australia. Our distributor is smaller than consortium but bigger than SPD and has a dedicated sales team that goes out twice a year to get in independent bookstores. They also have contacts for hastings and barnes and noble and we are available in all their stores for order and have books in 30% of their physical stores.
6. Most small presses have made a dozen books. We have made over 90 books and have pro layout artists and freelance editors and proofreaders. We know how to do it right. We know how to market a book. We make catalogs for the industry and take out facebook ads. Although poetry doesn’t sell well compared to other genres, we are one of the top selling independent presses, and not just compared to poetry. Most of our top selling authors outsell famed authors and we can see this due to our access to ingram’s ipages.
7. We have the ability to print beautiful matte covers and creme interior pages at an affordable price, all books must be made in the USA.
8. Once a book hits the market and is in our system, authors only need to order in quantities of 50. They often get to an author within 10-13 days of the order.
9. We do ebooks for all books that sell over 500 copies.
10. We are small and take all authors calls and do a mailing list once a month with over 5000 names from around the US, all from volunteering to join the list.
I then asked if he was in okay health. Days later…
Tomorrow should be good. I’m not in bad shape right now. Started a new regimen of chemo on Tuesday. No idea how it will go long term, but first taste hasn’t been bad.
But my hours are irregular. I tend to sleep later in the morning, and I still need a nap in the afternoon. It would probably be best if you give me a sense of when you’re likely to be available, and I’ll make the initial call. If I go to voice-mail, I’ll give you a better sense of what my day looks like from that point forward.
My # is ———. I don’t think I have yours yet.
all best,
Jack
oops. I can see why you’d be nervous. I’ll take care of it this weekend.
As to title, I’m running a survey, and I’d love to have your input.
Send it to ———
all best,
Jack
Please be part of my survey.
20 years ago I wrote a poem about alcoholism and AA called “Drunks.” Over the Internet years, that poem has made its way around the world on recovery websites. I’m told that at the airport in New Zealand, there is a room set aside for AA use. On the walls of that room are quotations from the writings of Bill Wilson, one of the founders of AA; and passages from “Drunks.”
Within the next year I hope to bring out one more book. I plan to call it, “Drunks (and Other Poems of Recovery)” (parentheses arguable). For this book, I am thinking very seriously of changing the spelling of the title to “Drunx.”
I have a couple of reasons for liking this, and if I make the change I’ll explain those reasons, but they have nothing to do with this survey. My question here is more a marketing question. Not marketing in the $ sense, but marketing in the sense of getting this book into the hands of as many alcoholics as possible; if a guy like me gets to leave a legacy, this will be mine.
Using that X feels to me like stamping the book with a trademark and a copyright at the same time. For whatever future the book has, if those 5 letters mean anything to anyone, they will mean one thing, my book. And maybe it’s an eye-catcher. I see this book as a slim volume on the shelves of little Recovery bookshops and the Recovery sections of the big bookstores. I see friends of AAs shopping for an appropriate gift and thinking, “She’s in recovery; she loves poetry—perfect.”
That’s the plus side. The minus side, as I see it, is that the people who already know the poem as “Drunks”—and they are the book’s likely first-wave audience, and they are many—might fail to make the connection with the new spelling.
It boils down, I think, to a choice between the poem’s past and the book’s future.
Or is that X just too gimmicky for words?
I don’t know who to ask, so I’m asking everybody. All input will be carefully considered and appreciated.
I then asked him days later if everyone knows how sick he is, or if that should be a secret. I wanted to make sure he felt dignified and all secrets he wanted kept, were kept. He was doing a show which featured his last collection, and I was like wait, we have a book coming out a year later… he explains.
Derrick–
No, not everybody knows how serious this might be.
The word “collection” was carefully chosen. Only one of my previous books could be considered a “collection,” and that one came out nine years ago. It’s not unreasonable to suppose I might have yet another collection ready in another nine years; but I’m 73. Even if I were in perfect health right now, that publication wouldn’t seem very likely.
That’s all I was really saying. And it doesn’t preclude another chapbook, or a themed book, like the Recovery book (which, if released in my lifetime will not be released under my name).
And if the phrase “last collection” adds a hint of mystery to the event, I’m not above playing on that.
I hope that answer is a momentary stay against confusion.
A question for you, regarding the title of the Recovery book. In the contract, I called it “Drunks/and Other Celebrations of Recovery.”
I’m thinking about changing the spelling to “Drunx.” If you google that spelling, you’ll find that it has a lot of currency in punk circles, but virtually nothing in publishing. I certainly don’t want to suggest punk.
But I have a couple of reasons for liking this If I make the change I’ll explain those reasons in an introduction, but my question here is more a marketing question. Not marketing in the $ sense, but marketing in the sense of getting this book into the hands of as many alcoholics as possible; if a guy like me gets to leave a legacy, this will be mine.
Using that X feels to me like stamping the book with a trademark and a copyright at the same time. For whatever future the book has, if those 5 letters mean anything to anyone, they will mean one thing, my book. And maybe it’s an eye-catcher. I see this book as a slim volume on the shelves of little Recovery bookshops and the Recovery sections of the big bookstores. I see friends of AAs shopping for an appropriate gift and thinking, “She’s in recovery; she loves poetry—perfect.”
That’s the plus side. The minus side, as I see it, is that the people who already know the poem as “Drunks”—and they are the book’s likely first-wave audience, and they are many—might fail to make the connection with the new spelling.
It boils down, I think, to a choice between the poem’s past and the book’s future.
Or is that X just too gimmicky for words? I’ve surveyed a few close friends, and opinions are split, and not very strong on either side. But you have a big stake in this. What do you think about “Drunx?”
And I’m not totally happy with the word “Celebrations,” although I think it comes closest. Any suggestions on that?
Jack
I ended up convincing him that drunx was like wordz and a little too gimmicky for the gravity and joy in this book. We also changed the word celebrations to poems for the title.
Dear Hannah,
I’m in an unusual position. I can’t publish this book under my own name while I’m alive. My first choice would be to give you the posthumous version. But I’d be very worried that it would find its way into public realm prematurely. So I’m going to call myself John X.
Dear Hannah and Derrick,
After struggling to come up with the word “celebrations,” I finally realized that unless we say “Poems,” there’ll be no indication that this is essentially a poetry book.
Therefore please re-title it “Drunks and Other Poems of Recovery.”
Even though it includes some prose.
Jack
Derrick,
Sorry this took so long, but it’s been a tough week physically.
I’ve looked over all your suggestions, and I don’t think we’ll have much to argue about.
Most of my disagreements have to do with the first poem; see attached.
More later.
Jack
I then asked him about legal issues concerning AA and anonymity and a reshaping of their stories and his memories of their stories into poems.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:07 PM
thanks jack
and one question
im sure there will be more questions that come up like this
but people know your drunks poem
how do we handle it when folks start linking that poem to you
do we deny
do we book you readings?
Derrick —
Good question. My understanding of the anonymity principle is something like this.
We’re not required to conceal our identity SO well that a private detective couldn’t track us down. We’re just not allowed to trumpet our AA connection at the media level.
To a great extent, the principle has endured largely because whenever we have respected it, the media have respected it.
In front of a live audience, I am completely free to give AA all the credit for saving my life. But if I know that the show is going out on YouTube, anonymity kicks in.
So in answer to your question, you don’t have to deny anything. And if someone wants to present me as “Jack McCarthy, author of the poem, “Drunks,” they’re free to do so, because that poem makes no mention of my personal history in AA. But they can NOT present me as “Jack McCarthy, author of the BOOK, ‘Drunks, and Other Poems of Recovery.’“ I can go ahead and do poems from the book; I can plug the book all I want in front of a live audience. But at the media level, anonymity kicks in.
I know that sounds like hair-splitting, but out at the extremity of the application of any principle, you get to one very important hair.
Jack
April 2012
Derrick —
I bumped into Jodie Knowles today. She spoke well of you, loved the Long Beach show.
I’m working my way through the edits. I expect to finish next week at the latest. You and I are pretty far apart on commas, but not on much else. You were right about a number of other edits.
There are a number of terms in the ms that I had not realized were quite so specific to Boston and/or AA: the Big Bed, DTs, Dropkick Murphy’s, commitments, packies. I want to keep them in; it seems to me that those terms have a kind of integrity, they root the stories to the time and place where they actually happened.
But I’m thinking that the volume would profit by adding a glossary, or maybe asterisks and footnotes.
My choice would be footnotes, so the reader would have only to glance at the bottom of the page, the momentum of reading would barely be interrupted.
Examples: DTs stands for delerium tremens, the sometimes hallucinatory state that some long-term alcoholics go into when they try to get off without medical help. Dropkick Murphy was a former football hero who ran a “drying-out place,” a for-profit operation that was one of the few places for alkies to go before there were detoxes.
The Big Bed: the old-timers talked about the progression of recovery this way: first you get your teeth back, then you get a job, then eventually you get back in the Big Bed, i.e. the good graces of your wife.
Your opinion, sir, please.
Jack
Friday, August 3, 2012 10:52 AM
I love the idea of footnotes
I think you could even be creative with them
like
* a footnote where you talk about a memory, where it could a short creative poetic blast on its own.
* a footnote where you just talk about how you feel when you read that passage now
*a footnote about what you wish
I thought dropkick murphy was only a band
so some footnotes should be actual fact expansion, and some (i know this will add a little time) should be creative. lets do it.
cover ideas sent also
Derrick —
On balance, I like the last one, with the green.
I know I suggested the color of booze, but Carol pointed out to me that an empty bottle holds more of a story than a full one.
I’m still working on the footnotes; I’m having some fun with that.
best,
Jack
I really loved the blue with the old timey bottle for the cover.
Derrick–
Blue is good. Get rid of the period after Recovery.
Good to go.
Jack
I introduced one of our interns with a daunting first task, to interview Jack for our catalog.
Dear Kayla,
OK, here we go.
1. How long have you been writing, and what motivated you to start performing poetry?
Ans: Off and on since college in the 60s. Got serious for part of the 70s, including my most spectacular publication to date, 200 lines on the op ed page of the Boston Globe, on the Saturday morning 10 days before the presidential election of 1976; everybody in New England read it. Well, everybody literate.
I thought it would change my life but it didn’t change much of anything, and I got disillusioned with poetry and for about 15 years averaged one poem a year. In the early 90s, two things happened. My new wife Carol blackmailed me into taking a workshop with Galway Kinnell, and I took my daughter Annie to the open mike at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA. Annie was a terrific writer, and I thought it might energize her. I was the one who got hooked, and I’ve stayed hooked ever since.
2. Why did you decide to publish your new book with Write Bloody?
Ans: Derrick has been very supportive. My last previous book, published elsewhere, was actually Derrick’s suggestion. More important, I consider “Drunks and other poems of recovery” to be my legacy. The poems mean a lot to me, and I think they’ll mean a lot to a lot of people. I’d like to get them as wide an audience as possible. Given my poor health, I probably won’t be around to do that myself. I think Write Bloody has the infrastructure and connections to make that happen even without my help.
3. What would you consider the biggest inspiration for creating work with and for AA?
Ans. When I’m open to it, I can find inspiration anywhere. But most of my poems eventually boil down to human nature. Most often the reaction I’m looking for is, “Yeah; I never thought about it that way, but this guy nailed it.”
4. Performance poetry seems to most often be directed to a young adult audience. Do you have a specific audience in mind when you write, and how much does this affect your work? How would you describe the experience of being older than the majority of your fellow poets?
Ans. I write the poems I would like to listen to, or to read. Once in a while I’ll finish a draft and think, “Not very good, but they’ll love it at the slam.” Those poems usually disappoint me; I find I’ve underestimated my audience. The winners are the ones I think, “Maybe nobody else will like this, but I got it right.” I suppose poets in my age bracket might look at my success and think it’s like a fourteen-year-old playing in Little League; I have every advantage and it really isn’t fair. Me, I’m honored. In one recent poem I say, “The old do not expect the young to listen.”
5. What do you hope your readers will take away from (this book)?
Ans. Heart; hope. People who should be in recovery who come across these poems might see that recovery is possible, and that there is life after addiction, a life far better than anything they’ve ever had before. And people who are already in recovery might think what all successful art makes us think: “Yeah. He got that right; and I’m not alone.”
And I think it was September when he turned in his finished beautiful draft.
Derrick —
Here it is. This is the book I want to publish.
Our slim volume of poetry has grown into something quite different.
I opted for an Afterword rather than an introduction; it explains why.
Everything that’s prose is subject to your editorial judgment.
More later.
Thank you for giving me the chance to do this.
all best,
Jack
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 12:32 PM
The one I have is Ruths and it was so moving. I really loved it.
I don’t have cornerback, but from the quality of this manuscript, I’m sure its good and I always make the final round of edits after it comes back from the proofer.
So place both in, as well as order it and with footnotes below each poem and lea, doing layout — lea deschenes — can make it look right.
Thanks for being on it. Id love to get promo copies in the hands of the sales reps this fall, for their sales meetings in november and their touring in jan and february.
I like your new piece
I need your help on a few things
1. would you like me to send to a proofer, or do you use someone you like?
2. would you like some time to order it, or do you like it as is, and can you insert the new piece where you like in the document?
3. I feel this book needs an intro from you. Maybe based off the interview that states where you were as an addict and how you came out, what you learned
and why this book, and why now. What do you think?
Sep 25, 2012, at 12:27 PM
Derrick —
How are we doing against the clock? I’ll make this my absolute priority.
Your questions.
My answers
1. would you like me to send to a proofer, or do you use someone you like?
I am about as good a proofreader as there is. My one vulnerability is that I know what the piece is supposed to say, and sometimes my mind supplies a correct reading that differs from what my eye actually sees. Your proofer should be able to catch the kind of errors I might miss.
2. would you like some time to order it, or do you like it as is, and can you insert the new piece where you like in the document?
My first choice would be to reorder it, with footnotes immediately following the pieces they apply to. I’ll take a shot at doing that and see what it looks like.
I’ll insert both new pieces — unless and until you tell me differently.
3. I feel this book needs an intro from you. Maybe based off the interview that states where you were as an addict and how you came out, what you learned
and why this book, and why now. What do you think?
Probably a good idea. I’ll take a shot at it and see if I can write something that carries its weight.
all best,
Jack
And some time passed as I worked on some of our other titles being released in the fall. I caught up with him around late November.
From Derrick
Greetings from holland. I woke up in my bed just to tell you its snowing outside here. And that i wished my own dad had the guts to share himself the way you can on the page. Thank you for being a good example of a man to me. Even though i drink and dance like an idiot.
From Jack
It looks like there’s a very good chance the Boston Globe will run a significant obit on me, possibly Seattle Times as well.
Anything we should be doing to position ourselves to take advantage?
(I feel like I’m good for at least another week.)
Jack
Dear Jack
I cant believe this just appeared in my inbox. I need you to hang on for at least 2.5 weeks.
I want you to feel this book in your hands. It is going to be so helpful and it is already so beautiful?
I feel like I need your wife or daughters email. You have done so much. I am sitting in this poetry shop,
this write bloody poetry shop here in austin texas and was picking out where your book will go in a month.
I will carry it here first and then we will launch it everywhere. The sales teams have been hitting the streets already.
I would like to know what you would like me to tell your fans, the new ones, the ones who never got to see you read. I want to know what to tell them also, the ones who love you, what should we know, what torch can we carry away from the words we read in your sweet book?
January 2013
Silence.
There was no response from Jack now. I knew things were bad if he couldn’t respond to emails anymore. I knew he went off the cancer treatment stuff awhile ago and that he was with his wife, Carol.
I contacted our interior layout artist and cover designer
I was given a message by jess lohafer that she just saw him. Could only squeeze his hand and that these are the last days. We texted back and forth about love and about what a great man he is. Please change the interior references from John X back to Jack McCarthy.
On Jan 15, 2013, at 22:45, “Lea C. Deschenes” wrote:
Here’s the Jack-not-John X. version. Does this mean what I think it means?
It did. Jack left us at four in the morning. We will miss him and hear the words lifting from his books. He gave a shit about us and we will continue to give a shit about him, hoping to mirror the person he had become.
This is the last footnote from his book, Drunks and Other poems of Recovery, by Jack McCarthy
ONE LAST EXPLICATION, AND A SMALL REQUEST
AA has two anonymity traditions which I consider sacrosanct. The
result is that if this book is released in my lifetime, I can’t put my real
name on it. But once I’m dead, anonymity is moot. So if the name
on the cover of the book in your hand is other than “John X.,” you’ll
know that I’ve gone on to the Next Great Adventure. If you’re a
praying person, please say a little prayer for my widow. She made me very, very happy.
End.
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