First Complete Drafty Draft of Clay Bodies

Plus: Sacramento road trip!

Oh hello there, friends! Where have I been, you say? Well, for one, I’ve been hard at work wrapping up a very drafty first draft of Clay Bodies. But I think it is starting to resemble a book.

It’s hard to not let my poet-self infiltrate my memoirist-self. Here are a few of the chapter titles:

The Garden of Memory is Full of Weeds

A Brief History of the History of My Family

Candy Behind the Ear

Let the Dead Past Bury Its Own

Further, after a great deal of thought, I have decided to publish it via 909 Books, the collective that I formed with Mark Givens. Why? Because I don’t want to hassle with a) submitting to slush piles or b) finding an agent, because both of the paths could be long and treacherous, and also and most importantly because I want to retain control.

For the curious, the model looks like this: The collective consists of a three-year commitment. The first year (which I am in) focuses on getting the manuscript from drafty to watertight. The second year, production begins. Also, those second-year writers mentor the first year writers. The beginning of the third year is when the book is complete and we focus on all the post-publication tasks like PR & marketing. Yes, the collective requires dues. No, there is no application process. Because both Mark and I have day jobs, we are keeping the circle tight. It is by invitation only, maximum of three writers per cohort. Right now, we have two books in production and three more (including mine) in process. It’s a different way to think about publishing. Writers are involved in every step of the process, and all funds are pooled. It is truly a collaborative approach.

Thus, the print copy of the manuscript.

Tomorrow both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 members will meet up. Cohort 1 just got back their copy edits and their covers are designed. We’ll be working on doing the interior layout next. While that’s happening, they will be reading and providing feedback on Cohort 2 manuscripts, mine included.

I’m excited to see it in print, to flip the pages and read it cover to cover, because it’s really quite a different experience from seeing it on the screen. I’ve learned this editing other books. The average length of a memoir is 60-100k words, according to sources online. Mine is at 58k but that’s after cutting several chapters that I decided don’t belong in this book and in preparation for the addition of new material.

Because…

One week from today, I will be on the road to Sacramento.

You can kind of see from the map the places I have marked as stops: Carnegie, Stockton, Lincoln, Roseville, and of course Sacramento proper.

I’m excited to be participating as a judge for the State of California’s Poetry Out Loud finals. As a long-time county-level judge, I’m eager to see how it all comes together at the state level. The process takes two days, and because we’re driving, we’re arriving a day ahead and we’ve also tacked on a couple of days on the back end specifically for research day trips. (When I say “we” I mean me and my husband Lloyd, who I will share driving duties with.) It will be a nice pre-AWP get away.

Right. So yeah, I will also be at AWP in LA! More on that to come.

I’ll post from Sacto. Until then—