International Poetry Event on December 11th

Yes, I meant to have a prompt up on Tuesday, but this week has just slipped by me…

I am so excited to announce I have an event coming up! On Sunday I will be part of a televised international poetry reading. It will be 8am Pacific time on. Here is the link to attend: https://www.facebook.com/UddanTV

I have attended two previous World of Poetry readings but am bad at promoting my events and wanted to make sure I did for this one. I misunderstood Toufiq for the first event—I believed he was inviting me to listen until he asked me for a bio and an author photo. Somehow I managed to sneak in despite the fact that the other poets are all acclaimed writers and respected scholars.

I am so happy to have been invited back. The other poets are truly amazing, and I am grateful to be included. I hope you can attend or watch the recording.

Yikes, 6 Days into NaNoWriMo!

Hi all, I completely forgot about NaNoWriMo this year. Every November writers are challenged to write 50,000 words of a novel in any genre, and the NaNoWriMo organization provides events and platform to build a community and offer support.

Here is the faq to get you started.

I won’t be participating this year: I am focusing on poetry. I have managed the challenge in the past, and I’ll happily cheer you on.

Remember even if you are behind, you can try to catch up or just finish late. The goal is to create a daily writing habit and not let your internal editor stifle you. Good luck!

Image Courtesy of NaNoWri: Viking helm above a crest divided into quadrants (image of coffee cup in upper left, laptop in upper right, stack of pages in lower right, and crossed pens in lower left)

Sealey Challenge Coming Soon!

I have been struggling to keep up with reading. My stack of unread books far outpaces my stack of read. I hope this August I can rekindle my reading habits. Just as with the last couple of years of not completing the 30/30 writing challenge but writing more poems than usual, I know that simply trying to participate will encourage me to read more poetry.

For more information on the challenge and how to connect with other readers and get great book recommendations, check out the website.

I hope you can join me, but if not, no worries. We are all in this together!

Tomorrow Starts NaPoWriMo!

Tomorrow another April arrives and with it the 30 poems in 30 days writing challenge. I will try to post a prompt every week (sorry for the slacking), but there are many places to find prompts. Check out the official NaPoWriMo site for daily prompts and past years’ prompts. There’s even an early bird prompt posted today.

Come this Sunday to Gatsby Books!

Hi everybody! Just wanted to invite you to hear me Adrian Ernesto Cepeda, Angela Narciso Torres, Jesenia Chávez and me at Gatsby Books (5535 E Spring St, Long Beach)! Come listen to Adrian read from his most recent book and from his other collections. I am excited to hear him, Jesenia, and Angela!

I hope to see you!

It’s 30/30, Poets! Get Your Write On!

April is the cruelest month—it’s National Poetry Month and the write-30-poems-in-30-days challenge! For every day of this month, write a poem. Be on the look out for great readings, workshops and other events too.

For more prompts and information, check out the NaPoWriMo site. The first prompt is already up!

Join me in writing (I hope) 30 poems this month. I will post extra prompts (not daily though—because I will barely make it through this month), but I provide links to other prompt sources.

Be a poetry-writing fool. Get started!

Moon Tide Press Indiegogo Campaign

Check out Moon Tide Press’s Indiegogo fundraiser for its upcoming anthology Sh!t Men Say to Me: A Poetry Anthology in Response to Toxic Masculinity for workshops, a one-on-one photo session, manuscript consultation, a mixtape, mystery bags, and more! Or just preorder it and enjoy!

You can purchase other great Moon Tide poetry collections here.

NaNoWri Is Coming For You!!! Muhahahahaha

Sorry for the hiatus, my iPad was out of commission and then my discipline was… I will post another Halloween-themed prompt tomorrow, but I wanted to discuss NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month challenge) because it starts this Friday.

The NaNoWriMo challenge is writing 50,000 words of a novel in one month. Recently, the challenge has been expanded to include collections of poems, short stories, memoirs and other genres. Technically, the project is supposed to be a new novel or all new stories/poems/writing, but of course just getting people to write is the point. I have tried twice and once completed the challenge a few years ago. I decided to do it again this year because I need to shift from poetry to fiction for a while.

One of the things I really enjoyed about NaNoWriMo was the community support. The NaNoWriMo site offers tips, tools, online writing buddies, and group writing events. For more information about the challenge and to sign up, go to organization’s website nanowrimo.org

Join me in the all-night slogs and, I hope, the eventual celebration.. Let me know if you plan to register at the NaNoWriMo site, so that we can be buddies.

Tonight! Tonight! Tonight!

Let the Dark Ink anthology reading tattoo your soul!

Growing Teeth on the Inside—Vagina Dentata and Other Prompts for the Strong Stomached

For the first prompt, use the picture of the ovarian teratoma to write a poem or short story from the perspective of a tissue that has grown teeth and sentience inside another’s body. Does your narrator feel safe and content within the other, or does the narrator want to chew its way out of its prison? How much does the narrator understand of its world and its own limitations?

For more information on this dermoid cysts and teratomas and its possible relation to the myth of vagina dentata, click here.

For the second prompt, write a variation of a vagina dentata poem. Think of the movie Teeth but with less assault and more bite (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun). For inspiration, here is a poem by the amazing Arminé Iknadossian.

Btw, this poem was published in Moon Tide Press’s Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired by Horror. Come out to Goldenest Diner (13030 Goldenwest, Westminster) on October 17th at 7 p.m. to hear more poems from this anthology. Don’t forget to wear your dark side on the outside to compete in the costume contest!

For the final prompt—muhhahahahahaha—make a list of five iconic objects/image of a famous horror or suspense movie and write from that object’s or image’s perspective. What does Freddy’s blade-embedded glove help him keep track of? To-do lists, to-kill lists, multiplication tables? What does the elevator want to carry in its belly in The Shining? Does the elevator see itself as a protector or a villain?

October 17th—Dark Ink Anthology Reading and Costume Contest: Be There and Be Scared!

Join me for the reading and Halloween costume contest on October 17th at the Goldenwest Diner in Westminster where I and others will be reading poems from Moon Tide Press’s horror-inspired anthology.

Frankenstein’s monster, Zombies, TWO vagina dentata poems, monsters GalORE—how could you possibly escape this fright night! Bring your mummy or a date!

This Wednesday, September 4th, at the Ugly Mug—Poetry Reading and Fundraiser for RAICES!

Poets HanaLena Fennel and Ra Avis will offer their powerful voices and unique insights to support the critical work of RAICES this Wednesday for the Two Idiots Peddling Poetry reading series at the Ugly Mug. Proceeds from the purchase of their poetry books as well as poetry collections donated by Moon Tide Press and artwork by local artists will be donated to RAICES.

The reading starts at 8:00. Open mic signup begins at 7:45. The Ugly Mug is located at 261 N. Glassell St in Orange. Parking is available on nearby side streets and parking lots. The $3 cover charge reimburses the venue for the reading.

Below is the press release for the poetry feature and open mic event. Click here for event and author links.

HanaLena Fennel (left) and Ra Avis (right)

Prompts + Poetry Event: A Celebration of 30 poems in 30 days

Tomorrow night at the Ugly Mug in Orange, HanaLena Fennel and I will be reading prompts and poets will be sharing their prompt-inspired poems to celebrate April’s 30/30 challenge! 

The reading starts 8:00 (or more like 8:15). Be sure to sign up for the open mic (3 poems/5 minutes, whichever comes first) and share your 30/30 poems or a new one or your favorite poem.

Don’t forget to bring $3 for the cover, or Phil will collect an organ of his choice!

Full disclosure: I only wrote 20 and did not write an ode to my socks, a sestina, nor even a limerick....

Event and Prompt: This Wednesday at the Ugly Mug—Dark Ink Anthology Reading! Be there and be scared (of me apparently)

Mermaids, monsters, 50-ft. women, oh, my! Join us at 8 p.m. at the Ugly Mug in Orange for your favorite creature feature and Moon Tide’s publisher Eric Morago whom I blackmail into publishing me because I keep his darkest secret in an empty Kleenex box on my bedside table. I haven’t ever seen it—it is a dark secret and avoids the light, duh—but I feed it pumpkin seeds, so I know it is still there. Buy the book and free his secret or his soul—both probably cost the same.

And now for the first prompt: write a poem or story about taking a mermaid for a lover or an enemy. For inspiration, read Jan Stinchcomb’s “The Lorelei Project.” Just remember, not all hearts beat warm. 

 (This is the mermaid I created out of rocks, seaweed, and shells a few years ago.)

And here is a picture of me looking very intense (or my attempt at frightening at the Dark Ink anthology launch:

(Photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher)

And here is my mermaid poem in the anthology...but you have to buy the book to read the ending of “Mermaid: The Ending.”

Thank you, Adrian Ernesto Cepeda, for the photo and for the plug on Twitter!

Dark Ink Anthology—Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

This post is a month overdue...I had technical issues with some of the photos, so I had to scrap my initial plan and instead individually feature poets from the Dark Ink anthology launch.

First of all, I want to start with Adrian Ernesto Cepeda. I was so stoked getting to meet him in person at the Dark Ink launch after following him on Twitter for so long. And his poem was fantastic! Buy the anthology from Moon Tide Press, so that you can read it and all the other fantastic poems!

Full disclosure: I stole this photo from his post on Facebook. Below is a selfie of the two of us. 

And look down here for some members of the audience!

Dark Ink Launch—Dare to Be There

Join ussssss for a sometimes scary (but not necessarily scary) reading of poems from Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired from Horror published by Moon Tide Press. Horror fans (and pansies like myself) will be sure to enjoy a night of poems about favorite slasher films, mythological creatures, classic monsters, current politics (the most frightening subject of all), and more.

 Directly from Moon Tide’s editor, Eric Morago (because I am lazy, as you know): We hope you will join us for the official launch reading and party of Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired by Horror on Saturday, November 3rd at The Whittier Museum in Whittier, CA.

Poets from the anthology will be reading and you will have an opportunity to purchase the book, along with other Moon Tide titles. There will be complimentary food and drink (including wine), a fun raffle, and other spooky surprises.

The event will start at 7 PM, but arrive a little early to get your copy of the book, a treat, and to check out the museum's awesome Halloween decorations.

Poets reading the night of the event are TBA, but some of the confirmed poets are: Ron Koertge, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Armine Iknadossian, Daniel McGinn, Sonia Greenfield, and Mariano Zaro.

We will update the full list of poets as the date draws closer. You can stay up to date by checking the Facebook event page here.

The Whittier Museum is located at: 6755 Newlin Ave. Whittier, CA 90601.

We are SO proud of this anthology and cannot wait to share it with you. Please mark your calendars; we hope you will join us in celebrating this book and the poets who make it so special!

And don't forget...this reading is absolutely FREE and open to the public.

NaNoWriMo NOW—First Day to 50,000 Words

Hi all, I meant to give prior notice, but procrastinating and petting my cat Pebbles took priority...as usual. This month is National Novel Writing Month—a don’t-fuss-just-write writing challenge. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. The goal is not to write 50,000 perfect and polished words (if you do, then awesome!), but just to write. After November, you have the start of a novel to then complete the story, revise, edit, revise some more, edit, edit, edit... 

Ideally, you should have a plot outline and some characters thought out. I don’t have either. Let’s just jump in and start swimming. I have however signed up at the nanowrimo.org site. This organization really does provide a lot of support, including writing events and writing buddies, and fun rewards. [It also encourages younger writers in K-12 schools and gives resources and materials to libraries.]

What kind of prizes can you get for completing the challenge—other than bragging rights, of course? The T-shirt. Really, it is all about the T-shirt—a self-congratulation to wear on your chest and a pat on your back for your back. I did complete the challenge in 2013. OMG, I did not realize it has really been five years.... Regardless, I still wear the shirt and will until it disintegrates into fine layer of lint. (yes, yes, yes, the date is on the shirt, and I still didn’t realize how long ago, but I don’t stare at my shirt unless I spill food on myself). 

So go to the site, sign in, and start in. Good luck!  

Dark Ink anthology Book Release and Party—A Bloody Good Time

Come join me at the Dark Ink book release and party! So many great poets are included in this anthology, and I managed to sneak in. Yaaaayyy! 

Woohoo, I got poems published in Cultural Weekly

Hi all, I am so excited to have four poems chosen by the fabulous Alexis Rhone Fancher for Cultural Weekly! Here is the link.  

This photo, published in Cultural Weekly with my poems, was taken by Geoff Burley.  

I Get to Feature with Awesome Poets! Yay!!!

Hey, everybody, I snuck into a feature with Marcus Omari, Daniel McGinn, Alexis Rhone Fancher, and Julissa Cardenas! Quality control is slacking! Woohoo!!!

Truly, I am so grateful to be asked to read with such amazing poets at a great reading. Nancy Lynée Woo and Michael Gravagno host the quarterly Poetry on the Rocks reading series that combines powerful poetry with serious fun. Come watch my on-the-fly haiku after drinking a shot and discover (along with me) if the Smurf theme song takes over my brain—again.