Four days, three performances, two new poems, one tired brain!
That’s right, I had three performances last week, as you know if you follow me on facebook or twitter (or both, for extra super special points). I did another Minnesota Without Poverty event, where I got to meet some really great musicians and connect with the organizers. They had a special table set aside for artists, which was awesome. Not only did I get to sit at a table marked “Reserved for Poets,” but we broke into small groups after the main talk, and I got to have my discussion with all the artsy types. Hoarding the awesome? Maybe, but it was fun just the same. Possibly even better, one of the women at my table told me that her dad is a literary agent and gave me his contact info. She even said she’d give him a heads up that I’d be contacting him. That is pure gold, baby.
Second, I performed at the benefit concert for the youth group’s 30 Hour Famine campaign. For the very first time, I tried out a call and response in a poem, and the thing rhymed. To my joy and a little bit to my surprise, it went over really well. I’m going to try that again. Plus, my dad said that he sent the video to his church’s youth pastor to possibly use for their 30 Hour Famine campaign. Of course, Dad was hoping that they would fly me out there to perform it again. I’m going to set the likeliness of getting flown anywhere to perform a 2 minute poem at “very low,” but it’s nice to have parents who think I rock. Here’s a video of that piece: Manna
The third performance was a much more somber event, the memorial service for the Mcmahon Fire on Lake Street. The cute husband and I live less than a block from the site, and our whole street was blanketed in smoke that morning. As we left for work we could see water pouring onto the roof from the fire trucks and flame shooting out the windows. It was the biggest fire Minneapolis has seen in 26 years, and it killed 6 people including 3 little kids. I was honored to contribute to the service, and I hope that the poem was comforting to the community. Here’a video of that piece: The Fire
Today the challenge set before me is to write a synopsis of my most recent book so I can finally start querying. Yes, I was planning to start querying about a month ago, but I was not fully prepared for such a venture. And sadly, I still am not. If you don’t know, a synopsis is supposed to be the entire book in miniature. So every plot point, character development, and larger theme should be present, all the secrets should be given away, and it should all happen in two short pages. I can appreciate the convenience of having a synopsis, and I actually expect that a synopsis improves my chances of getting picked up since an agent/editor doesn’t have to read all 325 pages to see how awesome I am at plot. Still, every time I sit down to write a synopsis there is a little voice that gets steadily louder in my head. The voice says, “if I can really do this in two pages, why did I write a freakin’ book?” And then, at that very moment, is when I find out if I really believe in my art. You might want to check in with me tomorrow.
