Book Fairs, Barflies, Rogue Genies

& a publishing-focused Zoom meet-up on Feb. 25

A new agent list and more interviews with writers are in the Bookish pipeline, but for today’s post, a few announcements, followed by another visit with the rogue ChatGPT genie.

Mr. Owl - possibly a Mrs. Owl (American Bird Conservancy)

Next week, if you’ll be in Kansas City at AWP (the annual Associated Writers and Writing Programs conference), I’ll be there Feb. 7-9, and some of that time, at the book fair, table 1133, for Northwestern University’s MFA program. Please stop by to say hello.

- Thursday, 2/8, 5:30-7 PM, I’m emceeing NU’s graduate and faculty reading at HiTides Coffee, 519 E. 18^th St., KC (doors open 5:30 PM, reading at 6 PM) – free event, refreshments, poetry & prose! Readers: Faisal Mohyuddin, Paula Carter, Holly Stovall, Ankur Thakkar, and Audrey Fierberg

- Friday, 2/9, 5-6:30 PM, Strange Days Brewing Co., 316 Oak St., KC, I’ll be reading with Juan Martinez, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Jackie K. White, Beth McDermott, Simone Muench, Jeremy T. Wilson, Mary Biddinger. We’re all geniuses, crosswalk users, and champion pizza eaters, so you must not miss this!

- A Bookish Zoom event, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2 PM PT/5 PM ET, for monthly and annual subscribers, I’m hosting a session on publication: when and how to submit your work to literary journals, agents, publishers, and book contests. I’ll discuss how to craft a cover letter for submissions and an agent query letter. Another topic we’ll focus on: where to find journals to submit to and how many at a time (hint: no carpet-bombing – only choose journals to send to that you really do want your work to appear in), which book contests are among the best, and I’ll save time at the end to answer questions. (Subscriptions to Bookish are 20% off through Feb. 20). Drop me a note if you’d like to attend.

- Aviya Kushner, who writes the

On Being and Timelessness

Substack (who some of you met during our recent writing and hope Zoom), will host an online salon focusing on the poet Paul Celan for her monthly and annual subscribers on 2/25, 12 PM ET – she’ll be joined by translator Pierre Joris and editor Carlie Hoffman.

And now…

The rogue ChatGPT genie was recently in touch and shared some new tips for living with a writer.

Zone4: Is it normal for a writer to hang out in a dark alley with his new novel, and when a mugger, a barfly, and/or two swingers appear, leap out from the shadows, brandishing his book?

ChatGPT: What exactly is this writer’s aim?

Zone4: To acquire new readers.

ChatGPT: Is he planning to charge them for the book?

Zone4: Not sure. Probably.

ChatGPT: Yes, this is normal.

(Robert Brooks, Unsplash)

BeansBeans: Is it normal for a writer to ask his agent to marry him after the agent manages to land him a very nice six-figure, two-book deal?

ChatGPT: Is this writer already married?

BeansBeans: Yes.

ChatGPT: This is somewhat aberrant behavior, but for a writer, yes, this is normal.

—

TheMoose24: Is it normal for a writer to break into the home of an editor who recently rejected his new collection of sonnets and leave a Venus flytrap on her kitchen table with the note, I am a body snatcher?

ChatGPT: How good are these sonnets?

TheMoose24: I’m not actually sure. I don’t get poetry.

ChatGPT: Are they at least formally sound sonnets, e.g. a Shakespearean sonnet with fourteen 10-syllable lines written in iambic pentameter and an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme?

TheMoose24: Whoa...maybe

ChatGPT: Or are they Petrarchan sonnets?

TheMoose24: IDK, give me a friggin break.

ChatGPT: This is a very creepy scenario, honestly, but not entirely abnormal.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle