I want to clarify that I stole kate's questions from her blog -- not maliciously, but in the spirit of answering them --
answering kate greenstreet's1st book qnairre, only 4 years after the first bookcame out...
How has your first book changed your life?
Well, it made me more legitimate. I had been writing and teaching for so long, and what became my second book was so long delayed, that I think everyone had begun to wonder if maybe I really sucked.
Plus, then it was ok, I felt, to get married. I wanted a book to come first. My husband told me that his writing came first when we first met; later he said that it didn't. He changed his mind. But the thing was, that I started moving poetry up the importance scale when he said that.
How did it happen that your manuscript was picked up by Salt?
I don't know, and I don't know how to get them to pick up the sequel. I think it was because I was on all the poetry listservs and knew via email a lot of poets in the uk and aust.
Were you involved in designing the cover?
Yes. I wanted it to be yellow (of all the then-current Salt cover colors) and I painted the paintings. Although since the first run, the colr has skewed gradually more greenish -- it was a really pretty yellow at first.
Before your book came out, did you imagine your life would change because of it?
Yes. I thought it would help me get a teaching job.
Has your life been different since? Or has your life been different since you knew the book would be published?
It didn't -- none of my books -- have helped me get a teaching job. I don't really know why I can't get a teaching job; I'm sure some of the places I've applied could tell me, but they don't.
My husband keeps saying, oh, you don't have to write today or you can't be down about this and that, because you have a book out and you used to say that you would be happy once you had a book out.
But I guess I thought it would have more of an impact. I really pushed that first book hard.
What advice do you wish someone had given you before your book came out? What was the best advice you got?
That it wouldn't change my life at all, and I would be lucky if anyone read it. From Star Black.
What influence has the book's publication had on your subsequent writing?
It encouraged me.
How do you feel about the critical response? Has it had any effect on your writing?
I feel that the bizarre order in which various sort of books of mine are coming into the wider world has ultimately confused a lot of people. I've gotten some stupendous response, but I also haven't been reviewed -- oh, say even by all the places I used to review.
Do you want your life to change?
Yes.
Is there something you're doing now that you think will bring about a change that you seek?
I don't know. I hope so. I am not working hard enough, I think. The times when I've really changed things, I've worked really, really hard. Instead of working hard enough, I am worrying more.
Do you believe that poetry can create change in the world?
I don't think of it that way; I think it can create change within people. People can create change.
answering kate greenstreet's1st book qnairre, only 4 years after the first bookcame out...
How has your first book changed your life?
Well, it made me more legitimate. I had been writing and teaching for so long, and what became my second book was so long delayed, that I think everyone had begun to wonder if maybe I really sucked.
Plus, then it was ok, I felt, to get married. I wanted a book to come first. My husband told me that his writing came first when we first met; later he said that it didn't. He changed his mind. But the thing was, that I started moving poetry up the importance scale when he said that.
How did it happen that your manuscript was picked up by Salt?
I don't know, and I don't know how to get them to pick up the sequel. I think it was because I was on all the poetry listservs and knew via email a lot of poets in the uk and aust.
Were you involved in designing the cover?
Yes. I wanted it to be yellow (of all the then-current Salt cover colors) and I painted the paintings. Although since the first run, the colr has skewed gradually more greenish -- it was a really pretty yellow at first.
Before your book came out, did you imagine your life would change because of it?
Yes. I thought it would help me get a teaching job.
Has your life been different since? Or has your life been different since you knew the book would be published?
It didn't -- none of my books -- have helped me get a teaching job. I don't really know why I can't get a teaching job; I'm sure some of the places I've applied could tell me, but they don't.
My husband keeps saying, oh, you don't have to write today or you can't be down about this and that, because you have a book out and you used to say that you would be happy once you had a book out.
But I guess I thought it would have more of an impact. I really pushed that first book hard.
What advice do you wish someone had given you before your book came out? What was the best advice you got?
That it wouldn't change my life at all, and I would be lucky if anyone read it. From Star Black.
What influence has the book's publication had on your subsequent writing?
It encouraged me.
How do you feel about the critical response? Has it had any effect on your writing?
I feel that the bizarre order in which various sort of books of mine are coming into the wider world has ultimately confused a lot of people. I've gotten some stupendous response, but I also haven't been reviewed -- oh, say even by all the places I used to review.
Do you want your life to change?
Yes.
Is there something you're doing now that you think will bring about a change that you seek?
I don't know. I hope so. I am not working hard enough, I think. The times when I've really changed things, I've worked really, really hard. Instead of working hard enough, I am worrying more.
Do you believe that poetry can create change in the world?
I don't think of it that way; I think it can create change within people. People can create change.
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