2010 in Real Life was tough, trying, bitter, rewarding, and it's over. Finally. There's not much more to say than that.
2010 in Writing Life was me living the dream. A baker's dozen of poems published. Won the New South Prize, and received two Pushcart Prize nominations. I completed multiple revisions of my manuscript and arrived at a final draft, titled it Praise Nothing, and it's currently out and under consideration. On the whole, the poems are coming along and I feel at peace with my labors.
That said, I do like to use the beginning of each new year to make new poetry goals, and I've decided that, this year, I'd type 'em up as a way of making sure I hold myself accountable.
Over at The New Republic, Ruth Franklin has a piece titled "How I'll Be a Better Reader in 2011." You should click over to read the rest, but here's an excerpt:
New Year’s Eve is one of my favorite holidays—not so much for the champagne and crowds, but for the call to renewal that it brings. As a child I was an avid New Year’s resolution-maker, always with an eye toward self-improvement: I would pledge to write in my diary more often and keep my room neater. By now, I’ve given up on both of those endeavors, but, this year, I thought I’d try giving the classic New Year’s resolutions a literary spin.Modeling this after Franklin's, here's my list of 2011 Poetry Goals:
Lose Weight -- Get first manuscript published; finish the long poem projects; give away poetry books, especially during National Poetry Month; revise older work and submit it.
Exercise More -- Write and publish six book reviews; blog more consistently; a draft of a new poem every three weeks.
Learn a New Language -- Read more critical theory.
Quit Smoking -- Submit poems to the "Discovery"/Boston Review Prize; submit poems (for the first time) to Poetry, AGNI, Ploughshares, Paris Review, The New Yorker, Georgia Review, and The Atlantic; resubmit to Blackbird, Southern Review; submit to more poetry contests.
Spend More Time with Family & Friends -- More workshopping with poetry friends via the interwebz; attend a "virtual" reading; be more consistent with the poetry email list.
Basically, my primary poetry goal is the same as it always is: do something for poetry every day.
