Abbey of the Arts

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I’m blissed-out and and blessed. My daughters and their SO’s are coming to dinner. Hubby is in the kitchen (cooking up a storm). I woke up very, very early and put in two hours on my novel, then I had a long walk early this morning in the crisp cold air under blue skies. (Now, to bake pies!)

And — on the heels of two wildly successful readings last weekend, I discovered that my feature at Abbey of the Arts had gone “live” — so nothing but thanks, thanks and more thanks in the writing department. (I hope you’ll explore the entire Abbey site — it features the work and wisdom of poet and teacher Christine Valters Paintner and I’m confident you’ll agree that it’s a treasure.)

Then, taking a moment this morning to catch up on email — I found this delightful poem at a blog I follow, The Poetry Department…aka The Boynton Blog. 

Where You’ll Find Me

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I have several upcoming gigs to tell you about.

The first is TONIGHT at Zippy’s — where I’ll be reading with a few other contributors to the Northwest poets anthology Footbridge Above the Falls: Poems by Forty-Eight Northwest Poets, edited by David D. Horowitz. Click on the Rose Alley Press website to see their other offerings in the coming months.

Everett Poetry Night
Thursday, November 7, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
Poetry: Robinson Bolkum, Kevin Craft, Christopher J. Jarmick, Jed Myers, Bethany Reid, David D. Horowitz, and open mic
Cafe Zippy, 1502 Rucker Avenue, Everett, WA
Telephone: 425-303-0474
E-mail: CafeZippyInfo@gmail.com; David, rosealleypress@juno.com
URL: www.cafezippy.com/; www.rosealleypress.com

then —

Foothills Writers Series | Carmen Germain, Bethany Reid, Karen Whalley

Event Date: Friday, November 22, 2019 – 7:00pm
Event Location: Raymond Carver Room | Port Angeles Public Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
Again, just click on the link to see full information.
…and then —

So,Dear Writer…: An It’s About Time Writers’ Reading Series Anthology — Elliott Bay Books, Seattle

Sunday, November 24, 3 p.m.

I’ll be one of several readers, including Peggy Sturdivant, and the anthology publisher.

I’ll be reading my “famous” craft essay, “One Bad Poem,” and of course I would love to see you there.

An Unexpected Review

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photograph by Loren Webster

Just taking a moment to share this unexpected review of Body My House. When you visit Loren Webster’s blog, In a Dark Time…, be sure to scroll back through the posts — his nature photography is stunning.

https://www.lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/2019/10/22/bethany-reids-body-my-house/

The Unsinkable Priscilla Long

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If you have been my student or talked about writing with me, then you probably already know that Priscilla Long, author of The Writer’s Portable Mentor and other books, has been my friend for 30 years.

We met while I was studying for my MFA in poetry at the University of Washington and Priscilla, for her fiction MFA. Or, she was supposed to be studying fiction. After taking a workshop with Colleen McElroy, we decided to exchange poetry manuscripts, and we began meeting for dinner almost every week to rework and deepen our poems.

At our table at the old College Inn in the university district, I confessed to Priscilla my very un-feminist craving for a baby and she told me, “For heaven’s sake! If you want a baby, have a baby! Don’t blame feminism!”

When my twins were a year old and I stalled on my Ph.D. dissertation, Priscilla saved me. “Send me seven pages! They can be terrible! Even with two babies you can write seven terrible pages!” She coaxed that dissertation out of me, never rewriting a single sentence, always telling me, “Of course you can do it!”

So, for those reasons and many others, I am very pleased to direct you to this bio, newly posted at History Link, the free on-line encyclopedia of Washington state history.

https://www.historylink.org/File/20845