Poetry, Publicity, Reading, Contests, and is the Publishing Sky Falling?

►Okay, I'm heading out to a poetry master class (some people just have too much time on their hands, right?), and after the class, I'll have an hour lull before the evening readings, which is when I plan to read my copy of New York magazine, starting with this the sky-is-falling piece that so many publishing and media sites are buzzing about.

►At lunch yesterday with a new novelist friend, I was telling her that one of the reasons – in addition to excellent prose and fine storytelling -- why her latest book was such a satisfying read for me, is the place I found myself both physically and psychologically when I sat down to read it. So it is with complete simpatico that I read Erika Dreifus's post about what one of the late David Foster Wallace's works meant to her.

►Even though I have a background in public relations, I still keep picking up great new (and new media) tips from Publicity Hound, relevant to positioning and developing one's "brand." I keep passing these along to friends with books to promote.

►Contests. Good, bad and sometimes, very, very ugly. Poet Stacy Lynn Brown recounts a tale which starts with a familiar hanging-in-there-and-continuing-to-submit scenario, leading to an eventual contest win that came with a publishing promise…then it turns depressing: deceit, lawsuit threats, disillusionment, and other unsavory situations. And, she names names. There's a response from the small press she indicts, and I suppose only the two of them know the "real" story. Still. Those who enter contests (me included), might take note.