Category: 100 WIP

100 WIP, Getting Published, Playlists

#ItsHere …and what it means to me.

fivesixer

This is friggin’ amazing, y’all.

Got some copies of my book, which you can get here from Amazon on your Kindle or in print. Now the struggle has a name!

Poetry has kept me sane the last six years, if not the last 25 or so. It’s given me a voice against my mental health, coworkers, companies, and crazy situations I’ve found myself in…even if it wasn’t heard. It’s my art; putting words on a page like a painter uses paint. This is my skill, and this is how I document my reality. I’ve got notebooks full of poems that have been a crucial release point in terms of dealing with myself. Some are good, and some are trash…but the point is to always keep writing, and keep everything you write.

But I often struggle when asked what poetry means to me. Different writers have different answers and comparing one to another is ridiculous. We all write for different reasons, and in the long run this isn’t a competition…we need to support each other no matter what. And I don’t write for solutions necessarily…it’s just my way of dealing with the world that doesn’t always take kindly to strangers in it.

Can I share with you a short sample? Will Eliezer Tristan Publishing mind?

This is how I feel safe and how I feel like I’m contributing to society. It’s how I view the world and make it less awful for me in a corrosive era of our existence. Maybe I didn’t want to be on a team but they threw me a uniform and I had no choice but to be the best I can be, which turned into reaching the pinnacle of the conquest. Maybe this is what I was meant for all along, and my posturing of “good life” was just for show (like so many of you). All I wanted was to get in where I could fit in, and I’ve been able to do that often enough that I don’t hafta worry about who my friends are, even if I’m a shitty friend at times. My body is full of pain, but my heart knows no boundaries. And if that’s who I was born to be and have been lucky enough to survive and spit words, I’ll take it.

Let’s bang out to a published playlist, shall we? Let’s appreciate and support one another!

  • The Tragically Hip, “World Container”
  • Moneen, “The Passing Of America”
  • Faith No More, “Sweet Emotion”
  • Modest Mouse, “Sleepwalkin'”
  • Public Enemy, “He Got Game”
  • Beastie Boys, “Egg Raid On Mojo”
  • Dana Fuchs, “Don’t Let Me Down”
  • Street Sweeper Social Club, “Mama Said Knock You Out”
  • Reggie & The Full Effect, “Your Girlfriends Hate Me”
  • Temple Of The Dog, “Times Of Trouble”

Ok you guys…I’m waiting on a tech support call so I can get my website feeling right and the way I want it…I can only scratch that scab for so long til it becomes infected. Anyway, today’s been awesome and thank you all for joining in on the ride!

100 WIP, Getting Published, Photos, Playlists, support your locals

#ItsHappening

fivesixer

Yes yes y’all! Let’s update you on the last couple of days, since so much has happened between the last time I looked at this blog and now. Follow along!

    • The results of the photo shoot are in! I’ve got a back cover headshot, a back page photo, and of the 67 pics maybe five to ten I actually like (though not the fault of the photographer…after all, he did his best with what he had to work with).
    • The front/back covers are live! 100 front and back cover
    • And here’s a sneak preview of the dedication page, clipped from the editing proof… kickass job by my crews!

dedication

So I had a late night and tried to sleep in a little this morning. Well past my usual wake-up time, as I’m slowly coming to, the Aesop Rock ringtone goes off and it’s the amazingly talented and lovely Sarah Fader on her way for some donuts, checking in. I keep saying things like “Shit’s getting real” yet each day shit keeps getting more real. And we’re going over the list of things I still need to work on, which is crazy because it’s the last hurdle I need to get myself over. Things like Press Release info, newspaper and radio contacts, email addresses from interested readers, finishing off the website and changing the hosting. Life comes at you fast, yo. I told Sarah I had to run some errands and do some packing for a short trip home starting tomorrow, we did a lot of YaaaYYYY!-ing, and I got up to take care of my bizness. And this is what I came home to…

BOOM goes the dynamite!

It’s hard keeping up with the social media posts…the Facebook and Instagram and Twitter love. Cuz like I said, I still have a ton of work to do…and we’re not even in the promotional stage yet where I’m gonna be doing interviews and signings and all that that entails. Plus, I’m taking a weekend off (but not really) to see my mom and hang out at a family friend’s kid’s grad party…which I’m looking forward to, because it’s time off but it’s also some networking opportunities. Gonna bust out the memo book and the nice pen to jot down some email addresses. Gimme yours now and save me some trouble! That way I can send them to my balls-out team of indie warrior women at Eliezer Tristan Publishing and you can be updated as to where I’ll be and how you can get the book. Buy it off the site, get it from Amazon, stuff it on your Kindle, or see me in person and say hey…get you a signed copy! It’ll be nice to see some of you again! It’s been way too long.

Let’s go out on a strong note and see what kind of playlist iTunes wants to generate for me today as I get out of here to bang out work and get ready for some family time…

  • Reggie & the Full Effect, “Mood 4 Luv”
  • Jawbox, “Savory”
  • Atoms For Peace, “Dropped”
  • Jimmy Eat World, “Futures”
  • Joe Tex, “I Believe I’m Gonna Make It”
  • The New Amsterdams, “Without A Sound (Eleanor)”
  • LL Cool J, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”
  • Wilco, “Company In My Back”
  • Deftones, “Feiticeira”
  • Radiohead, “True Love Waits”

That’s all I got for you today, kids…keep watch on your email, this blog, and my Facebook and Twitter for now til I fix up the website. You are my inspiration, my key, and my love. Peace y’all.

100 WIP, Getting Published, Playlists

The Nuts and Bolts!! (a 100 update)

fivesixer

Hey guys! Hope you all had lovely weekends, whether you were celebrating dads and grads or chillin’ at your pads. I have more exciting news that came in the form of text messages and tweets last night that have just kept my world turning at its current whirlwind pace.

So…let’s sort this all out:

  • Eliezer Tristan Publishing purchased 1,000 ISBNs…meaning books can be sold in retail, cataloged in libraries…it’s basically a book’s identity and barcode. One of those ISBNs is going to be 100. Hopefully another will be it’s immediate follow-up, and the one I’m working on now after that. But let’s go down one road at a time.
  • How cool is this cover, done by the amazing Michelle Hammer (who is also working on the layout of the inside of the book as I’m typing this): 100 Cover
  • Speaking of the layout…I just reviewed and sent back the edits for the insides. Meaning: I just saw what my book is gonna look like in print. I know it’s probably not the same thing and it’s a bad comparison, but this must be what it feels like when parents expecting a baby for the first time see the initial sonogram, or hear the heartbeat. Shit is getting real, and with the quickness.

So that’s where we stand today. Please excuse me for having a Holy shit!! moment (y’all know you’d do the same) and let’s blast some good-time celebratory tunes…

  • Queens Of The Stone Age, “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”
  • Beck, “Readymade”
  • Run DMC, “Together Forever (Krush-Groove 4)”
  • Wellwater Conspiracy, “Of Dreams”
  • Jay-Z, “Moment Of Clarity”
  • Public Enemy, “Black Is Back”
  • Atmosphere, “Modern Man’s Hustle”
  • Stone Temple Pilots, “Glide”
  • 10,000 Maniacs, “Because The Night”
  • Kanye West, “Celebration”

That’s my word, friends and lovers of this. Tell your people, share share share, like and support the gott damm amazing team at Eliezer Tristan Publishing on Facebook, and keep on keepin’ on being your kickass awesome selves! Peace…#100 #ItsHappening

100 WIP, Photos, Playlists

I’m a model, baby!

fivesixer

What’s up y’all? Another day, another new experience for your boy over here…just got back from my first ever professional photo shoot. I know, right?! And I mean, hey, well, I’ve had professional portraits taken at school, but that’s practically mandatory. And I’ve stood up in weddings and had pics taken for that too, but those were never about me and to be honest, I don’t recall ever seeing most of the final shots. So yeah, this is a first for me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkAzMgsALjz/?taken-by=fivesixer

So yeah, it felt pretty crazy! And my friends who know me know that I hate forcing myself to smile, because I wind up making the Chandler Bing face. But about halfway through the whole click-clickery I taught myself a little trick…every time the photographer asked/pleaded/desperately bargained for a smile, I’d think about how terrible my fake smile is, which in turn made me chuckle a little, and that produced a legit-looking expression of at least partial joy on my face. *points at forehead* Quick thinking y’all…this pretty-when-it-wants-to-be head isn’t just a hat rack.

And the pics will be ready in about three days. I know I should be excited and I am to an extent, but this is all coming together so fast that I don’t even know if this whole experience of everything going on has really hit me yet. It’s surreal…tell me a week or so ago that by this time next week I’ll be working on all the details that go into getting a book published, and you know I’dda told you to lay off the crack, homie. Yet, here we are, and I’m glad you’re here with me, following along.

With that said, let’s bang out to a kickass photo-based playlist and call it a day.

  • The Cure, “Pictures Of You”
  • Taking Back Sunday, “This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)”
  • Spoon, “I Turn My Camera On”
  • The Tragically Hip, “Pigeon Camera”
  • Camper Van Beethoven, “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”
  • Ice Cube, “Who Got The Camera?”
  • Wilco, “Kamera”
  • Atmosphere, “Camera Thief”
  • Def Leppard, “Photograph”
  • The Who, “Pictures Of Lily”
  • Felt, “I Shot A Warhol”

Hope your day’s fantastic, loves. Let’s keep the wagon wheels rollin’ on through the rest of the week, ok? Peace!