Organizing your writing life

POETRY WORKSHOP REPORT: The Poetry 101 workshop/reading yesterday at the Fayette County Public Library was fun. We had about 10 or 15 people in attendance, including old friends like Stella Mitchell, Rose Hall and Janet Goodman. It was good to see Christeen again, too. Everyone was attentive and taking notes. It was a pleasure to read poems and talk about some of my favorite poets. There was a Q&A afterwards and a reception. Thank you, everyone, who came out yesterday.

After the workshop, I went by Kodac Harrison's house in Decatur for his birthday open house. Happy Birthday, Kodac!

Many of you may have heard that the Atlanta Journal and Constitution has dumped its book and literary pages and that editor Teresa Weaver is leaving. I talked to Ellen Lindquist at Kodac's party yesterday and she's one of the organizers of a protest planned for in front of AJC headquarters on Marietta Street downtown on Thursday, May 3, at 10 a.m. Newspapers all over the country are having to rethink the bottom line and, sadly, book reviews and coverage don't drum up advertising, the main support for print media. That's why I keep telling everyone that the Internet and blogs are important to the future of literature. We need to have a sea change in the mindset of many people to find the information and resources they need online, where the audience is potentially millions instead of thousands. If you'd like to sign a petition protesting the AJC move, go here.

Thanks to everyone who has voted in the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere. Amy King rounded up a juggernaut of last minute votes, so it looks like she gets the crown unless some miracle occurs today. Amy is a great poet and does a brilliant job at MiPo, so she will serve the blogosphere well.