Have Words Will Travel

Today I was reading on the message boards for my MFA alma mater that it might be a good idea to have a Facebook page for the purposes of publicizing yourself in the literary community.  I agree to an extent.  I mean, I do have literary contacts as “friends” on my Facebook page, but my page is only visible to those whom I have “friended” so I’m not convinced it’s a great publicity tool.   Perhaps it’s possible to make one’s Facebook page public to all — I don’t know.

It seems to me that a better place to out oneself as a literary citizen is on a site like Goodreads.  After all, Goodreads is presumably frequented by literary types who like to read, right?   Turns out Goodreads is a good site for literary networking.  Tonight I received a message via Goodreads from the editor of Gently Read Literature, a newish-but-impressive lit-blog.  He asked if I would consider submitting a review of a poetry collection I’d recently read and done a two-sentence review of on Goodreads.  I’m assuming that he asked not because the two sentences I’d spit out immediately upon finishing the book, but because he (here’s where you fellow starving writers should pay attention) CLICKED THROUGH TO THIS BLOG and beheld my brilliant…ummm…off-the-cuff blathering about…uuuhh…whatever.  And realized that an MFA makes me qualified to write a halfway coherent review.  Well, we’ll see if he posts it.  Because his site really does obviously publish a high standard of content and I think you should go over there right this minute and read some reviews and find a book that sounds like something you would really dig.  I mean, we all need to do our part to support the cause of poetry and literature, yes?  And there are so many amaaaazing poets out there who aren’t being read because the general public is seriously missing out.  Don’t be the General Public.

Also?  Check back there on December 1st.  If I live up to the promise of this blog and my [*insert snooty voice*] literary degree, there will be one kick-ass review of a certain newly-released collection that pretty much everyone in the world should read or else they’ll be MISSING OUT.  (Don’t miss out.)

Thanks, Daniel, for the shot.  And for calling me “aces.”