Cedar Press Review Book Award

Well, I did it. I sent off my manuscript to join the contest 'slush pile' at Cedar Press Review. What is it about contests that I find more attractive than the usual slush pile? Well, first there is promise of a cash prize (oh grubby me), there's lots of levels like honorable mention and stuff like that, but mostly - hey, they ASK me to send them a manuscript. So at least I don't have to feel like I'm imposing on anyone, making their days onerous. I'm employing readers! I'm supporting a small press. Oh, there's all sorts of good things -

I had sent a draft of the manuscript to my friend Scott Wiggerman who, by the way, has recently published through his company 'Dos Gatos Press' a pretty cool desk calendar called Texas Poetry Calendar 2007. You can purchase a copy on their website. Anyhow, Scott, bless is heart, returned comments with a list of the poems he liked and some typographic corrections. And his response was encouraging: "All in all, I find that when I read a book of poetry, if I mark a third of the poems with a star (sometimes a double star), that means I think it's a good book." So armed with that I printed the darn thing out (it's been lurking in my iMac for weeks) and mailed it off.