It’s like losing virginity. It’s one of those life milestones, a graduation, a marriage, buying a first home. At fifty-three, I’m holding my first published book in my hands. It’s been a lifelong dream. I guess I’m a late bloomer, but I have no complaints!

My thanks to Leah Maines, Christen Kincaid, and all the elves at Finishing Line Press. Although this is a chapbook, you’ve taken the effort to produce a beautiful object.

And let’s never stop raving about Jenn Zed’s amazing painting on the cover! Some readers may know Jenn’s work from Califragile. I often pair her art with various poets there. Jenn is a poet, herself.

The day my first box of copies arrived, C.T. noticed a thistle with four purple blossoms growing along our driveway. They look exactly like Jenn’s cover art.

If you pre-ordered a copy through me or Finishing Line Press and gave your address, you’ll be getting your copy in the next couple of weeks. FLP as advised me that if you have questions or think your order might be lost, you should contact them, the publisher, not the author. Email them here:

MissingBookOrders@finishinglinepress.com

If you pre-ordered through me and didn’t give your address, I’ll be contacting you this week to deliver it.

If you are in the Butte County area and want to take advantage of the “danish rebate,” then contact me when your copy arrives and we’ll schedule a date at the coffee house of your choice. You need to initiate in order for this to happen.

I’ll post later with upcoming promotional events!

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Pippin & Simile: Love Makes a Family

Wren on April 25th, 2019

There are clues to her history, but no one know for certain. She was found wandering Skyway, the main artery that runs the length of Paradise Ridge. She was loose in Magalia, an area of thick Ponderosa pine forest. Unknown persons corralled her and brought her to a family nearby who had two 4H male [...]

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Thanks on My Last Days of Preorders

Wren on April 25th, 2019

Many thanks to Finishing Line Press publisher Leah Maines and her staff! Despite losing four months of prep time to the Camp Fire, I have learned a lot in Thistle and Brilliant’s two month promotional period. FLP has been great, suggesting books to read on poetry promotion and tutoring me on press releases, print and [...]

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I’ve been asked this a couple of times at readings. Especially since the words are different parts of speech, and since I don’t always share the tiny title poem, I understand the curiosity. This poem sets the tone for the collection. Before it kicked off my chapbook, it was the lead-off poem in a spring [...]

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I’m the Book of the Day!

Wren on April 22nd, 2019

Today my publisher, Finishing Line Press, honors my poetry collection, Thistle and Brilliant, as their Book of the Day. How fun! This is a great opportunity for me to give more details about this book and its meaning to me.
A few years ago, chronic health problems I’d been living with got worse. I moved to [...]

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Feather River Hospital and Tabitha’s Skull

Wren on December 16th, 2018

I came across this sketch today. I apparently jotted it down some time after a hospitalization. (That year I had six surgical procedures.)  The hospital mentioned is Feather River, closed, for now, after being engulfed by the Camp Fire. The hospital itself became a “consumable,” I suppose. This study, and the details of the fire I [...]

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So many campaigns on GoFundMe are to assist people who have experienced horrible, usually unforeseen events–illnesses, accidents, etc. I felt guilty as I put my post up to collect donations for The Goat Boat. Then I realized that I’m collecting for tragedy prevention. A fire that overtakes our herd is not unforeseen, it’s a small [...]

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Getting Published: Show, Don’t Tell

Wren on December 20th, 2017

At Califragile and JUMP, I get many poems with interesting topics and perspectives. Yet the other editors and I reject 90-95% of submitted work. Top three reasons I reject submitted poetry: telling instead of showing, cliche, and a conversational or narrative tone, versus a poetic one.
I comment in an upcoming interview with Selfish Poet’s Trish [...]

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Poets who connect with me via Califragile or The Seldom Herd Poetry & Goat Bulletin Board recently got my invitation to join Poetry Circle, an online journal and private membership critique group for experienced poets.
Shortly after I sent said invites, that publication was sold to a developer who shut down the journal and converted the [...]

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