dreams, & more dreams.

another dream for you:
twice this month I have dreamed that my hair turned blonde. this was not a good thing, but there was nothing that could be done, it was constantly getting blonder, in both dreams. the first one I don't remember much about, but in the second one i distinctly remember my family (especially my mother) disapproving strongly of the change, and being very vocal about it.

thoughts?

*sidenote: my hair was blonde growing up, until I dyed it red in college
**sidenote dos: i'm currently trying to return to my natural color, whatever that is.

***

over the weekend i heard back from one of my admired-professors that i sent my manuscript to last week. AND.....she said its wonderful and that i should go for it! she has always been very encouraging to me about my writing, but i was surprised she didn't tell me to cut this, cut that, write a new whatever. once she made me write twelve different endings to a 10 line poem, until i got the ending right. i admire her tremendously.

i haven't heard back from the other professor yet, so maybe i will still have to make some cutting/adding decisions. my problem is that i am continually writing and loving my new poems more than my old poems and wanting to add more and more until my manuscript has become rather much a beast. or Rusty, my honorary-aunt's overweight kitty. who even sits at the breakfast nook, paws on the table, to let them know that it is time for foood, and he's Hongry.

i'm planning to (mostly) do mybest to leave it alone now that its got a stamp of approval, and to just send it out. i had thought i sent my manuscript out a ton of places last year, but i did a count and it was much less than i thought--just about 6 places (two of these being contests, the rest just open submission periods). which i guess some would still think that is a ton. but its not really, when a lot of the presses are extreme long shots (Paris Press, like thats going to happen!)

Since contests are crazy expensive, i am mainly planning to send out to open reading periods this year, and just three very-select contests. its hard to pick which contests to send to, since i'm only going to do three. Right now i'm thinking I'll send to White Pine Press and the Yale Series of Younger Poets, and i haven't decided on a third yet. something in the spring, maybe, if we have the money.

anyways, hopefully this will be a lucky year for me!


***

something to think about:

But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. 
(I Thess. 4:10-12)