In December, I submitted the requisite query letter to UNM Press by the suggested deadline of “the end of the year” and can now say that the project has progressed in status from “in negotiations” to “under formal consideration.” Since the poems in the collection were necessarily published somewhat in the order they were received and timed to coincide with holidays and regional events, the final collection will be reordered to reflect themes and motifs that have surfaced as the project has evolved. I expect this reordering will take approximately three months. Also, the final anthology will likely not contain all 200 poems, so I am considering other possible titles. One particularly appropriate title consideration is the state’s motto, It Grows as It Goes, which seems to fit with the nature of this project’s evolution.
Contributors to the project continue to express enthusiastic interest in scheduling a reading for the project. To that end, I am still trying to nail something down –preferably a venue that is free or at least very low cost. This aspect of the project has been alluding me these last few months mostly because every time I start to follow a lead, life throws some urgency my way and I am necessarily distracted and loose the thread. Fortunately my work schedule has lightened, which should afford me a little more time to focus on getting something definite scheduled. At this writing, I have a couple of venues in mind and will be approaching them later today. If anyone has a solid lead or connection to a free or low coast venue, do let me know. I will send out an email when I know more.
I don’t know if this is a solid lead, Lisa, but you could check it out: LuLu’s Restaurant on Cerrillos, attached to a motel in Santa Fe has a large, very nice performance room…we heard Lulu’s niece singing country and western songs there…very professional, there while there might have been at least a hundred people sitting at tables and finishing a Chinese buffet $10 each. Lulu is a very friendly businesswoman…don’t know if she has a charge for the space.
I know what it’s like to have life throwing all kinds of unexpected challenges, positive and painful, at us, so, it’s poco y poco moving forward with any project, especially one as ambitious as yours. Thanks for your efforts.
Hearty 2013,
Janet Eigner
Hi Lisa: I think I mentioned this to you previously, but there’s a cool space in Eldorado called the Performance Space and it is very affordable, $50 an hour and $100 for the entire day. It’s managed and maybe owned by Destiny Allison and I can send you her email if you’re interested. Katherine Seluja