Category Archives: Writing

P.S. 2022

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

I am exhausted. After a couple years of waiting in limbo, the doors of opportunity opened. 2022 was the year of small business development, poetry, travel, and caregiving. Throw in my day job and there’s my whole life.

Poetry

I attended the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference at Bemidji State University on June 20-26, 2022. This is an excellent writing retreat on the shores of beautiful Lake Bemidji. As an attendee of one of the writing workshops, it was full immersion in the craft from 7am to 9pm for a full week. I never wanted to come home.

I was honored to emcee the League of Minnesota Poets Fall Conference awards gala at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, MN on November 4-6, 2022. My balcony faced Lake Darling and I watched a flock of ducks lift off in the lake in the thin colors before sunrise my last morning there.

Four of my poems were published before life got ahold of me and I paused submissions:

4/10/22- 1st grade report card note: “Too much daydreaming” with Lyricality.org

04/27/22- Let Us Consider was one of six winners of the Environmental (In)justice in Mni Sóta Maḳoce Storytelling Contest, sponsored by Saint Paul Almanac and University of St. Thomas Sustainable Communities Partnership.

6/28/22 Lace & Half-Naked in the Depths of Winter with Spring Thaw, Itasca Community College

You can say that I should make time, make submitting my work for publication a priority and you’d be right. But it turns out traveling, running a small business, being a caregiver, having a career, and actually writing takes a whole lot of time.

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P.S. 2021

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

2021 was a lost year: COVID-19, political strife, shipping crisis, etc. It was one of the roughest for me personally, mostly due to helping two loved ones- my friend Jenny and my brother Steve-  through major medical issues that nearly claimed their lives. They are both disabled persons and I serve as caregiver with power of attorney for both. I recently became certified as a PCA because why the hell not.

But even though 2021 was ‘lost’, much like 2020, I still managed to accomplish a lot.

Blogging

My last blog post was on March 21, 2021, shortly after Jenny went through another series of abdominal surgeries which she survived but with such extreme complications that her quality of life is greatly diminished. I have used my blog to keep friends and family updated on the status of these medical crises, but I just stopped abruptly.

These blog posts take a lot of effort to put together and the strain of my life made it not reasonable anymore. Maybe I should have kept it up for posterity or because I had blogged weekly for years, but I just was no longer able to devote the time. It’s all recorded in my journals.

Still, I made nine blog posts and had about 914 views, for whatever that’s worth. Personal blogs with meandering topics are not popular. Continue reading →

To Blog or Not to Blog

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It’s been a busy semester. I am enrolled in a poetry class that has taken up more of my time than expected. How soon we forget how tough college really is!

I normally spend Sunday writing my blog but now I spend it doing homework for class. This is a good thing because I am learning how to analyze poetry in depth which in turn helps me to critique my own work.

But it’s not so great for fans of my blog… all ten of you…

“Personal blogs are ongoing online diary or commentary written by an individual, rather than a corporation or organization. The vast majority of personal blogs attract very few readers, other than the blogger’s immediate family and friends.”

Well shit.

In all seriousness, I am still here and still writing. But I once again find myself with too many irons in the fire. I will blog when I can, at least once a month, until my poetry class ends in May.

Until next time…

-Copyright C.M. Mounts, March 2021

Back to School

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August is a time of great anticipation and apprehension as summer comes to an end. Parents are excited and children who are young enough not to know better are excited too. I must admit that August still has the refreshing feel of new beginnings for me- new books, new supplies, new teachers. It was ever green hope that the new school year would somehow be better, be different.

New Year’s Day has this same quality, a ritual celebration to compartmentalize last year’s events and memories, to put it away in favor of new beginnings. By the way, how are those resolutions coming along? I consider it a time to adjust and recommit to goals I was already working on, not make new ones. And one of those goals is to become a better writer.

January is also ‘back to school’ time, though most students are still reeling from the fall semester. For many, the spring semester is just the continuation of the academic year that they have to slog through to get to summer break. But consider that there are freshmen who start college late or high school seniors who start early. For them it is new and exciting. Consider the so-called ‘non-traditional’ student who is over age 40, who might be living up to that New Year’s resolution to finish their education or start a new career.

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P.S. 2020

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

I published a book in October 2020.

Book of Snark: Wit & Wisdom for the Angry Professional Woman on the Bus– A laugh out loud parody of motivational self-help books, a collection of pointed anti-affirmation satire, quips that describe the day-to-day life of an unimpressed, middle aged female professional, who does not suffer fools.

It’s self-published so not such a big deal. Anyone who can pull together a script and slap a halfway decent cover on it can be a published author these days because print-on-demand services do not check for worthiness of content. My market is so niche’ I didn’t believe that any publishing house would consider it. It wouldn’t make them enough money to be worth their time. Still, by all accounts it has done well. I sold 142 copies in the first three months and since 300 copies in the first year is considered success, I am almost halfway there.

But I promoted it. A lot. I am completely unknown and people are suspicious of independent authors for the reasons listed above (no check on worthiness). I paid for ads that showed my book to potential buyers 183,000+ times, at Christmas, and I sold 142 copies. *SIGH* Good thing that I am in it for the long haul. Book of Snark 1 will continue to sell and Book of Snark 2 is already in the works. I have eight text reviews on Amazon and six text reviews on Goodreads, all good and not all from my friends and family. I even garnered a ‘drive-by’ anonymous 1-star rating without an associated text review on Amazon by whoever or whatever and a lovely text review on Goodreads from book blogger, Amie’s Book Reviews in Toronto, who said the book “will appeal to anyone and everyone who likes British humor”.

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Turn the Page

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And so, my first ‘Book of Snark’ is published and spreading across the country. Most of my immediate fanbase has bought it. I hope they get a chuckle. Now the book faces the real test of the open market- which is flooded and has an ever-shrinking audience of readers. It will succeed or fail based on its own merit and how much suppression of organic reach FaceBook can muster. The book probably won’t win any awards or change the world, but I believe in its quality and value.

And frankly, in this year of 2020 we could all use a laugh. Continue reading →

Book of Snark: Cover

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Choosing the cover for a book is a really big deal.

It is the primary marketing tool that remains with the book at all times… at least until the kids rip it off or hopefully it falls off from being read over and over. Despite the old idiom, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, people do.

Readers take under 3 seconds to decide whether they are going to spend any time with your book based solely on its cover. So, it must spark interest. It must be attractive enough to look like you cared, that you took the time to think about it. Because a sloppy cover promises a sloppy book and who wants to bother with that?

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Book of Snark: Self-publishing

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I am self-publishing my first book this fall:

Book of Snark, Wit & Wisdom for the Angry Professional Woman on the Bus.

(see photo above)

It is not my first self-publishing project. In 2017, I edited the post-humous memoir Popcorn from the Void by my friend Todd Park about leukemia and what it’s like to undergo a bone marrow transplant. I knew no publishing house would touch it because it was based on his blog. The book received a lot of praise, both for content and construction. I submitted it to the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards and though it got 30/30 points from its judge, it didn’t win or even get an honorable mention. Todd was a great man and it is a wonderful book with a lot of good stuff in it but the topic turns people off.

There is a lot of myth and romance around the dream of being a published author. The common belief among those who don’t know is that if you write a great book, success will follow. The truth is, if you write a great book, you are issued a lottery ticket and then you wait with thousands of other great books to see who gets picked. Continue reading →

Book of Snark: Have Fare, Will Travel

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“The fact that we both have umbrellas and ride the same bus does not reveal some deep kinship between us.” -Book of Snark 3.3.3

I work at a large metropolitan university. Parking on campus during the regular semester is an expensive nightmare at best and impossible at worst. There is staff parking designated at various surface lots and ramps. The monthly cost and length of the waiting list for a spot varies based on its proximity to campus. So, for slightly less money, staff can opt for a monthly unlimited bus pass. I live in the city, not the suburbs, and at times have even gone without owning a car. So, I choose the bus for my commute.

I have laughed at people who expressed concern for my safety over riding the bus. For one thing, this is Minneapolis, not Chicago. And not all buses are the same experience- not the routes or the days or the times of day. If you really want to get a sense of a neighborhood, ride the local bus. See who gets on and how angry they are. The areas of economic depression/ suppression become obvious. But mostly, folks are just trying to get through life and want to be left alone. Continue reading →

Months in Review: Mid-Year 2020

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I’m publishing a book this fall.

If you know me only from my blog or have met me in passing at poetry readings, it may come as a surprise that I have a wicked sense of humor. Afterall, it is a natural antidote for pain and anger. I have decided to give up trying to be a serious literary author and play to my strengths. But more on that later.

Though I write poetry, short stories, and have several unfinished novels, by default I am a blogger. But not a very good one. Oh, the content is good but I lack focus and marketing and followers and blagh blagh blagh. My website isn’t optimized. Isn’t that what they tell us we are supposed to do? FYI: I’m not selling anything so lighten up. This is my own very public, private writing space, with some online lurkers that I know and some that I don’t.

I like to consider it a cult following. Continue reading →