24 March 2011

happy 4th birthday, WOAW


WOAW turns four today. that makes me happy, even though i haven't been spending much time here lately. a lot of my attention has been devoted to girls can blog, probably because it's less of a niche product and more of an allround good cause.

obviously, the downside of occupying myself mostly with gcb is that the better part of my creative energy is dedicated to "digital social work" as opposed to poetry. it's a typical dilemma known to writers: i love doing x [i.e. painting], but if i do too much of it, there'll be no juices left for writing. most of us choose less x and more writing.

with gcb, most of the work to be done, though, is writing: posts, emails, comments. proper blogging also involves a fair bit of reading. i love it. yet while i have received great support and appreciation of what i have accomplished with gcb, i also get frequent questions regarding the lack of new material of both prose and poetry. i have been asked why my novella hasn't been published in spite of good reviews, nor a poetry collection with any of the usual publishers, and why i haven't devoted more time and effort to get either.

first easy answer: because i can't have my finger in every pie. i like where i'm at right now with gcb. second, more difficult answer: because i would rather keep my poetry to myself than be on the knocker and beg people to print it!

i have undertaken one sole attempt when a friend of mine alerted me to the fact that her publisher was looking for female poets especially. i emailed the person in charge and asked whether that was true. needless to say, i never received an answer and have thus decided that that was that.

with WOAW around for four years now, i am fairly positive that plenty of people in positions to publish a poet's work are aware of what i do. by now, many of them know my writing. event organizers and editors alike. if they decide to ignore me, so be it. i am over mailing in poems to magazines that publish only work of people their editors have slept with (and trust me, turnover is high!). but i do accept that these are the rules of the game; maybe not so much the sex, but the ass-kissing for sure. i am sorry to say that i have lost interest in what used to be the soul of this blog: my curiosity about up and coming german poets, especially those of berlin. in my opinion, most current poetry has become interchangeable and obsolete, save a few glorious exceptions, so i have stopped working for that crowd's acceptance. i have stopped reading their work. i have stopped going to readings.

you might think i'm jealous. well, i have never been the jealous type. naturally, i, too, would like to see my novella in print or have my own poetry collection, which poet wouldn't? but not at the price of dignity and boredom. 

throughout this recent development, WOAW has remained to be my loyal, patient companion. as have my readers. like last year, the year before, and the year before that, i'd like to thank each and every single one of you for stopping by or following my RSS feed.*

to your loyalty and our next years together!
thanks. annina

* if you wonder what an RSS feed might be, try this explanation.

18 March 2011

13 March 2011

BOOKS bags: kurt, astrid & max

kurt
max
astrid
das sind die neuen WOAW BKS-bags max, kurt & astrid. ihr design und ihre preise sind angelehnt an die Euch vielleicht schon bekannten GCB BLOGS bags. der bestellvorgang ist einfach: email mit modellwunsch und adresse an wordsonawatch[at]gmail[dot]com. die beutel kosten 10,50€ pro stück, dazu kommen porto und versand (innerhalb deutschlands 2,25€, EU 3,45€). wer in berlin wohnt oder auf die re:publica 2011 kommt, kann sich die taschen auch persönlich übergeben lassen und ein paar taler sparen. und wer seine lieblingsfarbkombination nicht entdeckt, kann mir sonderwünsche gerne zukommen lassen - vielleicht designt susanne ja ein weiteres modell?*

benannt sind die taschen übrigens nach astrid lindgren, kurt vonnegut und max frisch, die allesamt bücher geschrieben haben, die ich sehr schätze.

* so bereits geschehen bei magda, die wir der bloggerin magda albrecht zu verdanken haben.

12 March 2011

lyrikerin im tv

monika rinck musste durfte für die ZEIT ein auftragsgedicht über guttenberg schreiben und das dann noch wie eine doktorarbeit im morgenmagazin verteidigen. das publikum nickt, wenn ich richtig sehe, nur da, wo gott ins spiel kommt. (obwohl mona ungewöhnlich langsam und verständlich spricht.)

die fragen des moderators sind übrigens nicht, wie auf der facebook seite von kookbooks moniert, bescheuert, sondern berechtigt: nicht nur ihr gedicht, auch eine dichterin wird sich dem kontext entsprechend verändern, in dem sie veröffentlicht wird. für's verständnis, aber auch für's geld, das es in solchen fällen ausnahmsweise gibt.

07 March 2011

gierstabil

 katharina schultens (die mit den texten über den berlin verlag und die geschlechter in der lyrik) hat es wieder getan:

ihr druckfrischer lyrikband gierstabil, ein "suchendes fegen in scherben", ist demnächst bei luxbooks für teuer geld - in worten zwanzig zacken - käuflich.

empfehlenswert, weil: grundoriginell.
außerdem ist katharina eine kluge frau.