I’ve entered a handful of book contests for 2011. So that I don’t disqualify or inhibit my chances by making my manuscripts no longer anonymous, I’ll just say that one of my full-length mss has been submitted to:

• Tarpaulin Sky‘s Book Prize (the draw = really nicely produced books)
• the Fence Modern Poets Series (the draw = $1,000, prestige, and an audience that would immediately be amenable to diluvium)
• the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize (the draw = $2,000 and prestige)
• the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize (the draw = $5,000 and holy crap do you need a reason more than that in this economic climate?)

I’ve also tossed my hat into Write Bloody’s ring – that’s an interesting one, since you submit a small number of poems, Write Bloody winnows those selections down to 25 poets who then submit full-length manuscripts, and WB selects anywhere from 4-12 of those for publication (after which you have to tour as part of your deal with WB).

I have a chapbook in at GreenTower Press’s Midwest Chapbook Series.

Lastly, though I know it’s a dumb idea, I sent a CD to the Missouri Review Audio Contest.

The question is: what’s the point? I’ve enumerated some reasons above, but the money, while nice, is always a secondary concern here. The big thing is getting that book, that touring gig, that big prize that hopefully opens the door for more teaching opportunities. I loved teaching CW at Texas A&M. I’ve enjoyed teaching workshops for kids and adults at the Poetry Festival at Round Top. I’m making hay, but I don’t have opportunities to teach those kinds of classes at UT-Martin, as an adjunct. In short – I want back in the creative writing classroom.

I forgot to post this last week – I’m back on Indiefeed with a multi-track poem titled “& the Valley & the Shadow & Our Former Selves.” Posting late lets me cheer, though, because I actually had a young man from Ireland write me about the piece. That was cool. It’s one thing to have audience members come up to you after a show. To have someone from far away listen to your work and decide to contact you? I haven’t had much of that yet. It’s nice.

Here’s the link.

The site isn’t totally finished yet, but I’ve made it available to search engines once again. Welcome, guests. Welcome (or not), spammers.

OK, the Page pages are essentially set until something significant chances (e.g. I get a new blurb, publication, etc.). You’ll find descriptions of, covers for, and samples from each of my published chapbooks (Fit to Print, the little chap I sell for food/gas money at spoken word features, isn’t going up here). You’ll find samples of diluvium, the biggest project I’ve undertaken and my big hope for publication. You’ll find sample posters from when I organized Poetry in Motion at Texas A&M for a year.

The next goal is to fill out either Stage, which deals with my performance work, or Community, which deals with teaching, as well as any community-based projects of mine, like hosting open mics and slams.

Things are starting to take shape. I’ve got a couple of galleries up, though they’re not responding the way I’d like them to. Some thumbnails are way too small, and some images aren’t showing up. Hopefully I’ll get that fixed soon. The content is coming alone nicely, at least, with updates to diluvium, OcSerp, video from the 2010 National Poetry Slam, and posters from Poetry in Motion. I’ll see what I can do over the weekend about getting some audio back up, whether Arts & Crafts or something else. Would someone attempt to contact me via the Contact page (and let me know through a normal email or Facebook or whatnot that you’ve done so)? I’d like to make sure it’s working.

www.jeffstumpo.com

For new and old visitors alike – I’m attempting to re-do my website. New content will be added over the coming months, and old content will finally be updated. I have to ask you to bear with me for a little while, though, as I get everything sorted out. Thanks.