3rd Thursday Newsletter Issue: 18 Date: July 21, 2022 Dear Reader, This is the season to reflect on what life has provided, to gather with like-minded souls, and to create new things. I hope you are able to realize these aspirations during these long days of Summer! Announcements Write253 <https://www.write253.com/> is hosting GatherINK #3 tonight (July 21st), from 5pm to 8pm at Line Break Press <https://www.write253.com/linebreakpress>, 1910 Jefferson Ave. IG “Given the recent news and decisions handed down by the Supreme Court, we are highlighting some social justice issues at our next GatherINK on July 21. We will have posters and broadsides designed by UWT students working with us through the @cei_uwtacoma summer social justice internship program and by our current artist-in-residence @ydal.lady Prints are free the night of (and will go on sale after that). Limited editions!” I can’t wait to be a part of this gathering and hope to see you there! Make sure to check out Write253’s Summer programs as well - see the website <https://www.write253.com/> for more information or let me know if you have questions. You should also check out Line Break Press Monthly Postcard Subscription <https://www.write253.com/subscriptions>. Get a sweet new LBP postcard in the mail every month and support the organization for only $6/mo. + tax. Creative Colloquy <https://creativecolloquy.com/> presents the Writer’s Workshop Series: Katerina’s Poetry Workout <https://www.facebook.com/events/1559752424421264> with Katerina Canyon on Saturday, July 30th at 6pm. Make sure to register to attend the Zoom event or catch it live on Facebook! CC’s Open Mic and Literary Reading continues to “lure readers and writers out of hiding, to connect and conspire”. The 3rd Monday event <https://www.facebook.com/CreativeColloquy/posts/pfbid02uEgt8wcC6wWj5pW7EgX4MRYkqghMspfzvZPpAf9AMEtYSFBviuBhSXSAck5w4b9Kl> has been held at Dusty's Hideaway! (723 E 34th St, Tacoma) for the last two months and this past Monday featured readers including Layla Ormbrek, Raissa Larson, and Judy Cuellar. I hope you can check out August’s event and be involved in the coolest literary scene in Tacoma! Also be on the lookout for updates on social media as to where to find the CC Book Bike. It’s always fun to have a chat with Jackie as you pick out a book! Blue Cactus Press <https://bluecactuspress.com/> is hosting two Book Launch events for Where Rivers Change Direction <https://bluecactuspress.com/product/wrcd/>. The first launch will be this Saturday <https://www.facebook.com/events/535393581659114/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22event_aggregate%22%2C%22source%22%3A%2229%22%7D> (July 23rd) at 11am at Alma | Outdoor Patio <https://www.facebook.com/almatacoma>. The second launch will be next Thursday <https://www.facebook.com/events/736982280834077/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22event_aggregate%22%2C%22source%22%3A%2229%22%7D> (July 28th) at The Bookshelf <https://www.facebook.com/bookshelfmontana/> in Kalispell, Montana. Another exciting update from BCP is the Publisher Pop-Up at Alma Tacoma <https://www.facebook.com/almatacoma>, on the 4th Saturday/Sunday of every month. I can’t wait to sign up for these workshops and to see the amazing work that Christina is doing! CK Combs, who (along with Lisa Lewis) I have had the pleasure of working with closely in our writer’s group “the Page Turners”, has a short story published in Mud Flat Short (Mostly Fiction), available at King’s Bookstore <https://www.kingsbookstore.com/>, Tacoma, and Orca Books Co-op <https://www.orcabooks.com/>, Olympia. I am so excited to get my copy! Make sure if you are in the Olympia area to join CK at the Launch Party <https://browsersolympia.com/events/18801> at 6pm on July 27th, at Browsers <https://browsersolympia.com/>! Mud Flat Shorts (mostly fiction) on the shelf at Orca Books Co-op I have mentioned the poetry of Laura Lee Bond a few times in this newsletter and I just wanted to share her Haiku Thursday Newsletter <https://www.lauraleebond.com/> with all of you. I look forward to this weekly poem, which always seems to connect with my present mental state, and helps me to slow down and spend time with my thoughts. I hope you find this joy for yourself in her poetry! Updates I recently blogged <https://wordpress.com/view/beugeneb.wordpress.com> about my current work, Wild Rose, and wrote: [This work] has become a very dense headspace for me. It is a place where poetic ideation is ordered by a strict internal protocol of structure and tone. It is a thick place where I spend time weaving in & out of a prescribed pattern, a guide or template which overlay the thoughts of my mind. In a thick & elaborate blanket of impressions, these deep kaleidoscopic images form & reform from segments of memories & from my overly active imagination. It is a predestined spillover from my nightmares which I can’t shake in my waking hours. It is where I live right now. It is my reality. I was intrigued by some of the responses I received from readers; there was a show of concern for my mental state and a question of whether it was in my best interest to continue working on the book. I had not intended this sentiment and had to reread the blog post to understand the responses. I never meant to imply that this work was a scary place for me, or that I was feeling weighed down by the poetry. Although I admit to have become thoroughly immersed in this dense headspace, I haven’t gotten stuck there. It is a place I visit to work through my emotions and to express my thoughts. I go there everyday (sometimes for several hours) but the obsession is not harmful; it is healing. It is not oppressive but serves as a marker of the freedom of my current artistic expression. I hope you find the opportunity to reflect on what life has provided, to gather with like-minded souls, and to create new things for yourself! - If you would like to read the prior issues of the 3rd Thursday Newsletter, they’re available in the archive <https://sites.google.com/view/beeugenebecreative/newsletter-archive>. Please share this newsletter and, if you received it from a friend, visit my website <https://sites.google.com/view/beeugenebecreative/home> or sign up for the newsletter here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegjADUC-XnKc4NsG6q9_JMSz8v46hg2k6Gje-pUm76fkFM3A/viewform?usp=sf_link> . Newsletter Archive <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y9_OOIfuTTiwBx1S0C5BWgFrg0nRsgNY?usp=sharing> -or- Unsubscribe <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAuaoO0Ep_lKRIe5mufZfhzw6b7gtLXEnPy5kifj55LNRcEA/viewform?usp=sf_link> <https://sites.google.com/view/beeugenebecreative/home> Copyright© 2022 by Burl E. Battersby All Rights Reserved [image: beacon]