Launching a Debut, Planning a Poetry Fest, and Driving the Kids—Writer Diary
This diary captures the week leading up to the launch of my first book, All Is the Telling, out from Diode Press—just in time for Richmond’s 3rd Poetry Festival. I work as the community engagement coordinator for the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, where I have the joy of organizing programs and building community around writing. But, like most people, my work life doesn’t stay neatly outside the home. I’m married to Tony, a dentist currently knee-deep in relocating his office (!), and I’m mom to four: Zora (17), August (16), Penelope (14), and Simon (11). Balancing it all is always a challenge—but this week, with the launch of a book that merges my personal and professional worlds, the lines blur even more. Celebrating this milestone feels deeply personal—except, of course, I’ll be selling books.
Friday, April 4
6:30 AM: Wake up and work on the line up for the book launch while kids are still sleeping. I know who’s reading/speaking but don’t have the order set and sort of wish I’d asked a friend to MC, instead of doing it myself.
7:30 AM: Tony leaves for work. Simon, my youngest, wakes up and we catch up over smoothies. I was gone last week to AWP and the earlier part of this week to book events in Durham and Chapel Hill and he has soccer and Ninjago updates for me—the new season is out April 17th!
9:00 AM: Wake up and make breakfast for the rest of the kids and tell them about the cleaning that needs to be done today and tomorrow. This announcement is met with despair and desperate pleas (mostly theirs).
9:30 AM–1:00 PM: From my office, work through my last list of Poetry Fest “to do” items. Yesterday’s meeting was the last one we’ll have before the event and we are mostly ready–yay team!
1:00 PM: Spoke with Kayley Crabb at The Richmonder about setting up interviews with some of the folks organizing Poetry Fest—so, worked on connecting Jordan (Vis Arts’ Executive director) and Roscoe (RVA’s first poet laureate and host of the 1-2-3 Slam which is the festival’s closing event) to Kayley.
2:00–3:00 PM: Meeting with Rachel Davis, who agreed to direct a one-day choir for the launch–one-day choirs are an awesome way for folks to make something beautiful together!) and we talked/sang through arrangements of Beyonce’s Halo to figure out the version for the choir. Her college a cappella group had an amazing version that is too hard for us to use so we had to find something simple and with accompaniment. The first person she texted said yes—the one-day choir has a guitarist–Yay! & Whew!
3:30 PM: Had coffee with Tony–the furniture for the waiting room in his new office needs to be bought today, so we walked to the new office, mocked-up a floor plan, and looked at furniture online.
7:00 PM: Got Poke bowls delivered and ended up skipping the 40th Anniversary party of my MFA–just not enough time in this day for everything…
8:30 PM: Played family Mario Kart. Went up with Simon and Penelope at 10. Tony stayed up with the big teens. Checked the RSVPS for the launch before I went to bed—82! I worry if 30% don’t come––I paid for the bigger space (at Gallery 5) and I really want people to come so I can justify the expense.
Saturday, April 5
7:00 AM: Wake up and start laundry. Work on food/grocery list for the week—figure out dinners for when my out-of-town family and friends arrive. My mom, sister, and my dad and his partner are staying with us, my other sister and her family and my brother and his ex-girlfriend are staying at hotels but I still need food/dinner plans for when they are here.
7:30 AM: Tony leaves to meet Mending Walls at the new office; they start prepping the wall on his new office for a mural today!
9:30 AM: Make egg sandwiches for the kids for breakfast and have a come-to-Jesus moment with the big two about getting their rooms ready for company. Most of this day is spent cleaning, supervising kid cleaning, and running errands.
5:00 PM: Meet virtually with my website designer, Melanie Grace, to walk through the finished version before dinner with Tony and the kids.
7:00 PM: Meet virtually with Alethea McCollin to talk through the final details of the dramatic reading she will be doing of one character’s poems from the poem/play in the center of my book. Staging the whole play for the launch wasn’t possible but it will premiere at The Basement on September 25th—still need another actor!
8:00 PM: Family movie night—took half an hour to mostly agree on the new Netflix Jamie Foxx/Cameron Diaz movie about teens whose parents are spies… kids didn’t hate it!
10:30 PM: Simon and Pen to bed and then sat up talking with the big teens.
11:30 PM: Lights out.
Sunday, April 6
7:00 AM: Go over the poems for the workshop I’m teaching today. The eleven free (and full) workshops for Poetry Fest started on Thursday. Three are happening today!
8:30 AM: Tony wakes up and makes pancakes for breakfast and we talk through the plan for the day—soccer and driving kids to meet friends and for the week. Tuesday is the final permitting walk-thru for him.
11:30 AM: Head to Vis Arts. I’m going a little early to make copies and talk to Courtney LeBlanc, who came down from DC to teach two workshops for us.
1:00–4:00 PM: Teach workshop with Fairouz Bsharat on protest poetry.
4:00 PM: Tony takes Simon to his soccer game and I meet them there as soon as I can so Tony can go to his soccer game—he plays in an over-forty league where the goal is less winning and more not getting hurt.
6:30 PM: Have pizza for dinner. Tony and the big kids start The Last of Us and Simon and I watch a few episodes of Ninjago. Bed at 10:00 PM for me and Simon.
Monday, April 7
6:00 AM: Wake up. At 6:40, make sure Zora is awake and moving. Get dressed and check email. Run through the day with Tony before he leaves for work at 6:45.
7:15 AM: Wake up Simon and Penelope, make lunches, and drive them to school—everyone is sluggish. It’s the first day back from break and they definitely stayed up too late. Listen to audiobook on the way back home—working through a list of books Penelope wants me to read—currently listening to Holly Black’s Stolen Heir.
8:45 AM: Drive August to his high school and talk about his upcoming field trip.
9:05 AM: Back home. Unload dishwasher, make my coffee, and head upstairs to my office and get to work finishing revisions on an essay about decentering whiteness at writing residencies for Lit Hub and send it off.
10:15 AM: Look for food, eat yogurt and granola.
10:30 AM: Talk to Kayley Crabb from The Richmonder to complete our Poetry Fest article.
11:00 AM–1:30 PM: Work—read through my friend Dana Weekes’ thoughtful questions for the Q&A portion of the book launch and try to finish up a few last-minute Poetry Fest emails. My brain won’t be able to focus on anything that’s not right in front of my face once family/friends get to town (tomorrow!!).
1:30–3:30 PM: Pick August up from school and take him to orthodontist, then bring him back to school and then pick up other kids.
4:20 PM: Tony picks Zora up from bus stop. I run to Anthropologie to make a return and to see if they have anything to wear to the launch—the weather has turned and I’m worried I’ll be cold in the outfit I have. Got outrageously lucky and found a romper on the sale rack for $40—Thanks Universe!!
6:30 PM: Take Simon to soccer practice and admire the mom in the car next to mine. She’s using her steering wheel to prop up her laptop. Try it myself and it seems more ergonomic than what I was doing with mine—finish up emails while I wait.
10:00 PM: After dinner, unwinding, and putting the younger kids to bed, I check RSVPs for the 100th time—we’re at 112!! Excited to be over 100!!
10:30 PM: Chat with teens until lights out.
Tuesday, April 8
6:30 AM: Wake up, out of bed at 6:45 and out the door at 6:58 to drive out the alley to the front of the house and pick up Zora and two neighbor kids and head to the bus stop. They go to a governor’s school for the arts 30 minutes down the highway and get picked up and dropped off at a bus stop a 10-minute drive from our house. We chat about the one-day choir, I try to convince all of them to come.
7:23 AM: Back at home. Wake up Simon and Penelope, I make their lunches and drive them to school. The principal who’s letting us use the gym for the choir practice makes the ‘roll down the window’ gesture—he wants to chat while I’m in the drop-off line and I’m definitely wishing I had opted to do more than brush my teeth before running out of the house this morning. He’s not going to be able to make it to the choir tonight.
7:30–8:35 AM: On the way home I listen to more of the audiobook and keep it playing while I make coffee and wait for August to be ready to leave for school.
9:00 AM: Back at home, clean up Simon’s smoothie cup and load/unload the dishwasher, and head upstairs to my office to get to work replying mostly to emails from folks who are reading as part of the community reading on Saturday. I’m still missing a few bios but with 45 people reading there are folks with all kinds of questions, from microphones to accessibility.
10:00 AM: Meet virtually with Kenyatta Muzzanni, my accountability partner—we’ve been meeting monthly since we met last summer at Franny Choi’s awesome Witches & Warriors retreat to work on our shareback projects for that group but also to check in on individual work. Yay for friends who are organized!
11:00 AM: Therapy, virtual call.
12:50 PM: Had “quick” lunch with Tony who came home to eat and lost track of time—had to rush to the airport and pick up my Dad and his partner, Anita.
3:00 PM: Pick up Simon and Pen from school. Z has a ride today and August goes to soccer—has a game after school.
5:30 PM: Have smoothies and quesadillas ahead of soccer. Tony takes my Dad and Anita and the girls to August’s soccer game (we skip the girls’ cello/violin lesson and I take Simon to his travel soccer tryouts).
8:30 PM: Everyone back home and tired. Chat for a bit, bed by 10:00 PM.
Wednesday, April 9
6:30 AM: Wake up, get Zora up and out the door for 7:00.
7:15 AM: Get Simon and Penelope moving and make lunches. Tony will drive the kids to school today.
7:30–10:00 AM: Get coffee and work—mostly proofreading programs for Poetry Fest—there are five: the youth anthology reading, the community reading, the River City Poets reading, the JJJJJerome Ellis reading, and Friday night’s opening event—lots and lots of bios!
10:00 AM: Check in with my dad and Anita, get them breakfast.
11:00 AM: My sister Julie and her adult son Kaymen Uber from the airport and surprise me just as I was getting ready to run out and get them!
12:00 PM: Grocery store with Julie and then make lunch for everyone. Email full of folks offering to help with the launch—which makes me worried that I don’t have enough people doing jobs—and a few folks sending regrets. My best friend from my MFA lives in MD and isn’t going to make it.
12:30–3:00 PM: Visit with family and then pick up kids from school.
4:00 PM: Pick up my brother Eric and his friend Naya from airport and take them to their hotel.
5:00 PM: Make sandwiches for snack. Tony takes Simon to soccer and the rest of us head off to be in a one-day choir!
6:00–8:00 PM: Loving everyone who came to the one-day choir, which really is a two-day choir because we don’t perform till tomorrow—so grateful to everyone who showed up to sing Beyoncé!!
8:30 PM: Peter Chang’s for dinner with choir friends and family!
10:00 PM: Get all the guests and kids settled and in bed by 12.
Thursday, April 10
6:30 AM: Wake up, check email, and make sure Zora is up. Hear her shout goodbye at 7:00. Wake up the other kids at 7:30 and try to be quiet as they get ready for school. Drop Simon and Pen at 8:15 and August at 8:50.
9:00 AM: My mom and other sister arrive. Everyone is excited for tonight.
10:00–11:00 AM: Excused myself to check in with my friend, chef Danny Mena who owns Peleton de la Muerte, about the drink he’s making for the toast and with the writers reading their work tonight: Nate Waggoner and Sullivan Summer. I also invited Richmond poets with collections out this year to bring their books to sell tonight and a few are coming!
12:00 PM: Talked to friends who came from out of town! Everyone is excited for tonight and the poetry-filled weekend!
3:00 PM: Starting to get a little anxious! Went upstairs to chill for a minute, ended up just talking to my sisters. Invited friends over to pre-game starting at 5:00—pizza arrives at 5:30. We leave around 6:15 so we can get there early and do a run-through with the choir!
7:00 PM: Launch event is a success! Dorrinda Wegener, Chelsea Jackson, and Dustin Mathew King brought books and manned the book table. Everyone sold out of books!
10:00 PM: Event wraps up. My mom took the kids home at some point earlier and a bunch of us walked to the GWAR bar, but I didn’t have ID or really anything except a chapstick. So, we couldn’t get in and instead walked the two blocks to Quirk, had drinks, laughed, and celebrated!
Friday, April 11
Lots of running around and feeding people in the early part of the day.
1:00 PM: Went to Vis Arts to help with set up and check in with the volunteers, then went back again at 4:00 to do more set up. In between, ran to Lowes to get hundreds of paint chips for paint chip poetry.
7:00 PM: Poetry Fest’s opening event, the Wild at Heart take over! An 18+ variety show style event featuring local poets: Joanna Lee (Richmond’s current Poet Laureate), Rieka Speaks, Luisa Black Ellis, Skylar Colby, Qing Blaze, and my brother Eric Hornsby, a muralist from Tampa who did the cover for my book! Singer-songwriter Meg McDermott offered us her gorgeous voice and the program finished with a burlesque performance by Kayy Lovely. After folks from the audience were invited up on stage for poetry Karaoke and then regular karaoke—the whole night was so much fun!
10:30 PM: A bunch of us ended the night eating and drinking at The Get Tight Lounge a few blocks away!
Saturday, April 12
9:30 AM: Arrive and help set up the gallery space for the readings and the Dominion Room for the first program of the day.
10:00 AM: JJJJJerome Ellis needs two microphones with stands—we have the mics but only one stand! Learned that Ty Phelps, a Poetry Fest co-organizer and member of multiple bands, has two stands in his trunk at all times. Yes, Ty with the save!
10:30 AM: Greet vendors and the host of the first reading—the RVA Youth Anthology Reading, which featured twenty-two middle and high schoolers from the area who submitted poems to an anthology produced by the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School Literary Arts department.
11:00 AM: Event begins! With two readings starting at 11 AM, my first job is to make sure the student readers and the adults reading as part of the community reading are all in the right place!
11:30 AM: Check in with the vendors, make sure they have a schedule of the readings so they know when to expect folks to come through in crowds.
12:00 PM: Make sure the hosts of the community reading know to keep track of time—there are 45 people scheduled to read throughout the day as part of this reading that features new voices alongside established ones. Folks have started their own “sign-ups” in case we have no-shows. Missed the drag queen story hour—wish I could be in two places at once!
12:30 PM: Youth reading finishes and it’s time to get the room set up for JJJJJerome. Wow, his work—the music + the words + the light coming through the windows + his presence—was just stunning.
1:30 PM: Slip out of JJJJJerome’s beautiful reading to check in with the River City Poets, who are gathering in the hall and who are up next!
2:15 PM: River City starts and I slip away to scarf down a piece of pizza. Like a fool, I didn’t eat breakfast.
3:00 PM: The community reading starts back up with a reading of the community poem people have been adding to all day. I check in with the host and make sure she has what she needs. There is standing room only in the gallery reading space!
3:30 PM: Realize we left the mic stand upstairs, run and get it and then stay to listen to folks read their poems.
4:00 PM: The list of folks wanting to read who didn’t sign up ahead of time is getting long, so I start a sign-up for next year. Wish I had time to run upstairs to one of the activity rooms and make a poetry bracelet or a Poetry Fest bandana!
5:00 PM: I’m the host in the community reading for the last half hour of readings and before the last reader comes up to the mic, we announce the winners of the prizes donated by our vendors—gift certificates, museum passes, and other bookish delights!
5:40 PM: Bought a chapbook authored by two of the readers before heading upstairs to the Dominion Room to help set up for the 1-2-3 Slam which is our final event and starts at 6 PM. Last year I hosted the final event of the day—so grateful not to be hosting but to just sit in the audience and enjoy.
6:15 PM: I realize the people seated next to me are folks I talked to about where to park at the very beginning of the day! This couple marathon’d the day!
7:30 PM: Halfway through the slam and it’s not clear who the winner will be—though I definitely have a favorite! I get snacks and chat with friends I haven’t seen in a while.
8:30 PM: Slam is over and so is Poetry Fest!! We did it! The day ran so smoothly and attendance was up by almost 150 people (from 406 last year to 550 this year), which is amazing—especially considering the rainy weather, the 10k race which re-routed traffic around our start time, and the festival happening at the middle school next door! So grateful to all the volunteers but especially to the planning team—we’ve been meeting since the fall to make these two days happen. Richmond’s writing community is a deep well that we are lucky to be able to draw from!
9:00 PM: Do a little clean up and then head out to El Pope, the El Salvadoran restaurant across the street for dinner and drinks! Yay for poetry and for doing it again next year!!
