Category Archives: Woo Hoo!

Change in Name (and Website Domain!)

Friends, you may have noticed a certain… errr… change at the top of this website and on my bio throughout these pages. That’s right, you guessed it: I got married! Jennifer Dempsey has turned into Jennifer Voyles. I am indescribably proud and honored to bear the Voyles name. 😀

Please make sure you update the URL for my website from http://jendempsey.com to http://jennifer-voyles.com. For the time being, jendempsey.com will automatically transfer you to my new web address, but I won’t be renewing jendempsey.com after this year.

Thank you for all your love and support!

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Award News: Wyoming Writers, Inc. Writing Contest Winner!

Exciting news this morning, friends: My poem, “What Passes for Silence,” just won 2nd Place in the Wyoming Writers, Inc. Writing Contest! I’m positively giddy. This is a new poem for me, and I am very honored for it to be selected. Huge thanks to David Pichaske, poetry contest judge; Tom Spence, contest chair; and the Wyoming Writers, Inc. Board of Directors for hosting this contest and choosing my poem. I will have the opportunity to share my work at the annual conference this June, held in Dubois, WY, and I hope to be able to attend. 🙂

 

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Amazing Award News! [Or, Cheers for a Stellar Poet!]

I love it when talent is recognized. I love it when good things happen to good people. And I love it when I get to shout from the rooftops that I’m friends with one of those amazing,  gifted souls. 😀

My best friend, the incredible Jocelyn Heath, just found out that her poem “Orbital” was selected for the 2014 Allison Joseph Poetry Award in Crab Orchard Review!

AHHHHHHHHH! <the sound of stadiums cheering>

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the journal, Crab Orchard Review is considered  one of the most highly rated literary journals in the US. It is hard to get published in its pages. The editors are highly selective –shoot, downright demanding– about the quality and strength of work they accept, even for general submissions.

I should note, Ms. Heath has already had work accepted in COR (Her poem “Plaza in Late Spring” will be available for your reading pleasure in one of the forthcoming 2014 issues).

The winners of the Allison Joseph Poetry Award have gone on to publish significant, critically-acclaimed poetry collections, and that’s only to be expected, because these writers are good. It’s really no surprise Jocelyn is now included amongst their ranks.

Congrats, my dear friend, on your success! It is very well deserved.

[By the way, all current Jocelyn Heath fan mail can be sent to my email address. This arrangement, though, is only temporary: Once these COR issues release, I swear she’ll need to hire someone to run her fan club, because it’ll certainly be a full-time job.]

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Big News: Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park!

I got some thrilling news this week: I was just named 2014 Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine! I am beyond thrilled about this, as well as deeply, deeply honored to be chosen. 😀

Autumn at Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, US Dept of the Interior

Autumn at Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, US Dept of the Interior

Artist residencies are vital places where writers, painters, musicians, and other fine art-focused folks can escape the real world and carve out time and space to create. You know how it is: Between work + family + a continual thrum of chores and obligations + daily dastardly distractions (ie the time-suck of online movie streaming and social media), it can be difficult, if not impossible, to find hours and energy for your creative muse. Artist residencies offer a solution: While in attendance, you ignore your regular responsibilities and devote yourself to your craft. Residencies are extremely competitive, but if selected, HUGELY valuable and amazing.

My artist residency at Acadia will take place this October and November. Acadia is giving me a fully-furnished apartment right at the park (thus the “in-residence” portion of the title); I’ll spend a little over four weeks exploring the area’s gorgeous terrain and, most importantly, writingwritingwriting. During my stay, I’ll also volunteer an hour or so each week working with 5th and 6th graders, helping at Acadia’s Halloween Festival, and/or giving a public poetry reading. All in all, it will be a highly productive month. I cannot wait!

My wholehearted and immense thanks goes out to the fine people at SERC Institute and Acadia National Park for selecting me for this incredible opportunity!

Friends, you will hear lots more from me in the coming months about artist residencies and Acadia and my official residency writing plan, but for the moment I’ll leave you with this undeniable truth:

I CANNOT STOP GRINNING. 😀

 

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How Cool Is This?

My poem “Five Hundred Crows” is the featured verse today over at Andy Knowlton‘s A Poem A Day blog. Sweet! Thanks, Andy!

Enjoy, all! 😀

Poem by Jen Dempsey Design by Andy Knowlton


Poem by Jen Dempsey
Design by Andy Knowlton

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Much December Goodness (ie, Updates, Character Development, and Publishing News)

‘Tis time for an update, so some say. 🙂 As you might have guessed, the past few months have raced by, filled with writing afternoons, crazy teaching moments, and breathtaking travel. Instead of legitimately participating in November’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for the unindoctrinated), I decided to set a longer-term writing schedule to weave a new story onto the page. With any luck (and, err, gumption), in the next three months I will have a solid first draft ready for first readers and feedback.

These initial stages of writing are the most difficult for me. At the beginning of a story, I don’t have an immediate connection to my characters. I may know their names, have a general idea of their appearances, or understand one unquenchable fact about their pasts, but they aren’t yet people. I don’t enjoy or despise the protagonist. I’m not in love with the hero. I  rarely, if ever, instantly care about their futures. My characters start as acquaintances; they have the potential to develop into full-blown help-you-bury-the-body friendships, but at the onset, we can only smile and reintroduce ourselves awkwardly at every engagement. I’ve tried character mapping and profiles, but they feel insincere and inorganic to my creative muse. Thus, I am left to struggle and force banter at the equivalent of a friend-of-a-friend’s fancy cocktail party, where the host is dating my ex and I’m wearing knee-torn, mud-splattered jeans.

It does get easier. After spending a lot of time with my characters, I start to hear their voices in my head (usually at inopportune moments– for example, at the doctor’s office). I begin to understand better their motivations and fears, as well as their intrinsic reactions to other characters. The story smooths out. Plot points are reached. Words fly on the screen, and whole scenes pop into existence in mere minutes.

Until then? My characters and I circle each other dubiously, and the story putters along.

With any luck, I’ll be partying with my characters soon. 🙂

***

Now, in other news, I just learned that The Monongahela Review will be publishing a poem of mine in the upcoming issue! 😀 MR is an awesome online lit journal; you can download current and previous issues for free as PDFs or read online through Issuu.

As soon as this baby drops, I’ll post links and many, many exclamation points! 😛

***
AND… in some other news, one of my poems will be featured this week on Andy Knowlton‘s A Poem A Day blog!

The story of Andy’s and my acquaintance is rather charming, in a You’ve-Got-Mail-without-the-love-affair sorta way. Towards the beginning of my residence in Korea, I read an article online about international grassroots poetry movements, a segment of which was dedicated to his Drunken Poets project. Turns out, Andy is an American writer based in Seoul, South Korea, a mere 3.5 hours from my town of Yeosu. I shot him an email, admiring and cheering on his art/poem efforts… and he wrote back. Thus began an electronic friendship. 😛

Andy creates his own artwork –the epitome of cool– for his A Poem A Day blog. Check out the work he’s done to this point (Day 340)! It’s impressive. I’m very honored and excited to be included on the website!

As soon as the poem/artwork posts, I’ll share it with you here. I may also print out a million copies and mail them to friends and/or random strangers. There’s a 50/50 chance you’ll get one. 😉

Check out Andy Knowlton's website for more info on his poetry, The Drunken Poets project, and his A Poem A Day blog! [andyknowlton.com]

Check out Andy Knowlton’s website for more info on his poetry, The Drunken Poets project, and his A Poem A Day blog!

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Oooh! Prick of the Spindle!

I’m super excited! The new issue of Prick of the Spindle just dropped, and in it, you can find a poem AND poetry review by moi. (This marks my online review debut, too.)  I can’t wait to read the rest of the issue! 😀

[I promise, I didn’t purposefully rhyme the last few sentences above. I’m a poet. It happens naturally. Please don’t throw rocks.]

You should check out Prick of the Spindle immediately. This second. Go. Now. …And enjoy! 🙂

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Filed under Literary Review, Poetry, Publication, Woo Hoo!

Some Exciting News!

I just received word that Prick of the Spindle [http://www.prickofthespindle.com/] will be publishing one of my poems in the upcoming online issue!  😀

Prick of the Spindle is a bold, stunning literary journal that really pushes the boundaries on voice, form, and image. I am deeply honored to be included on the website.

I’ll let you know when the new issue drops!

 

*Side note: You know the poem I mentioned in my post “Fireworks Across the Ocean,” the one I completed after arriving in South Korea? Yeah, this poem is it. Something for you to look forward to!

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Bellingham Review!~

The latest issue of Bellingham Review, containing two poems by yours truly, is now available! 😀

Since I live, you know, on the other side of the world, I’m still waiting to receive my copies, but based on the listing of writers on the back cover, the issue will be utterly phenomenal. I cannot wait to read it!

You should probably go pick up a copy, too. Right now. 🙂

[For ordering info contact bellingham.review@wwu.edu]

Bellingham Review Issue 66 Cover

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New Poems in 2013

Just got word today that two of my poems will be appearing in Bellingham Review next year!

This is my face: 😀

Fall 2012 Issue

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