Hi everyone. I thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing. So how are you doin’?

We’ve been kinda busy around here, and I thought you might like an overview of what’s been happening and what’s in the works.

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On keeping up with the action:

We have a request from paisley (and maybe others would like to see this) to add a subscribe-to-comments feature so you can easily keep up with the action at Read Write Poem.

The good news is I found the plug-in, uploaded it to our host and activated it on our site. The bad news is it doesn’t work. It is probably an error on my part. Dana is going to help me sort though it…but it may take a bit to coordinate our schedules.

Perhaps the RRS feed is a good way to go. I have a Google desktop on my work computer and added the RWP RSS feed and docked it on the sidebar. (It is probably not a good work-time thing for me — because of the distraction.) Dave Bonta had an interesting post where he discussed Google Reader. You might want to try that, or use Bloglines if you’re not a Google fan. See if one of those will help you follow RWP. (The feed address is http://readwritepoem.org/comments/feed/ for comments.) If you already subscribe to Bloglines, you can click on the link at the bottom of the sidebar. You will then be prompted to add the comments feed to your Bloglines feeds.

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Content news:

You may have noticed we added — or followed through on — most of the content ideas found in the “brought to you by” tab. Here’s a synopsis:

Weekly Read Write Prompts will be coming from a number of folks. One of the outcomes will be having a variety of voices and ideas that I hope will get you going and inspire you to write poetry. (And keep any one person from burning out!) Of course, we like to read poetry from any idea or source, so don’t feel that you can’t share a link to your poem if it doesn’t match the prompt. Share, share!

All of us at RWP think reading poetry is important, too. Not only is Jessica doing a monthly column on her Poetry Book Club (PBC), she is also adding reading ideas. Two handfuls of new ones were just added to the randomizer this week, and we’ll try to do more of that on a very regular basis. Other book ideas are also simmering: 1. Have a spot for recommended reading (perhaps another randomizer — I lovethe randomizer; but perhaps you want to link your own reviews or book finds, too!); 2. Add book reviews (Jill and Juliet are on it!) In the meantime, check out a new site that is collecting links and insights about women poets, or rather their work, at Poetry Collections by Women.

Thursday columns will rotate through on a regular basis: Jessica (PBC), Christine (Get the Lead Out) and Tom (Informal Talk About Forms) will post monthly articles, and January will post on a bi-monthly basis, on any topic that grabs her attention. (Perhaps a report on the AWP conference going on right now?) Dana will be posting an occasional article (She just published a poet interview — one great example of what’s in store for us), as will Jill.

Carolee has taken over the polls and recently posted her first results article. This is a column that will show up every other week on Tuesdays. The “off” weeks we will post one of the book ideas (see above) or maybe surprise you with something else.

Sound like a lot of great content? It is!

To help you sort through it, and easily find what you want, I’ll keep the links up to date on the left side bar (as it’s known, though to my mind it is the middle one.)

WEEKLY READ WRITE PROMPT noting the current get your poem on post, followed by the current read write prompt for the next idea. Under the WEEKLY READ WRITE ARTICLE heading you’ll find the most current articles.  READ WRITE POLL DANCE will have its own spot where you can find the most recent article responding to poll results.

Clear as mud? Let me know. Let us know.