So if you're a subscriber or a submitter to The Yolo Crow, you probably got a letter this week announcing my intention to shut it down.
I've been running The Crow for nine years now. We published our first edition in the fall of 2005. We've had a good run. While there are things I will miss (mostly the folks; our writers are awesome) and it was hard to make the call, I think it's the right call to make and I feel pretty good about it.
Why?
It's cool this week. Strangely cool. A high of 77 isn't quite rain-of-frogs or plague -of-locusts weird around here in July, but it's close.
Things are cooling down in my life a little too. It's been a month of constant activity from weddings to camping to running a kids summer-camp type program for a week. (Why? Because I'm crazy. Moving on...)
Hey, I’m going to be on the radio on Wednesday. Dr. Andy of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour on KDVS has invited The Yolo Crow to swing by and plug the poetry reading on Friday, which of course you’re all attending, right? Of course you are. But if you’re in the Davis area and you want to hear me not make an ass of myself (I believe in optimism) on the radio, tune in to 90.3 FM Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
I dropped Luke off at school this morning and went to the dentist. Between the dentist and a meeting with a client I swung by to pick up the Crows from the printer. I grabbed half a bagel at the tail end of my meeting, picked up the kid, and put him down for a nap. When his head hit the pillow, I got to work prepping the Crow copies that go out to the submitters and and balancing the books so I could make my deliveries. I woke Luke up at 3:30 and threw him in the car with nap hair and a cookie. Three book stores later it was 5:15. We met Shawn for dinner at Steve’s in downtown Davis.
Last Thursday was delivery day. The Crow’s quarterly edition came back from the printers and I spent the day running back and forth to post office and dashing in and out of bookstores with armloads of our humble little magazine. One of the problems with Delivery Day taking me in and out of most the independent bookstores in the county is that I invariably leave with more books than I went in with, at least in weight and expense.
I swear I didn’t pose this.
For those of you who have been hassling me on when the fall edition of The Crow is going to hit the bookstores, knock it off; I finished the deliveries today. And if you’re not hassling me, why not? The staff put some cool stuff together for Volume 12, including some fabulously gory zombie love poetry in honor of Halloween (oh, you know you’re curious) and as always the best poetry and short stories we could get our hands on. One of them is by me, so go pick up a copy and tell me I’m wonderful.
I just received an email from The Next Chapter, our only local independent bookstore in Woodland. The owners are giving up the fight and looking to sell. If a buyer can't be found they'll be liquidating and shutting down. I've copied the email below. Bless their hearts, in their farewell email they mentioned the new release of volume 3 of The Crow.
I had a 4 day celebration for Halloween this year. Here's the recap.
Jenny's Pumpkin Carving Party
Every year my friend and neighbor Jenny throws a pumpkin carving party. Not only does she throw a good party but it's a great opportunity to do the pumpkin mess in someone else's house. And Cheryl came up for the party which was awesome. Being the studious grad student that she is, I don't get to see enough of her. A wonderful kick-off to the weekend. And may I just say that Jenny makes the best clam dip ever?
I got my shopping cart up and running for The Yolo Crow last night. I even sold a subscription already. (Thanks Mom!)
Yesterday I got a call from the local newsstand. "Hey, we're out of magazines. Can you bring us more?" Well, gee, let me see if I can fit that into my schedule. I'll be there in two minutes.
