Interview with Poet and Therapist Kara Bowman: Publishing during the Pandemic

KARA BOWMAN, poet and therapist, talks about her recently published poetry collection, Heartbreak to Hope: Poems of Support for Grief and Loss

Kara Bowman is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in grief and trauma. She holds advanced certifications in Grief Counseling, Trauma, and Thanatology (the study of death and dying). Kara wrote a book of poems published this past year by Adelaide Press. She worked with Val to find a home for it.

Prior to this book, Kara had not published her poetry in journals or online. Her success shows that with the right timing, message, and a little persistence, a new writer can get their work into the world. She spoke with Marie about writing and the experience of putting out her first book of poetry.

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Val: The timing of this book is good because so many are grieving during the pandemic: not only for deaths of loved ones but for a lost way of life. Has being a grief therapist given you some good coping strategies during this time?
Kara Bowman: I hadn’t thought about how being a grief therapist would be useful during COVID but, yes, there have been a lot of losses to mourn this year. I think the perspective I have as a grief therapist, that somehow we will get through this, has been very helpful. In truth, I’ve been so busy helping others that I haven’t had much time to think about myself.

V: Do you typically write poetry?
KB: I hadn’t written a poem since high school English class before writing this book. The poems really wrote themselves, often at inconvenient times like the middle of the night. I think they just emerged from my deep knowledge of grief and experience with grieving people.

V: What other types of writing have you done?
KB: I’ve always enjoyed writing and even had a job writing a weekly general entertainment column for a few years. Other than that and some newsletters, I’ve never written professionally.

V: What are some of the reasons you wrote this poetry book?
KB: I wrote this book because I wanted to give something like it to my grief clients. I see so many people who want the comfort of reading but don’t have the attention span to read a book of prose. I wanted them to have something in bite-sized pieces that would help give them words for their experience and feel less alone. I couldn’t find anything like that so I decided to try my hand at writing the book I would like to give grievers. It just flowed from there.

V: Will you share it with your clients?
KB: The irony is that I’m not sure I will share it with my clients. As a therapist, I don’t want anyone to feel pressure to read it or that my ego is important. I always want the focus to be on my clients, not me.

V: What literary influences do you feel inspired you in writing this book?
KB: I am a voracious reader, mostly of nonfiction. I am very inspired by books that convey information and have a beautiful way with language, such as The Warmth of Other Suns or The Color of Water. I am in awe of writers who can be clear and lyrical at the same time. That is my goal.

V: What made you decide to publish the book? Why did you not self-publish?
I would have self-published if I hadn’t found a publisher. I really wanted access to all booksellers in the country and finding a publisher seemed the best way to do that. I wanted the distribution benefits of a traditional publisher.

V: Tell us about the experience of working with a small press.
Working with a small publishing house has been interesting. I needed to have the book thoroughly professionally edited because they do not edit. They also are not very involved in publicity so I’ve had to learn about that end, too.

V: Any tips for someone who wants to traditionally publish their work?
I don’t have a lot of tips because I feel very fortunate to have found a publisher fairly quickly my first time out. I attribute that to having a topic that’s very salient right now. My other tip is to hire or work with someone who knows what they’re doing if you don’t. The knowledge of an insider is priceless in this industry.

V: What kind of things will you be doing as an author to promote the book?
I’m working with someone who is publicizing the book by getting articles and reviews published. She’s also doing social media publicity, which is far beyond my understanding. I’m setting up bookstore speaking engagements as well. Since I have a specific niche, I’ll also be purchasing ads in trade journals for professionals in the field of death and dying.

V: Where can we buy the book?
Anywhere books are sold! Here is the link to it on Amazon.

If you are interested in working with Val about presenting your poems for publication, please contact her at heartoflit@gmail.com.

In A Landscape Of Having To Repeat by Martha Ronk

Val’s Review

Martha Ronk’s publication (from Omnidawn Publishing) navigates circumstance with circuitous cunning. Sometimes chaotic, always disobedient, her rhythmic poems pulse with recurring words, bouncing around like bits of ribbon in a tornado. Repeating nouns like “trees,” actions like “unbuttoning,” and little snippets of conversation such as “you say I said,” Ronk points out that life’s routine is built upon the accumulation of small objects, words, perceptions, and acts. By peppering these repeated clues throughout her poems, she creates a treasure hunt for imagery and interpretation: “All the things in the places they mean to be in even tomorrow.” (22)

Although she often writes in complete sentences, using prosaic form to convey surreal chimera, Ronk’s syntax can shift abruptly, reflecting the brevity of human attention spans and emotions. In this manner she explores arrangement, not only through the assembly of her poems, but in the inspiration they draw from artistic work, musical composition, and especially the organization of everyday objects. One way Ronk converts the usual to the uncanny is by reframing, which she even depicts in a poem: “I saw a man walking about aimlessly… he held his fingers in a rectangle in front of his eyes and thereby came to know what he knew.” (57) The awkwardness of self-consciousness makes the everyday uncomfortable; at the same time, delight arises from the absurd.

One particularly powerful poem, “Disintegration (Bio/Autobio): for Eva Hesse,” examines the daily life of an artist. With repetition that is somehow both frenzied and patient, Ronk tries to pinpoint a genuine artistic sensibility, considering self-doubt, the introspection required to create, and an obsessive preoccupation with the final product.

Echoing Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons in its repetition and topical focus on the mundane, In a Landscape of Having to Repeat ponders the effort needed to build memory and live day to day. “Trying is not something anyone can do,” (10) she writes, asserting that existing requires no conscious exertion. But to make each moment, each exchange, even each breath meaningful demands real effort, which the poet puts forth here. As she states, “Objects have no thoughts about anything else.” (85) Yet humans do, and Ronk manufactures her unique memory from that slippery stash of the ordinary.

*This piece originally appeared in Rain Taxi Review.

Indigo Bunting by Bernadette Mayer

Berkeley, CA: Zasterle AC, 2004
Small Press Distribution

This slender volume from the reigning queen of playful wordery brings her down from a poetic throne into the proletarian trenches. Though still full of her zany, enchanting experiments, the themes are more serious than whimsical. It’s not easy to be a champion of pioneering movements (“I do not know how to write commercially” she notes in “On Sleep,” a tribute to insomnia).

This poet is ever the teacher. Her structures and systems beg to be played with and attempted.

In “Noun Pileup on M15 Bus,”she offers a lesson in avoiding death by adjectival smothering, common to many a poet. Her dissection of visual encounters into a nouny list makes everyday things like transport become a game of seek and find. (“Passenger operated safety exit door (good! four nouns).”

Beneath the surface stories of urban scenery lies a search for meaning amidst regular landmarks: coffee, shoes, bags, jobs, and, a touchstone for Mayer, the sonnet, she still plugs away at that old form, making it new every time.

As with any art on the fringes, there’s a frustration due to lack of recognition, which Mayer has not resigned herself to. Demoralized in a warring, greedy world, Mayer seeks to elevate existence, rather than acquiesce to the powers that be.

Beyond her determined boldness, the poet explores vulnerability through reflections of the contrasting strength/fragility of life.

the dead parts
of old moths
fall on the table
through holes in the light
where a giant stirs them up
dead limbs
old bodies
over all my poems
dried wings (p.26)

This naked confrontation with the facts of life is funny and a little sad. Its explicitness is also a little gross, like life.The spare poem knows its precise effect—no wordy deluges, just working words in a solid order, like the blue-collar, grassroots vibe throughout the entire collection. Gorgeous cover art by Quino Zoncu on this limited edition helps make the book a pleasure, and a treasure.

*this review originally appeared in Rain Taxi Review

Desde el Exilio: Poems by a Venezuelan in Exile

A new book of essay and poetry seeks to share the reality of Venezuela’s current political and social dilemmas, while expressing a profound sadness along with hope for the country’s future. This powerful work is the expression of the talented Arcaniam, a poet and scholar living in exile from her homeland in the United States. She explores in both Spanish and English her experiences as a stranger in a new land, longing for a place that no longer exists. 

I worked with the author on the poetry portion of the manuscript to assist with the English translation. She was kind enough to share more about the work with me here.

Below, she discusses her new book and its meaning in context with her life. 

V: You are writing this from the U.S. Please share a bit of your personal journey to write this book.

A: I attended The University of Los Andes, Venezuela, earning two bachelor degrees “Classical Languages and Literature” and “Hispanic and Venezuelan Language and Literature” and was awarded as valedictorian in 2014. Despite my hard work in college, I knew that I had to leave the country if I wanted to have the opportunity to accomplish my dreams. Because In Venezuela was difficult to imagine that the economic and political situation would improve.

I came to the U.S. to study English and prepare myself to travel to Europe, the only other place that I considered home — During WWII, my grandparents traveled from Europe to Venezuela running from the famine caused by the war in Italy and Spain and now I planned to leave Venezuela, traveling to where my ancestors ironically fled. —

However, in the United States, I discovered a new world of opportunities and began writing about my own journey and the difficulties that my people and I have been going through over the last twenty years of dictatorship.

I found in writing a way of being able to articulate those traumatic events and at the same time, I found peace and healing through my poetry. For that reason, what started as personal poems about the long years of authoritarianism that my country went through, transformed, with time, into a book about the Venezuelan dictatorship and exile.

The situation at home (Venezuela) has become increasingly volatile. What made you decide to publish your book and why now?

I have been working on “Desde el Exilio: a Collection of Poems from the Exile” for many months. However, the political situation has worsened in the last month and the incredible amount of misinformation gave me reason to publish this personal memoir as soon as possible.

Why is concealing your identity important to you?

At first, I wanted to protect everybody who was part of this project, including myself. However, now I feel that Arcaniam works more as an alter ego of the person that I became after leaving everything I once knew behind … Arcaniam is my artistic name, but also the new me, the one who is not afraid of using my words to show people the reality of my beaten country.

You quote several Latin American writers in your opening. Is there one that influenced you greatly?

Cortazar, Benedetti, Neruda and Jose Marti are among the most important Latin American writers of all time. However, they also went through the horror of living under the dictatorships of their own countries: Argentina (1976-1983), Uruguay (1973-1985), Chile (1973-1990), and Cuba (1953-now ). They all have contributed to my journey as a writer, but I also found inspiration and hope in their recounts about their exile.

What do you have to say to other Venezuelan writers at home or in exile?

As writers, we have a duty to report and write about what we perceive as truth in the world.

I believe that through the power of words, we need to reach as many people as we can in order to help turn the tides in this dictatorship.

I have spent many sleepless nights thinking about the pain of our people living in a dictatorship and how to best illustrate that situation. I have felt fear and helplessness just imagining what we are going through as a country. However, now I know that we are extremely lucky for being able to tell not only our own story but the story of our people to those who never had to live in a dictatorship. We are all ambassadors of what is really happening in our country, and we know that if one person gets shut down by the regime, another one would rise and speak the truth of what is going on in Venezuela. Our words can be persecuted but never extinguished.

We know that writing about the darkest times that our country has been going through is not easy. But it’s important to stay true to our words and not let the regime silence our voices. Because our words are our weapons in this war for freedom—in the correct hands, they can cause more damage than the bullets of the dictator. Maduro and his cronies know this, and that’s the main reason for the censure of our newspapers, TV channels, and the incarcerations against people who wrote against them.

Do you plan to return to Venezuela again someday?

Before the publication of this book, I visited Venezuela after two years of not seeing my family. I thought that I couldn’t just wait for the end of the dictatorship to see them.

I can tell you that the country that I once knew does not exist. The streets are abandoned because many have left the country and the others are afraid of going out at night, so before 6:00 p.m., everybody is in their homes. My country right now is the perfect picture of a failed political experiment.

However, my biggest dream is that one day I will see my country free once more. My country used to be called a paradise by thousands of Europeans who found a refuge from the war in Venezuela.

Although it will probably take many years for Venezuela to recover from all the destruction that the dictatorship has caused, I dream of seeing that prosperous place that my grandparents described to me.

What can you tell those who want to help your country and its people?

The regime propaganda has taken over different social media sites, spreading lies about the reality of the country. For that reason, it’s important to double check a source what we share on social media.

Furthermore, it’s important to stop criticizing the people who are there trying to free Venezuela. Twenty years of dictatorship is difficult to overthrow overnight, and people are asking for immediate solutions without realizing that we need to keep up the morale. We are fighting against a narco-dictatorship that owns weapons, whereas the majority of Venezuelans are unprotected.

We Venezuelans need to be together more than ever, and we need the support of the international community, because every voice counts. Every time that someone speaks in favor of my people is a step forward in the freedom of our country.

Also, if people have the means to donate, there is a webpage that is collecting money to bring food and medicines to the people of Venezuela: https://www.venezuelaaidlive.com/

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Val is an editor available to assist with translations of poetry and other texts. She enjoys helping multilingual authors express themselves more clearly.

On the vulnerability of poets in a cyberbully world

I recently worked with author who I will call Mia. She wrote a book about mental illness, specifically her PTSD following sexual assault. I admired her work for its frankness and candor. I appreciated the bravery with which she shared her story.

Her poems included other types of art to create a multimedia journey, making the literary project experimental and unusual. She was going to dedicate any proceeds from book sales toward preventing sexual violence through youth education programs.

Eager to help her promote, I interviewed her for a blog. I was about to post the Q&A when I realized the book was no longer available anywhere to link it. Several other book blogs had already reviewed it, too, which made me sad that she had done some successful promotion of the book but took it down for some reason. I inquired with her directly about where the book was online.

I won’t give out any more identifying details because Mia was threatened and bullied upon its release to the point when she removed the book from the internet. Even though she did not specifically name names, those close to her were able to identify her perpetrator and began a campaign to protect him. This included slandering her to potential employers and other denigrating acts.

Mia did not live in the United States, but I feel like this could happen here, too. Despite how far we have come in terms of women being encouraged to share their stories, the punishment for women speaking against men in power is tyrannically thriving.

I spoke with her but could not convince her to publish the book under a pen name. That may be too simplistic a solution but is my immediate reaction to allow writers to speak their truth with impunity. Ultimately it was a healing journey for her, making it worthwhile, she says. I’m just disappointed that other women will not be able to receive her message of hope and courage.

Internalize by Joshua Handville

A poetry project edited by Val brings home the mental challenges associated with sharing a piece of one’s soul.

Writing poetry is a closet passion of many writers (myself included), and even of those who would not claim to be writers. That has always puzzled me, since many people feel compelled to spew language who have no poetic sense of words. Yet the personal nature of much poetry causes many to conceal it.

Poets consider each word and phrase so precisely. They are in a class alone to be careful arbiters of phrasing, and writing it is nothing to be ashamed of. Poetic sense is to be lauded. The art of economy in language seems almost foreign in this day and age of blogs and social media, where everyone wants to share their two cents.

 When a poet is brave and puts out a collection of work, and I am lucky enough to be involved, it’s a cause for celebration. Recently, I had the pleasure of working on Internalize by Josh Handville, and it brought back to me the notion that poetry can be concise and fierce as well as a sensational journey through the mind.

 Josh was kind enough to share some details about the book writing and publishing process with me.

Val: Internalize is such a personal work. What was it like writing it and now presenting it as a book? How do you get comfortable with sharing your deepest emotional self? 

JH: Writing Internalize was a cathartic experience through and through, with The Broken Hemisphere section of the book being the most difficult for me to write. I knew some of the poetry and subject matter that I tackled in that particular section would make me incredibly vulnerable and it was scary to be pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I knew, however, that internalizing those thoughts and feelings any longer would only negatively affect me, so I kept pushing to keep my work as honest and raw as possible.

Presenting it as a book afterword was a means by which to claim ownership over the thoughts and feelings that were destroying me. By molding them into something that was constructive and positive, I knew I was creating something substantial, something that possessed the potential to help others. That right there became my motivation to expose more and more of my deepest emotional self.

Val: What is your writing routine like?

JH: Between working on Internalize’s formatting and setting things up for its release, my writing routine has been diminished to about 30 minutes a day. Basically, whenever I can fit it in. That also means that oftentimes I have verses and ideas written on everything from Post-It notes to napkins and junk mail. I try to constantly be thinking of new poems and writing in general as much as I can.

Val: How was your revision experience?

JH: Long (laughs). I’m a perfectionist by nature, and sometimes that can be both a blessing and a curse. I revised the book no less than ten times, with the most extensive revision actually occurring only a month before the book’s release. I’m actually incredibly proud of that last and final revision, however, as it improved the readability of many of the poems greatly.

It took a great deal of patience, perseverance, and a willingness to trust my gut when it came to revising Internalize time and time again. I’m proud of the final product, and I’m certain readers will enjoy it as well.

Val: What compelled you to publish?

JH: Since I was young, I’ve always dreamed of creating my own book. I used to create makeshift books out of some stapled loose-leaf paper and make covers for them. I’d only create about a paragraph-long book out of each one thanks to my short attention span. However, the love of creating books never left me.

Nearly two years ago, I felt that now was the time to finally try to publish a book. I had an enlightening conversation with a co-worker pertaining to what we would do if money wasn’t an object, and one of the first things that came to my mind when it was my turn to respond was create a book. The more and more I pondered over that thought, the more I understood that I didn’t need very much money to make that dream come true. So, I started brainstorming ideas for a book and got to work on the writing process.

Val: Any other writing efforts in the works?

JH: The creation of Internalize brought forth a great deal of new ideas. At the moment, I’m writing two separate books that I’ll begin working on more heavily once Internalize has officially launched. They will each feature some of the best writing I’ve ever done.

I also plan on submitting work to many different art and literary journals as well. So far, I’ve been published in Unvael, a beautifully dark and intriguing journal founded by Michael Ash Smith, and I found the entire experience immensely gratifying. I’ll be trying to earn more chances to be published in the very near future.

Val: Any advice to writers who want to publish?

JH: Perhaps the biggest piece of advice I have is to trust your instincts. If something isn’t working out during the writing process, send it to the chopping block. If you’re uncertain about the publishing service you’re about to use, don’t use it. Research as much as you can about self-publishing, of course, but always understand that your best tool is your instincts. Only you truly know what you want for your book and how you want readers to consume it.

My second piece of advice is try not to become too overwhelmed with the process. I know this is easier said than done, especially if you’re self-publishing and doing nearly everything on your own. It’s important to be patient with yourself though. There are times when writing will feel as though you’re trying to transform salt into sugar. There are times when you will become frustrated, where you’ll lose sight of why you’re doing this or question releasing a book of your own. Those are the times where you must travel to a bookstore and admire the thousands of books looking back at you upon their respective shelves. Understand that if these authors are capable of bringing their vision into reality, then so are you.

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Val specializes in editing poetic collections of verse. Contact her for assistance with your project at heartoflit@gmail.com.

Editorial Approaches to Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry

Lots of editing types exist, from technical to business to poetry, and all styles in between (developmental, line edits, proofreading, and others). In this article, I briefly discuss editorial approaches to various arenas of writing.

Editing and Proofreading Nonfiction

Business editing requires copywriters who come up with the material. These clever folks know how to turn a phrase to use it commercially. Proofreaders must make the writing accurate. The words are often spare but must be concise and correct. Nothing casts a bad light on a commercial endeavor like a typo. Copy editors can also add insight into business campaigns.
Technical editing means getting the mechanicals right, not only of grammar but of processes that may be explained therein. Technical editing sometimes requires degrees in the subject being discussed, such as engineering. Other times, a nonexpert can show the glaring errors of comprehension a specialist may not recognize in their own prose.

Nonfiction editing projects can be as short as columns and articles or as long as a series of books on a topic. Sometimes documentary and new television scripts are written out. In addition to comprehensive copy edits, nonfiction projects gain from thorough fact-checking to ensure nonfiction status. However, some forms of memoir and creative nonfiction may be based on actual events with alterations to protect innocent parties.

Editing and Proofreading Fiction

Editing fiction requires some flexibility and breadth. A book can be edited developmentally, addressing concepts and structure, or proofed for glaring errors of grammar and spelling. Masters of craft and subject experts might suffer from poor formatting conventions, and editors can pat a longer manuscript into shape to the author’s benefit. A novel is a large project to bring to fruition; an editor provides help in a project so big.

Editing and Proofreading Poetry

Editing poetry is fun because rules can go out the window. The artistic license allowed by verse is fluid. Unless a poet wants to stick to strict rules of poem types, most poetry requires only the loosest form of editing. Poetry editors benefit from knowing the rules of grammar and not ignoring them by questioning if a misspelling or unusual capitalization is intentional to stop gaffes from occurring.

Most writing benefits from at least a cursory edit to catch typographical mistakes. Even editors need editors. It’s the way of the world to make errors; it’s only human. A professional editor can fix your prose or poetry while providing other insights, such as into publishing, issues of flow, or structural feedback while offering encouragement.

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To hire us to edit your novel, short story or poetry collection, please contact heartoflit@gmail.com

Revenge Of The Lawn by Richard Brautigan

Mike’s review

VV sent me this for my birthday. On the inside cover, she wrote, “Consider this a trade for Trout Fishing, which will take me the rest of my life to read.” Which was fairly apt for my experience reading this. My birthday was in November, it’s February now, so almost three full months. I should’ve seen the delay coming. My first note reads, “Not sure Brautigan’s what I’m looking for right now. Need speed and aggression, not quirky pastorality. But it’s short stories and I have to get up early for work tomorrow.” It never really became what I wanted.

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“He was selling a vision of eternal oranges and sunshine door to door in a lad where people ate apples and it rained a lot.” This is the sort of means-everything/means-nothing non-sequitor sentence I yearn to get away with writing, but never will.

_____

Image of a man finding a man who has died while burying his money is quite funny. But the self-centeredness of needing to write a story about standing in line at a bank, and how much of an inconvenience it is, is such a hippie thing to do.

_____

“innocent people who talk to the movies because the movies are just as real as anything else that has ever happened to them.” Are the movies too real, or their lives not real enough?

“he looked as if the only mail he had ever gotten in his life were bills.” Brautigan is a series of images and if the images affect you, personally, enough, you trick yourself into thinking it’s a good story, but there are no stories. It’s a fucking poem.

(Those two quotes both came from the same story.)

_____

“I stared at the watercress in the creek. It looked wealthy. Whenever I see watercress, which isn’t very often, I think of the rich. I think they are the only people who can afford it and they use watercress in exotic recipes that they keep hidden in vaults from the poor.” Um, it’s growing, free for the taking, right in front of you. Good image though. (I know watercress is pricey.)

_____

Finished reading as dinner came out of the oven, which feels like a Brautigan moment.

Trout Fishing in America/The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster by Richard Brautigan

Mike’s review of Trout Fishing in America/The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster

This is a compendium and In Watermelon Sugar is in here too, but I don’t think I care.

“He created his own Kool-Aid reality and was able to illuminate himself by it.” Do we all do this? I mean, the metaphor is that we all do, but seriously. Did I ever figure out that less sugar meant less sweet Kool-Aid? I think I just followed directions exactly. Seems like me.

“‘It was only a war love. You loved only yourselves, loving each other in Spain during the war.’” Youth…

The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster

When you take your pill

it’s like a mine disaster.

I think of all the people

     lost inside of you.

I want her to have my babies. I want our family. I want us. I want her. (She’s left me since I made that note, not that my feelings have changed.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include

Love Poem

It’s so nice

to wake up in the morning

     all alone

and not have to tell somebody

     you love them

when you don’t love them

     any more.

How can Brautigan be so devastating in such short spans? I think my answer is because he’s largely ineffective. There’s so much silliness and quirkiness for the sake of quirk (for God’s sake, the back cover is red with the word “mayonnaise” on it). You’re lulled into complacency and then he fucking stabs you with Love Poem and you’re just a complete and total wreck afterwards. My poor analogy is if someone gives you a massage and then punches you in the stomach. That punch is going to feel worse (though it’s actually no harder) than a straight up punch without the good stuff before.

I also have a note that says “Looking @ you” No idea what that means. I looked for a poem of that title and didn’t see one. It’s scribbled on the side of my paper like an afterthought. Beats me.

Valerie’s response

“How can Brautigan be so devastating in such short spans?” you ask. The analogy of getting punched in the stomach is right on – the sentiment, I think, not the feeling. He is master of the non sequitur. Comes at you out of nowhere in these brief bursts of agony and lonelienss and honesty and truth. The metaphor are often absurd, WAY out there… part of my attraction to his writing is the randomness of it. You can float along, wondering where the fuck it all comes from, or just enjoy the ride and appreciate the wacky genius of his insights. I wouldn’t say the silliness makes me complacent. I think it makes me more aware of the edges of imagination, looking foward to the next weirdness. In Brautigan’s work I see new wildernesses of meaning to be explored in his little vignettes. Hey, can I borrow this book from you?

Mike’s response

Really? I see this book everywhere, all the time. It’s like John Grisham and shit. I’ll try to mail it to you before the post office collapses.

V: 

I don’t get out much.