The BIG winner of last week's Book Give-Away Challenge is...

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It's the day you've all been waiting for! The winner of the Book Give-Away Challenge is Shirley Fletcher from Dover, Delaware! Congratulations to her. She will recieve a free signed copy of The Lily & The Aster in the mail on the book's official date of publication next Saturday, May 5. I will be contacting others who entered the contest individually so that they can take advantage of the discount associated with the Challenge. Please also see Amazon or Createspace for details. Send an email to thelilyandtheaster@gmail.com with any questions or concerns. Happy reading!!
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Book Give-Away Challenge

Well, The Lily & The Aster is about to be published. The following quiz is intended to give you an idea of whether or not you are ready for The Lily & The Aster. Take the quiz. Answer "yes" or "no" to the following questions. Hold on to your answers. I have a surprise in store. Read more below.

1) Do you like to read poetry? ____

2) Have you seen the book trailer? ____

3) Do you enjoy photography? _____

4) Have you read the Interview with the Editor, Xavier Martin? ____

5) Do you appreciate a good laugh as opposed to a good cry? ____

6) Do you enjoy an occasional love poem? ______

7) Do you prefer happy endings? _____

8) Have you seen Amazon's Author's page for the book? _____

9) Would you consider writing a review for Amazon if you were to read the book?_____

10) Would you be willing to provide your mailing address should you win the contest? _____

Instructions: Give yourself one point for each question to which you answered "yes". Tally your score. Be the 8th person to contact me at thelilyandtheaster@gmail.com with your name and your score. Write "Book Give-Away Challenge" as the subject of your email. The winner will be announced in next Saturday's blog and will receive a new copy of The Lily & The Aster. All runners-up will find out about and receive a HUGE discount on their books next week. Enter the contest and win!

Conversation with the Editor / Xavier Martin / Editor of The Lily & The Aster, a book of haiku, by January Nicole Wilson

Last week, I conducted an interview with Xavier Martin, the editor of The Lily & The Aster. He sat down with me and I asked him a few questions about the book:

JW: What was your first impression of the manuscript?

XM: Your manuscript came as a surprise. Here was a new form of poetry for you - the haiku. I was fascinated by this new shorter form. The form uses metaphor and contradiction in new and important ways. The frame or structure is more restrictive and has more rules than the open form you used in previous books. But, I think that you've been quite successful with haiku.

JW: What was your favorite poem from The Lily & The Aster? Why?

XM: The chapter called Rain was my favorite chapter. It captures the essence of what haiku are. I love the simplicity of the poems contained in this chapter. The poems use mainly nouns. There are not too many adjectives. They are direct poems with clear and beautiful messages. They are poems that talk about nature, about reality, about what the senses perceive. I particularly like:

“Naked to the rain,

 the rose bush is pelted

into submission”

It’s a beautiful and powerful image. One can see the rose bush just by reading these short poems. You do not need anything else. There are no extra words. The simplicity of the poem is one of its great strengths. I love this haiku.

JW: What defines my literary style in this book? 

XM: The haiku defines your work. You capture the essence of what a haiku is and you adapt your style in order to be able to express what you want to tell us. It is a new style, but one can still recognize you in your haiku.

I love the images that you create and how you play with language. Haiku require precision and you always find the right words to create an image. I also like how you tend to use contradictions to capture the varied angles from which you can see one issue. The sense of your haiku can suddenly change in the last sentence where you tend to use metaphors to give a new turn to a poem.

As for your travel essays, your use of memory is remarkable. You take an introspective look at what your travel experiences mean to you. You share very personal experiences and you open up to your readers. There is a lot of generosity in these chapters.

JW: We worked on a number of key elements of this book before finishing the final product. What were the most memorable?

XM: Working on the travel essay concerning Spain was quite memorable, in part, because I am from there and I was interested to learn about your experiences there. Developing this essay was a great challenge. It was difficult to capture and portray the experience on many different levels and at the same time make it readable and entertaining. There were many anecdotes and it was difficult to arrange them in a way that the chapter would flow well. In the end, I really think that you did a very good job.

JW: Why did you take on this project?

XM: I took on this project because I enjoyed working with you on your second book so much. I love witnessing the making of your books--how your ideas evolve and take shape in the form of poems. I feel that I have the opportunity to see how your poems evolve from an idea to a powerful poem.

JW: Would you say my haiku struck a balance between being profound and being playful? Elaborate.

XM: I was particularly impressed by your haiku in this respect because these poems are so short and you are constrained by very strict rules. You have to think a lot about what you are saying and I think that what you've done is quite remarkable. It is the first book where you systematically use the structure of haiku to express your emotions. I do not have any doubt that we still enjoy many more haikus from you. You have truly mastered the art of haiku!

Publish Date Postponed

This is a short note to let you know that the publish date for The Lily & The Aster will be postponed until the near future. Stay tuned for the latest updates, including an interview with the editor. Thanks.