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I am thrilled to be included in this journal.

Vera Constantineau

Rooms in old houses are never square

that’s what my brother always says when he tries to repair something or tries to build something for mom. I don’t know what he means, though. I’m good with shapes and my room looks square to me.

He should come in here to the quiet because now he is saying things that are going to cost him. Mom made a swear jar on Friday after she heard me say damn. I pay a quarter a word, but she said my brother has to pay a dollar. I bet he’s up to five dollars already.

I hear him say it’s the hammer’s fault. Mom says too bad, baby, pay up. Now I can hear him dropping coins in the jar. Mom says she needs a new laptop and this is her version of a go-fund-me. I don’t know what that means, but I hear her laughing and I feel happy.

bathroom shelf
the toothbrushes lean
toward the window

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About the Author

Vera Constantineau’s poetic focus is haibun, haiku, senryu and tanka. A member of Haiku Canada and the Haiku Society of America, she served as poet laureate in the City of Greater Sudbury (2020-2022), offering a podcast that gained a following worldwide. Her first haibun collection, Enlightened by Defilement, is scheduled for release in April 2023 with Latitude 46 Publishing.

I had a great time yesterday, a lot of nice people work at Chapters. 🙂 Thanks to all the people who stopped by and picked up the book or just stopped by to talk about books.

Featuring Emily DeAngelis Elizabeth Pszczolko and Vera Constantineau

Anyone who expected an immediate personal recap of the launch of my book, Enlightened by Defilement, on April 15^th will have given up by now I am sure. In a word, fantastic!

The crowd in attendance was gratifying, the response satisfying, and the location was the place to be for me. If you had a nibble, you already know the food was beyond. In a word, *see above.

Anyone who puts a manuscript together, shops it, signs a contract for it, then holds the finished product in their hands, knows the “Oh Crap” feeling of the work just beginning. In the coming months, I will be reading, signing and hoping for the success of this almost memoir of mine. In the early response from readers, and I admit most of these are colleagues, all has been favorable. Early days though, let’s see what a few months brings.

If you’ve a yen to read my book and don’t have a copy yet, you can order it at the Latitude 46 online bookshop. If you want to wait and meet me at Chapters on the 27^th of May, I will supply a smile and a verbal tour of what you will get.

Have a photo or two to see what it was like at the beginning. Sorry you missed it if you did.   

We writers are all awash in social media. Some part of our involvement can be attributed to the isolation of our writing lives, another part is the need to network as writers and prepare for the day we launch our book babies.

There’s a fine line between marketing and overmarketing. I don’t want to be the person who one day posts for the fifth or twentieth time and, by doing so, causes everyone on my followers list to groan inwardly. That said, if we are published by a House, as I am, I owe it, by the letter of the contract, to promote my book and all that entails.   

Returning to the title above, and the issue of responses, it’s my belief that the old axiom, “if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all” really should be adhered to. I get that we all write in a variety of genres, but to be a Negative Nelly is completely unnecessary. There is nothing wrong with the decision to let the post on your friends page go by. Saying nothing is an option that is often not chosen enough. Not everything we writers set on a page is golden, we get that.

I recently read a book by one of my favorite authors and it was ho-hum. I added it to my list of books I’ve finished for the Goodreads challenge and gave it fewer stars than other books, but I didn’t go into deep detail as to reasons why. The star system charts the way for us on Goodreads, no need to be cutting. Also, it behooves us to remember that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into the writing of a novel. If we have not walked a mile in that writer’s footwear under the desk, we have no business being judgy. Okay, hopefully there is no blood beyond the occasional paper cut involved in book writing, still you get the drift.

Sometimes I do take the time to ponder why such a simple post will garner a feisty, or rude, response. Today, for example, I’ve been pondering. At other times I let the rude slide and chalk it up to me creating a dialogue where not everyone has to agree. I did find myself torn by the latest occurrence in the Neg. Nel. vein, however. I’ve decided slide is the only option, someone else’s unhappiness is not my problem to solve, is it