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the art of the bio

& round-up

Despy Boutris
Jul 18
1
Share this post
the art of the bio
despyboutris.substack.com

Happy Monday, folks!

Here’s what I have for you today:

  • Housekeeping

  • Opportunities

  • The art of the bio

  • Call to action

  • What I’m reading

  • Quotations

  • Tweets


Housekeeping:

I have a poem out!

Twitter avatar for @itsdboutsDespy Boutris @itsdbouts
grateful to have a poem out in the newest @CRRLitMag 💘
crr.trevecca.edu/article/on-fly…On FlyingOn Flyingcrr.trevecca.edu

July 15th 2022

2 Retweets15 Likes

& my birthday is in less than a week

and I love presents always. Here’s my Amazon wishlist. Please buy me gifts, if you want. Love you.


My efforts to clean out my bookshelves continue.

I hope you’ll consider buying 5 books for $30 on my website. These purchases enable me to pay The West Review contributors & thus give back to other writers where I can.


Opportunities:

  • Call for submissions for 'Air' issue (short stories, poems, nonfiction): Rough Cut Press | pay: $25 per piece

  • Call for submissions (short stories, poems, nonfiction): Consequence | pay: $40-$80 per piece

  • Jessica Abrahams @jiabrahams: Very excited to be commissioning stories as a Guest Editor for @Narratively! I'm looking for long-form journalism on a range of topics - including personal essays, sub-cultures, and secret lives. That crazy story you've always wanted to tell? Now's your chance...I'm open to all ideas, from all parts of the world, but the key is that it should be a story you can really bring to life, with characters and scenes and a narrative arc. It's best if you can outline how you'll do this but if you're not sure, pitch me anyway - If the right idea is there, we might be able to work on it together. Rates start at $1000 and the deadline to send your pitch is July 26. DM me for my email address or submit your idea via my website jessicaabrahams.com Not familiar with Narratively? It's a platform for narrative non-fiction and it publishes *amazing* stories. [see thread for examples] (July 8)


The art of the bio:

Today, I’m offering you a chapter of my ebook Publishing Poems: An Easy Guide.

Recently,

I went over how to write a strong cover letter.

on poetry & being human
the art of the cover letter
Happy Tuesday, all! Here’s what I have for you today: Housekeeping Resources The art of the cover letter What I’m reading Quotations Tweets Final notes…
Read more
10 days ago · Despy Boutris

Now, I’ll be giving a lil guidance about writing a strong bio, in case that’s any help to you.

Here goes!


What’s a bio?

Bios are a short and quick snapshot, contextualizing your work and giving editors an idea of where you are in your career.

Will this be your first publication? Cool.

Are you an astrophysicist? Nice.

Do you usually write fiction? Neat.

Do you already have ten books published? Right on.

The general rule is that bios should be between 50-100 words in length and written in the third person.

Here are two fill-in-the-blank outlines of professional/succinct bios:

  1. [Your name] is the author of [Chapbook/Book Name] ([Publisher Name, Year]) and has also been published in [Impressive Journal], [Well-Known-Journal], and [Journal-We’ve-At-Least-Probably-Heard-Of]. She lives in [City, State], where she works as a [job title].

  2. [City] native [Your name] ([your pronouns]) has poems forthcoming in [Impressive Journal], [Well-Known-Journal], [Journal-We’ve-At-Least-Probably-Heard-Of], and others. She is an MFA candidate in [genre] at [Name of University].

Or, here’s an example of how a bio might look if you have absolutely no publication history:

  • A graduate of UC Berkeley, Jane Doe works as a copywriter in Albany, California, where she lives with her husband and sons.


Tips:

  • Be wary of adding extraneous information that

    • isn’t tonally appropriate/professional

    • doesn’t contextualize your writing/career

  • Be wary of including unknown journals within your bio.

    • Note that both examples above recommend listing previous publications like this: “[Writer] has been published in [Impressive Journal], [Well-Known-Journal], and [Journal-We’ve-At-Least-Probably-Heard-Of],” ergo:

      • Including your school’s tiny undergraduate publication—or a mention of a journal that has absolutely no name recognition—can make you look a lil clueless.


Call to action:

Look back at your own bio. Is there a way you might be able to strengthen it?


What I read this week:

  • Self Diagnosis Isn’t ‘Valid.’ It’s Liberatory.

What I’m reading now:

  • The Cancer Journals, Audre Lorde


Quotations:

Our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.

-Audre Lorde


I do not wish my anger and pain and fear about cancer to fossilize into yet another silence.

-Audre Lorde


Silence has never brought us anything of worth.

-Audre Lorde


I’m not feeling very hopeful these days, about selfhood or anything else.

-Audre Lorde


Pain fills me like a puspocket and every touch threatens to breech the taut membrane that keeps it from flowing through and poisoning my whole existence.

-Audre Lorde


Help me to remember what I have paid so much to learn. I could die of difference, or live—myriad selves.

-Audre Lorde


In the gallery today ugly images of women offering up distorted bodies for whatever fantasy passes in the name of male art. Gargoyles of pleasure.

-Audre Lorde


I do believe not until every woman traces her weave back strand by bloody self-referenced strand, will we begin to alter the whole pattern.

-Audre Lorde


I must let this pain flow through me and pass on. If I resist or try to stop it, it will detonate inside me, shatter me, splatter my pieces against every wall and person that I touch.

-Audre Lorde


Without community there is certainly no liberation, no future.

-Audre Lorde


I want to write rage but all that comes is sadness.

-Audre Lorde


I carry death around in my body like a condemnation. But I do live.

-Audre Lorde


When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less important whether or not I am unafraid.

-Audre Lorde


What I most regretted were my silences.

-Audre Lorde


I spent the last ten years enjoying a lot. I had a lot of fun. I had a LOT of joy. I did cool things. …Acting again. Writing two books. Becoming small-time instagram famous. It’s all very cool and impressive looking on paper, isn’t it? I look very impressive from the outside with my little blue checkmark I cared about getting so much, and my two published books. And my 200K+ instagram followers… before I realized it was a trap and a cage.

-Caroline Dooner1


Enough people like my books, sure, and that’s amazing. And I’ve supported myself for a few years with writing, which is also amazing. But I am constantly on the verge of never making money again.

-Caroline Dooner2


Hi I’m sorry that if I have to think about branding and packaging my beliefs up into a book again with a little bow I will THROW UP.

-Caroline Dooner3


You can make a shrine out of anything.

-Florence Welch


I wish that I could just be brave.

-Florence Welch


If you could only see the beast you’ve made of me.

-Florence Welch


I can hear your bones / singing into mine.

-Sara Eliza Johnson


The storm grows louder and louder

like a fear.

-Sara Eliza Johnson


Each atom in each cell will remember

the body it had made in this place, this time,

long after the rain flushes the river

to flood, long after this morning

when the country wakes to another war,

when two people wake in a house

and do not touch each other.

-Sara Eliza Johnson


At the edge of the valley,

wild hyacinths,

violet ones, scythe

through the shadows.

-Sara Eliza Johnson


This must be

what love is:

a pain so radiant

it cuts through all others.

-Sara Eliza Johnson


She lay on the ocean

blue carpet.

-Ely Shipley


Tweets:

Twitter avatar for @itsdboutsDespy Boutris @itsdbouts
there’s a special place in hell for editors who offer unsolicited critiques when they reject submissions

July 18th 2022

10 Likes
Twitter avatar for @yuximerollinYuxi Lin @yuximerollin
I love this poem and how it used the ghazal form 💗

Despy Boutris @itsdbouts

poem out in dream mag @CincinnReview today 💘 https://t.co/hVBo8ivSYH

July 15th 2022

2 Retweets11 Likes
Twitter avatar for @joeIovesbeesJoe @joeIovesbees
I am undiagnosing myself I'm actually super normal and totally fine

July 14th 2022

5,745 Retweets24,776 Likes
Twitter avatar for @AubryAndrewsAubry Andrews 🦝 @AubryAndrews
This is a true ally.
Image

July 16th 2022

11,254 Retweets89,333 Likes
Twitter avatar for @KejeraLML Kejera @KejeraL
no I'm a jovial fellow and am always actually laughing

Ken @whatifken

Delete the 'lol' from the end of your text & just say what you need to say

July 16th 2022

2,446 Retweets10,695 Likes
Twitter avatar for @tori_but_autumne.v. 🍂 @tori_but_autumn
being lgbtq+ is saying "that's homophobic" to any minor inconvenience in your life

May 20th 2022

1,601 Retweets8,585 Likes
Twitter avatar for @sarahschauersarah schauer 🦂 @sarahschauer
being a lesbian is so crazy. a straight man will be talking to you and then you’ll tell them you’re gay and you see something just leave his eyes. it’s like watching a pet die

June 23rd 2022

4,383 Retweets88,749 Likes
Twitter avatar for @imkeegsxkeegan. @imkeegsx
the sims team kinda big slay
Image

July 15th 2022

23,318 Retweets269,943 Likes
Twitter avatar for @shoeleatherkateKate Sosin @shoeleatherkate
🧵Increasingly, @nytimes and others have published opinion and reported pieces that call into question settled science about transgender medicine and our humanity. I don't like to criticize others in the industry, but the mandate is to speak truth to power.

July 15th 2022

1,124 Retweets4,774 Likes
Twitter avatar for @MaFavRaps✨just vibes✨ @MaFavRaps
kylie jenner out here picking which colour private jet she wanna take today meanwhile I gotta chug my iced coffee before my straw becomes paper mache???? explain

July 16th 2022

1,906 Retweets21,806 Likes
Twitter avatar for @trixiemattelTrixie Mattel™ @trixiemattel
gay people why are straight people so obsessed with our lives

July 17th 2022

5,360 Retweets58,973 Likes
Twitter avatar for @morgvntvylor🌻MØRG∆N T∆YLØR🌻444🖤 @morgvntvylor
This made my day today
Image

July 16th 2022

24,030 Retweets312,782 Likes
Twitter avatar for @juliastmiJulia Furlan @juliastmi
Just tested positive for COVID, one month to the day from the first time I had it. I never stopped wearing a kn95 indoors, took precautions even though my Dr said I should be fine for 3 months. Sharing so ppl know it can happen & as a reminder to keep taking care!

July 16th 2022

10,741 Retweets64,164 Likes
Twitter avatar for @elimrogersEmily Lim Rogers, PhD @elimrogers
it's cheaper to tell gay people to put their lives on hold than to vaccinate. it was cheaper to tell people to stay home than to provide paid sick leave. we have to resist the trap of personal responsibility and understand what it is: austerity.

July 13th 2022

137 Retweets705 Likes
Twitter avatar for @BrotiGuptabroti gupta @BrotiGupta
every day the news is like, "can we stop talking about pronouns for once???????? and start talking about the real issues?????????? what are the real issues, you ask?????? well i'll tell ya one thing: it ain't pronouns!!!!!!!!! which is what everyone else won't stop talking abou-"

July 16th 2022

476 Retweets5,354 Likes
Twitter avatar for @translatedteesPoorly Translated Shirts @translatedtees
Image

July 15th 2022

272 Retweets1,979 Likes

That’s all for today.

& stay healthy, sane, & keep looking out for each other—

-Despy Boutris
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1

Note: I am aware that C.D. is deeply imperfect. I find white women’s bizarre fear of ~cancel culture~ & ~the mob mentality~ to be. . .suspicious, at best—and also generally pretty tellling. And the, like, the antivax thing is obviously frightening. These quotes are good, though—so let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Also, I love reddit.

2

Mood.

3

Also kind of a mood.

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