👻 Haunted House Reading? Editing Tip? Poetry Prompt? --Yes, Yes, Yes.

And a Few Things from Two Sylvias Press!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year 👻 🍁 & Copper Canyon Press Reading

How is it November 5th already? Because I love Spooky Season (Oct. 1–31), I really tried to slow down October—watching Halloween shows, lighting candles, doing something autumn-festive almost every day—but somehow we’ve still arrived at the darker days of November with the sun setting at 4:46 p.m. tonight in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, night is coming earlier now and it’s pouring outside as I type this, but the good news? This darkness and weather make for perfect writing time.

I had the joy of reading from my next collection, Accidental Devotions, at the gorgeous (slightly haunted) Stimson-Green Mansion hosted by Copper Canyon Press.

After a stretch of gorgeous autumn days, we got a stormy, windy Seattle night—one of those “who’s even leaving their house?” evenings, in fact, I was convinced it would be me in this giant mansion reading to ghosts. But somehow (magic?), it was a full house! I have never been to this mansion before, but it was the perfect historic (read: spooky) place to be a week before Halloween. And I did read a poem about a seance with Rilke’s ghost and well, nothing fell from the walls, so maybe not that haunted.

It also reminded me how good it feels to be around people who genuinely love poetry. Since the pandemic, I’ve found it harder to motivate myself to go out to events in Seattle. I joke with friends, “Remember when we used to do things?” But that night, it felt good to show up, to be part of something meaningful.

I’ve been thinking about how important it is to support the things we want to last—especially the arts. Copper Canyon remains one of the rare long-time presses entirely devoted to poetry, and I’m so grateful to be part of their family. The event was also a fundraiser, so if you’d like to help them keep bringing more poetry into the world—you can make a donation here.

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An Editing Tip for Manuscripts

Speaking of Accidental Devotions (Copper Canyon Press)—I am on my second set of proofs (the book will be published May 12, 2026)! One of the coolest things Copper Canyon does are these “proof sheets,” which are fantastic if you’re trying to edit your own manuscript.

Basically, if you use a word that can be spelled two ways (“blond” vs. “blonde”), you jot it under that letter with the page number to make sure you’re consistent. They also include any nonstandard words—which, as you can guess, I use plenty of.

And the bonus of this task: you end up with this bizarre little museum of your book’s vocabulary. Mine includes “afterlife” (five times!) along with some of my invented words like duskbirds, lustheavy, and rosesmoke. So here’s your tip—if you’re working on a manuscript, I really recommend trying this as you can easily create your own proof sheet—it’s a surprisingly effective way to catch small mistakes before you submit.

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✍️ Two Sylvias Offerings Right Now:

Despite everything—and a rent hike (!!)—Annette Spaulding-Convy and I are still here, keeping Two Sylvias Press afloat in these wild times. Annette and I have also been busy writing new poetry prompts and exercises to help folks stay creative (and sane!) through it all.

Here are two ways to stop the “doomscrolling” and start a little “poemquesting.”

1. Two Sylvias VIRTUAL Poetry Prompt Advent Calendar ($25): And as always, Two Sylvias is bringing back our Online Advent Calendar for December, filled with daily poetry prompts to help you close out the year with 31 new poems. You just click each day on your calendar to reveal a new prompt—no chocolate (or whiskey!), but definitely a shot of inspiration. You can buy it for yourself or your favorite poet (or both!)

   Here’s a prompt from last year—feel free to give it a try!

2. Zoom Poetry Classes and Weekly Prompts with Two Sylvias Weekly Muse

   About 3 years ago, Two Sylvias Press created a Substack that sends out weekly poetry prompts. After a year of that, we wanted to say thank you to all our subscribers, so we added Zoom Poetry Classes too!

Here’s our lineup through February 2026: This week— November 7 we have Jane Wong teaching a class on Deep Image; on December 8, Melissa Studdard and I will be teaching a class on collaborations; on January 22, Marie Howe will share her wisdom on what happens when a poet contradicts herself (and yes, the Marie Howe will be joining us!); and on February 11, Traci Brimhall will lead a class on sweet & spicy love poems. We’ll also have spring classes with Lauren Davis and Elena Karina Byrne, plus a few surprises we can’t reveal just yet. And if you sign up right now, you can join us THIS Friday for Jane Wong (Zoom registration link will come in your Welcome Letter!) —And yes, we do record EVERY Zoom class in case you can’t join us in real time.

Along with the classes, Annette Spaulding-Convy and I will also you weekly poetry prompts and writing exercises—plus submission calls, inspiration, interviews with poets, and more. You’ll receive it in your inbox every Sunday morning—we see it as a small creative reset to help you stay organized and to prioritize your writing in a world that keeps trying to distract you. (You can even give the Weekly Muse as a gift!) Price: $18.99 a month or $198 for a year of Zoom classes and weekly poetry prompts. If you want to join us, you can sign up here.

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Marzipan aka “Ms. Pancake”

Whew! If you made it this far, thank you for reading and for being part of my corner of the world. It feels as if it’s been a decade of “one thing after another” or “one thing after twenty other things!”—and yet here we are, still finding ways to connect throughout the chaos.

I’ll be sharing my Favorite Things list later in November. I keep hoping to post more here, but you know how life goes—some days you write a poem, some days you scream into the void while your cat watches, unimpressed. I’m kidding…(or am I?)

Sending love through the interwebs,
xo Kells

📍Where to find me: Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Daydreaming