 Hello! It’s been an exciting January as I have found my momentum for so many things again. I think the cold weather keeps me in at the computer and has energized me as of late. I’ve had a busy week or so expanding this website to include my poetic interpretations of Sylvia Plath’s early poems in the new “Decoding Sylvia Plath” section. If you’re into Plath—or poetry—and want to understand how she built her skills in multiple meanings, here is your place. If you’re not, just hang out on this side of the website. J
Some have asked where I have been concerning my Plath scholarship. Well, I decided long ago that I would not kiss up to the hierarchy regarding the traditional, close-minded thinking that Plath’s work is only autobiography. This thinking has improved somewhat since Heather Clark’s recent biography, Red Comet. Eventually, the world will start to catch up. Of course, right now, my work makes academics cringe. First off, the current Plath scholars dominating the scene are predominantly not creative people who do not understand what is possible within a poem. Secondly, they are mostly not spiritual people, so they miss so much symbolism and structure. Plath scholars, by and large, are so entrenched in their tunnel vision and navel-gazing that they’re unable to see beyond themselves. My findings challenge their very careers. It stands that for this reason, I will be ignored on every level because I don’t support their work. That said, I’ve made a few enemies. Ha ha. As you here reading know, I have my own career, in addition to scholarship. Because I do not need to depend on my Plath work to make a living, I have decided to give much of it away right here. A few of you have asked about my book projects that, for a while, I promoted heavily and then went silent over. I’ll catch you up: The Magician’s Girl, a biography of the mysticism of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, is complete in its first draft. Still, I have wanted to edit it down because, as it stands now, it’s around 1,000 pages without the bibliography. Now, given Red Comet far surpassed that number of pages and is successful, I don’t know… maybe I should try to publish it as is. I wanted to see if Red Comet would reveal some of my findings, but it mainly supports my work (in some exciting ways, I might add). I am glad I waited until after its release because I think the general consciousness around Plath and reading her work as one-dimensional autobiography is gradually evolving. The Decoding Sylvia Plath series—ah, this one is where I let the ball drop. I had huge ambitions of publishing two books a quarter. The truth is, it is just too much work as I am also a very busy tarot card reader working seven days a week (and often nights too). More is to come, probably around the poems “Ariel” and “Cut” next. The other trick is getting my husband Tom to find the time to lay it all out. It is a significant endeavor. But the scholarship work is done. Fixed Stars Govern a Life, volume TWO—what happened to volume two, you ask? I stopped at the first 22 poems in volume one! FSGL volume one was published (and I use that term loosely) by Stephen F. Austin State University Press in 2017. They did such a poor job, and it was an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy. I did get the rights back to my book and have intentions to publish a FSGL volume two eventually. It is half-written with all the findings. It’s just a matter of finding more time, and maybe a new publisher… or laying this one out and publishing it myself. If you’re interested in FSGL volume one, which is now out of print, send me an email, and I can hook you up with a PDF for just $5. Sylvia Plath: The Early Poems—this is the good news. This is what I am giving away here on the Decoding Sylvia Plath page. The 1956 poems are currently up. Over the next few months, I will post my analyses of Plath’s poetry through 1962. It’s exciting stuff, as I have known for years that Plath wrote “news poems,” but it wasn’t until The Letters of Sylvia Plath came out that I was able to find a specific reference Plath made to this in a letter to her mother. (That quote is on the main Decoding Sylvia Plath page of this website. What else? I’ve also got a number of my creative writing projects going, which I will fill you in on as I have more news. A Heads up: This website will soon be redesigned, as my pictures are old and technology has improved vastly since this first went live. DECODING SYLVIA PLATH, EARLY POEMS, FIXED STARS GOVERN A LIFE, MYSTICISM OF SYLVIA PLATH AND TED HUGHES, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS, SYLVIA PLATH, SYLVIA PLATH SCHOLARSHIP, SYLVIA PLATH'S EARLY POEMS, THE MAGICIAN'S GIRL
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