where the writers are

Jannie Dresser A Bay Area poet with Central Valley roots who also writes freelance.

Jannie Dresser
Jannie Dresser
San Francisco Bay Area
Member since: Apr, 2009
Last login: 10/07/2009
Last update : 10/07/2009
Contact Me

My Red Room Url

About Me

  • A mid-range boomer with a career working in the book trade, as editor, publisher, writer, typographer, bookseller, librarian, and as a publications manager. Also have taught English, creative writing, and mostly poetry writing in community centers, colleges, and private workshops.

SpinningJannie's Blog

  • Working Collar Writer

    September 7, 2009

    • Throughout my life, I have written about how people support themselves. As a young woman, I set out to travel and work in every kind of job and institution in order to understand what work is. I experienced many types of work: I was an office clerk, a tally girl in a Central California fruit-packing house, a factory worker, a jail librarian, an aide in a mental hospital, a Santa's elf, a ...
    • Continue Reading » 0 Comments

  • Overlooked, Bothered and Bitched-Out

    July 2, 2009

    • As part of my www.examiner.column on local (SF Bay Area) poets and poetry, I have had the good fortune to interview fascinating people who are overlooked by not only our mainstream media (poetry has never been on their radar) but also, and unfortunately so, by our local alternative press and poetry magazines. How many times have I seen the photos of better-known poets on the front-page of even ...
    • Continue Reading » 0 Comments

  • Poem a Day

    June 22, 2009

    • I joined Molly Fisk's Facebook challenge group to write a poem every day for the month of June. Two years ago I set off on January 1 with the same intention, but to write a poem every day for the whole year. In both cases, I failed. There's something important to priming the pump. I have had to let go of my perfectionism to write a new poem every day. Some of the exercises have worked out. Most ...
    • Continue Reading » 0 Comments

  • Writing for Free (or nearly so)

    May 28, 2009

    • In February I took a post as the San Francisco Poetry Examiner at www.examiner.com. The site is always looking for writers with special interests or communities that they are involved in, so that they may report on activities and events, etc. It's hardly a paying gig, but it has allowed me to interview some great poets and the shakers and movers of our local poetry scene, many who epitomize the ...
    • Continue Reading » 0 Comments

  • Cheating on Moby-Dick

    April 26, 2009

    • I've had bad luck with reading groups. The one I recently stopped attending had switched the format to having one member choose the month's title that everyone would be asked to read. Since several of the recently selected tomes were not, in my opinion, even worthy of discussing, I decided my reading time was too precious to sacrifice to some semblance of the English literature classroom I dream ...
    • Continue Reading » 0 Comments

My Favorite Authors

Comments I've Written

See all Comments by SpinningJannie »

Image Galleries

A two-day retreat to the Quaker Retreat Center in Ben Lomond, with a writing friend, really helped me re-set my gears for writing. (Can't) Beat a Retreat!

See All Media by SpinningJannie »


Syndicate content