Yes, the cat is out of the metaphorical bag.

I’m pleased to announce that MoonPath Press will be publishing my hybrid collection, Intention Tremor, in late 2020!

The full-length collection includes an eclectic mix of formal poems, mini essays, fragments, prose poetry, and free verse charting the course of my life in the five years following my MS diagnosis.

Our predicted launch date is January 2020, but we may have pre-print specials and some early copies, so stay tuned!

This is a collection I wrote mostly while on-site at the Centrum campus at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. The majority of it was written during the YAWP series of writing intensives (hosted by Jordan Hartt) while staying “in residence” in my travel trailer.

The collection will generate funds to support the Accelerated Cure Project (ACP), which seeks to:

“improve health, healthcare, and quality of life for people
affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) by connecting those with
MS, care partners, clinicians, and researchers, and to work
together to accelerate innovation, research, and the
application of new knowledge.”

Many thanks to ACP’s CEO Sara Loud for her steadfast belief in my work.

“Intention Tremor, Tamara Sellman’s stunning new collection, that centers on living with the devil of uncertainty that is multiple sclerosis, is ultimately a book about compassion. There were stars in my mind’s sky, and then/one night, there weren’t, she tells us. With skillfully written poems and prose, Sellman shows us the unseen: the interior experience of living with a stealth disease. I’m grateful for this book that expands my understanding of a condition I thought I understood.  I will into life, Sellman writes. And that is a message for everybody.”

—Michele Bombardier, author of What We Do (2018, Kelsay Press) and 2019 finalist for the Washington Book Award 

I cannot verbalize in this moment all the feels I have about finally seeing my work in print in a single title.

As many of you know, I have been seeking book publication for myself for more than 20 years.

What I can say is this: publisher Lana Ayers has told me multiple times that my book is an important one.

While I’m humbled by this assessment, I’m also driven to see it in the hands of anyone who has ever suffered the ravages of demyelinating disease.

We live in times where an ableist culture has used health privilege to silence many millions of voices who have significant things to say and truths to be spoken out loud. COVID-19 has :

• raised awareness of the critical needs of those living with chronic illness, who are compromised through no fault of their own
• amplified the voices of people who hate and diminish the lives of people who are disabled
• energized the lives of people living with chronic illness and disability who, thanks to efforts like BLM, are more empowered to speak their truths than ever before

I plan to shine the spotlight on the many folks who have made this collection possible over the weeks and months ahead.

In the meantime, I just want to say thank you and hope you’ll join me in the launch parties, readings, book carnivals, and other events I plan to put together as the publication date draws near.