Want to Be on Meter&Mayhem?
A call for writers for a new series
Are you interested in seeing your work featured on Meter&Mayhem? Awesome! We have three interview series (specific info on each detailed below). Even though the name of the channel is Meter&Mayhem, authors do not have to be writing in meter or even be poets. We’re open to all genres and styles (including scholarly work). We’re also open to writers publishing in various manners. We’ve had folks on who have published at major presses and folks who self-publish, folks who are reading from their new book to those reading from their first publication in a literary journal or magazine. The only thing we ask is that it does need to be work that’s been published in some way. Look around the YouTube Channel and Substack to get a feel for what Meter&Mayhem is all about.
What are we not open to? Work that glorifies homophobia, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, or writing that’s violent just for the sake of being violent (there are probably some other things that I’ve left off the list, but you get the picture).
If you’re interested in being on Meter&Mayhem, check out the descriptions and instructions below!
The Meter Cute Interviews (schedule currently full for 2025)
These are longer interviews that post on YouTube typically once a month (the first season was once a week…that was a bit much). Authors read from their work for 5 to 10 minutes and then do an interview with JSK answering the following questions 1) What poet’s work are you currently in love with? (or “What book has caused the most mayhem in your life?” whichever question you prefer) 2) What advice do you have for a younger version of yourself? 3) What advice do you think a younger version of yourself would have for you? There are typically other questions that come up conversationally as well. These launch on a Friday and are recorded about a month in advance. A Substack with writing prompts inspired by the interview or reading launches at the same time as the video.
Here are some examples of Meter Cute Interviews:
How to be a guest on Meter Cute
Our 2025 schedule is currently full. If you have a book coming out in late 2025 or in 2026 or just have something going on you think it’d be fun to come read from, email me at meterandmayhem [at] gmail [dot] com to discuss getting on the 2026 schedule.
Meter Speeders
These are short videos of authors reading from their work for 5 to 10 minutes and have no intro or outro (the description of the video will still include author bio and ordering links for the books). They launch whenever I have one to launch (unless this gets overwhelming, and then I reserve the right to revisit this). A Substack will launch at the same time with a written interview and writing prompts related to the author’s work. There are no examples of this yet, but it will be similar to the Granny Love Interviews (see below), but without the intro and outro.
How to be a guest on Meter Speeders:
1) Record a video of yourself reading your work for five to ten minutes (a little longer is also fine, but not a LOT longer). Feel free to contextualize or include whatever banter you’d like. I prefer a horizontal video recorded in a quiet space. Using your phone’s camera works fine, just make sure to turn it so that it doesn’t do vertical video. Recording on a laptop also works well and often allows for a steadier camera. Please make sure there is a clean edit point at the beginning and end (so, if you were leaning forward to turn the camera on, pause for a few seconds before you start talking so that I can edit that out and pause for a few seconds after you stop reading before you lean forward to turn it off). Please make sure the camera stays steady and at about eye level throughout the reading. It will probably be too long to send just as an email attachment, but if you have Gmail, you can upload it to your drive and then share it with me (and then I’ll let you know once I’ve downloaded it so you can delete it and free your space back up).
2) Answer the interview questions in writing. I suggest writing a decent sized paragraph for each question but do as much or as little as you feel called to write. You can just sit down and write stream-of-conscious style or you can edit that prose to within an inch of its beautiful life, it’s up to you, do what feels best. The questions are: 1) What poet’s work are you currently in love with? (or “What book has caused the most mayhem in your life?” whichever question you prefer) 2) What advice do you have for a younger version of yourself? 3) What advice do you think a younger version of yourself would have for you?
3) Send the above items, along with 1) author bio 2) author photo 3) image of book cover 4) name of book (or journal or whatever it is your reading from) 5) date you’d like the Meter Speeder to air (your presale date or release date works well, but whatever you want I’ll do my best to accommodate) to JSK at meterandmayhem [at] gmail [dot] com.
4) I’ll get back to you (hopefully) within a week and let you know when/if your Meter Speeder will air. I reserve the right to reject any Meter Speeder for any reason because this is my channel. If you come in with work that’s racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or misogynistic or if your work/ public presence tends to be those things even if the work you’re sending me isn’t, then I will probably reject your Meter Speeder.)
Granny Love
This series is similar to the format of Meter Speeders, but also includes an intro and outro, as well as focusing on work that is specifically about grandmothers. Only 8 to 9 episodes air each year with a new episode launching each Sunday during the months of October and November. A video with a short reading is accompanied by an intro with the author’s bio and information about their grandmother. A Substack with a written interview and writing prompts inspired by the author’s work will launch at the same time as the video. The first season focused on only Appalachian grandmothers, but the second season is more open geographically. Here are a few examples from season 1 of Granny Love.
How to be a guest on Granny Love: Because there are a limited number of Granny Love spots, the series is currently by invitation only (but if you’re someone who already knows me, feel free to reach out and express interest). If there are still spots available, I’ll do an open call in June.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to e-mail me at meterandmayhem [at] gmail [dot] com.