May. For my children, the school year is beginning to end. The sky brightens earlier now, stays bright well-past dinner.
Longer days are here. And for my writing too.
I’m finishing one workshop, and am already signed up for the next. My work needs to go longer too. My work needs to start early and stay up. Reach. Don’t go down til every flower has felt it
Here we go.
…to alert poets when submissions open.
I tweeted this the other day. I was looking at a journal and noticed when their submission opened. Also, that they would only take 800 submissions. Just reading, I felt that rush of Oh my God I have to remember when to submit and do it before 800 other writers do. If only there was an app to help me remember.
Many poets responded with variations of “Please make this happen.”
But one said, “Magazines would be destroyed.” That could happen. If more poets could submit, magazines might be even more overwhelmed by submissions than they already are. So maybe these openings and closings are part of the gatekeeping, part of the balance of keeping editors from being totally overwhelmed.
So what’s the balance? Make subs easier? Keep the hurdles high? My answer tonight: keep writing.
Most of us have stacks of books on our bedside tables. I usually also have a stack of books in the kitchen, on a chair in the corner by the table.
This is my little kitchen library, and Reader, it is empty! I need some new poetry books. What are you reading? Also, is there a used bookstore for poetry? Asking for my bank account.
Rejection is a part of a writer’s life. They never feel good, though. Sometimes they really hurt.
And if you put your work out enough, you will get rejections regularly, so often that you will get them while on vacation.
On a recent trip to Yosemite, I got three rejections. But I didn’t care. Look at that. How could I? I had no breath left for crying. Nature remains the best editor.
I love a creative call for poems. SWWIM is a journal that often has unusual calls, such as their Kate Spade contest which asked for poems about purses. (And I had one to enter!). So when SWWIM sent out a call for poems about flowers, I couldn’t wait to get to work.
And miracles, SWWIM took my strange little sunflower poems. I’m thrilled!
More on Poetry in Bloom from SWWIM:
Throughout the month of April 2021, the poems in this gallery will be folded into origami pinwheels and added to floral bouquets delivered across the greater Miami area, courtesy of Dolly’s Florist.
Check out the poem’s here: https://www.swwim.org/poetry-in-bloom.
to this! Should be an interesting and engaging evening.
Had a poem picked up by Gyroscope Review, and others rejected. I’m just gonna think of the rejections like leaves falling. Notice it, move on, know that new growth is coming…
Got a lot of writing done this summer: new play drafted, a nice amount of poems, and some kid books drafted and redrafted. “Always a little further, pilgrim.”
What have I been writing about this week? Wonder Woman, of course! Also, a modern shopping list, actual lists, and trying out some new titles for old projects. Sometimes it helps to take a fresh look at things.
Just finished my 3rd Easter poem but I think have at least one or six more Easter poems in me. 🙂
