One Writer

another rejection

2012-02-18T22:02:00.001-08:00

Uhm, not so 'yay.'

An acceptance

2012-02-13T12:15:00.001-08:00

Yay!

another rejection. . . kind of

2012-02-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Sent a poem to a children's mag (online). A while ago. I was clearing out submissions to journals that had never responded and I had no desire to query. Forget you, as Cee-Lo would say.

Anyway, I decided that I would inquire about the poem and I got a note that said the poem was very cute but they had too many poems. Still it's going to be put on file though I was told to submit it elsewhere. Which I plan to do.

Writing again and FI-NAL-LY!!

2012-02-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Lots of personal stuff taking my time, but slowly I'm getting back regularly to the computer.

But I have been able to get some stories out. Have acquired two rejections.

Am working through this workbook for writing practice. I entered 2012 determined to do an exercise a day, but that didn't happen. It's a new month, though, and I'm gonna try to make my writing a greater priority and do it DAILY!

2012-01-31T11:58:00.001-08:00

Saturday, February 25, Shannon Room, Branigan Cultural Center, 1:00 p.m.

For Love of Poetry in For Love of Art Month reading organized by Sin Fronteras/Writers without Borders.

Reading will be Sheila Black, Terry Hertzler, John Pate, Joe Somoza, Tim Staley, Gerry Stork, Dick Thomas, Joanne Townsend, Frank Varela and Ellen Roberts Young, not necessarily in that order.

Poetry Reading- Las Cruces

2012-01-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 25, MVS Studios, 535 N. Main Street, 6:00 p.m.

Poetry reading by Sheila Black, Billy Garrett, Joe Somoza, and Dick Thomas.

(MVS Studios is just north of the Branigan Cultural Center.)

2011-09-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have work forthcoming in 140 AND COUNTING, an anthology of twitter literature originally published in Seven by Twenty. Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1431077765/140-and-counting-an-anthology-of-twitter-literatur

Note that Kickstarter provides rewards for donors. The rewards for donating to this:

$5: A copy of the anthology. (Since the book will cost $5, this is essentially a pre-order of the book.)

$10: The anthology, and two other books (poetry chapbook Blueshifting by Heather Kamins and poetry collection The Glaze from Breaking by Joanne Merriam).

$25: The above, and a thank you in a sponsor listing in the book and on the website of Upper Rubber Boot Books for the next year.

$50: The above, PLUS a one- to two-page manuscript evaluation by the editor (she may comment on aesthetics, word choice, setting, characterization, description, pacing, plot holes, marketability, and other things to consider when revising your work) on up to ten of your poems or a short story (under 5,000 words).

$100: Free copies of every book Upper Rubber Boot publishes for the next five years.

few things have gone the way I hoped

2011-07-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Gave up pursing the workshop in Paris 'cause I was sure I'd be part of this other thing-- the big thing #2 I'd mentioned before, but I was one of 200+ people vying for one of 17 spots and alas, I was also one of the 183+ who got a 'no.' The photo submissions have been no's a loooooooooooooooooooong time coming and the stories I stll have out are going to need to be queried about and I ammmmmmmmm tired of doing that. Three months is long enough to decide if you want a work. Really, it is.

But whatever. My creative life is headed somewhere and all of this is just part of the recipe, the end result.

just jack

2011-07-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

the poster of Mr. Kerouac is the only thing out in the writing room. Have packed it all up.

Enjoyed my time -- my very own space-- sad to have to let it go but the next room will be bigger-- my creative self will stretch out a little more.

luggage is packed

2011-07-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hard process but I have chosen 30 books to take to the residency in Vermont. They are just books about the craft so a short story collection or two will have to be bought there or be carry-ons.

Excited. Very. I feel like I'm going on a retreat.

Another anthology

2011-06-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

not an acceptance. . . yet. My proposal for a work has been accepted-- the editors would like to give my story a look.

Yay!

This particular anthology is important and I very much want to be a part of it.

I need to get some kicka** writing done.

another anthology acceptance

2011-05-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

yay yay

gotta return the contract . . . and the other one that's still sitting on that stack of stuff!

worked on that novel I didn't work on during NANOWRIMO

2011-05-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

a wonderful way to spend the day!

MOM EGG Reading-- May 15, 2011

2011-05-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Mom Egg Spring Launch Party and Reading
Sunday, May 15th 6-8 p.m.
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
NYC 212-989-9319
$7 admission includes
food or drink credit

A party and reading to celebrate the release of Vol. 9 of The Mom Egg, an annual journal that publishes sharp, articulate, inventive poetry, prose, fiction and art by mothers about everything and by everyone about mothers and motherhood. Come hear cutting edge poets and prose writers, and check out the new issue.

Mama says...Don’t miss it!

Featured Readers:
Margo Berdeshevsky
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Rosalie Calabrese
Patricia Carragon
Sarah Cavallaro
Fay Chiang
Wendy Levine DiVito
Iris Jamahl Dunkle
Jessica Feder-Birnbaum
Eleanor Gaffney
Janlori Goldman
Heather Haldeman
Lois Marie Harrod
Donna Katzin
Cheryl Keeler
Tara Masih
Rachael Nevins
Puma Perl
Rosaly Roffman
Lee Schwartz
Golda Solomon
Lydia Suarez
Tina Traster
Nancy Vona
and
Alana Ruben Free

a surprise anthology inclusion

2011-04-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

a work published online has been selected for inclusion in an ebook to be released later this year.

way cool.

Quote for 4-21-2011

2011-04-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

You can make anything by writing.
— C.S. Lewis

hit and miss

2011-04-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Got another story off to an anthology on the list. I missed a deadline this week -- well, I had to think if I wanted to pay the reading fee and I decided I didn't so actually I let a deadline pass --for an anthology and the story I had hoped would get finished for the anthology for which I received an extended deadline didn't get done. I actually got sick and did not get well enough to do anything until the day following the deadline. LOL and shaking my head.

Oh well, that's the way it goes.

another anthology acceptance

2011-04-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

yay!

I have 23 more listed that I want to submit to-- due date is tomorrow for one and Saturday for another and I want to make that one since the publisher is cutting me some slack -- we'll see what happens. This week, lots of personal stuff and the semester's winding down, lots of grade calculating and misc.

Another decision is supposed to be made by the end of the month and another story accepted for another anthology appears to in limbo-land, hopefully that is just for the moment.

So off to write some more I am.

Well after I read student papers.

Quote for 4-14-2011

2011-04-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.

--Rita Mae Brown

I need a story

2011-04-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today is a deadline for a themed journal and I have a very rough draft of a short piece which I may or may not be able to mold into something submissable.

There was an anthology that I wanted to submit to, deadline passed. I wrote the publisher and was told if I could get it in by this weekend, they'd give it a look. So I need a story on Saturday too!

Quote for 4-05-2011

2011-04-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

You may be able to take a break from writing, but you won't be able to take a break from being a writer.

--Stephen Leigh

not the way to start a morning

2011-04-05T15:30:00.001-07:00

a "no"-- a nice one, but a "no" just the same:(

Quote for 3-25-2011

2011-03-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Life is a handful of short stories, pretending to be a novel.

-- unknown

bye bye Borders

2011-03-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

The Borders I used to frequent in Nashville is closing down. Sad to hear that but man I wish I were there, stockpiling literature!

still writing

2011-03-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have today and Saturday and Sunday left to churn out fiction. And part of Monday 'cause I teach at night.

Not nearly as much writing as I wish but I get distracted-- darn the internet and youtube!

Still I will have two finished drafts of new stories today. Hope to get one more completed this weekend.

continuing on my writing mission. . .

Two Ways of Seeing: Two Sisters by Cherry Patrick Jamison

2011-03-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 26th, Cherry Patrick Jamison will read from Two Ways of Seeing: Two Sisters at 2 pm in the Branigan Library's Roadrunner Room. The book is an equal collaboration between sisters Jamison and Virginia Patrick Hanley.

S. Derrickson Moore wrote that the book, "turned out to be a kind of Valentine, a message of love inspired by their growing-up years and later artist lives in the Southwest," in the February 13 issue of the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Writing in the March issue of The Ink, Roy van der Aa concludes, "Two Ways of Seeing is an interplay, a conversation between imagery in two art forms done sometimes years apart. The intensity of the dialogue comes from a common upbringing and values. The book transcends generations as it speaks to the curiosity, awareness and humanity found in us all."

Two Ways of Seeing will be for sale after the reading for $25 (tax included), and I will be happy to sign each book.

The book is published by Library Integrated Services (www.llibs.com) and is available locally at COAS and Hastings for $24.95 plus tax, as well as from me at 2ndsis.patrick@gmail.com.

Quote for 3-24-2011

2011-03-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

The writer must write what he has to say, not speak it.

--Ernest Hemingway

a losing battle?

2011-03-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ten more stories have dropped off the web!

Not sure if I want to continue trying to get most back on the internet.

Quote for 3-21-2011

2011-03-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

As fantastic as it is to see your name in print, getting published shouldn't be the standard by which you determine your level of personal success or failure. … Plenty of things matter much, much more.

– Ann Edwards

up and at 'em

2011-03-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

The plan is to use this spring break to get work done. Finish something!

We'll see how that works out, come Friday, but it's Monday morning and I'm sitting at the computer.

A start;-)

Quote for 3-19-2011

2011-03-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Start early and work hard. A writer’s apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he’s almost ready to begin. That takes a while.

– David Eddings

yay! another acceptance- another anthology

2011-03-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

but a poem this time.

yay just the same!

another acceptance

2011-03-12T18:45:00.001-08:00

an anthology.yay!

Quote for 3-12-11

2011-03-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it.

--Gustave Flaubert

misc

2011-03-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

Got my NEA grant application in. Last minute, but I was not planning on that. It's just that I've got fifty million things going on. Never got back to the #2 big thing but maybe next year.

an acceptance

2011-03-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

a micro I wrote a week ago.

today I am on a mission to get some real writing done.

so I've got to get to that.

a sign?

2011-02-09T18:24:00.001-08:00

I haven't got my application together for big thing #2 and I was just going to let it go but yesterday I got an email that said you asked for an application, but you haven't applied and the deadline's around the corner. . .

Maybe it's a sign for me to get the app together.

Maybe?

almost, almost

2011-02-09T18:01:00.001-08:00

This weekend I get to order the last of the furniture for my writing room. A desk, a hutch and a second file cabinet.

My writing room!!!!

In the house I had previously, it originally had one bedroom. Additional bedrooms were added later. The room I had was the original one bedroom and it was located between the kitchen and the only bathroom in the house. Also because I had more stuff, it was my writing room and partial storage room. A space but not necessarily conducive to creating.

Now I have a room that has a door. Very necessary for creating.

I have spent a lot of time on this room, this creative space and I LOVE IT.

It is variations of brown, light and dark, wood and wicker. Bursts of green: the floor pillows, the plants, the lamp. Jack stares at me with those dark wild eyes, reminding me to seek madness. A young, brooding Marlon is there just to remind me that life is oh so sexy. The stereo plays Bach or Brahms or Vilvaldi; accompanying is the trickling water from the fountain on the table by the chair. A candle to light my way or incense to heighten my senses.

A shelf of books and journals says your work is here and here and here.

Shelves of books encourage me to learn this and this and this.

A wall of awards says you've accomplished that and that and that.

The desk and hutch will take up one wall adjacent to the one with the window. I can turn, look over my shoulder and see the world. I can turn back and return to my creative one.

This time next week, I will have what I have always wanted as a writer. A nurturing peaceful place to create art as well as myself.

Lisa McMann Book Tour

2011-02-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, Feb 8, 2011, 7pm
MYSTERIOUS GALAXY BOOKS
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #302
San Diego,CA

Wednesday, Feb 9, 2011, 7pm (with NYT bestselling author Kiersten White -- Paranormalcy)
BARNES & NOBLE - OCEANSIDE
2615 Vista Way
Oceanside,CA

Thursday, Feb 10, 2011, 4pm
MRS. NELSON'S TOY AND BOOK SHOP
1030 Bonita Ave.
La Verne,CA

Friday, Feb 11, 2011, 7pm (with Katie Alender of the Bad Girls Don't Die series)
BARNES & NOBLE
1201 3rd St. Promenade
Santa Monica, CA

Saturday, Feb 12, 2011, 3pm
UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE
15311 Main Street
Mill Creek,WA

Sunday, Feb 13, 2011, 3pm (with Caridad Ferrer -- When the Stars Go Blue)
BARNES & NOBLE
19401 Alderwood Mall Parkway
Lynnwood,WA

Tuesday, Feb 15, 7pm
BARNES & NOBLE
2825 West Main St.
Bozeman, MT

Wednesday, Feb 16, 6:30pm
MURDER BY THE BOOK
2342 Bissonnet St.
Houston,TX

Thursday, Feb 17, 7pm
BLUE WILLOW BOOKSHOP
14532 Memorial Dr.
Houston,TX

Friday, February 18, 2011, 7pm
A Real Bookstore
113 Prairie Road, Fairview, TX 75069

Saturday, February 19, 2011, 3pm
BOOK PEOPLE BOOKSTORE
603 North Lamar Blvd
Austin,TX

Saturday, Feb 26, 2011, 3pm
The Poisoned Pen
4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Saturday, March 12, 2011
Tucson Festival of Books
Tucson, AZ

Saturday/Sunday March 19 & 20, 2011
Teen Author Festival NYC
more info to come

Monday, March 21, 2011, 7pm

Little Shop of Stories
133A East Court Square
Decatur,GA

Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 7pm

BARNES & NOBLE #1955
7660 Northpoint Parkway
Suite 200
Alpharetta,GA

Accepted

2011-01-24T18:41:00.001-08:00

I am now listed in the Poets & Writers directory.

I'm beginning to feel professional now.

Quote for 1-18-11

2011-01-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Central to natural writing is an attitude of wonder.

--Gabriele Lusser Rico

Big thing #3

2011-01-18T08:42:00.001-08:00

I need to get a NEA fellowship application together.

got my application in

2011-01-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

for an opportunity which would be a boost for my writing career. We'll see what happens.

Some photo rejections and a story acceptance, a reprint back up on the web.

I need to be writing more though. Find myself a groove and get in it.

Lisa, T.J. and Ellen

2011-01-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

Three successful writers with big stuff happening in February. I'll be posting reviews, book signings, etc.

Yes, soon.

Stretching

2011-01-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

Applying for something huge.

Actually two huge things, but one seems more likely than the other because the early deadline has passed for one and I'm not sure if I'll get to the final deadline but I'm gonna try.

Creativity quote for 1-09-11

2011-01-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life.

--Barthold Georg Niebuhr

another chance to read

2011-01-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

but I've been to Michigan! A two-day festival and I might, maybe, participate but I need to go to Oregon and Idaho and lots of other states where I haven't been.

Gotta get started on Paris

2011-01-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Finding a place to stay and a flight.

So excited to go out of the country-- first time 'cause I don't think Juarez Mexico really counts.

A'no' from Highlights

2011-01-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

but it was a poem and the guidelines state that poetry is used sparingly. Don't feel so bad. Don't feel so great, but . . .

GJM -- visual artist

2011-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Had a pic in The Shine Journal. Another work has been accepted for a journal's online cover! Yay!

Put 31 more photographs out there. Have another 11 ready; just need to find more journals that accept art.
Opened another email acct (not that I need another) but the only way I'm going to keep submissions straight.

The Best of Eclectic Flash available

2011-01-09T12:29:00.001-08:00

Yep-- a work of mine in there.

Go here.

Invited to read

2011-01-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

and I said yes. Something about the date was nagging me so I looked up the NJ event. Same day!

Well, the NJ event happens every month so I'm calling to see if I can reschedule.

Quote for 12-30-10

2010-12-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.

-~ Joan Didion

Quote for 12-29-10

2010-12-29T17:41:00.000-08:00

Love the writing, love the writing, love the writing... the rest will follow.

-- Jane Yolen

Well

2010-12-29T17:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a moment, huh?

The bear business. Every waking moment.

I'll be updating shortly.

Quote for 12-09-10

2010-12-09T10:17:00.001-08:00

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.

--F. Scott Fitzgerald

Quote for 12-01-10

2010-12-01T16:08:00.001-08:00

The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.

--Edwin Schlossberg

Got brave

2010-12-01T16:07:00.001-08:00

Sent a work to Highlights.
Oh, please, oh please, oh please. . .

Yes, we like you. No, we don't.

2010-12-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

A rejection. An acceptance.

Don't know the exact # and I'm too whatever to get an accurate count (I really need to get back to this evening's writing) but I think I'm under 20 subs which doesn't make me happy:(

Made the deadline yesterday for an anthology. That made me quite happy. Like I said in an earlier post, that story has been about 6 years in the making.

Forgot about collecting stories to enter into the contest I always enter. They accept reprints 'cause no publication is involved, and I have always won something when I enter. I guess this year I'll have to let someone else win;-)

Maybe I'll do that

2010-12-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

The event in New Jersey said that poets can sell their CDs there.

I don't have a CD, I thought. But I could get one. I love to read, have been told that I read well and a CD would be fun. Self-publish a chapbook of poetry, make a disc of me reading them. Use the cover photograph for both. Sell them at the event which is in Feb.

That's time enough.

My daughter has recording equipment.
Hmmmmm, I just might.

well, that is a bit of a problem

2010-12-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

Today is a deadline for another anthology and I had THE PERFECT STORY to send them. It fit the anthology theme and the publisher accepted reprints. I was going to have to write 800 words to flesh out the piece and make it reach their minimum word count, but that seemed a breeze.

I went to the publisher website to get the email address and start creating my submission email. There, I read the guidelines again and this time MUCH MORE CAREFULLY and now my story is a no.

It has a scene where a young girl has sex on her fourteenth birthday and underage sex is not acceptable. I can make reference to the incident, but I cannot use the flashback where it happens which is too bad because it means I have to probably write more than 800 words to get the story to 2000 and also because the scene was quite gorgeous and when a certain revelation is made, that scene resonates.

But it doesn't matter because I can't use THAT scene.

It is going to be a loooooooooooooooooooong night.

Quote for 11-27-10

2010-11-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.

-- Thomas Berger

NJ looks like it's on the map

2010-11-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

Gotta call somebody on Monday, but it looks like I'll be reading poetry in Jersey.

Quote for 11-26-10

2010-11-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them.

-- Allan Gurganus

2010-11-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

There's a quote I love that talks about learning to wish for things to come about exactly as they come about. Sometimes it's hard to stick with that idea-- it requires a degree of faith and acceptance. I'm getting better at it, not quite as near where I want to be with the idea, but sometimes progress is slow and maybe that's why I have a thing for turtles and snails-- anyway

I've been writing more regularly than I have in awhile because of NANOWRIMO and I was a tad disconcerted about not making the mark, but this morning, a short story I'd started at least six years ago finally concluded itself. I woke up with the last scene in my head. (Yes, I scrambled out of bed to get it down!)

Anyway every moment comes out of every moment lived before and if I hadn't done (or not done as the case may be) what I did (or didn't do, as the case may be) in regards to NANOWRIMO then this story would not be finished and I wouldn't be able to send it to a themed anthology whose submission window closes Tuesday!

Quote for 11-25-10

2010-11-25T17:09:00.000-08:00

I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.

--Ernest Hemingway

just about ready to cry 'uncle' on NANOWRIMO

2010-11-25T16:40:00.000-08:00

Am way behind and would have to write like a crazy woman to catch up and that's probably not going to happen 'cause it is bear-buying season and I've got to get bears done and I've got short stories that I need to get finished and submitted. Both Ellen's and TJ's books come out in Feb and I've committed to sending the reviews to an online publication, which mean the reviews have got to be done by December. And it's actually FIVE books I'm working on reviewing. The two by Crystal Wilkinson and another by one of uber-cool editors over at Poor Mojo's, David Nelson, called SNIP, BURN, SOLDER, SHRED: SERIOUSLY GEEKY STUFF TO MAKE WITH YOUR KIDS and I want to make those things. And did I mention I have a piece that's related to Black History Month and it so needs to get in the mail before the year ends?????????????

And I haven't mentioned I still have a week and some days to teach, grade final essays and semester portfolios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111 And the elementary school tutoring begins in Dec.

So what I'm saying is I'm done. Another November can end and I didn't write a book but that's okay. I got a starting point and paragraphs like this:

He’d make it to the bedroom though Macy sometimes wished he’d trip over something and fall down boom to the floor. She'd imagine finding him in the morning, head busted open, blood dried and caking, him desperately in need of care, and Honey, her stepping right over, fixing herself some breakfast. Singing as the bacon fried and the biscuits baked

Will most definitely follow this woman on a literary journey. Just not this month;-)

HUGE Kudos to Jessica who's already at the finish line with 5 days to go! YOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Jersey

2010-11-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Pursuing a reading in New Jersey.

The residency gives writers an opportunity to read and so there's Vermont off the list but I've got a lot more states to conquer.

Yet another opportunity to read in NYC but I've read there~ I need to go where I've never been-- New Jersey's a start.

Quote for 11-24-10

2010-11-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality.

--Joseph Conrad

my stuff

2010-11-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

On my way to pick up my grandson and to the post office to drop the contracts into the mail for those 4 story acceptances for the anthology. It's a quarterly publication, Daily Erotic Fiction, and I will have work in the second, third and fourth quarterlies.

Deadline approaching for two other anthologies, a contest I always enter, because I always win something, and other misc.

Be good and write.

Ellen's book

2010-11-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

scored my third book to review. "The Other Life" by Ellen Meister arrived in the mail. There are only 6 days left of school-- wish they'd hurry so I can jump on all the other I want to do.

TJ's book

2010-11-24T14:22:00.001-08:00

A giveaway at Goodreads.

Go here.

"You're gonna love it here"

2010-11-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

that's what the guy at the Vermont Studio Center told me. I called to confirm acceptance of the residency. I don't know if he meant the center in particular or Vermont in general, but I agreed.

I'm excited! Pulled out my "Vermont" folder-- stuff I was working on when I was trying to get to Vermont before. Maybe this time, these plans can happen.

Quote for 11-23-10

2010-11-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.

--Mark Twain

Something else I need to focus on

2010-11-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

is getting into print. The agent I met at Antioch said I needed to make that transition. And I know that.

I'm good enough for print-- I just have no patience. Really. But perhaps this is the way to learn it.

There's a workshop I would loooooooooooooooove to attend and of course have the cost picked up for me via a fellowship but one, if not two, of the awards are linked to publication and they want writers publishing in the upper tiers of print journals.

Incentive. Incentive. Incentive.

what do you really want

2010-11-23T07:44:00.001-08:00

Was working on the application for one of the other residencies I spoke of and I realized that it is not what I want. It requires a 7-month commitment and I don't want that.

What I want is exactly what I have: a temporary place in Vermont that will allow me the time and space to find a permanent one. I will be one hour away from the city I was trying to get to before.

There is another residency that has space available before I'm expected to be in Vermont. I can do that- if I get accepted. But my goal is Vermont and once there, I'm not looking to leave.

So I'm getting very clear on the things I need to support my writing. All the other is just me being silly and greedy.

Focus, Gwendolyn, FOCUS.

Also, I'm getting a kitten and some turtles and I have a dog. I have someone willing to watch them for me temporarily (once I get said kitten and turtles) but what would be the point of getting them if I'm just going to leave them in someone else's care?

Nope. The goal is to settle down.

Focus, Gwendolyn. FOCUS!!!!!!!

it's too early to do the actual math

2010-11-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

would have to go back to see where the submissions were since I last counted but I have gotten 2 rejects (reprints sent to the same mag) and 4 acceptances (reprints sent to an anthology).

I didn't think the rejects would be accepted. Not my strongest work but was still hoping, you know. . .

up, this morning, scrambling

2010-11-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

and not eggs. Some lines from the book creeping into my waking brain. I have learned (oh, how I have learned) that I have to record them immediately 'cause I WILL NOT remember them later. Tangled up in and stumbling out of the covers to get to some paper and a pen, a pencil, a crayon, a knife to draw blood-- anything to get those lines down!

Quote for 11-19-10

2010-11-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write about the moment when your addictions no longer hide the truth from you. When your whole life breaks down. That's the moment when you have to somehow choose what your life is going to be about.

--Chuck Palahniuk

even

2010-11-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

woke up to an acceptance ( a reprint that fell off the web to be back up) and a rejection (photos of trees)

I've been busy with bears so the writing has been neglected. Next week-- no school so it's catch up time!

Quote for 11-17-10

2010-11-17T13:56:00.001-08:00

Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves--that go on slipping , like sand, through our fingers.

— Salman Rushdie

Vermont! Vermont! Vermont!

2010-11-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

In the mail was a letter from the Vermont Studio Center. It was a chubby envelope so I KNEW that it had to be good news and it was.

My application for a residency was accepted and, although I wasn't awarded a full fellowship, I was awarded an Artist Grant and other financial aid to help defray costs.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now that I have a date for this residency, I can finish my other application for another place in New England and there's still a third; hopefully I'll be bumming through the east coast next year, writing.

Hint Fiction Reading/Signing

2010-11-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 19 · 7:00pm - 8:00pm

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Location Big Blue Marble Bookstore
551 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA

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Created By Hint Fiction

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More Info On November 19th, Big Blue Marble Bookstore will host a reading and signing of Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer, edited by Robert Swartwood.

Guests include Randall Brown, Frank Byrns, John Cashman, Bruce Harris, Minter Krotzer, Don Lee, and Robert Swartwood.

Launch day

2010-11-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today the anthology My First Time was released.

It's available on Kindle and will be available for iPad shortly.

I have a work there under the micro stories.

Quote for 11-10-10

2010-11-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

One writes out of one thing only--one's own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from the experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give.

--James Baldwin

and from the "this-blog-is-not-to-be-just-about-you, Gwendolyn" file

2010-11-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

I met this wonderful, risk-taking writer named Jessica at Antioch and she has a story here.

One of my favorite people in a favorite mag-- does it get better than that?

nada

2010-11-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

that's what I got accomplished last night. Done in/sidetracked by "Pawn Stars." It was relaxing anyway.

Got a rejection, sent the story out again. So it's still 23 submissions.

Oh, wait! An acceptance and immediate
publication takes it back to 22 stories out.

I'm feeling a bit like Sisyphus but I'm smiling while continuing to push that rock toward 50 submissions.

Quote for 11-09-10

2010-11-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.

--Colette

:(

2010-11-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

Don't think I'm going to NY this weekend. Darn. But if you're in NYC go to the Mom Egg Reading. Bowery Poetry Club. Go in my place.

not quite 25

2010-11-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

was up to 24 submissions, mostly reprints, but some new Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz works in the mix. Still a rejection just hours after submission takes me back to 23.

Today I hope to get to 30, but I'll be happy with 25-- the 1/2 -way mark or 1/4-mark, depending on how many subs, and not one simultaneous, I might add, that I want to get out at one time; again mostly reprints that have fallen off the web and some new works, one I'm especially proud of:)

And yes, I'm still working on a book (though there were some days when, well. . . just well. . . ) but I think I'm going to hold off discussion of that till the end of the month. See where I get to. Also I read somewhere that if you talk about something too much, you lose its power, so end of the month it is. (Jessica, my friend, how's it going???)

Quote for 11-02-10

2010-11-02T19:45:00.001-07:00

The mere habit of writing, of constantly keeping at it, of never giving up, ultimately teaches you how to write.

--Gabriel Fielding

another anthology appearance

2010-11-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

"Best of" sort. Yay!

day two

2010-11-02T19:38:00.001-07:00

Yes, I wrote.

No, I didn't meet the daily quota.

Still I wrote.

But man, am I going to have some catching up to do. Yikes!

Quote for 11-01-10

2010-11-01T18:06:00.001-07:00

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.

--Thomas Mann

T.J.'s book

2010-11-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

digital access granted so I should have a review/interview soonish.

anthology

2010-11-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have a work coming up in an anthology which I thought was going to be on Kindle and iPad but there's evidently going to be a book form which is cool.

I missed the deadline for an anthology. Had the story for the most part worked out in my head but no chance to sit down at the computer and get it down.

Oh well.

There are still another 13+ anthologies on my list.

a rejection, a publication and a rejection

2010-11-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

A micro gets a no. "Los Prisioneros Pequenos" is up at Linnet's Wings. A photo gets a no but it's cool 'cause I sent 4 and the other 3 are still being considered.

day one

2010-11-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

so I spent the weekend trying to finish my unpacking and sorting and getting stuff to the garbage, to Goodwill, etc. so I could be ready for today. Sidetracked by laundry and the discovery of story drafts and momentarily I was going to chuck in this novel writing thing and just work on short stories. I had to go to the post office and prepare for my class and cook for the kids.

But it's still November 1st and I've managed 354 words- a fifth-ish of the daily total, maybe? Don't care-- I did something and I'll make it up in days to come.

Quote for 10-24-10

2010-10-24T16:43:00.001-07:00

You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist, you are learning your craft- then you can add all the genius you like.

-- Phyllis Whitney

back up on that horse

2010-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

sent the rejected work out again so submissions are back at 12

a good number. . . .disciples, steps in AA, months in a year. . .

One Writer

another rejection

An acceptance

another rejection. . . kind of

Writing again and FI-NAL-LY!!

Poetry Reading- Las Cruces

few things have gone the way I hoped

just jack

luggage is packed

Another anthology

another anthology acceptance

worked on that novel I didn't work on during NANOWRIMO

MOM EGG Reading-- May 15, 2011

a surprise anthology inclusion

Quote for 4-21-2011

hit and miss

another anthology acceptance

Quote for 4-14-2011

I need a story

Quote for 4-05-2011

not the way to start a morning

Quote for 3-25-2011

bye bye Borders

still writing

Two Ways of Seeing: Two Sisters by Cherry Patrick Jamison

Quote for 3-24-2011

a losing battle?

Quote for 3-21-2011

up and at 'em

Quote for 3-19-2011

yay! another acceptance- another anthology

another acceptance

Quote for 3-12-11

misc

an acceptance

a sign?

almost, almost

Lisa McMann Book Tour

Accepted

Quote for 1-18-11

Big thing #3

got my application in

Lisa, T.J. and Ellen

Stretching

Creativity quote for 1-09-11

another chance to read

Gotta get started on Paris

A'no' from Highlights

GJM -- visual artist

The Best of Eclectic Flash available

Invited to read

Quote for 12-30-10

Quote for 12-29-10

Well

Quote for 12-09-10

Quote for 12-01-10

Got brave

Yes, we like you. No, we don't.

Maybe I'll do that

well, that is a bit of a problem

Quote for 11-27-10

NJ looks like it's on the map

Quote for 11-26-10

Quote for 11-25-10

just about ready to cry 'uncle' on NANOWRIMO

Jersey

Quote for 11-24-10

my stuff

Ellen's book

TJ's book

"You're gonna love it here"

Quote for 11-23-10

Something else I need to focus on

what do you *really* want

it's too early to do the actual math

up, this morning, scrambling

Quote for 11-19-10

even

Quote for 11-17-10

Vermont! Vermont! Vermont!

what do you really want