Not much writing

 busy with other stuff.  (Sure this is not what an editor waiting for 10 more stories out of me wants to hear, but--)

Some photos published though.  This is one of my favorites in the wonderful Anti- poetry journal.
 http://anti-poetry.com/feature110/


Three in the current issue of Rose Red Review.
http://roseredreview.org/2013-autumn/

Writing quote for 8-15-13

“Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do--the actual act of writing--turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony.”

--Anne Lammott

Two tiny stories

in the current issue of Static Movement.http://www.staticmovement.com/july2013.htm

Writing Quote for June 12, 2013

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.

 —Virginia Woolf

No Gwendolyn

and no.

So I guess those stories go out somewhere else:-P

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self

Have one story to go before I finish this collection.  The reviews were (as my son says) "off-the-chain" for this book.  The Washington Post reviewer said that hopefully Danielle Evans was a "very nice person because that might be her only defense against other writers' seething envy. . . "

The short story collection is good.  It's won several major awards, so there you go.

I admired how Evans made the familiar "new" and "new" familiar.   "Harvest" is a wonderful story about an uncommon practice becoming quite common.  "Someone Ought To Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" is about lost love and things getting way out of hand. 

The story "Snakes" is the one I was truly envious of.  The last line is magnificent. To me, the last line is what a writer ought to be working for-- and the last line of this story blew me away as a reader and writer.  Kudos.

Creative quote for June 9, 2013

In music the passions enjoy themselves.

Friedrich Nietzsche 

Trying to get some writing done

but I keep having to stop and hit the replay button on Leon Russell's "Lady Blue."

Quote for June 4, 2013

Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.

 —Enid Bagnold

This Is How You Lose Her Redux

Loved the use of second person.  Loved the daringness.  Loved the stories looking at Yunior (and his family) from various angles. 

"Indian Summer"

This short story by Erskine Caldwell was reprinted in one of the journals that I'm going through.  The story seems familiar-- maybe I read it in junior high or high school.  If not, well, I'm glad I got the chance to read it now. 

Parables by Joseph Somoza

There's no way to mimic
someone else's life,
have someone else's childhood
watching you
for authenticity.
Children can sniff that out,
you know, even if they can't
express it.  Maybe because
they can't express it.
Yet every year, you travel farther
from your childhood
trying to become
adept with words in order to
articulate
who you no longer are.
Parable of a log
burning to ashes.
Parable of a sweatshirt
with a hood to hide in.
Parable of autumn, in which
the leaves display their
hidden colors
before they drop.
Everything around you
is articulating
wordlessly.

April was poetry month

And because I'm trying to get back into writing poetry, I wrote a work most every day.  All bad.  But that's okay. 

But in honor (very belated, but hey I had a job) here is a poem by a friend, former prof and wonderful poet.

Highlights says no

Rejections have a checked mark reason.  Luckily mine is because the submitted work "is not suited" to "present needs." 

Other reasons why you may get a 'no'-- lacks  fresh approach, lacks strong plot, lacks focus among others (like it wouldn't appeal strongly to readers.) Ouch.

I'll take my reason no, thank you.

well, darn

Trying to organize my writing on flash drives.  Get confused what's on what.  But it would appear that in all the folder shuffling I have lost some works in progress:(

Quote for June 3, 2013

Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.

 Franz Kafka

Just finished this collection.  The man is an amazing writer.

And he's hot.

"Penetrations" by Rick Bass

One of the stories I've really enjoyed while I've been sorting through works in those old lit journals of mine.

Hallelujah!

My job is on a partial year schedule-- it has concluded!  Loved it for the most part but there were days. . .

Anyway time to write.
 Write
Write and write.

Writing quote for 5-10-2013

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do  not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.

Anais Nin

I try to be as honest about what I see and to speak rather than be silent, especially if it means I can save lives or serve humanity.

~~Sandra Cisneros

Stories are medicine.

~~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

THE MOM EGG

Mother Tongue is here!  A mother murmurs to her infant son. Mother’s words hold power to hurt or heal. A new immigrant struggles to learn English; later generations, to cling to remnants of language and culture. Mother Tongue speaks out. Mother Tongue has been silenced—and freed. Mother Tongue names. Mother Tongue tastes and plays. A must-read for mothers and lovers of language, and a fabulous gift for every literate, creative Mom.

Spring Reading and Launch Party 4/21--Please join us! Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 6 PM at Le Poisson Rouge  in the Gallery 158 Bleecker Street, New York City Free admission—full bar menu http://www.lepoissonrouge.com

Listerature 2 From Little Fiction-- I've got a story in there

http://littlefiction.com/beta/Listerature_files/ListeratureVol2_Mobile.pdf

obit. from Pure Slush available

Pure Slush's sixth print anthology is obit., released in March 2013.

The idea is this: an obituary was written by William Henderson.

 Other writers contributed stories about the same person, about different parts of this character's life, etc. They took incidents or ideas or traits or other characters mentioned in the obituary ... and sometimes their stories refuted them. Stories could be wholly about the obit's subject or maybe only in passing.

Writers included in the anthology are Erin Zulkoski, Michael Webb, Sally Reno, Matt Potter, Martha Rand, Susan Tepper, Matt McGee, Jaylee Alde, Maude Larke, Andrew Stancek, Dusty-Anne Rhodes, Gill Hoffs, Joyce Juzwik, Meghan K. Barnes, Mira Desai, Teresa Burns Gunther, Kyle Hemmings, Joanne Jagoda, Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz, Andrew Stancek, Jennifer K. Dick ... and William Henderson.

Go here to purchase: http://www.lulu.com/shop/pure-slush/obit-pure-slush-vol-6/paperback/product-20937474.html

I've been reading

short stories and about the craft of writing. Doing some research but not a whole lot of writing like in Feb. Think I blew a gasket. Several rejections and some publications. A photo was in the final rounds for the cover of a print journal but no cigar. Ah, well.

Writing quote for 1-31-2013

I am a galley slave to pen and ink. ~~Honore de Balzac

Reprieve!

Deadlines extended for two anthologies and one magazine. Yay! 'Cause I am not ready. Still have some submissions to go out today and tomorrow. So it's back to work.

New and cool project

Next year, on the 17th of every month I will have a story in an anthology for that particular month. Same character, but 12 stories about said character. Lots of planning I've got to to-- yeah, on top of everything else. Did I mention I'm writing flash plays. One is out in submission and I'm finishing two more. Hope to get a one-act done to submit to a festival but maybe not. Still I'm loving all this "writing-me-time."

Writing Quote for January 28, 2013

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

I'm killing me!

Some anthologies I'm trying to get into (will not have those four pieces in Daily Flash/Pill Hill Press is no more) and some themed magazines. Crazy writing but it feels good (most of the time). Thing is the more you write, the better you get and the better you get, the more honest the work is. Like I needed this story for an anthology of Southern gothic fiction and I didn't have an ending -- which is new to me 'cause I usually don't begin a story until I have the end) but I wrote anyway and the main character did something that I hadn't thought of but it was the most appropriate ending. Anyway the 30, the 31st and the 1st are all deadlines so it's back to the stories.

a very short poem up at the twitter zine Seven by Twenty @7x20

Writing quote for 1-23-2013

Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation. ~~ Graham Greene

Rejection, rejection, ooh an acceptance!

I'm not sure why people say not to take rejection personally. How can you not? If you know, please inform me. Literary Orphans has accepted a work that I thought would be hard to place 'cause of the subject matter. Yay! Also, 7 x 20, the twitter-zine, will publish several works over the coming month and Static Movement is publishing a very short work next month.

Writing quote for Jan. 2, 2013

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works. ~Virginia Woolf

Had a photo published in the winter issue of Diverse Voices Quarterly and five photos in the Winter issue of Rose Red Review. Yay!

first rejection of the year

and we're only 2 days in-ha!