Rejection 142

Yesterday I received a very kind and seemingly personal note from Michael at First City Review.  He asked how I'd heard about his magazine and then proceeded to apologize for their delay in responding.

He called my work both "great" and "fine" (I read "fine" like the "fine" of "fine dining" rather than the "fine" which is a synonym for "adequate," but maybe I have my head in the clouds). They also invited me to submit again, which is nothing terribly special, but it felt like the sentence inviting me to do so was made with me in mind.

Thanks for making me feel special, Michael.  I am giving up First City Review for Lent, but I will submit again in 42 days (as today is the day before Fat Tuesday).

New Work Up at Word Riot and in Zoland Poetry

Despite the detailed advice Sean Lovelace provided me at AWP, I will continue to post when new work of mine is available, cuz, let's make no bones about it, this blog is really just self-deprecation as self-promotion. There's a new story of mine and an audio file of me reading it at Word Riot.

I have a poem in the new volume of Zoland Poetry. I would suggest buying it here if you're interested.

In case this post ruins your image of me as a down-on-her-luck lady-writer who is always lashing herself for her rejections, I will share one little detail of my writing life that is making me nervous:

See the "Forthcoming Work" list of links over to the right there?  I am nervous about how short that list is right now.  I don't know if it's that magazines are catching up with the work they've accepted all of a sudden or if my odds are getting lower, but there's that little bit of fear in my heart.

New Featherproof Mini-Books!

You need to: A) Go to the Featherproof site.

B) Download the spectacular new mini-books by Chris Bower, Margaret Chapman, Jill Summers and Jac Jemc.

C) Subscribe to their new Paper Egg imprint.  If you are one of the first 250 you will get a free copy of the amazing new flash collection from Amelia Gray, AM/PM. I heard her read from this Friday night and just about died I liked it so much, then proceeded to babble to her about the brilliance of the recurring motif of the John Mayer concert tee.  If you are reading this Amelia, thank you for listening to me babble.

And to everyone else I babbled at over these past few days, I thank you, too.

But enough about my indiscretions, get on over the Featherproof site already.

Rejection 141

A while back I read a post on HTML Giant that someone had been waiting over a year for a response to her submission to 42opus.  When I read the post I had silently agreed that they did seem to take their sweet time responding.

I hadn't submitted in a bit though, and so I sent another piece to them and, this rejection came in two months later to the day.

Good job taking the hint and getting on the ball, 42opus.

Story and Postcard at Wigleaf

By the time you read this, you will be home from AWP. I have a story and postcard about where I'm writing this post up at Wigleaf.  Check it out, when you have sufficiently recovered from the conference and feel capable of processing more literature.

Rejection 140

That's right: Rejection 140 roles in right before all of the AWP participants come into town.

I doubt I will get any rejections in the next 4 days. If I do, those people are not doing right by their travel time and expenses.  You should be getting drunk and saying stupid things to important people.  I'm pretty sute that is what AWP is about.

140 came from Diagram again.  I am committed if nothing else.

As for the countdown: Tomorrow is AWP, my friends.

Rejection 139

I received a rejection from Sidebrow today for a project of theirs called "Page 24."  The idea is that you send a real or imagined 24th page of a larger project.  I went a pretty literal route and sent the 24th page of the novel manuscript I have squirreled away and they turned it down, but in just about the nicest way possible.

2 Days Until AWP!

Quickies Reading!

I realized I hadn't made a post about what is sure to be the best night of the coming week: Thursday!

This is the night the Quickies! AWP Spectacular will occur at 7:30 PM at The Innertown Pub.

I am crazy excited.  I have already peed my pants three times and feel certain this activity will only increase as the event approaches.

The list of people reading is in the poster above.  Yes, that list is for real.  Believe it.  Come out.  I will buy you a whiskey.  (No, I won't.)

Rejection 138

West Branch sent the shortest form rejection ever.  One line.

Why do I even bother writing withdrawal letters?

Salt Hill rejected a poem series I had withdrawn back at the beginning of December.  Sometimes I think someone at these magazines is having a bad day, and so they want to deflate the esteem I worked up because the poems were accepted elsewhere.

More likely though is that their organizational system is crap.