Poetry Contest Rejection

I, sadly, was not the winner of the The Madison Review's Phyllis Smart-Young Prize.  Michael Derrick Hudson was for his poems, "Dreaming About Jozefa After Too Much Eggnog," "Why I Mostly Had Trouble With Girls in High School," "Drunk in Bed With a Book About Great Masterpieces of Western Art."  Those are not poems I could have written, so congratulations to him.

My comparable poems would have been titled, "Drunk Texting Patrick When I Should Have Just Gone to Sleep After Too Much Maker's," "Why I Mostly Asked Boys Who'd Already Graduated to High School Dances," and "Drinking the Cooking Brandy While Trying to Finish The Alphabet Versus the Goddess Once and For All."

Firewheel Chapbook Award Finalist

Congratulations to Marjorie Tesser! Marjorie's collection, The important thing is., is the winner of the Firewheel Chapbook Award winner.

I am proud and excited that my collection, This Stranger She'd Invited In, placed as a finalist alongside:

Problems of Depiction, by Molly Gaudry

The Low You, by John Colasacco

Why I Reach for the Stars: Poems on Eva Braun, by Helga Kidder

Installation, by Paula Koneazny

A Reason of Water, by Barbara Maloutas

Moon for the Misbegotten? Prose Poems and Adornments, by E. M. Schorb

(Hello again, Molly!)  Congratulations to all!

First Issue of Melusine Up

The first issue of Melusine, or Woman in the 21st Century, is posted. New Fiction from: Yu-Han Chao, Alison Hicks, Marilyn Harris Kriegl, and Jac Jemc.

New Poetry from: Corrine De Winter, Barbara Daniels, Susana Slaviero, Lyn Lifshin, Lori Lamothe, Kristine Snodgrass & Maureen Seaton, Juliet Cook, Melissa Culbertson, Margarita Engle, Irene Sherlock, Kylie Gordon, Marian Brown St. Onge, Marla Cordle, Jane Herschlag, Lois Bassen, Suzanne Roberts, Melissa Carl, Whitney Vaughan, and Rachel McKibbens.

New Non-fiction from: Tara L. Masih, Arlene L. Mandell, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, and Tessa Dratt.

Reviews from Ann Cefola, Juliet Cook, Karen Rigby, and Melissa Crandell.

There's also an interview with pretty Lyn Lifshin.

Give a new magazine some support. Check it out.

New-ish Issue of Lamination Colony

Well, I'm a  few days behind what with my internet abstinence, but have you seen the new issue of Lamination Colony?  It is as if a Rubik's Cube and that color tester tv screen had a baby and that baby was born and started saying amazing things! There are 100 boxes and 38 writers and over 60 pieces. There is Kim Chinquee, Adam Robinson, Ben Mirov, DS White, Matthew Salesses, Blaster Al Ackerman, M.T. Fallon, Adam Good, Stephanie Barber, J.A. Tyler, Catherine Moran, Cooper Renner, Luca Dipierro, Amanda Raczkowski, Rupert Wondolowski, Whitney Woolf, Lauren Becker, Michael Bible, Robert Swartwood, Darcelle Bleau, Robert Bradley, Jamie Gaughran-Perez, Aimee Lynn-Hirschowitz, Shane Jones, Conor Madigan, Krammer Abrahams, Shatera Davenport, Jordan Sanderson, Stacie Leatherman, Josh Maday, Joseph Young, Jason Jones, Gena Mohwish, Jen Michalski, Aby Kaupang, Jac Jemc, Karen Lillis, and Justin Sirois.

Rejections 155 & 156, as well as a my first Post-Withdrawal Acceptance

Hello there.  I am back from internet vacation.  I got some good work done.  I got a couple rejections.  I got a piece accepted that I'd withdrawn. I got rained on a bunch. I got a little sanity back.

The first rejection was from Copper Nickel, whom I lo-o-o-o-o-ve.  It was the first personal-ish rejection I got from them.  So that's cool.

The second rejection was from Stones Throw.  Tami said she enjoyed reading the poems I sent, but had to say no.  Okey-doke.

The acceptance was from Anemone Sidecar and they were very gracious when I reminded them that I'd already withdrawn that piece, asking me to send more work for the next issue.

All in all, not too much happens when you're MIA.  I recommend such a hiatus to all.  It was sort of great to only be alive one way for a minute. No I am back to my many-faced self.

Vacation

I'll be away from the internet for one week.  See ya April 2nd.

Million Writers Award Nomination

Thanks to Colin Bassett of bearcreekfeed for nominating my story, "The Tackiness of Souls," for a Million Writers Award. Everyone should go to the Story South page and nominate everyone else for an award.  You can do this until March 31st. Do it.

Rejection 154

I received a form rejection from Willow Springs today, which was actually nice because I think the last 3 submissions I have sent them, I've had to withdraw.

You should submit to Our Stories.  Our submission period closes on March 31st and we're pretty prompt right now, so you can probably expect a response in the next few days.  Not to mention the fact that with Our Stories you always get at least a paragraph of feedback, so there's a good chance you'll see how I dish out a rejection.

Also, you should come out on April Fool's Day to the 5th Anniversary Show of the Rec Room.  The theme is "Five Alive."  These fabulous people will be reading:

Idris Goodwin Nina Corwin Barbara Perry Dan Godston Jac Jemc Allison Gruber Miki Howald Sunny Byers Jacob Saenz Jacob Knabb Eric Elshtain Katie Hartsock Dave Digangi Nicolette Bond Erin Teegarden Matthias Regan John Beer Paula Varjack

Mary Hamilton

Pretty good, right?  8 PM. April 1st.  Black Rock Bar. 3614 N Damen.

Rejection 153

Ploughshares sent a rejection for a story via email.  I only had to wait about three months for that one - not bad.

I have run out of things to say about anonymous form rejections.

So instead I will tell you about my new bike.  It is my mom's old bike and it has Jacques Anquetil stickers all over it.  I think it is from 1971.  It's pretty good looking.  The mount for a child seat is still hanging out on the back.  I think I'm gonna strap a basket on it.  If my friend ever gets here, I'm going to take it to Uptown Bikes and have them put a new tube in the front tire and maybe get new brake cables and a new 'saddle' (saddle being the hip term bicyclists call their seat,  some lingo which was forced upon me yesterday).

Also, I am at this moment listening to the song, "I Don't Know Much," performed by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville.

Happy Sunday afternoon, my friends.

Rejection 152

I wish I had a snake hat.

I got a nice little form letter from the kind people at Birkensnake.