Posted on by Laura Lee

35 submissions this summer—and the rejections roll in…

blog word cloud       Since late spring, I’ve made 35 plus submissions just using Submittable.com.  I love using this vehicle since it helps me keep track of my submissions in one convenient location.  I’ve also made email and US mail submissions.

My goal in submitting work is yes, to be published, but also to encourage me to improve my writing and to feel a part  of a writing community.  I am not a great writer, but I can be a good one if I work at it!

It’s obvious there are more poets than poetical publishing opportunities.  I am receiving a number of rejections after an early spring run of four acceptances, and so yes, I am feeling the sting a bit, even while the editors are quite kind in their notes.  Just doesn’t fit, not right now, etc.  No one has said I should seek solace on another planet.  Yet.

Poets, you know this is mostly unpaid publication anyway, and it’s the joy of being published that urges us onward.

While I’ve submitted mostly poetry, I’ve always worked on some mini-dialogue experiments and one short story.

In the meantime, I am enjoying revising my writing, and submitting more.

I am glad I am not trying to support myself with my writing, but I am also glad I write.  It’s been a part of who I am since I was an angsty pre-teen, writing my wretched “woe is me” type broken-hearted poetry.

Now it’s time to get back to work; I have a lot of writing to do.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Laura Lee

(Some of my) Published Writings

cropped-be-creative-creative-creativity-256514                         Some of my poems, short stories, and nonfiction articles are included in books and magazines published in the UK, Greece, New Zealand, and the United States.

*Spillwords Press, July 19, 2018, “Stopped,” a poem
Spillwords Press

*Tuck Magazine, June 2018

Tuck Magazine

*Tuck Magazine,  May 2018

Tuck

* Southernmost Point Guest House (UK)

* Journal of Modern Poetry 21 (Volume 21)

JOMP Volume 21 Dear Mr. President

* Journal of Modern Poetry 20 (Volume 20)

JOMP Volume 20 Poetry Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy

* Journal of Modern Poetry 17 (Volume 17)

JOMP Volume 17

* Magazine (New Zealand) , Raewyn Alexander, Publisher

Raewyn Alexander NZ

* Fiction in: http://staxtes.com/2003/ “Between the Sunlight and the Skipping” in English Wednesdays

* Illinois English Bulletin, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English, nonfiction.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Do you have the top poem? Rattle’s yearly poetry prize information

prize  I certainly do not (as yet!), but perhaps you have the winning poem you could submit here: Rattle Poetry Prize.

Rattle publishes find modern poetry, and has many chances for poets to submit with no reading fee.  This major poetry prize is their chance to highlight one outstanding poem and poet, while also helping to fund the Rattle Magazine and all of its other awards, publications, and prizes.

I’m a better teacher than poet, so I don’t mind saying, it’s not me going to win something like this. But perhaps it could be you.

Rattle writes:

The annual Rattle Poetry Prize offers $10,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $200 each and publication, and be eligible for the $2,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote.

Additional poems from the entries are frequently offered publication as well. In 2017 we published 20 poems that had been submitted to the contest from just over 4,000 entries.

Go on, check it out.  Fine poetry and many opportunities to publish there: on their several Facebook pages, in their online magazine, and in print.

Or this–perhaps your competitive nature comes out from time to time.  If so, it may be worth the submission fee.

Good luck, and thanks for reading.

Posted on by Laura Lee

No Tokens Literary Journal

spines      No Tokens Journal declares it is “…a journal celebrating work that is felt in the spine”  and it can be found here, at No Tokens Journal.

Reading that reminds me of what Emily Dickinson wrote about poetry, that “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire could ever warm me, I know that is poetry.” (http://notable-quotes.com/d/dickinson_emily.html).

No Tokens publishes a print/ bound volume as well as an online journal, making it doubly interesting, in my opinion.  They publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and “other,” which could include include plays, comics, graphic novels, interviews, etc.

The journal’s passion for great writing is evident, right down to when they declare they will ask for NO TOKENS (no submission fees) while they promise to be a journal:

“…featuring the words and artwork of all voices of the past, present, and future.”

I love this passion for words, stories, voices.

I think I will give them a try.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

New Poem (“Stopped”) to be Published July 19th by Spillwords Press

marketing-man-person-communication     Shameless self promotion.(But the rejections have been many recently, so bear with me! Writers, you get it!)

I am pleased to learn that “Stopped,” a poem I recently wrote, will be published by Spillwords Press on July 19, 2018.  As this poem was declined elsewhere, I am glad it has found a home. I enjoyed writing the poem, something rather out of my comfort zone! It was written as a response to a painting as a prompt.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

“Ink and Voices,” a Mini-Review

cropped-be-creative-creative-creativity-256514     Perhaps my skepticism about poetry being ALIVE was too skeptical?  I am finding many fine literary magazines and communities, online and in paper, if I just take the time to look about a bit.  What’s different for me, however, is how many of the publications are online only or mainly online.  For an oldster like me who loves to learn and use technology, that’s fine.  I am just happy that literacy in all its forms appears to be thriving.

One publication I just found is Ink & Voices, which can be found here: Ink & Voices.

Ink and Voices acknowledges that the internet is full of places to share writing and art, but states they are different in that:

   Ink & Voices is an online publication and community for artists and writers. We are all about original and unapologetic voices, and providing a space for you to express your originality and humanness. We love pieces that are honest, raw and original.

This publication has three main sections, one for Mind, one for Body, and one for Soul.  Yes, they are brave enough to use those terms in this sometimes snide and toocooltoshowemotions society.   I found mainly fiction and artwork there, but liked what I saw and liked what I read.  Perhaps I just couldn’t find the poetry, but I did look. Nevertheless, Ink and Voices is accepting submissions or writing and art and has a separate category for poetry, all through Submittable.com.   The positive aspects here are that your work is read or viewed “blind,” and judged on its merit rather than your bio or name, or lack of a name in publishing.

I didn’t see a May or June issue, but they are still accepting submissions on a no deadline basis through Submittable.com, meaning they are paying to keep submission coming in.

I am going to investigate this new site more and consider submitting some poetry.  I know I’ll be viewing the artwork there.

If you create “honest, raw, and original” artwork, including written work, why not give Ink and Voices a view?  I personally like to support new literary ventures as well as the more-established ones.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Fourteen Pieces of Writing Out for Submission and…

woman-typing-writing-windows   Thirteen poems and one piece of nonfiction are “out” for consideration.  I’ve submitted to established literary journals as well as journals about to publish their FIRST issue!

My goal, however, is to read and write more.  That’s how I can learn and grow as a writer and a person, I believe.  While it’s fun to submit, it can overtake the important activities of actually reading good literature and writing more.

Do you find submitting pieces of writing helps your writing or hinders it?

Good luck to those who are submitting!  I’ll keep posting links to new sites I find.  I have found the “Discover” feature of Submittable.com to be helpful in finding new (to me) sites, and then those sites lead to more sites.

Thanks for reading.

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

HerStory Literary Magazine

                  HerStory Literary Magazine swomentates it is “empowering women through storytelling” and publishes fiction, nonfiction, interviews, poetry, and personal essays. In addition, the site sponsors a “monthly theme” for writing.    I particularly enjoyed the magazines mission, which is ” HerStory wants to get every woman writing, talking, and sharing her story because
Every Story Matters.”

Every story matters, what a great motto.

The monthly themes for the rest of the year, as noted one their website, are:

july:
dear past me

august:
handle with care: stories about grief

september:
role models: stories about the women who shaped us

october:
spooky stories

november:
what you don’t know: stories about our secrets

december:
dear someone: letters to the people who changed our lives

 

Why not read some of the writing there and consider submitting your own writing?   The literary magazine is trying to go, it notes, and there could be as long a delay as six months in hearing back about submissions.

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Twin Cinema Poetic Form

whitman-2033-5e85a780991cf80bddfa412174d63cf9@1x       Rattle Literary Journal

published a winning poem today, “DRPK   US” written in a Twin Cinema poetic form.  While I have read poems before that can be read horizontally or vertically, I’ve not seen such a structuring before nor seen a label for this form.

In The Straits Times, writer Olivia Ho writes that a Twin Cinema poem is:

It is a poem written in two columns. Sometimes, the columns are meant to be read individually, running line by line in counterpoint.

But I find it at its most compelling when the poet achieves not just two, but three ways of reading it, not just top to bottom, but also across, a poem at once broken and unbroken, reaching across the gaps to put a new twist on opposing meanings.

In a blog about Southeast Asian Poetic Forms (find it here: Southeast Asian Poetic Forms

notes that:

In its original form as developed by Yeow Kai Chai, the twin cinema consisted of two discrete columns of poetry. The columns were separate and did not read as a coherent line across both columns. Each individual line of a column contained imagery that could correlate or contrast to the opposing line of the other column.

I love this playing with both the oral aspects of poetry and the physical/ white space aspects.

I’ve written specular poems, or sometimes called mirror poems that read as poems from the first to the last line and then from the last to the first line.  That was tricky and worthwhile; both versions of the poem need to make grammatical, syntactical, and poetic sense.

What verse forms have you tried? What’s your favorite?

Thanks for reading.

Laura Lee