Posted on by Laura Lee

Alt Minds Literary Magazine-Submissions Until 7-14

bright cardiac cardiology care              Alt Minds Literary Magazine is looking for “…fiction and non-fiction/memoir (1,000 to 3,000) of any genre and poetry (no more than 40 lines) that is related to mental health, in theme, subject matter, characterization, whatever “mental health” means to you.”  Unlike many new journals, this is a paying journal with a very narrow audience: writing with themes related to mental health.

Furtheremore, the editor and founder is brave to state she wished to create “…a literary magazine that focuses exclusively on content about mental health and all the idiosyncrasies that come along in living with mental illness.”  That’s brave.

I’ve submitted two poems there; one is about a competency hearing and one is about drives–literal and metaphorical.

I’m still very pleased and surprised to find so many literary journals–seems to be something for everyone.

Thanks for reading!

bright cardiac cardiology care

 

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

On the (not) lucrative world of poetry (I’m laughing too!)

 

be-creative-creative-creativity-256514    I write mostly poetry, although I am writing  more nonfiction since I started this blog about six weeks ago. I do share many poems in their rough draft stages on my Facebook page, but I have a closed site and limit the views even there.  However, I don’t post my poetry here on my website/ blog just yet.

Why? I’ve submitted poetry many places, and editors/ publishers don’t want work that has been “published” elsewhere usually.  Mind you, only a few people are “reading” the poems there at all, but some will even claim a closed locked down Facebook site means
you’ve published your poem.

We poets are not writing Pulitzer Prize winning novels and posting them on Facebook!  It seems a bit silly and excessive to me to not be able to share and get my close friends’ critiques; however, with the poetry publication market as competitive as it is, I don’t want to ruin any chances I might have of publishing.

I admit to liking an audience for my writing.  Is that shallow? Probably.

 

I can write good poetry of a particular style, narrative poetry and dramatic monologues, the latter of which is out of style.  I have sometimes written good lyrical poetry.  I am not an academic but a caring reader and writer, so to me it’s okay I’m not making a living as a poet.

As if. DECADES ago I did research and found that only 9 people in American admit to making their living as a poet. NINE out of what–1/3 of a billion Americans?

I’ve only got so many poems in me–I don’t want to lose the right to publish them unless they are actually PUBLISHED elsewhere. I send out the ones I can stand to lose!  Since poetry doesn’t pay, I have many poems I just don’t want to lose.  I know. As if!

It’s a labor of love, poetry writing and poetry reading. At least for me it is.

Thanks for reading.

Laura Lee

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

Publications

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

Lucky Thirteen? (Submissions) but about those boys trapped in the Thai cave…

 

windows    Lucky (I hope) thirteen active submissions of poetry out right now… wait, one is a short nonfiction piece entirely written in dialogue. We shall see! The “declined” or rejections outnumber thirteen–but I am enjoying finding new literary magazines and I am editing, revising, and writing poetry. EXCEPT I cannot write about those poor boys trapped in the caves in Thailand. I usually have no problem writing to a prompt, but these boys, these trapped boys…

I mean those boys are mainly in the dark…and they are BOYS. There is ONE adult with them. I followed the lives and stories of the 33 Chilean miners, big strong men, trained men…and I know how very rough they had after the rescue. The miners were down below much longer… but these are boys…and it could take months. Sigh…

If I were honest, I would say I can barely breathe thinking about those boys.

Here are links to some current articles:

Thailand Cave Rescue Options.

I can barely breathe when I think of all those who are trapped, scared, in the dark–literally or emotionally.

I need to open the window now, despite the stifling heat.

There is a poem there about the need to open windows even in the heat.  Even in the bitterly cold.  (Oh, I’ve had issues doing that.)

Not too long ago, my husband and I were in a resort with huge windows, but they did not open.  I wanted to stay somewhere else,  somewhere the windows opened.

But that’s another story or other stories.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Laura Lee

Spillwords.com, a Mini-Review

spill  **Update: I am having a poem, “Stopped,”published here July 19th.

Spillwords.com is a publisher of fiction, poetry, and original artwork, as well as a re-publisher of “literary greats” that are now in the public domain.  This publisher’s goal is to create a:

…home for all that live and breathe words, spilled or inspired, through literature of every genre, from writers and poets of every walk of life.

The team of editors will work, they state,  to ensure “…work is presented responsibly.”

The writers I saw published there come from all over the globe, and there is a special part of the site dedicated to publishing in Spanish.  The other writers, from all over the world, are published in English.

I am pretty sure the publisher is actually in Poland; I checked and the mail address in there, in Poland.

It’s great to find new (to me!) places to submit work, and to read poetry and fiction from all over.

Thanks for reading!

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Update on Submission: The Value & Power & Fun of Poetry–Submitted to Willowdown Books

dream courage harmony inspire rocks images Update: the work I submitted here is short-listed; the editors will determine the overall themes of the works they are interested in and then let us short-listed know if we will be published.  I was not familiar that as a writer I would ever be told this, so this is interesting.

As I find new (to me) literary journals, I am delighted to find the absolute joy of language and belief in the power of poetry to be prevalent.  The journals I am finding are truly labors of love, and the publishers and editors are publishing poetry because they love poetry, love language, and believe poetry is important.  What a pleasant change of pace from the local, national, and world news, which is portraying a country and world in hate-filled crisis after crisis!

For example, I just had to submit some poems to Willowdown Books out of the UK: Willowdown Books.

Willowdown is sponsoring “The Poetic Bond VIII,” a bound poetic journal in autumn; submissions are due by the end of the day tomorrow here: The Poetic Bond.

So what creates a “poetic” bond?  The publisher wants to create this bond by publishing poetry that is deeply connected with humanity, nature, and the universe.

You tell me, poets, if this isn’t the heart of poetry?  Deep connections.  Humanity. Nature. The universe.

Yes sirree.  Sure is for me.

Plus the play and delight of language.

Have a look at the “poetic bond” and Willowdown Books.

Oh! For submitting, we got to pick a book out, sort of a thank you for submitting.  This also shows support for the poets already published, so that’s a great idea.

Thanks for reading!

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Submitted a Poem about BAD Summer Jobs–GeekyPress.co

motel                   Submitted a new, raw poem here:http://thegeekypress.com/

to their BAD SUMMER JOBS open call for poetry, fiction, and short plays.  I’ve sure had bad summer jobs!

 

This one had dogs, blood, and me running away from that motel job as fast as my 14-year old self could.  I don’t normally swear, but this poem called for it to be true to life.

If I were honest, this writing would be even more raw and awful, for it was an unsafe difficult job–but paid $4 an hour! A fortune we thought back then. I literally ran out of the motel, terrified.  Had I been older, I might have been amused, but I was working when (illegally) very young there.

I’m old enough to remember when most places didn’t care to check on your age. They really didn’t.  If some “official” wanted to see birth certificates, I’d just quit and go back in a week or so.

Did that at a fast food place, but that’s another story too. WHAT I LEARNED THERE! That I was not cut out for manual labor.  That work was very hard for very little money. That you needed to be strong to work in many fields.  That I would need an education to become something other than one who was burning self all day on fryers or fighting off men in motels…

Now back to the issue:

The call for submissions to the BAD SUMMER JOBS ends at end of day tomorrow, so if you are interested, check it out and get writing! They are accepting poetry, fiction, and plays about this theme.

Oh–a positive aspect about this publication? It splits all profits from sales of their print publications and e-books.

Thanks for reading.

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