Somehow my “Documents” folder showed up, along with the 1,000 folders and 27,000 files not in folders! Technology! Have to love it. Have to wonder about it…
I am glad I don’t have to try and find some 50,000 files. Yeah, I am old…I have that many files at least. I love to write!
Has this ever happened to you?
I wrote two poems recently in a very different style from what I usually write. I brought one poem to a writing workshop tonight. Three of my colleagues in class cried. (They said it was a good thing.) It was a poem about the changing seasons and when I got to the line about when summer returns to autumn? I heard sniffling.
I think I’ll play around with the poem a few more times and make it better. Then submit it somewhere.
***Done. Worked a lot on this poem and submitted with the other one.
And what’s with speech to text that it does not recognize POEM? It types it as POME. Isn’t POEM a common word anymore?
Thanks for reading!
Sometimes it’s interesting to just write down words I’m thinking about… what a surprise! I am thinking about writing, poetry, reading, teaching, nature. Hmmm.. I suspect themes. No surprises, but I do like Word Clouds. To create your own word cloud, go here: Wordle.
It’s tricky using the program there. I have found using Internet Explorer is best for using Wordle to create word clouds.
Enjoy, and thank you for reading.
Two more rejections. Time to get editing, revising, and writing more.
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!
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!
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
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:
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!
**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!
Writers! You can use your writing voice to help kids. Thanks to Laura Jean Bailey for the information. Please consider writing. I am right now.
We can make a difference in the life of children separated from their parents at the border. We are not powerless. Heartland Alliance in Chicago is currently caring for 66 immigrant children.
Demonstrate caring and compassion by sending a brief letter with a positive message to a child at Heartland Alliance, 208 South LaSalle, Chicago, IL 60604. The letters do not need to be in Spanish.
Check out @heartlandhelps’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/heartlandhelps/status/1014157505486868480?s=09
Protest sign at Families Belong Together rally in Chicago on June 30, 2018. Photo by L.J. Bailey.
Laura Lee 