Putting Anger to Good Use.

Good news.  My poem titled a condensed history of anger, with footnotes will appear in the upcoming edition of Interrobang?! Magazine, a web and print ‘zine for the arts based in Providence, RI.  Interrobang’s goal is to provide a formal venue for voices of all kinds, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, creative essays, fine art, or experimental music and video.  Big thanks to Poetry Editor Astrid Drew for the chance to contribute to this magazine.

Alternate definition.

Writing is the watering hole and safe house for dreamers and malcontents who never got around to reading the memo that people aren’t supposed to be creative anymore.

Mentioned. Honorably.

My poem dream poem received honorable mention in the latest HEART poetry award contest and will appear in the Fall/Winter 2009 edition of HEART.  Big thanks to editor Connie Martin for the chance to contribute.

About two hours.

That’s how long it took me to go from inspiration to submission when I saw this call for hint fiction earlier today.

Disregard the fact that hint fiction is the very definition of brief – it’s a story of 25 words or less that suggests a larger, more complex story. Considering the way I agonize over every word while editing, it’s remarkable that I cranked out two of these hint fiction pieces in less than 120 minutes.

This was a great writing exercise – even if neither piece I submitted is chosen for the hint fiction anthology, it felt good to challenge myself to do something a little outside of my comfort zone. If you are a writer (or even if you aren’t), consider taking on this challenge. Submissions are open until August 31, 2009.

New ish

I'll have new poems appearing in upcoming editions of HEART, Exact Change Only, Talking Stick, Working Title Two, Switched-On-Gutenberg, and Poetics Noire in the near future.  The drought is over.  Details forthcoming.

Hello, old friend.

You know how it is when you get to spend time with a friend who knows you really well, how you can just fall back into conversation when you see them, like nothing’s ever changed? That’s what it was like when I found time to do some writing this evening. Like I never even had a hiatus from it at all.

What I’ve Been Doing Lately Instead of Writing

I spent a large portion of the past two months reading and critiquing poetry instead of writing it.

Why? Because I had the honor of judging a contest for the first time, the 2009 Shine Journal Poetry Contest.

The talent of the entries was impressive and choosing winners was challenging. You can read the winning poems by clicking here.

I learned a lot serving as a judge and getting a chance to be on the “other side” of the whole contest rigmarole. Thanks to Pamela Tyree Griffin for this opportunity – I enjoyed the experience and believe in the long run it will also help me in my development as a poet.