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.

The Whitefish Review

Issue #5 of The Whitefish Review is out, and chock full of amazing art and writing. The Whitefish Review is a literary journal based in Whitefish, Montana that publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, photography, and interviews, with a slant toward mountain culture.       

My poem The Nostalgia Soundtrack is lucky enough to be in this issue - and considering the amount of revising this one poem has survived over the years, that is something for me to celebrate with a beer or two. Big thanks to editor Brian Schott for the chance to contribute.

All We Ask For.

So I fell off the grid for a moment, but I should be back here on a (fairly) consistent basis.I just hit one of those patches of life where other things were a bit more important than blogging.

But not everything has been at a standstill. Although my free time has been at a premium, I’ve still been writing and submitting whenever possible. One particular poem of mine, All We Ask For, has recently garnered a hint of success.

All We Ask For recently won the Fifth Annual Skysaje Enterprises poetry contest! Big sloppy thanks to the judges for choosing my poem for this award and also to Lawrence R. Berger, managing coordinator of Skysaje Enterprises, for this great contest opportunity.  All We Ask For will make its print debut later this year in an anthology titled Working Title Two - I'll post more information when I have it.

I better run and take this opportunity of Saturday morning free time to get some writing and errands done. Be good…

Explain to me...

...how it is June already, please. Not nearly enough is done.

My blog. Reloaded.

Coming attractions: info about my writing, rants about various subjects, mentions of writing resources, sarcasm, etc. Check back soon.

Cool giveaway for writers at The Write Helper.

Amy over at The Write Helper is offering a unique recession-busting opportunity for writers – a drawing to win free editing services for 50 pages of writing!

If you are a writer who has been stuck trying to figure out what is wrong with a story or novel, this opportunity may be for you.  All you have to do is follow some simple instructions and send Amy an email – then you’ll be placed in a drawing to possibly win the free 50-page edit.

Pretty simple, huh? Then you have no excuse - click here for the details.

April is National Poetry Month.

April is National Poetry Month.  So what does that mean?

National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media to the art of poetry, to living poets, and to poetry books and journals. The hope is to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself.

So what can you do to celebrate poetry? Check out this list of 30 ways to celebrate at poets.org for a start.