September 21, 2009 at 9:53 pm (Publishers, Writers and Others)
Tags: Literary Journals & Websites, rejections
There’s a cycle in the pattern of sending out and getting word back – about manuscript submissions, that is.
First there’s summer, where all magazine editors in their right minds take a break from reading slush piles. (Only a handful of – oh, let’s go ahead and make Read the rest of this entry »
September 16, 2009 at 2:02 am (Movies, Publishers)
Tags: documentaries, Literary Journals & Websites, recession
Dearest Mum is always chiding self for being “such a worry-wart.”
When self tells her brothers, “I will be visiting in four months,” they are totally totally overwhelmed that she has to plan her trips so far in advance.
So, well, um, that’s just the way self is. Actually, if truth be told, self plans a year or even more in advance: trips, birthday presents, that sort of thing. As a writer, she feels it is part of her nature to take the loooong view, to aim for the delayed gratification (!!@@##).
But, you know what? Self has a terrible, terrible feeling that we as a country are sooo sunk.
Yes, there, she said it.
Today, she checked out the website for a magazine called “The Rambler.” Calling itself “a magazine of personal expression,” they published two of self’s pieces, one fiction and one non-fiction. And today, an announcement on the website said it was suspending operations “indefinitely.”
There are other websites that announce they are not accepting any more submissions. Or that they’re suspending their contests.
Self says to herself: Hang on. Sit tight. It’ll all come out right.
But it won’t! She has the feeling more magazines will close and it’s going to get ugly.
Ah, what to do, what to do? Well, at least the movies are doing grrreeat!!
So, self decides, she’ll just go ahead and see a movie tomorrow. Maybe “The September Issue,” because that is about FA-shion! And about Vogue Magazine! And Vogue editor Anna Wintour is so fashionably thin and so inspiring!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
September 15, 2009 at 1:04 am (Eavesdropping, Gardening, Home, Publishers, Quotes, Writers and Others)
Tags: Publishers, Gardening, novels, Poets & Writers, writing process
Self has been meaning to post about this article (in the July/August 2009 issue) in Poets & Writers for quite some time. And the time has finally arrived, for self is just back from filling her trunk with plants from the annual fall sale at Wegman’s Nursery, and she’s just trundled all the 1-gallon specimens to different parts of her yard (This year, self decided to get only plants that were native to Australia: self theorizing that, since the plants are used to drought conditions, they therefore will not require much watering??? Check back this time next year, dear blog reader, to see if self’s li’l experiment bears fruit!), and inspiration seems rather in short supply, after all that work!
And then self got home, very hot (for her car air-conditioner gave out a week or so ago), and after tuning in to adored Bourdain’s “No Reservations,” (Does anyone else find this guy hot? OMG, he is sooo) self settled back on the couch and whipped out the Poets & Writers article.
There were many many things that interested self about this article. For one thing, the lead novelist, one Nicola Keegan, is 44 years old (so, Read the rest of this entry »
June 17, 2009 at 1:38 am (Dogs, Other Sites of Interest, Publishers, Quotes, Writing)
Tags: announcements, Filipino writers, Just published, Literary Journals & Websites, short story, The Philippines
Just back from heavenly San Luis Obispo, picked up dogs from Peninsula Pet Resort, (where they got treated to the likes of “home-made chicken-flavored frozen yogurt treats”), and discovered that the plants were still alive.
Also, there was a huge box from UPS in full view of the street, and no one had apparently disturbed it.
Also, there was this message in self’s “In” box, from the editors at White Whale Review:
We are very pleased to report, at long last, the second installment of our fair journal, featuring the likes of, well, you. For that reason, and for many others besides, we’re sure you’ll agree when we say things like “quality” and “two thumbs up” and, knowing us, probably something off-color but nautically appropriate.
So, check it out, dear blog readers. Pretty please. The setting is Dumaguete.
May 29, 2009 at 7:11 pm (Opportunities, Publishers, Writing)
Tags: announcements, contests, Literary Journals & Websites, Publishers
May 12, 2009 at 5:11 pm (Eavesdropping, Opportunities, Publishers, Quotes, Writing)
Tags: announcements, Literary Journals & Websites, Publishers, short fiction
May is something called “Short Story Month.” And since making that discovery (learning that this month is a “special” month dedicated to the celebration of self’s favorite literary genre), self has decided that it is OK for her to be in a good mood today.
In keeping with the celebratory spirit, self has decided to do a quick survey of all her submissions (short stories and otherwise) since the start of the year. As it reminds her again about which journals she still feels hopeful about getting published by, and which ones gave her the equivalent of the door-slammed-in-your-face rejection (not necessarily a bad thing! Nothing like a little challenge to get those creative juices revved up and ready to go!)
All right, to begin:
Perhaps self had better stop. Despite the fact that she’s having tons of wicked fun, she’s got to get busy with the serious stuff (as son arrives very soon; and after that, DM). In the spirit of eternal Star Trek (was that Kirk or Spock who spoke the lines: Space, the new frontier . . . ), self must sally forth, ever on the lookout for new worlds to conquer. And, just to keep things “fair and balanced” (self never thought she’d see the day when she’d be quoting from the Fox Network – !!), here are the sites that have published or soon will be publishing her work, this year:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
May 10, 2009 at 3:47 pm (Movies, Opportunities, Publishers, Quotes, Surprises, Writing)
Tags: Calyx, Literary Journals & Websites, Mother's Day, Poets & Writers, Publishers, teaching
It is Mother’s Day. Self’s first thoughts upon rising to consciousness this morning (while trying not to let whiney dogs hear her get up – some mornings, their ears are so sharp that self barely even has time to crack open a book before they start pestering her) were about yesterday’s “Star Trek” movie. Zach Quinto/Spock, Leonard Nimoy as Old Spock, Chris Pine as new-and-improved James T. Kirk, Zoe Saldana as hot new Lieutenant Uhura, John Cho as sword-flashing Zulu, and so forth and so on.
And then she realized that she had an on-line class that she begins teaching on the morrow. Which then led to two hours of frantic up-loading of course materials and drawing up of “Welcome” announcements (Self never uses canned ones – something about “keeping it fresh”).
Then she read e-mail from someone in New York, which confirms that she will indeed be returning there next month.
Then she picked up latest issue of Poets & Writers (to clear her head), and found, on p. 19, an item about sending your words up to space on the KEO Satellite (projected launch date: 2010 or 2011), and then read this:
What sort of enlightened perspective might the planet’s progeny form after processing the seventy-two issues of Calyx (www.calyxpress.org), the thirty-three-year-old journal of women’s writing based in Corvallis, Oregon? The biannual was the first – or one of the first, anyway – to publish the work of Julia Alvarez, Chitra Divakaruni, Linda Hogan, Molly Gloss, Natalie Goldberg, Barbara Kingsolver, and Sharon Olds.
Calyx published self’s first book, Ginseng and Other Tales From Manila (It amuses self to remember now: son was a mere five-year-old). And they published, one year when they were so broke that all they could publish was one book, the anthology of Filipino women’s writings that self and Virginia Cerenio co-edited, Going Home to a Landscape (and saved self’s life, for that was a time when self was having trouble even thinking of herself as a writer, much less an editor).
Happy Mother’s Day, Calyx, for you birthed self and so many many other women artists, who pay obeisance to you now, with gratitude and love.
April 22, 2009 at 8:48 pm (Opportunities, Publishers)
Tags: announcements, contests, Filipino writers, poetry, Publishers
Meritage Press is accepting entries for the 2009-2010 Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize. The contest is open to poets from around the globe who are full-blooded or half Filipino. The winner will receive $500 and will have his/ her work published by Meritage Press. There is no submission fee. Contestants may enter more than one manuscript.
Guidelines:
Submission Deadline: 31 August 2009
For more information: http://meritagepress.com
April 9, 2009 at 12:55 am (Conversations, Publishers, Writing)
Tags: AWP, Literary Journals & Websites, rejections
Now that self has sated her desire for junk food (bought two Hershey bars from gas station), self is at home, pondering an extremely weighty matter, and that is:
Should she once again risk humiliation by submitting work to Prairie Schooner?
Buoyed by the success of fellow Filipino writers M. Evelina Galang and Brian Ascalon Roley, self has felt moved to submit to this estimable journal, at least once a year for the last three or four years. But no sooner has self licked the envelope and applied the stamp than — surprise! — her manuscript comes back! Sometimes in just one week!
Since self is such a glutton for punishment, she Read the rest of this entry »
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