According to Luna Park

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:

• Hayden’s Ferry Review: Self only mailed them something last weekend, so it’s still too early to tell.
• The Journal: See above.
• The Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction: After mailing her manuscript, self learned that a good friend also submitted. And since self thinks her friend writes far superior stories, self can pretty much write this one off.
• The Spokane Prize for Short Fiction: See above.
• New Ohio Review: Oh boy, if dear blog readers have a hankering for the instant notification, then send here. Self’s story (a story that got long, hand-written rejection from The Sun, saying it reached final round) came back so fast, the seal on the flap was probably still wet — ha ha ha!
• Prairie Schooner: a miracle, dear blog readers. It’s been five weeks, and self still hasn’t received the form rejection.  (The day, however, is still young)
• Harpur Palate: Third attempt, no go.
• Quiddity: Please refer to New Ohio Review comment, above.

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:

• Another Kind of Paradise (Boston:  Cheng & Tsui, edited by Trevor Carolan):  re-printed “Lizard”
• Rogue (of the Philippines):  April 2009 issue.  Too, too cool.  Editors got a Filipino artist to accompany self’s story with the most amazing drawings.  More about this guy soon.
• Isotope:  of Utah State.  A journal of science and nature writing (Took one of self’s hybrid memoir/history pieces, “The Lost Language”)
• The White Whale Review:  on-line zine, only starting to put together Issue # 2.  Took self’s prose poem, “Ghosts.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

Good Morning!

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.

Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize

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:

1. Manuscript should have a minimum of 48 pages.
2. Include two cover pages.  The first must include the title of the work, the author’s name, email/ mailing address and phone number.  The second cover page should have the title of the manuscript.  Submitted entries will not be returned and should be sent in hard copy (emailed manuscripts will not be accepted).
3. Send to:  Eileen Tabios, Meritage Press, 256 North Fork Crystal Springs Road, St. Helena, CA  94574

Submission Deadline:  31 August 2009

For more information:  http://meritagepress.com

Today, Friday, the 17th of April

Today, six Sumatra Lily bulbs came in the mail. Also, two rejections: one from Algonquin books (self sent them 30 pages, perhaps six months ago), another from a small literary journal that self’s been subscribing to since the very first issue (but for now will remain nameless).

Today was warm enough so that self finally got to sit outside for part of the afternoon. When the shadows deepened, a wind sprang up, and self got nervous and started collecting all the pillows she’d strewn around the garden (to sit on, she’s been migrating from one end of the garden to the other, depending on the angle of the light). She left out the Chinese lanterns.

Dinner was Italian sausage, cut into chunks, and fried with onions and some scrambled egg (Self knows, that sounds like breakfast, but anyhoo). Then, she made a salad of baby spinach, croutons, shaved Gruyere cheese, and a few slices of crumbled bacon. That makes her sound like a gourmet, but self assures dear blog reader, that salad was pure serendipity: hubby bought Gruyere last weekend and forgot about it, which allowed self to shave it over the salad. Then, she bought this humongous bag of baby Spinach from Safeway, because it was on sale. And she always has bacon and croutons. Plus, she just bought Cilantro dressing from Trader Joe’s. Voila! Super-yummy and filling salad!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

“Confessions of a Shopaholic”

Today, 12:20 p.m. show ($6) at downtown Redwood City cinema.

Lobby empty, but restaurants next to movie theatre were (self was happy to see) populated.

A few minutes after previews started, two young girls came and seated themselves right next to self (when there was a whole theatre of seats to choose from, what’s up with that!), followed by two older women, and, in the very last half hour of the movie, a group of four elderly men.  These four strolled in very nonchalantly and spread themselves out along two rows near the front of the theatre.  Then they would call out loudly to each other such remarks as, “That’s Kristin Scott Thomas!” or “That’s Hugh Dancy!”  Those men were a scream!

Movie: three out of four stars

Animatronic mannequins nice touch.

Isla Fisher appealing as always.

Hugh Dancy: hotness! (Much better than he was in “The Jane Austen Book Club!”)

John Goodman very wrinkle-faced (Was he wearing a toupee?). Very good to see him and Joan Cusack in a movie, though.

Self’s state of mind after leaving the theatre: content

Then, home: checked mail, and there happened to be a check. In the mail. Payment from Cheng & Tsui for inclusion of “Lizard” in upcoming anthology, Another Kind of Paradise: Short Stories from the New Asia-Pacific. YAY!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

NYTBR 26 January 2009: Another Short One

‘Twas a dark and dreary day —  woo-hoo, is it 5 p.m. already?  Thank God.  That means, in seven hours, this day will be over.

It’s been an extremely chilly and dreary day.  Self got back from having her teeth cleaned (about which, ’nuff said), and there was only one piece of mail worth mentioning:  a form rejection from The Cimarron Review.  Self nearly forgot:  she got one yesterday, too, from Carve, which began, beseechingly, “Sorry we can’t accept your piece.  We hope this will not prevent you from reading future issues of the magazine.”  Self went on a flurry of submissions, just before Christmas.  Hence, current onslaught of rejections.

Self pulled from her pile of stuff a second New York Times Book Review.  After reading the whole issue, cover to cover, she is astonished that there are only two books she wants to read.  It seems ridiculous to even have to enumerate them, but self must adhere to tradition.

So, here they are, the books self is interested in reading after perusing The New York Times Book Review of 26 January 2009 (Seeing as how this list includes a short story collection, and self remembers seeing collections reviewed fairly regularly, over the last couple of years, she is forced to conclude that when publishers tell an aspiring author that they can’t sell short story collections, and prefer novels, what they really mean is:  they don’t like your work enough to sign you):

(1)    After reading Maria Russo’s review of Ali Smith’s new short story collection, The First Person and Other Stories:

• Ali Smith’s The First Person and Other Stories

(2)    After reading Nancy Kline’s review of Annie Ernaux’s new novel, The Possession, translated by Anna Moschovakis:

• Anna Moschovakis’ translation of Annie Ernaux’s The Possession

Breaking News!

The Lost Language, self’s new story collection (which includes “The Hand,” which won the Juked Fiction Prize in 2007), will be published in the Philippines by Anvil Press.

It means a lot, a lot, a lot to self, that she be published in her home country.  Thank you, oh estimable Karina Bolasco!   You made self’s day!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers!

Saturday Morning, Olympics Day 2

Hubby and self slept past 1 a.m. last night, giddy from watching the Olympic opening ceremonies which, in self’s humble opinion, were the most spectacularly beautiful opening ceremonies self had ever seen, worthy of a Chinese costume epic by Zhang Yimou. She didn’t recognize Li Ning, her crush of 24 years ago, (pardon for sounding a bit hyperbolic, dear blog readers) and the Philippine delegation looked cool in their sky-blue barongs (but why no women athletes?), and it was fun to see Rafael Nadal grinning like a schoolboy, and ditto for Jason Kidd and all the other highly paid athletes who seemed thrilled, simply thrilled to be part of the parade. George Bush looked relaxed; Putin did not crack a smile when the U.S. delegation marched past him. Sarkozy did not have gorgeous Carla by his side, and when self saw the Russian delegation she couldn’t help thinking about Georgia, and about her Georgian student at xxxx community college, Joe D, who’d written so eloquently about the bloody decade he’d just lived through and which he hoped (Alas!) would be the last violent decade for his country.

This morning, self keeps glancing at her watch. Realizes she is keeping time, wondering when son and Sean will arrive at the Hotel Domus Aurelia. The hotel staff were so nice, they e-mailed son detailed instructions how to get there from Ciampino Airport. (Estimated time from Termini to the hotel: around 75 minutes)

Then, self picks up a copy of Calyx to relax, and she remembers another student, Gillian, who self would meet for coffee about every other month, right here in Peet’s on Broadway. When they last met, Gillian imparted the sad news that she was shortly to go home to Oregon. Her parents wouldn’t continue to fund her living in San Francisco unless she got a job or enrolled in a regular four-year college. Self had one of those brainstorms that occur to her oh, about once every six months.

“Work for Calyx!” self told Gillian.

Gillian’s eyes lit up.

That same day, self e-mailed Beverly McFarland. The next day, Beverly e-mailed Gillian. And, last week, self received a happy e-mail from Gillian: it was all settled, she’d be interning for Calyx for the rest of the summer. Super!!! Self wrote Gillian: “You and Calyx are a good fit.”

Now, starting from the back of the Calyx journal (which is a habit self started years, perhaps even decades, ago), she sees a most interesting ad for:

CELEBRATION RECORDINGS

invites you to visit the website

celebration1.org

for beautiful Classical piano CDs

including exquisite music
by women composers
to accompany
your reading of
Calyx

lovely as gifts with conscience

your check is written
directly to
grass-roots
not-for-profit organizations
addressing global issues

Self must investigate! Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

32 Years of Calyx

Margarita Donnelly told self she would be retiring next year.

Self can hardly believe it.

For, dear blog readers, this is the woman who made self a writer.

Doreen Fernandez started self on the path. Then, John L’Heureux stoked the fire. Margarita Donnelly found self when the fire was flickering. (Marilyn Chin helped, too, as dear blog readers well know — how fortuitous that Marilyn paid a visit to self just when the first Asian American women’s anthology was being put together by Calyx!) It was Margarita that made sure that the fire would stick. Self will never forget when Margarita came up to her and asked (Self had just finished reading her short story, “Ginseng” in a bookstore in the City), “Do you have other stories like that?” And just like that, a book came to be.

Calyx has published M. Evelina Galang (Her fab story, “Her Wild American Self”)

They published self’s Ginseng and Other Tales From Manila (which was simultaneously published in Manila by the Ateneo’s Office of Research & Publications and went on to be a finalist for the Philippines’ National Book Award)

They published Going Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas.

They published The Forbidden Stitch, the first Asian American women’s anthology.

They published A Line of Cutting Women and A Fierce Brightness: Twenty-Five Years of Women’s Poetry (which are great texts, especially for self’s “Women Writers” courses).

Here are some amazing facts about Calyx:

In the 32 years of its existence, the editors have read the work of over 100,000 women and selected more than 3,600 authors and artists for its books and journals.

Their publications have reached over half-a-million readers.

It has survived because of a tireless band of volunteer editors, supporters, and students whose sacrifices have ensured that the world knows of such women as Kathleen Alcala, Chitra Divakaruni, Jean Heglund, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Charlotte Watson Sherman.

As with gasoline and food prices, publishing and distribution costs have risen: Printing each issue now costs $6,000. Even a small increase in postage rates (today saw yet another increase) impacts a small press greatly. The costs of shipping non-profit mail went up over 100% last year. And the cost of paper continues to rise, as have all the other costs involved in running a small independent press, such as health insurance for Calyx’s small staff.

Imagine a world without Calyx or its brave women. What a terrible world that would be.

Calyx is a 501 C (3) — all contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

http://www.calyxpress.org