Checking In

I have had my nose to the grindstone this year as far as my first manuscript is concerned. As November comes to a close I feel as though I am reaching the editing point, or at least the editing point of the final product. I have to admit, when it comes to editing, that I find I do this consistently and constantly and throughout the entirety of the process, however, I am dreading the final editing process. I have looked at these poems until my eyes have started to cross, and therefore, I am going to step away from this collection for a while, at least for the remainder of the year. I have several other projects that I am currently working on and am more excited about jumping into. Or, perhaps, I will simply immerse myself in the pleasure of reading for the remainder of the year. Whatever the case, I feel as though I have accomplished a great deal this year, and to be truthful, November and December are not the easiest months for me. I have several submissions pending and am hoping to here some more good news before the year's end.

Good News Flows

I have been super busy lately, what with my job, and my son, and my writing; plus on top of all of that I have been ill.  This does not keep my spirits from being high, though.  I received the good news yesterday that my poem, "The Butterfly Collector" will be published in The Chaffin Journal.  I am very excited.

I need to catch up on my publications list, as there should be a total of eight listed as of now, but there is only one up. I promise to do this soon.

I will be posting a couple of new prompts today.


Happy writing everyone!

From Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 - Work Day

I had a wonderful and productive work day today with my two best friends. I feel very accomplished.  I have a completely new layout for my first collection, a second collection in the works along with a chapbook and I drafted three new poems. :) On top of all this my friend Jason and I got a pretty good brainstorming session in on the literary magazine we want to start. 

More good news for the first day of October: I received another acceptance letter today, details pending.  :) :) :)

From Friday, September 20th, 2013 - An Uninvited Visitor

I love being able to work in a nice organized area. Most of the time I will go outside to write, weather permitting, but when I come inside to edit or type I like coming back to a nice clean work area. This is why I like to do a lot of my creative work at Work. My lunch hour is a great time to get a lot of writing done because I have a nice clean work space and do not have the thoughts of guilt that I would have at home, guilt that there are many other things that I need to be doing, such as cleaning. I take a lot of pride in my pens and journals and love the nice smooth surface of my desk. It was quite the shock when I came back in from my noon writing session and went to type my poems that this fellow jumped from somewhere on my body and landed on my nice clean work space.

I was none-too-thrilled with thrilled with the invasion of my space. What made it worse? He was a jumper! He jumped from the desk to the keyboard, and then from the keyboard to the base of the computer monitor. I am not sorry to report that this is where he met his end. His presence made my afternoon writing session rather traumatic. However, it did lead to a rather interesting poem titled:

Elegy for the Spider

Poetry Writer, Web Weaver, and Loving Brother

From Thursday, September 19th, 2013 - Love Poems

As I prepare my submission for a themed issue of love poems I find myself wondering, "what qualifies as a love poem?" When I first saw this posting I figured this would be perfect, however, on further contemplation I realized that most of my poems are related to love, however they are sad. Do they count as "love poems" if they do not celebrate being in love? But then, what if I wanted to write a love poem to my coffee pot? What if I love the way it spits and gurgles? The way the black aroma sits heavy on the morning air? The way its stiffness wipes the morning dew from my eyes? Does this count as a love poem? There are all kinds of love, but I think, perhaps, the problem is not defining love, or even a love poem, but instead, the problem is trying to read the editors' minds and discover what they think a love poem ought to be. I suppose I should get back to it. I have 2 out of the 5 poems completed for my submission and just a couple more weeks to get them just right. Wish me luck.

New Blog

I am starting this new blog as a clean slate. I wanted a place that was specifically dedicated to my poetic self. I will be moving a few posts from my other blog over to this one in the next couple of days to mold the two into one, then I will dedicate myself to this one fully. :)