Getting Published, or Not…

Getting Published, or Not . . .

Merely putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard, we’re writers. We write for ourselves and often for others, whether it’s memoir, fantasy, poetry, historical fiction, or essay doesn’t matter. Whether we’re published or not, we’re writers.

We admire famous authors and their ability to put words together that change us in some way. And, they are famous!

Many of us write just for ourselves, the sheer joy or urgency of it all. We’re happy and satisfied with our notebooks and journals and have no desire to share them with the world.

Lots of us want to get published. It’s a way to present our work to a larger audience. It’s also validation of our writing if someone, besides the folks who love us, deems our writing good enough to grace the pages of their publication.

I’m no different. I was ecstatic when I recently read the email subject line “Acceptance” and then read further that my poems were online that very day. The RavensPerch, an online literary journal published all four of the poems I included in my submission packet!

This endorsement of my work encourages me to keep learning by taking classes and workshops, practicing my craft, and to keep writing. It also helps me appreciate even more my circles of poetry practitioners, the Red Ferns and the WOK Poets, who encourage me and provide helpful insights about my early drafts.

To all of you, with or without publication ambitions, sit down and write. You’ll find it satisfying. You’ll see in future times, coming back to read what your wrote is amazing. And you’ll recognize that you’re a writer.

~ xoA ~

And the Winner Is

And the Winner Is

Six-thirty on a frosty May morning, after
nearly 22 hours of teams walking the track
at Relay for Life. The much-too-cheery 
announcer, our local news anchor Jim,
plunges us sleepyheads into a river 
of words, forces us out of cozy sleeping 
bags and from our temporary shelters
with the promise of breakfast 
and the guarantee of fun and prizes. 
The Bed Head Contest is about to begin.
Swathed in blankets and quilts, 
contestants pour forth, some young,
some adults. All wear pride on their faces.
There’s something about a Good Cause
that makes ordinary people rise, sends
them off uncaring about the disarray
they’d never display any other time.

Co-founder of Creative Roots Foundation, Joan Raymond, kindly inspired today’s poetry with her brave photo.

Whirlwind

Whirlwind

I was so busy. So busy.
No one could pin me down for a visit
No chance of a leisurely meal in an upscale
place with the Muzak my mother listened to
when she wasn’t singing with Charley Pride.
No time for phone calls, short or chatty
No sipping of tea, let it cool, slug it down
No walks in the park for a dose of greening
No cuddles with the cat
Why did I even have a cat?
Too busy.

This poem began with a line from a poem I read today. Once I got going, I changed that opening line and kept writing. Sometimes we need a bit of a kick-start.