Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

I Just Hit “Send”

This week I uttered a major “Hallelujah.” Because a project that I’ve been working on (and struggling with) for a long time finally reached a milestone stage: I sent a complete draft to my editor. For me, this is tantamount to crossing a finish line.
finishline

First Set of Stats

Late last month I mentioned that I’ve agreed to share some stats from my poetry practice (submissions, rejections, monies spent/earned, etc.) as a participant in Jessica Piazza’s Poetry Has Value project. Over the past week, Jessica has posted a batch of January reports. Read them all, or, if you’re especially curious, go directly to my own January update.

I do recommend that you read all of the bloggers’ contributions. It’s fascinating to see how different people approach their poetry and publication thereof. It’s also wonderful to discover “new” journals and websites this way.

A Nice Surprise

Also this week: I received the latest (March-April) issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. I’d had a heads-up that this issue would include an article of mine when, out of the blue, I received a nice check a couple of weeks ago. That’s because the article is a reprint of one I wrote a couple of years ago for Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

You can find the article, “Habits of Highly Successful Short Story Writers,” which features insights from experts Roxane Gay, Michael Griffith, and Midge Raymond, beginning on page 52 of the new issue.

WMShortStory

4 thoughts on “Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

  1. Ellen Halter says:

    Erika hi,

    What was the name of the book of poetry prompts that you recommended recently?

    Ellen

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      You may be thinking of the Agodon/Silano volume titled THE DAILY POET, here: http://twosylviaspress.com/books.html

  2. Leah Hughes says:

    ED, Been thinking a lot about this lately, and I’ve returned to some fundamental questions. I guess I need to ask them again, or I’m reevaluating? Yet: how do we know where to send? how do we know what little groups of 3 – 5 to put together to send somewhere? I welcome discussion or your resources!

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      LH, that is a big discussion–but we will have it!

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