Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

Tally-Ho!

As you’ll recall, my year of blogging for Poetry Has Value reached its end a number of months ago. But that doesn’t mean I can’t continue to share my poetry submission stats with you. So here’s the report for the month of August.

If you’re new to these posts, it may be helpful for you to know that I work very hard to submit my work mainly to paying venues that don’t charge fees for journal/website publication. If you’re similarly looking for paying calls and contests that don’t charge submission fees, you’re always welcome to check my monthly newsletter (and with my weekly “Monday Markets” posts on this blog).

On with the latest report:

Venues to Which I Submitted Poetry and Total Poems Submitted in August: (4) concīs (2 poems, contest), Okey-Panky (3 poems) Poetry (4 poems), Ellipsis (5 poems)

Rejections Received: (4) Day One, Jewish Action, Third Point Press, You Are Here

Acceptances: 0

Publications: 0

Money Spent: $0

Money Earned: $0

August TOTAL: $0

Total Money Spent in 2017: $0

Total Money Earned in 2017: $260

2017 TOTAL: $260

Total Submissions in 2017: 65 “packets”

Total Rejections in 2017: 52

A Peek Ahead Into September’s Stats

Happily, I already know that the September report will be more encouraging, if only because two poems accepted in the past have now been published—and I’ve deposited a check received for one of them!

First: September 1 brought the release of the latest issue of Whale Road Review. That issue includes my poem “The End of the Lines.” This poem has a neat origin story. I wrote the first draft in January 2016, when I was a visiting instructor at the Red Earth MFA program. During some of my “off” time, I sat in on another instructor’s workshop. The exercise that Cheryl Pallant gave us to work on in that session sparked this poem. (Another fun fact: Whale Road Review is edited by my fellow Poetry Has Value blogger Katie Manning.)

And then the mail brought a second publication (along with a check!). Here’s a shot of the page containing “Aftermath” in the Jewish New Year supplement produced by Jewish Currents magazine.

A Favorite Headline

Let’s just say that when I ran across this headline in Sunday’s New York Times, I was pleased.

Find the full article online.