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Published and Marked “Busy”

the-drum-fb-profile-picPublished

If we’re connected on social media, you’ve already seen me post about my most recent essay, “In Texas,” published in The Drum.

What you might not know is that this essay has been years in the making. For that reason, and because this story sits close to my heart, I am more than grateful it’s finally found a home.

If you’re a reader, listen to “In Texas” HERE.

If you’re a writer, submit your own work to The Drum. Their submissions are open again, and I can’t say enough about working with editor, Henriette Lazaridis.

Marked “Busy”

As thrilling as it is to see your own work out in the literary world, it’s just as exciting to share the work of other authors whose stories I love. Lisa Rivero and I have finalized our selection of personal essays, creative nonfiction, and poetry for a family narratives anthology to be published in 2017 by Hidden Timber Books, entitled:

FAMILY STORIES
Bringing letters and archives alive
through creative nonfiction, flash narratives, and poetry.

Hidden Timber Books logoOver the next several months, we’ll be working diligently with both seasoned and emerging writers, fine-tuning these stories and the layout, to give you a rich collection of stories uncovered, discovered, and imagined from letters, journals, photos, and more.

Take a look at the list of contributors on Hidden Timber Books‘ website, and mark your calendar for an early 2017 release!

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Remington Roundup: #Read, #Write, #Submit

1960's photo of woman at Remington typewriterSummer has been a whirlwind of activity at home and beyond, but in the mix of vacations, retreats, and cleaning out closets to get ready for fall, here is a cluster of literary links to pull you back into the field of reading, writing, & submitting.

#Read

There’s a new literary journal on scene that incorporates both print and audio, and not just for dual sensory enjoyment. The Deaf Poet’s Society, “an online journal of disability literature & art,” publishes poetry, prose, art and more by writers with disabilities and makes the work accessible for anyone and everyone.

Artwork by Stephen Lapthisophon, featured in Issue 1 of The Deaf Poet's Society…the word “disabled” can encompass a wide variety of experiences. . . . If we’re not writing our lives, then someone else controls our narrative,” [Deaf Poets Society poetry editor Cyree Jarelle Johnson] said.

The first issue is out with beautiful art and prose. Take a look (&/or listen); spread the word.

*Above artwork, “Untitled (hands with gold pigment),” by Stephen Lapthisophon, featured in Issue 1 of The Deaf Poet’s Society.

#Write

IMG_4764For the last several weeks, I’ve been working on a new studio space: painting, hanging art, setting the scene. At times I’ve felt self-indulgent and worried about the fact that I’d spent more hours cultivating the space than using it. But making space for your writing is an important psychological aspect in the journey to create, as Maria Popova says on Brain Pickings:

The room, time of day, or ritual selected for working may enable or even induce intense concentration or a favorable motivational or emotional state.

Set the mood, but don’t stop there:

…despite all these fruitful strategies for optimizing creative flow, the bigger truth — something I wholeheartedly believe — remains: There is no ideal rotation of the chair or perfect position of the desk clock that guarantees a Pulitzer. What counts, ultimately, is putting your backside in the chair….

#Submit

Speaking of putting your backside in the the chair and Johnson’s quote about “writing our lives,”  the call for submissions for Hidden Timber Books’ Family Narratives Anthology is still open until September 1st! We’re looking for:

airmail letters from 1988“creative nonfiction, found poetry and other poetry, and essays inspired by diaries and letters, genealogical records…the telling of historical family narratives for present and future generations, both for our own families and for other readers.”

Dig up those old letters from your best friend, dust off that high school journal, put every card you received from your mother in order and uncover the puzzle of your world as seen through her eyes. You have a story; we want to read it.

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Family Narratives: Call for Submissions Extended Deadline!

pexels-photo-110440Love Always. It’s 1988, the year you graduate high school, the summer your best friend (of all time) turns 16, the months when you’re supposed to ride the Texas highways together to the mall, the movies, the parking lot parties, the two of you in your little white hatchback with the windows down and George Michael pouring from the radio. The car filled with the excitement and ambitions of teenagers on the cusp of life. Instead, you drive her to the airport and say a tearful goodbye at the gate as she and her family board a plane headed to South Korea for a year.

 
It’s 1988, when email is IMG_4638nonexistent, cell phones are for the fancy, and long distance phone calls cost dollars a minute. Air mail is your only option. You drive from the airport to work, sit down at your desk, and immediately start scribbling on the tissue-thin paper. You write almost every day, keep the postman busy in the exchange of envelopes thick with angst, news of changing bodies, nerves as you set off for college, and mothers.

Sure your mom is going to cry, you’re the last one to leave, it’s going to be just her and your dad. She’s just being a mom. Don’t let it get you down. Speaking of mothers, mine is driving me up the wall.

Reminders that distance means nothing where sisters of the heart are concerned.

It was so weird getting your letter about you being sick because right now I can’t breathe out of my right nostril; we’re even sick together.

Those letters saved me that summer.

PrintAnd letters, along with diaries or anything of written record between family or close friends, are the inspiration for the upcoming Anthology co-edited by Lisa Rivero (Hidden Timber Books) and myself.

Family Narratives: bringing diaries and letters alive will be a “collection of creative nonfiction, found poetry and other poetry, and essays” that “showcases the telling of historical family narratives for present and future generations, both for our own families and for other readers.” AND, we’ve extended the deadline for submissions to September 1st!

We know you have a story, and we don’t want to miss the chance to read it. Check out the full guidelines HERE. Then, dig up those old journals and photos. Study that intricately decorated family tree hanging in your house, the one with a branch on the side labeled simply “baby.” Share your story.