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there's no sting…. okay, maybe a little.

I have received a rejection on the four poems that I sent to The New Yorker. This was not a surprise really.

My immediate thought was, “Ah, well. C’est la vie.” I’m rather proud of the poems I sent in. I like them quite a lot, but that doesn’t mean their suited for that market. Besides, if nothing else, I’ve learned in the process of writing them, and maybe in a while I’ll have a new set of poems that will be even better. That’s what that writing process is all about.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a wee bit disappointed. But honestly, it was fun just sending something out to such a prestigious market, knowing that while it floated on the slush pile, I could hold on to that small spark of hope. 🙂

ETA: I forgot to mention that I already have another market lined up for these poems. So certainly, hope is alive an well.

[x-posted to my livejournal. you can comment here or there.]
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Monday Update

Feeling good about this last week. I’m slowly building up my level of “getting shit done” again.

A set of four (short, short) poems were submitted to Bear Creek Haiku. I’ve been published in that journal before. Some really nice short poetry and haiku in that one.

In terms of actual writing, I’ve finally managed to turn back to the short story that I’ve been avoiding for a while. Up until this point, it’s been in a jumble of different pieces, which I have now assembled into one document. Now I just need to work my way through a rewrite so that I have a draft that I would actually allow someone to read.

I also edited and polished three more poems, which are now not quite complete, but at the point where they are starting to resemble completion. The morning poetry journal progress was only sporadic this week, mainly due to my keeping up with yoga in the mornings, which sometimes conflicts.

Also got two really good walking days in. In fact, my Saturday walk was more intense than intended. My sister walked the loop we always walk, taking us up a rather long hill, and then down a short steep one, before looping around to our car. Except, there was no looping around, because the trail was closed off. Our only choice was to return up the really steep hill in order to get back — which kind of sucked, but also turned out to be less difficult than I though. I guess I am improving, after all.

To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 2-3 of my current poems
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3-4 walking and/or running days
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something

[x-posted to my livejournal. you may comment here or there.]
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Monday Update

I’m slowly starting to crawl back on to the getting-things-done wagon, rather than following along behind it.

Last week I sent out four poems for submission to Apex Magazine. This is a recently discovered magazine for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with my submission, because I’ve been enjoying the issues I’ve read so far.

Not much progress made writing, though I did some work on a draft of a new poem. I’m also keeping up pretty steadily with writing in my Morning Poem Journal every morning.

I’ve been doing yoga just about ever morning, and getting some sqats, sit ups, and push ups in about every other morning. One day of walking done, and I took a nice long hike with my family at Castle Rock up Highway 9 on Sunday. The hike was really great, because the location was so fun. The large rocks from which the site gets its name has these amazing outcroppings/cave-ish things that you can climb up into. It reminded me being a kid and how easy it was to get that feeling of adventure. I’m a little sore this morning, but I’m looking forward to taking more hikes in the near future.

To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 2-3 of my current poems
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3-4 marathon training days
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something

[x-posted to my livejournal. You can comment here or there.]
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Monday Update

I have been productive in terms of preparing a for my brothers graduation and helping my mom haul some valuable items (i.e. a stove, an extra fridge, some old filing cabinets) out of our old house for sale. I also got one walk day in last week in between all the goings on (this one has been hard to focus on, since my family has decided not to do the Disney marathon in September, which was a huge motivator).

However, I have still not been on top of things in terms of creative progress. This is partially due to the fact that my laptop is still not working, and so computer access at my sister’s apartment is limited. Though it’s mostly due to the purchase of an X-box and the subsequent time suck that is Fallout 3. It would eat every waking moment of my life if I let it. (And it’s so easy to let it.) Therefore an immediate priority readjustment is required.

To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 2-3 of my current poems
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3-4 marathon training days
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something

[X-posted my livejournal. You can comment here or there.]
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Monday Update

I am more or less moved into my room in my sister’s apartment. I’m still not dragging all my stuff out of storage yet (which is leaving me to buy new summer clothes rather than dealing with that whole storage shed mess). A part of my moving in involve buying an X-Box, in part so that I could have DVD set up in my room. I bought Fallout 3 along with it, however, which doesn’t bode well in terms of distractions.

Creatively speaking, I finished off another poem and spent some time getting a submission packet together. I intended to have it done and sent off last week, but realized that I was confused about some of the submission guidelines. So I sent my question in and haven’t received a response yet.

To Do in the Coming Week
– continue to make progress on the story (actually finishing = triple bonus points)
– write, edit and/or polish 2-3 of my current poems
– submit a set of poems or a short story for publication
– do 3-4 marathon training days
– post a youtube video
– art, doesn’t matter what, but something

[x-posted to my blog. you can comment here or there.]