Anticipating 2010

Rough Draft: Resolutions

1.) Avoid High-Fructose Corn Syrup. (That shit is everywhere.)

2.) Spend less time on the computer (seriously!). This translates as :

Read More

Write More (on paper, y'all)

Take Walks in both Fair & Inclement Weather

Get Out More/Be Sociable (heh.)

3.) Find opportunities to volunteer.

4.) Laugh more. Worry less.

5.) Perfect my Scrabble skillz. Also: learn how to spell without being silly.

6.) Send people cards instead of emails on their birthdays.

7.) Eliminate clutter. (This could take until 2012, though. Ugh.)

8.) Attend more poetry readings. Read more poetry books & chaps. For real.

Ten would have been a nice, round number, but whatever. That's all I can think of for now.

Hope you all have an awesome new year!

Things That Bother Me

Okay, so I picked up a cheap paperback thriller somewhere--like Walgreens or whatever--to read on days when I'm feeling brainless.

Anyway, I cracked that puppy open today while waiting in the car to pick up Z from school and the VERY FIRST SENTENCE HAD A COMMA SPLICE.

Okay, I think perhaps author-who-shall-not-be-named (but is raking in big bucks, I'm sure) is making a stylistic choice. Judge not and all that biz.

Flash forward 60 seconds. Two paragraphs down, there is a dependent clause standing alone as a sentence.

Flash forward 20 seconds: ANOTHER dependent clause sits there all by its sad little lonesome.

Umm... don't publishing houses employ editors anymore? No?

I shall be perturbed all day.

This Makes Me Happy.

I mean, how can I possibly be feeling blue when I know that somewhere in the UK, there is an octopus named Louis who likes to cuddle his Mr. Potato Head Doll???

OMG. He's Cuddling It With His Little Tentacles and Sucker-Thingies!! So. Freaking. Cute.

The octopus who loves his Mr Potato Head | Metro.co.uk

(Thanks to Clare Landry Martin and Dana Guthrie Martin for posting this on FB today. I feel better knowing such things exist.)

The Grand TO DO (List)

This time of year, I find that I need a mantra. Something along the lines of

It's all going to get done

and all manner of things shall be well

or something of that ilk.

Every day I make a list, yet I never finish it. But, I do make progress.

The holiday stuff seems to have taken over, while I'm still trying to fit in the never-ending job search, transition planning for Z., editorial projects, writing projects, and (of course) making-people-happy projects. I'm also looking for opportunities to do some volunteer work. I'm hoping to shift my focus away from all this personal stuff. It seems like it might be a good antidote for my long-standing malaise. Also, I'm beginning to suspect that I need to work on being a better human being, in general. I get lost in a life that is--at times--a bit too introverted.

I need to revamp the way in which I approach my days. A schedule, perhaps? I'm thinking of making a weekly spreadsheet to organize my tasks and projects, with adequate (ha!) time allotted for all my highest priorities. As I approach something resembling middle age (no? too young, you say? bless your heart.) I find there is less internal RAM to keep track of all the minutia. Is it just me?

Everyone else on the planet seems so enviably efficient. I should like to know their secrets. I suspect it's just spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are the answer to everything.

On the upside, I did get the tree up in a reasonably timely fashion. I have to admit, for all my crabbing and x-mas angst, it does look rather grand.

Proof that the Universe is Listening

So, I twittered (tweeted?) that I wanted to see more men in kilts a couple of weeks ago, and lo and behold, I saw a dude in a kilt on Deal or No Deal yesterday. Ask and ye shall receive.

Apropos of Nothing

I continue to have dreams that involve library scavenger hunts and sisyphean tasks.

Surely this is meaningful.

Surely there is a poem to be found in this.

Random

I have decided that if I lived in a cooler town, I would hang out in funky coffee shops and drink loads of chai. Alas, I live in a place where far too many people think those dress-up geese on the front porch are high art. Ah well.

The poetry reading this weekend was amazing! It was a joy to read with such a terrific group of people. Lovely. My husband took some photos, which made me realize I look rather pained and distressed when I read my poems. Weird.

***

I've been thinking about writing fiction, which seems overly ambitious, but I'm going to do it anyway. At this point, I've begun a new fiction journal/diary. I'm starting with character development. Creating fictional people is rather fun. I have no idea where it's going to lead. My attention span seems much better suited for poetry, most days.

Writing exercise: 5 Random Things

In the interests of fleshing out the characters, I'm trying to write a list of 5 random things about each one on an index card. Each random characteristic should--I think--be something more than 'basic' (i.e. I don't want to list height and weight, or anything like that). I'll start with myself because I am as solipsistic as anyone else and because it's an easy way to warm up. Here goes:

Five Random Things About Moi

1.) I never ask people the question "What do you do?" (as in "for a living.") I dislike using occupation to define who people are. No one can be defined so simply as "accountant" or "baker." It's not that these things aren't relevant; I just think the question is somewhat rude because it indicates I'm trying to pigeonhole the person in some way. I realize this is perhaps the most basic question on earth when it comes to small talk (in America, anyway), so I am probably made of fail when it comes to meeting people and socializing with casual acquaintances and whatnot.

2.) I have recently become obsessed with food in its simplest unadulterated state. Really, I just want to eat things like apples and baked potatoes and homemade bread. I don't like pre-packaged mixes, pre-sliced fruits, pre-washed bags of salad (which always smell like decay to me, yuk.) I'm sure my fear of both pre-cut and chemically preserved foods borders on OCD. So, what am I going to do with that damn box of Rice-A-Roni in my pantry?

3.) I am not particularly religious, but I am open to the possibility that science cannot necessarily explain everything. On the other hand, I think it's also possible that those things which appear to exist beyond science (like a ghost or a near-death experience for example) could very well have a scientific explanation that we're simply not capable of understanding. This may seem paradoxical, but it's not. At least, I don't think so.

4.) There is at least one shelf full of books in every room of my house, except the bathrooms (soggy books=bad). This includes the kitchen and dining room. I'm sure this has much to do with the fact that I own far too many books (if such a thing is possible!) I also like the basic principle of feng shui that visible books in a room increase insight. Why not? Who couldn't use a little more intellectual energy?

5.) I cannot stand the idea of having a television in my bedroom. I need it to be a sanctuary for sleep, a place far removed from the world of sitcoms, reality tv, or the nightly news.

The point of this exercise is to bring characters alive by explaining what they do or believe, rather than trying to create them as 5'5" blonde-haired former strippers or 6 foot tall dog groomers or whatever. While it's easy to do this for oneself, I think it's much more difficult (although absolutely necessary) when it comes to creating believable fictional characters. If they don't seem real (or like they could be real), then they become wooden and flat and boring, and nobody wants to read about them, right?

This Friday...11-20-2009

RHINO READS!
A Monthly Poetry Series

November 20, 2009
FRIDAY

Open Mike 6:00 - 6:30
Featured Poets 6:45 - 7:30

Brothers K
500 Main St.
Evanston, IL

Featuring:

Susan Slaviero is the author of two poetry chapbooks: An Introduction to the Archetypes (Shadowbox Press, 2008) and Apocrypha (Dancing Girl Press, 2009). Her work has appeared in Flyway, RHINO, Fourteen Hills, Arsenic Lobster, Caffeine Destiny and other journals. She designs and edits the online literary journal blossombones.

Kathleen Kirk will be reading from Broken Sonnets, her new chapbook (Finishing Line Press, 2009). Finishing Line will also publish Living on the Earth in 2010, an honorable mention winner in their New Women's Voices series. Her work has also been published in The Common Review, After Hours, Another Chicago Magazine, Ekphrasis, Greensboro Review, Many Mountains Moving, Ninth Letter, and Spoon River Poetry Review. Kathleen is a former editor of RHINO and former associate editor of Poetry East.

More Proof that I Require Therapy

Is there anyone who *isn't* overwhelmed this time of year?

I've never felt more completely buried in mundane tasks. I've always been so sure of my organizational skills--I make lists, keep an accurate calendar, and maintain a running dialogue with myself about what I need to do.

I'm beginning to forget things.

I've missed out on a few things I meant to do last week, which has me feeling horrible. I almost forgot a few bills, too. Yeesh. Now the holidays loom, and I honestly don't know how it's all going to get done. I think I applied for about 20 different jobs last week, too. Maybe I should consider going back to school. I keep waffling on this. I might take the GRE next year, just to see how I do. Oy.

I had a dream the other night that I was applying for a job at a university library. I was given one day to find all the information on a list given to me by the librarian, or I wouldn't get the job. It was something reminiscent of a literary scavenger hunt... I needed to locate information on medieval medical techniques, decipher texts in Latin, and figure out computer passwords without assistance. I remember one of the books I had to find (something by Joan Didion) was locked in a glass box, and I couldn't find the key. I was also required to persuade library patrons to engage in a variety of strange tasks, and write poems that imitate the style of several contemporary poets. It was both stressful and exciting. It's also a painfully obvious dream, almost too easy to interpret, which suggests that I grow even more predictable with age.

I must also learn how to blog without sounding angsty. Ha.

I think I'm overtired because I've been staying up late to catch up on Season 5 of LOST on hulu. This is not in any way productive, but my brain is pretty tired by 10:00 p.m. anyway. Also, we no longer have cable (belt-tightening and such), so I need to get my t.v. fix online these days.

I'm looking forward to a much quieter week. Last week was crazy, but productive.

Strange State of Distraction

Autumn has arrived, first in a slurry of rain, and then in these oddly warm Indian Summer November days that can't possibly last. I feel like writing, yet lack the inspiration for anything particularly compelling.

I feel like I am waiting for the skies to clear, for something dramatic to happen, but can't (for the life of me) imagine what it is. This week will be hectic, with heavy mom duties and such--although some are pleasant, like taking Z on his first college visit!

Sometimes, I wish I were a visual artist, or sculptor, or a quilter... I feel this compulsion to be creative using my hands, to get out of my headspace for a while, although I tend to be no good at escaping the cerebral. No good at all. I am so often accused of "overthinking." Is this really such a bad thing? Who knows?

I have some pieces floating around in the ether, poems and such. I recently got a personal rejection from Ninth Letter, with one of those quickly inked "please try us again" cursive scrawls that mean somebody considered the poems publishable, if only for a brief moment.

I have learned to be so much more circumspect about rejection in all its various forms. It tends to slide by like a gust of air, a chilly breeze I was expecting but hoping to avoid all the same.

In the meantime, I am redesigning my website, and hoping to get started designing the winter issue of blossombones next month. We'll reopen for submissions in February, and I'm considering an all poetry issue. I'd like to have a little extra space, to take a few more writers' work for summer, as I often turn down some lovely pieces for the sake of time and journal space. I don't like to overwhelm, but rather to showcase a few stellar pieces in the hopes that visitors will read the whole issue, rather than just peruse a few poems.

New guidelines should be up with the winter issue, possibly sooner.

Why I Read Poetry and A New Chapbook Review

Everybody reads fiction, it seems. I like fiction too. (And non-fiction, for that matter, with the exception of outrageously solipsistic memoirs by People Who Bore Me, like politicians and war generals. Bleh.)

When it comes to literary aversions, I think there are two kinds of people: those who don't read at all, and those who don't read poetry.

I love reading poetry. This is not only because I write it and have an interest in the art form. I am attracted to the singularity of focus required for reading it, the compression of narrative forms, the intensity of the language itself. I remain somewhat flummoxed by those who say they don't like or understand anything written in verse. Really? It's not any more difficult to read than prose. Honest.

The best poems (and collections of poems) transport the reader to an alternate world. It might be an unrecognizable future (or past), but it might also be firmly planted in everyday experience, only with the volume turned way up, the colors brighter and more vibrant. It's a place where the world takes on layers of complexity, and that will always be a place that fascinates me.

As I have been lackluster with my blogging as of late, I'm hoping to enliven this poetry blog with a regular chapbook review feature. I'd like to begin with the very first chapbook produced by a terrific poetry journal, Goblin Fruit...

***

Review of

Demon Lovers and Other Difficulties

by Nicole Kornher-Stace

I was unfamiliar with Ms. Kornher-Stace's work until I read it in Goblin Fruit, and I was intrigued enough to purchase her chapbook, which is saddle stitched and beautifully constructed by the editors of GF; the cover is colorful and professional, constructed of sturdy, slick, high quality cardstock, and the pages are very clean with no rough edges. It's small, but stunning.

Of course, the most important aspect of any publication is the work itself. The chapbook alternates between a set of poems entitled "The Demon Lover's Child Grows Up," a four-part series of persona poems that speak in the voice of the Demon Lover's child, and a set of related poems constructed in other voices.

The Demon Lover's Child poems trace a narrative arc through his infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The first poem in the series really sets the scene for the book, not only with the promise to reveal the tale of the Demon Lover's Child, but also with the promise inherent in the poetry itself, which demands the reader's attention:

Don't you? I screamed. Don't you know me?

Oh cold you are. Am I so easily forgot?

What of the moss I crushed your spine into,

the snowdrifts, bluebells, autumn leaves?

What of the words I singed, spark-bright, coal-dark,

into your skin? (14-19).

Much like the mother of the enraged demon child, I find myself marked by the words that are indeed "spark-bright and coal-dark."

One of my favorite poems in the chapbook is called "The Changeling Always Wins." What mother has not been haunted by the fear that she is at the mercy of a terrible baby, something not of this world? My favorite image in the poem comes toward the end, when the mother questions what she might find should she look inside the infant, "A clockwork heart, a clot of earth, / a vein-fine plait of baby hair tied thrice, / which I might recognize?" (34-36).

What an ominous piece! The voice of the mother weaves together the unspeakable and the familiar so deftly, the reader feels both sympathy and terror. It's a beautifully crafted poem.

The most challenging poem, "Other Difficulties" brings the chapbook to a close. This poem seems a bit less connected to the previous pieces, although the images, use of language, and subject matter do give it a coherent feel. I love the use of epistolary form, and imagine the characters of Fetch and Catch represent the importance of duality and illusion. It's a fitting end to an excellent chapbook, although I must admit, I was craving a one last installment in the voice of the Demon Lover's Child for the final piece.

To read a few of the poems or purchase Demon Lovers and Other Difficulties, you should click here.

Fall(ing) Behind

Holy crap. It's November.

I don't know if it's some kind of wacky law of physics that time actually moves faster as you get older, but this sometimes seems to be the case.

I gave away mad amounts of Halloween candy yesterday--about 60 full size candy bars! We had loads of trick-or-treaters this year. It was crazy. Last year I felt like we had but a handful of little goblins. Go figure.

I love this time of year--the cool weather, the impending sense of quietude, the need to hibernate in a warm, cozy house. It's a homebody's dream.

I will be taking my son on his first college visit in about a week-and-a-half. It's a strange feeling--bittersweet, gratifying and scary, too.

Life remains quietly busy. Here's what's new:

Two poems--most seasonally appropriate for Halloween/All Souls:

"Plot Device: Haunted House: Where a Window is a Scar" appears in The Pedestal Magazine.

"Why Everyone Can't See Ghosts" appears in The Medulla Review.

Two terrific journals, so I'm delighted to be included. I'm in excellent company.

I've also started a food blog. You can visit it here. I'm still not sure what compels me to start another blog when I'm barely keeping up with this one.

Also: (god, is it to early to be blogging about this? I always feel weird promoting "forthcoming" stuff. It never quite feels real until I actually see it! Anyway, it's exciting news, so I want to share it....)

My very first full length collection, Cyborgia, has been accepted for publication by Mayapple Press! I'm thrilled, and nervous, and it still doesn't feel real to me yet. I really love the manuscript, and I've been working on it for a long time... I'm so delighted to have found it a home!

I have a reading coming up, too... I'll be at Bros K coffee shop in Evanston on November 20, where I will be a featured reader along with Rhino editor Kathleen Kirk. Very exciting! The reading starts at 6 p.m. (open mic), and the featured readers begin at around 6:45 p.m. Come see me! You know you want to :)

Now entering October Country...

(Photo from aforementioned reading with the wonderful poets from DGP at Flourish Bakery. What a fun venue!)

Have I really dwindled down to about a post a month? Sad.

This fall weather is so beautiful. I want to read horror stories and eat pumpkin bread.

Life is at some strange transitional phase right now. Still trying to figure it all out. So many good things have (or will shortly) come to an end. One can only hope this makes room for new good things. Perhaps. I remain optimistic...

I am writing a new series of poems, still doing a few websites for people (and thus, my own is sorely out of date. I hope to remedy that very soon), keeping busy with family stuff. It's hard to stop and write a journal entry when I'm feeling so scattered.

I'm also cooking a lot, and making more vegetarian meals. No, I'm not a full-on vegetarian. Just trying to eat less meat...for a number of reasons.

That's about it.

New poems are online at word for/word #15. This delights me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it's such an innovative journal. I love reading it. Also, I am fond of my cyborg poems. I am so happy these three found such a terrific home :)

Oh! I also want to mention that while An Introduction to the Archetypes is sold out (!), I have two author copies left to sell or trade if anyone's interested...

Reading this Tuesday, September 1st

Tuesday Funk #16
Flourish Bakery Cafe
1138 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Edgewater Beach, Chicago

7:00 P.M

ROBYN DETTERLINE is the cofounder of Another New Calligraphy, a non-profit organization that designs and handmakes books and CDs for local writers and musicians. Robyn also cofounded Literary Writers Network, was the managing editor of 10,000 Tons of Black Ink, and was an organizer for the Prose Show reading series. She received her B.A. in English and creative writing from Loyola University Chicago, and she now lives in Oak Park with her husband, kitty cat, and the ghost of Frank Lloyd Wright.

BILLY LOMBARDO is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Polyphony H.S., a student-run national literary magazine for high school writers and editors. He was born and raised in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, home of the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox. He is the author of The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories (BkMk Press, 2005) and How to Hold a Woman (OV Books 2009). His novel The Man with Two Arms will be published by Overlook Press in February 2010. Billy teaches English literature and creative writing at the Latin School of Chicago. He has just completed a YA novella called, The Day of the Palindrome.

WILLIAM SHUNN returns to Tuesday Funk with another installment of his memoir The Accidental Terrorist.

DANCING GIRL PRESS presents poets Kristen Orser, Susan Slaviero, and Stephanie Anderson.

STEPHANIE ANDERSON is the author of The Choral Mimeographs (dancing girl, 2009) and In the Particular Particular (New Michigan Press). She co-edits Projective Industries and lives in Chicago.

KRISTEN ORSER is the author of Squint (dancing girl press, 2009), Winter, Another Wall (blossombones, 2008); Fall Awake (Taiga Press, 2008); and E AT I, illustrated by James Thomas Stevens (Wyrd Tree Press, 2009).

SUSAN SLAVIERO is the author of Apocrypha (dancing girl press, 2009) and An Introduction to the Archetypes (Shadowbox Press).

Back on the grid, perhaps to excess?

I've missed blogging. There, I've said it.

I'm even messing around with Twitter again, which is probably the eighth sign of the apocalypse or something.

This weekend I finally (finally!!) bought some chapbooks I've been wanting for ages. Can't wait to read some new poetry!

Mostly, I've been busy helping a few nice folks with their websites and dealing with various household tasks. Once I'm finished, I'm giving my site an overhaul, as it's not been updated in forever and it gives me such a mid-to-late-90's vibe these days... I might even tweak this blog, but it's not super-high on my to-do list right now.

I've also been baking a lot of bread, which is awesome:



If you've never baked homemade bread, you should try it. It's both therapeutic and tasty.

Due to my recent obsession with all things culinary, I've decided to start building a food blog. It's in the way early stages of construction, though. You can check it out here.

I have plans to pretty the whole thing up soon. I might even try that three column blogging thing, if I'm feeling adventurous...

The 2009 summer issue is now live!

blossombones summer 2009 : the marked issue

featuring the work of:

Niina Pollari

J. M. English

Elizabeth Glixman

Julene T. Weaver

Suzanne Savickas

Laura Hirneisen

Kate Durbin

Rose Woodson

Kat Dixon

Roseanne Griffeth

Kathleen Nalley

Jennifer Hollie Bowles

Anne Babson


Please note: We are closed to submissions until February 2010. Our winter issue will be a digital chapbook and is set to appear in January.

Happy Reading!

Susan

I could really use some coloring books and crayons...

Because I am officially declaring 2009 to be the year of anxiety. I should very much like a winning lottery ticket, but a coloring book will probably have to do.

***

Ack! Still reading subs for blossombones... I usually read everything at least twice, which takes a bit of time. I am excited about the selected poems for the next issue. I'm still deciding on the last few pieces, which has been very difficult! I probably agonize too much over everything.

***

Also: have to mention a few recent pubs:

One poem--"Creative Cookery in Four Courses"-- in Arsenic Lobster (one of my absolute favorite journals!)

and two poems--"Dead Girl Macguffin" and "VirtualGirl III: A Space Opera" in the print edition of Sein Und Werden: Cinamatique. It's a super-cool themed issue, especially if you love the language of film!

***

Also: Be sure to check out the review (on page 142) of SPIDER VEIN IMPASTO in the newest issue of Oranges & Sardines! Very cool, indeed.

***

I didn't make it out to Printer's Row this year, which is a bummer. Hope everyone had a blast and bought lots of books!

Playing catch-up...

I have not been especially wordy these days, what can I say?

Luckily, things have been busy, and I'm wrapping up (and starting up) a number of projects. Naturally, keeping up with the blog has taken a backseat to other things.

We've got some terrific subs rolling in for the next issue of blossombones. If you're thinking of sending me some poesy, do it soon! The deadline is April 30th.

***

I've got a few new poems out this spring:

"Rose Red, On Sibling Rivalry" in the latest Goblin Fruit (online)

"The Dominatrix is Dead" and "Notes on a Blue Movie" in Zygote in My Coffee (online)

Four poems in SPIDER VEIN IMPASTO, a wonderful multi-writer project put out by Blood Pudding Press. If you've never checked them out, you should. The editor makes absolutely beautiful handmade chapbooks. Whenever I get one in the mail, it feels like Christmas--all decked out with sparkly goodness, complete with ribbons and bows.

"The Botanist" in the 2009 issue of RHINO (print)

A few others are forthcoming, although I seem to be sending out less work these days. I've been on a writing/submitting hiatus lately, which makes checking the mail (and email) less stressful, but less interesting, too. Hoping to get back to it soon.

***

Currently Reading:

Mondo Crampo by Juliet Cook

Recovering the Body by Nicole Cartwright Denison

The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman

***

Currently Planning:

A chapbook shopping spree--which I intended to do last February, but was too distracted by all the bills I had to pay! I'm buying poetry goodies this week. I swear.

Isn't she pretty?

Apocrypha is now available from Dancing Girl Press! The cover turned out lovely--thanks so much to Missy for her beautiful photograpy!

Also, three new poems are up at Melusine, Or Woman in the 21st Century, along with some fabulous work by kickass poets like Melissa Culbertson, Juliet Cook, and others. Good stuff.

What's happening this week...

If you live in the Chicago area, be sure to visit The Electric Feminine! We've got a repeat performance scheduled for Thursday, March 19, from 6:30-8:30 at Lewis University in the Phillip Lynch Theater. Be there or be square, yo.


I'm also delighted to mention that two of our blossombones contributors have work up at Best of the Net this year--Amy Fetzer Larakers poem, "It begins in anise and ends in Asheville" and Wayne Shannon's short fiction piece "Sin Nombre" were selected for inclusion, and we couldn't be more thrilled!

I'm rather delighted to have my poem "The Noir Wife" included, as well! Thanks again to the wonderful editors of Arsenic Lobster for the nomination!

In addition to all the aforementioned very cool poetry news, I have two cyborg fairy tales featured this week at Fickle Muses, so check 'em out, if you please :)

This Friday....3-13-2009....

Take a Bite!

Poems from An Introduction to the Archetypes are featured this week at Sharkforum!

Join me...

...in the Horror Film Prop Closet at 13 Myna Birds...

*I'm so OCD my obsessions have compulsions*

So...I still feel kind of guilty about skipping AWP :(

However, I'm hoping to order some cool stuff with the $$ I saved by not dropping several hundred bucks on a conference ticket!

I want to order some new dgp chaps and a few from Tilt press, for starters! I'm trying to decide which titles--everything looks so wonderful :)

Suggestions? Recommendations?

***

I've been a bad blogger---I spend too much time on the net, though! I'm trying to remedy that. Still, I could update the blogs a bit more often, I suppose...

I'm excited about a few new publishing projects, which I cannot wait to ramble on about, once the time is right! I'm looking forward to reading submissions for the Marked issue of blossombones....... and......I do think I'll have some other news about some print goodies, as well :) Very exciting.

Call for submissions!

We are now open to submissions for the summer 2009 blossombones. Send your poetry, short fiction & creative non-fiction to the appropriate editor by April 30th to be considered for our newest themed issue!

***

Call For Submissions: The "Marked" Issue

We'd like writers to be creative in their interpretation of the theme. However, to get you started consider the following: scars, tattoos, brand names, labels, and the various symbols women wear on their bodies to both create and deconstruct their identities. We are accepting submissions from February 1st, 2009 through April 30, 2009.

More details are available here.

A few February updates...

First of all, we are live and in bloom!



blossombones : winter 2009
















I am so thrilled with this issue...I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Also, I have a few new poems up at Ditch!

In other news, it appears I have a tendency to over-use the exclamation point. I shall have to develop an obsession with the ampersand instead...or perhaps the asterisk?

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

A number of new projects are in the works, so check back here or at the blossombones blog for details :)

Hello 2009!

I've been somewhat (but not completely) off the grid these days. Sometimes, I need a break from all the time I spend in front of the computer...So I've been reading books (but failing to update my Goodreads :( ) ...cooking, watching movies, taking walks in the snow...it's been nice, but now I feel terribly behind with blogs & etc.

I've had hacker problems, too, which exhausts me. Hopefully, things will stay fixed and secure from here on in!

***

The 2009 winter issue of blossombones is under construction, and should go live right around February 1st :) I'm also contemplating some possible print projects for blossombones, so stay tuned...

Selecting work for the winter issue was difficult, as I had to turn down more good stuff than ever before--much of it absolutely publishable--because I didn't want to overwhelm myself (or readers) with a too-hefty issue. I dislike writing rejections, almost as much as I dislike receiving them...But, it's unavoidable. Too many wonderful writers, not enough time and space :(

I do hope to see work of similar high quality in our next reading period, which begins in February. Submit!

***

In the meantime, I have a few new poems out and about:

The Mage (The Dirty Napkin, online)

Melpomene, On Raising Daughters (Goblin Fruit, online)

Inanna Plays Blackjack at the Stardust Casino (Mythic Delirium #19 , print)

***

I haven't been writing much these last couple of months, especially with all the holiday craziness. I'm hoping to get back to it, soon.