writerly tidbits
for June 2023
A fond farewell to my quarterly TinyLetter as I just switched to Substack! A post I wrote for
at Lit Mag News (in a weekly column offering perspectives on lit mag publishing) is scheduled to appear soon, so the timing was right. Thanks for your patience as I find my way within a new format, sharing info on workshops, prompts, sub ops, resources & recs, plus other newsy tidbits from my writerly world.LGBTQ+ affinity group writing session ~ tomorrow!
Connect with fellow LGBTQ+ writers who understand the importance of representation and the transformative power of storytelling. We'll use the AWA Method,** creating an inclusive space where each unique writing voice is celebrated.
Saturday, June 3, 10 am – 12 pm Pacific Time / Donation: $10, $15, $20
Reserve Your Space HERE!
In May I joined 70 workshop leaders who volunteered to facilitate sessions for Write Around the World, an annual international fundraiser to support the social justice programs offered by Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA). I led a 2-hour session called Discovering Your Inner Child, using the AWA Method to access the wonder, creativity, and imagination of the child within. Here’s what a participant responded:
“Thank you so much for hosting that powerful and supportive writing session. Yours was outstanding… you get 100 stars out of 100 stars!”
**Everyone’s writing, including the group leader’s, is treated equally as story or poetic expression, with confidentiality protected. Timed writing sessions include prompts & immediate, positive feedback to support each writer. If writers choose to read their work aloud, participants focus on what is strong and memorable in their responses.
SAMPLE PROMPT:
Write about anything that brings you (& the child within) joy or contentment.
If you’d like, make a list, starting with “I love…”
Try writing with your non-dominant hand. (It’s laborious & requires more patience!) What did you discover about yourself or your writing?
NEXT UP: I plan to offer another (or more) 8-week workshop series for women & nonbinary writers, beginning in mid-September. Reach out if you’re interested. More info in mid-June!
Scroll down to take my poll (do you prefer morning or afternoon?) for upcoming workshops.
duck, duck, goose!
Sometimes the anticipation following lit submissions feels like a game of duck, duck, goose. You’re passed up (not you, not you, not you!) until maybe, finally chosen (you!). Everyone is “grateful for the opportunity to read your work,” but selecting it for publication is another story. One small yet not insignificant win: the editors at Defuncted: A Collection of Abandoned Things (re)homed my flash lyric essay “Church Street Beat,” previously published at the now-defunct Toho Journal.
Sadly, I'm on a rejection roll. In addition not making the finalist list for The de Groot Foundation Courage to Write grant in March, I've received 13 more no’s in the past two months! Some big (grants, fellowships, book), some small (flash lit). Fortunately, among the “it’s not a good fit for us at this time” & “we're going to have to pass,” & “unfortunately it does not meet our current needs” were notes of encouragement.
Although Sonora Review did not select my piece as a finalist for their spring contest, they said “it did receive positive responses from many of our readers.” Additionally, Lit Cleveland/Gordon Square Review responded: “We found much to admire… Please note that we did take special notice of your submission, so we'd love to read more of your work in the future.” Sometimes there just isn’t enough room to accept them all.
I still have 2 fellowships, 5 lit subs, and 2 books still under consideration. Duck, duck!
Check this out:
I’m joining Bethany Jarmul’s 1-hr webinar From Submitting to Winning: Strategies for Submitting to Literary Magazines on Wednesday, June 7, 4pm Pacific Time.
manuscript status
By far my biggest accomplishment since my March newsletter was piecing together a book proposal (thanks to
): Overview, Audience, Comparative Titles, Advance Praise for my memoir-in-essays, Just Some Things We Can’t Talk About. So far I’ve submitted sample chaps to Barrelhouse Books, Univ. of Georgia CRUX series, and Mad Creek Books’ Machete nonfiction series (The Ohio State University Press).You may notice Barrelhouse on my Declined list, but at least I received a nice letter from acquisitions editor: “This is an exciting project, and I hope it finds an excellent home.” Dancyger is a role model for persistence; she received nearly 50 rejections from agents and small presses before her memoir, Negative Space, was selected as a Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards winner by .
My 100k-word manuscript is currently with a beta reader as I plug away at revisions, weaving in more words and cutting away the extraneous to reshape the narrative.
da salon is on
In mid-May I read at Da Salon, a local pop-up "literary arts incubator” hosted by a dynamic duo (friends since middle school), Shannon DeJong and Alia Beeton. Its mission: "to support artists, especially writers with a performance bent, locally, and to foster joy and inspiration after a long period of social crisis (looking at you, Covid-19)."
What an awesome audience for "Once Upon A Time There," a prose-poem as accumulation of not-so-micro aggressions I listed before Trump lost the sexual battery lawsuit against him. I included a preface to the piece, later revised as “Content Warning,” which I’d initially written in my own workshop in response to a prompt.
summer (or, some more) writing ops
Looking for someone to write with this summer? I’m going on a road trip around Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost (& least populated) island ~ sorry ~ so check out the events calendar at Amherst Writers.
Or sign up for Write Like a Hummingbird: the surprising practice of writing deeply on a small scale, with
. You’ll receive 125+ guided 15-minute writing sessions, each designed as a complete creative ritual, with prompts and a closing practice. Sessions are shared as on-demand videos with closed captions. (Sign up before June 15 to save $25) I receive no income for affiliate links, just good karma.Any interested women and nonbinary writers, don’t forget to take my poll below!