May is Here to Stay

It's May and the checkered flags are everywhere--no, seriously. It's Indiana. They are EVERYWHERE. So I guess that means I need to bring something to the finish line by the end of the month.

A new/old project is the perfect thing. I'm going to dig through the archives and find the most promising unfinished work and get it all polished up like a gleaming trophy. More about what I chose and just how far that finish line will be next week.

For me and quite a lot of others out there, I think that April was a huge success. Whether you were participating in National Poetry Month (my contribution can be found on my Patreon page) or whether you were successful in promotion with the Twitter Writing Community's newly minted #IndieApril campaign, I think we can agree we all did something to better a writer's life last month.

Speaking of the found poetry I posted last month, I have an idea to turn it into something more than just boring words on paper. I haven't worked it all out yet, but once I do, I'll let everyone know what it's going to morph into. 

In other writing news, I'm finding it harder to build a list of potential journals to submit to. It's not that there aren't plenty out there, it's just that they are all starting to charge reading fees, regardless of whether they are a paying publication. I always add to my list at the end of the month, and when I tackled this task last week, there was nothing to add. Zero. Everything had a $3 reading fee, which must be what it takes to cover the cost of Submittable on the publication end. I'm not worried--I have plenty still on my list, but if this is going to change, writers need to stop paying reading fees for exposure. Exposure doesn't pay the bills. If you pay in exposure, that's fine, but don't charge for it.

What are your writing goals for the month? What do you plan on reading?

Taking Stock

It's wild to think about, but 2018 is nearing the halfway point. I had some writing goals to complete before the end of the year, so I'm spending a few moments to take stock to see where I am on that.

My main goal was to publish four works--it didn't matter what form it took, I just wanted to get four pieces out there. So far this year there has been a novella, a poetry collection, and a story on the Episode app. The first one is getting pulled soon, and those last two are not completed, but since the finished parts are live and available to the public, it still counts towards my goal. I just have to find one more piece to finish, submit, and find success with.

Speaking of submissions--all of those submissions I was waiting to hear back on in January all died in April. Every last one of them, including the rhyming poetry I submitted to a contest specifically for rhyming poetry in which all of the winners and finalists were not rhyming poems. That's what I get for not realizing they lumped rhyming in with "traditional" so top prizes went to those instead. My poor rhyming poem... it's been through it all, and still no one takes it seriously.

Anyway, the two submissions I was waiting to hear back from when I last wrote about it were also rejections, but specifically rejections because they had each received a record number of submissions for that submission period. Both publications pointed to being featured in Submittable's weekly emails--and of course that's where I was getting my submission leads, so apparently it's completely counterintuitive to use that weekly email. Who knew?

My next step will be getting back to finding a home for my poetry chapbook. I don't think I'll be aiming for contests anymore because they simply don't work out (and can get pricey with entry fees). I'll be targeting micro-presses instead, which may give me a better chance at getting that fourth publication before the end of the year.