1 1 st-place flash contest win that led to.1 list essay for an anthology called Art in the Time of Covid-19.1 unclear, experimental, hybrid CNF/poem with erasures and line breaks.1 prose poem-all new territory and terrifying.
1 essay (after 35 rejections over the past five years and countless revisions).I do not shy away from playing with form, from learning other genres, or from entering contests. I am no longer limited to writing creative nonfiction. Because in 2020, a year like none other in my 55-year-old lifetime, I’ve achieved so much more than I ever imagined possible. I can wallow in my losses, focus on the negatives, count and recount the rejections-or I can change my perspective and reframe my narrative. This past year, I’ve received 56 no thank yous and 4 yesses, we love your work and would like to publish it.īut today, I had an epiphany similar to one in my memoir-in-progress. The grey DECLINED rectangles far outweigh the green ACCEPTED ones, with a smattering of black WITHDRAWN rectangles, along with a mix of two cool blues. For the past few years, my literary journal submissions have become more regular, my Submittable account more colorful.