Tinkering with many things ...

     Hard to decide which is more distasteful ~ having work rejected or having work I have completed killed. I am certain the hardest to swallow of all is having my work maimed upon being published. Frustrating is the kindest way I can describe how that feels, but I would prefer to pepper that with some profanity. Having been tied up with those scenarios over the last couple of weeks (though I remain thankful for the assignments), I haven't gotten many submissions out lately. With one noteworthy exception. I submitted to the New York Times for the first time! Something for the Modern Love column they run on Sundays. It is extremely competitive, a few of them have resulted in movie and book deals, but I had a little something I thought was a good fit so I sent it in.
     Have also started working with a new publisher about one of my children's books. It is all very exciting but still in the planning stages.
     Here is a link to the latest installment of my radio show, about my hometown's connection to the last selection for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Literature in fiction, followed by a few cartoons for writers.

http://seacoastjournal.podomatic.com/entry/2010-12-17T12_39_03-08_00

http://htmlgiant.com/behind-the-scenes/the-writer-at-work/#more-52128

A Matter of Style?

No Dear T. ~ just this:

"Thank you so much for sending your work to Crab Creek Review. We received over 2,000 poems for our Ekphrastic Portfolio and chose less than 1% of these poems. The number of submissions exceeded our wildest expectations. Please know that we read your work with great care. As writers ourselves, we know the considerable undertaking it is to send a submission out into the world. We are sorry that we can't take all the strong work we read and wish you great success in placing your work elsewhere."
     Actually got two of those emails as I had submitted two poems. Once you get used to them they are not so bad. I take them as confirmation that I am getting my work out there and at least some of the time, it is getting some consideration. Hopefully the rejection was more a matter of style than substance. Over the last week I did get a couple things out, including one short story that is locally based historical fiction that another author agreed to read for me as I am concerned with historical and geographical accuracy and he is a subject matter expert. I also signed on to a new mini-gig that I am very excited about and have put a few hours into this week. I'll explain in detail when I formally announce it in an upcoming post. Fell behind in most of my work really, and have a lot of catching up to do. My kids have been extra needy the last week, especially the oldest who I am preparing to send off to college. That takes a lot of parental energy when the kid is a foot-dragger. And I just don't function well during heat waves. Yesterday afternoon I took most of the day off and started a new book that I chose just for pleasure. It really did feel like guilty pleasure to do that. And it really was an indulgence since most of the books I have been reading for the last year have been assigned to me in one way or another. A few nights ago I went to a reading given by Paul Harding who just won the Pulitzer for his first novel Tinkers. I wasn't a big fan of the book, and felt like I was the only one who wasn't. It even made me question my literary legitimacy. I really liked the guy, enjoyed his reading, and recognized the originality of the work, It just didn't capture my attention. The truth is I like stories more like the one I'm into now; The Virgin Blue. I'm a big Tracy Chevalier fan. It's just a matter of style I guess, but I do wonder what it says about me as a writer. And in closing, this silly test I took yesterday on FaceBook said my style is that of Dan Brown whose work I have not studied at all.

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!