Let The New Year Begin!

It's sunny, the kids and Mick are up skiing, and I've got my dog at my feet while I catch up on some writing. I'm missing some good snow and family time, sure, but, trust me, I'll make it up in the upcoming Saturdays. Today, though, I needed to be a writer again -- because the last three weeks (maybe three months!) haven't been so much about writing.

Last year, one of my goals was to publish something every month. I'm happy to report that this went swimmingly.  For the first six months. As I wrote and revised and submitted like crazy ("I'll collect rejections like love letters!") I met that goal initially:

January: "Pedaling into a new way of life" was published in The Christian Science Monitor.
February: "A Story of Love and Teeth" was a finalist in a career change essay competition.
March: "Bar After Bar" was flash fiction accepted at Drunken Boat and published in August.
April: "Cop A Feel" was an essay accepted at Mom Egg and Underwired. I let Underwired publish it.
May: "Romancing the Poem" was a poem published at Chronology.
June: "Tree" was a short essay accepted at The Writer's Workshop Review and published in September.

But then summer and ScienceWorks and road trip and a Fall job teaching 9 credits at RCC hit and nothing got published. Nothing! I still submitted, but not so feverishly. Oh, and in September and October I participated in three 48-hour legs of a four-leg Flash Fiction writing contest at NYC Midnight -- productive and fun -- but nothing published from it. (Yet.)

Ultimately I met only half my goal.

But I'm okay with that! I'm excited about what I accomplished and learned.

So this year, I'm newly excited to take on an official challenge with other writers: the Write 1 Sub 1 for 2011 challenge. Similar to last year's goal, where I submitted like crazy, this year I promise to write something once a month and submit every month. Totally do-able.

I'll keep you posted on that.

As for other writing, teaching, parenting, etc., goals I'll keep writing them in my journal and pressing on.

Happy New Year to you. What's your goal?

Drunken Boat Issue 12 Goes LIVE

"DB12 has new and unpublished poems, prose, and hand-written drafts by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright; an intermedia/multimedia exploration of "Desire & Interaction," encompassing video, sound art, web art, video games, photography, and more; short short fiction on "Freedom & Belonging" by 22 exciting contemporary authors; and a tribute to 20th century dramatist Eugene O'Neill entitled Celtic Twilight, with essays by over two dozen Irish-American authors and artists. This issue also features 50 new poems, as well as fiction, non-fiction, photo essays, and readings."

Read my short short in this issue here.

Publishing Problem Solved

Underwired accepted my essay, "Cop A Feel!"

(That's their October 09 magazine cover to the left.)

It was accepted on the 13th, just two days before The Mom Egg needed a response from me regarding that essay - so I was able to decline with The Mom Egg, withdraw from Skirt, and give Underwired the go-ahead, all in good time and good conscience.

In an earlier post, I'd written that I liked The Mom Egg and its reputation (which is linked to Mamapalooza, an organization that empowers women and girls) and was excited my essay was accepted there - but The Mom Egg is not a paying market, like Skirt and Underwired. And not only do the other two pay, but they have snazzier presentation, for those of us who appreciate visual inspiration.

When The Mom Egg originally accepted, my friend Jennifer Margulis had suggested that if the other publications don't have a problem with multiple submissions (and they don't) then I could try emailing them and telling them my piece had been accepted elsewhere but I preferred their publication if they wanted my essay.

I did that with Underwired, which I felt strongest about, and got a sort of business-y response that said they just had their submission deadline a couple days earlier and wouldn't even read them all until the 18th, so I could withdraw my submission if I wanted.

I decided to let it lie.

I felt my essay was strong and didn't want to be annoying to them - so I made up my mind to just see what happened when they actually read it. I was going to wait until the last minute on the 15th and go with The Mom Egg if it came down to that. Needless to say, I was thrilled then when, on Saturday morning, the 13th!, Underwired emailed to let me know it had been accepted there.

Now I'm $100 richer, have another publication to check off my goal list for the year, have a little more publishing savvy, and am being published in a Kentucky market, which is exciting in light of my novel setting.

My essay will appear in the April issue of Underwired, which has the theme "Backside."

I'll post when it's out!

WRITING GOAL UPDATE: SCORE!

"Bar After Bar," a flash fiction piece I wrote a couple years ago for a Writer's Digest prompt (remember voting in their contest???) has been accepted! at a funky, edgy and experimental online literary journal called Drunken Boat. The ezine was named for the 100-line verse-poem written by Arthur Rimbaud in 1871.

The publication has up until recently been a yearly publication, but they're switching over to a twice-yearly publication. I'm not sure whether my story will run in the mid-summer or mid-winter issue this year, but I'm promised it will run within a year. Of course, I'll provide the link then.

I'm going to count this as my "March" acceptance goal.

And... no moola this time - just, um, prestige?

Published in the Christian Science Monitor!

Okay, I missed Month One of my goal to "have something published every month for 2010" - but just by one day!

Today the Christian Science Monitor's Home Forum published "That Bike," as "Pedaling into a new way of life," and I'm so excited. (They even published my photo.)

Maybe I'll count is as a "January" publication anyway - because I got the check in the mail today and it was dated January 28, 2010.

How much was the check for? Well, in the interest of keeping it real, I'll tell you: 75 smacks. Writers DO NOT grow rich quickly.

But we grow. And that's what I'm planning to keep doing.

I'll let you know what I drum up for February.

'That Bike' To Air!

My 2-minute Perspectives commentary, "That Bike," will air on the Bay Area's NPR station, KQED (88.5 FM), the following dates and times:

Monday, April 2nd at 6:07 a.m., 7:37 a.m., and 11:33 p.m.
Saturday, April 7th at 7:37 a.m.

Listen to it live
*in the Bay Area on your radio at 88.5 FM, or
*at KQED.org by clicking on the yellow "Listen Live" icon and then selecting a "stream" (I usually choose RealPlayer but your computer might be set up to use another).

Listen to it at KQED.org on the Perspectives Archives (or search for Perspectives, click on the Perspectives A-Z home link and eventually you'll see info on the archives). "That Bike" will be available this way after it has aired at the 7:37 a.m. time.

1) I recorded "That Bike" at the KQED studio yesterday. Very cool -- to sit in a sound room working with the engineer, to read the essay the way I wanted it to be heard and in exactly 2 minutes. Fortunately, I was more excited than nervous. Don't know when it will air yet.

2) Mick took his 3 finals! Sounds like they were progressively challenging throughout the day, but he's confident (hopeful?) he passed. He got up this morning for 7 a.m. Paint Ball with some classmates.

3) Last night Mick was supposed to go out for dinner after his final final (that's fun to write) with friends in the city, but our van broke down while I was taking Aubs to a birthday party! I had to pull over into a driveway on a hill in Mill Valley. So... after I managed rides and care for each of the kids (Aubs to her party, Dane a ride home from school with a neighbor), I sat with the van for an hour while waiting for the tow truck. Mick thought it would be nice to skip the dinner and come home. I actually appreciated that -- even though he took a 2-hour nap and then borrowed a car to gear up for paint ball!

4) Mick picked up the van from the shop after Paint Ball this morning. There was some minor malfunctioning going on with the engine oil light/buzzer the past week; as a result, we'd each added (unbeknownst to the other) extra oil, which caused huge clouds of smoke and minor shut down. The mechanic has disconnected the light/buzzer (a common problem in Vanagons w/ 200k miles on them) and told us just to rely on the dipstick. We're good at that (when a buzzer isn't freaking us out) so that shouldn't be a problem.

5) We're getting excited for Jan & Mike to arrive on Monday. Mike'll be here for 9 days, Jan for 3 weeks. (Yes, in case you're wondering, I'm THRILLED that my mother-in-law will be in our home that long -- she's a treat to have around and we usually know how to give each other space as needed.)

6) Blogger's ticking me off and I can't download any pix. Will have to report that. I have friends who are really chapped about the blogger glitches and are giving up the ghost with their blogs. I'm going to keep plugging away. But if you have problems, email me or blogger and we'll let 'em have it!

WRITING NEWS


I get to read my essay, "That Bike,"* for KQED, THE San Francisco NPR affiiliate, during their local 2-minute "Perspectives" segment!

It airs 3 or 4 times on the day it runs.

Google "KQED perspectives" and click on their audio archives for samples, or on submissions to get a better idea of what Perspectives is -- sorry, Blogger doesn't let me give you a quicker link from my Mac.

*On an earlier blog I called the essay "About A Bike."
---

Here's what I emailed the editor, Mark Trautwein, this morning with my tightened up essay attached:
Hi Mark,

I'm a Writing Mama [he knows of our writing group, which is a bonus] sending along "That Bike," a possible essay for Perspectives. It's about a boy's stolen bike and the legacy it left.

Thanks for your consideration,

Anjie Reynolds
Marin City, CA

---

Here's what I got back an hour later:

Hello Anjie

Thanks very much for sharing this with me. It's a very sweet and touching piece; it would make a terrific Perspective.

I have some problems with the top of the piece to discuss, and I'll need to have you do a timed read over the phone. So please give me a call -- 415-...-..... You'll need to get hold of me either today or next Tuesday because I'll be leaving town for a couple of weeks after that. If neither day works for you, let me know and we'll work something out.

Thanks.

Mark Trautwein
Editor, Perspectives

---

Here's what I wrote back (immediately!):
Hi Mark,

I'm so glad you like the piece and I look forward to discussing it with you.

You can reach me .... I'm available today and Tuesday, so somehow we should be able to talk.

Thanks so much for your time,
Anjie

[Yeah, you didn't really need to read that email, but I couldn't help myself -- I don't want to leave any part of the process out!]

---

Our phone conversation was really fun. (By the way, he has one of those deep, rich, typical radio voices, which threw me for a loop -- I guess since I'd never heard him on the station, I figured maybe he didn't make the cut and was mousy or lispy!)

His editing suggestions at the beginning of the piece had to do with making sure listeners could immediately a) place the piece geographically, and b) place Dane's age and the time frame for the experience. That was taken care of with a couple quick line edits.

When I read it to him on the phone it was exactly 2 minutes, so he said I should come to the studio with a couple phrases I could cut if need be.

Other than that, he just had positive feedback. He said he was just telling a group last night that if writers could tell stories well, they'd be on their way to having a good Perspectives piece. He said my essay told a simple story very well and made it very meaningful -- that I did just what he was trying to tell them to do. *sigh*

I have an appointment to record the essay at the KQED studio in downtown SF next Wednesday morning. He then emailed me his edited version of the essay (which I fully approve of -- how cool to have it edited FOR me!) so I'll have that in tow. He said they'll provide parking in their garage, unless I bike :)

I'm not sure when it will air, but I will definitely post it as soon as I know. It should be sometime within the next couple of weeks, and you'll be able to listen to it here in SF or via the website.

---

Oh, yeah, this isn't an Oscar's speech or anything, but for the sake of documenting the process, I should mention that Karen (Url) and Mick each saw about 35 drafts of this essay and heard several hours worth of (pathetic!) talk. I also emailed a few fellow Writing Mamas to get tips on how to pitch my essay. I'm figuring out that more will happen if I just ask questions (of people I think can help) and listen to feedback.