The submissions go out; the rejections come in…THREE!!! In one day! :( However, I got an update on an anthology acceptance on my Marvin Gaye/Tammy Terrell poem AND an acceptance from The Hooghly Review for a brand-new poem. Very excited about this one. Thank you, Sanjeev Sethi!

There’s not too much better than getting an acceptance…except a fantastic acceptance by my brilliant writer daughter Jaimie Wilson. She just had a speculative short story acceptance (PAID!!) by a magazine at the very top of her wishlist, Fiyah. On to glory!

Hey, I see my name!

Coming soon!

The sky is falling!!! Now I truly understand the Chicken Little story. Our new next-door neighbors have started keeping chickens (10 feet away) and they sound craaaazy. Pockpockpock like a major panic attack. Is there valium for hens? Poor things.

The lit mag editors were clearing their desks this morning. I got three rejections in a 90-minute span. Didn’t feel too bad, though, as all three were tiered rejections. AAAAANNNDDD….a nice acceptance from Magazine1. The poetry gods are smiling on me today.

The poetry gods are still smiling on me. This morning I got an acceptance from Paddler Press (third try!). Also, kindest possible note from SoFloPoJo where I published a poem last year (“Forgetting Doesn’t Work the Way You Fucking Want It To”). Thank you all!

I once broke up with a guy in late September. He told me, “It’s going to be October soon &you’ll see me happier than you’ve ever seen me.” Gee, thanks, dude. But me too.

The best poem I have ever written (IMO) is about a real “rapture” event in 1889. It’s set in Georgia’s Rice Kingdom with a scam artist selling “wings” to poor freedmen. Unfortunately, it will probably never be published because it is 6 pages long. What was I thinking?

A huge thank you to Francesca Leader for turning me on to Blood+Honey !!! Just received an acceptance from them for two poems, “I Contemplate a Phone Call to Marcel Marceau” and “Queen of Cowhouse Island.” Very excited! Yes, my friends, I once interviewed Marceau on the phone.

Last year I told my husband that I could tell what time it was by the position of the stars near the steeple of the church across the way. He was skeptical, which drove me to write a poem, “Stars, Here and Here Alone.” Now accepted by The Closed Eye Open. Yay me!

In the last three months I have sent 113 poetry subs through Submittable. 58 rejections, 53 still on the vine,and sadly only two acceptances so far. I have been having far more success with Duosuma and other avenues. Anybody else? Same or different?

Throughout my long history, my submissions have sometimes been the kiss of death. Lit Mag Elegy They love the poem the others junked, but alas, the magazine’s defunct.

Rejections have made me grow to hate the word “unfortunately.”Would you sign a petition to have it stricken from the dictionary?

Once again, I have to thank Francesca Leader Francesca Leader for recommending great places to sub, in this case Villain Era Lit. Really happy to have 2 poems accepted, Salome Aging & The Talk. The Talk is a 3-pg poem & God knows that’s hard to find a home for. TY Charles Jensen!

Today I wrote a poem about seeing Aretha at the House of Blues. It’s the third poem I have written about Aretha this year. Hmm. I also have a poem about Tammi Terrell that will be in an anthology about Motown. Last year a jazz poem in Sho Poetry Journal. More to come, I hope.

Pranks seem to be increasingly popular, but let me warn the entire world, you do NOT want to prank ME. And I have always been this way. About 1953 (age 3) my parents took me to Knott’s Berry Farm where “train robbers” pulled guns on the passengers. I bit a robber on the leg. HARD

Heyo! Lots of rejections recently, but about half were tiered, asking for more work. Finally today, an acceptance from Sheepshead for a Petrarchan sonnet of all things. (Yes, I like form every now and then, tho like many folks I've written exactly ONE pantoum, one ghazal, etc).

Ugly confession. I used to write sonnets for $5 a pop. (Decent money in 1964.) Our English teacher required all seniors to write one. I wrote so many for my jock friends (mediocre ones for B students, bad ones for C students). Never got caught. Now I write them for free, sigh.

So important!