Deadlines and dirt

There’s one week left before the deadline for Lyrical Iowa and some of the national poetry organizations submission deadline.  I’ve had a plan for getting my poetry together and edited and all shiny in more than enough time to get my submission sent in.  Have I sent it in yet?  Of course not.

I’ve barely looked at my poetry over the past couple weeks.  I’ve picked out some promising rough drafts, typed them up, and printed them out so I could have them in one place while I edit them.  They are even saved on my USB drive so I could edit them in word.  All I have managed to do so far, however, is realize I write about rural Iowa a lot.

How many poems can there be about fields in Iowa at dawn?  Several notebooks worth, that’s how many. 

On the plus side, I am still inspired by the landscape every morning. 

Every day there is something different to draw out my inner writer and start scribbling on notebook paper.  Some days it's the fall of light across the stubby fields.  Others, it's the distant scattered farm house lights that echo the stars above.  And that's just in winter.  Wait until spring gets here and everything starts growing.  It's amazing how the first blush of green plants poking up out of the black earth can change a landscape.  

For the rest of the week, I will sit in my little apartment and revisit those early mornings, polishing them to the jewels I know they are.

Write: Month in Review

Normally, I share a piece of fiction or poetry with you, but I decided to do something different today.  I'd like to share with you how my writing is going.  I tend to jot something down Wednesday morning and post it without much editing.  However, I do take my writing seriously, and will attempt to at least edit from here on out. :)

I have had two pieces published this month... well, one is a craft post.
1 - A fiction piece I wrote, titled, At the Crossroads, was included in the Neokoroi summer newsletter/publication He Epistole.  This is the second time I've sent something in and you can find a non-fiction piece in the spring edition.  I'm going to continue to submit to He Epistole as long as I can think of ideas.

2 - A craft tutorial I wrote as a guest post for Craft Leftovers was featured on the Craft site.  Yippee!  Now I just need to make more to sell at a friend's shop.

I've submitted a couple different things this month and last month, and I'm still waiting to hear back from them.  I've got another month to go.
1 - Lyrical Iowa.  This is the publication put out by the Iowa Poetry Association.  My submission was sort of a last minute thing, but I'm proud that I actually submitted something.

2 - Paper Crow.  More poetry went to this magazine, partly because I love the name.  The press that puts it out is called Elektrik Milk Bath Press.  Isn't that awesome?

3 - A Rustle of Dark Leaves Anthology.  I sent out a fiction piece to this at Misanthrope Press.  And I just realized they did a Pagan themed anthology that I missed.  Dang. 

And a thing or two I'm working on.

1 - The Scribing Ibis: An Anthology of Pagan Fiction.  I'm actually a little embarrassed and glad I looked at the guidelines again this morning.  Some how I forgot that the piece was supposed to be about Pagans or gods and whatnot.  Luckily I haven't sent in anything yet.

2 - Last but not least, I think I'm going to start pulling out my poetry and seeing if I have enough for a chapbook.  At the very least, I need to start editing some of it so I have a body of work to draw from the next time I find a good place to submit to.

What are you working on?