Then there were two

If anyone asks, I can now say my creative writing hasn't just been published once.

The latest issue of Halfway Down the Stairs came out and "the nurse hung up the phone; restraints" is in it. HDTS is a nice online journal and every issue has a particular theme. This one is on "Farewell" and they took my poem.

I wrote it a while back.

They have first electronic rights, so here is a link to the poem, on their site:

http://www.halfwaydownthestairs.net/index.php?action=view&id=329

A better kind of rejection.

This year of long distance is just about as unpleasant as I expected it would be. The less said the better, but it's almost half over.

In terms of writing, things are limping along. The novel is going slowly, but going. Every time I write a little more, the story changes a bit, which keeps me interested, and occasionally surprised. A Good Thing.

Poems are less frequent, but probably a little better. Several of them, and the short story are off and being read.

I got a form rejection letter from one journal, and literally the next day learned that it had shuttered. I only hope that it wasn't the sheer mediocrity of my work that made the editors decide to chuck and go get an MBA or whatever.

I also sent two poems in to a different journal. Not my absolute best work, but fitting with the theme of an upcoming issue. I got a gentle rejection, which is progress. Up next, half-hearted rejections.

In the mean time, I am also getting back into the swing of reading.

Rejection

There's been a long silence here, and there has been in most of my writing life. I still write, and still write stuff I like a lot. But it's been a really dry stretch in terms of convincing other people to like it.

Since my poem in Relief, I have been rejected by the Antigonish Review, Off the Coast, Crazyhorse, and (this time) Relief.

Closure is always nice. Off the Coast sent me a nice brief note, saying I was recommended but didn't make the cut. Antigonish Review's rejection consisted of "oh, yeah, well, you're not here in our list of poems we're publishing so that probably means the poetry editor decided against you." Gee, thanks.

Didn't I get married just to avoid this kind of thing?