An essay about the chapbook challenge mentioned in the previous blog post just went up on the home page of our BLW web site. Four of the five BLW members participating in the challenge submitted a chapbook by the January deadline. A few weeks later, Robert Lee Brewer (writer of the Writer's Digest Poetic Asides blog at http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/) selected 21 finalists out of over 150 entries. It was a very sweet surprise to find my name on the list for my submission Wild Grace.
Nancy Posey was declared winner of the chapbook challenge on February 2, and Robert selected three of Nancy's poems to include in his blog entry of the announcement. He also had four names on an "honorable mention" sort of list--alas, I didn't make that cut.
Taking on this challenge and seeing it through to the end was a rewarding endeavor, giving each of us thirty new poems to edit and craft into finished works. The process of daily writing and posting, sifting and editing for a chapbook, and making a submission deadline, all during a busy time of the year, was a wonderful affirmation of our "writerly" selves.
Aspiration, acknowledgement, affirmation--quite enough for a good start to the new year.
Congratulations to everyone who made a contribution and made the deadline. We all know what an acomplishment that is in itself!
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