Summer was a busy, not-so-much writing time for many of our BLW members, as evidenced by the lack of posts on our blog. One member had a young granddaughter visit for several weeks, one member cuts, bales, and stacks hay every summer, one member helped move two children to new homes in different states, a few members own small businesses, several members have school-age kids out for the summer vacation, and for most of us, being outside while we have nice weather is when we make up for all those months of Wyoming winter.
Our fall here in northeastern Wyoming is extending beyond any I've seen in recent years. Even now, on November 5, we've had no snow to speak of, just a skiff one night, and then back to sunny, mostly warm weather. But while the nights are cold, and the wind is growing ever more so, I'm glad winter has been in no hurry to arrive.
Our BLW members got back in the writing saddle this fall, with a motel retreat for a few, some making a renewed commitment to personal blogs, more submissions being made, and all of us back to producing new work and editing through our files, with several new projects started, and one member learning she will be the cover story for a women's magazine next spring. Is that a WOW! or what? Triple WOW!!!, methinks.
November brings the annual Writer's Digest November Poem-a-Day (PAD) Chapbook Challenge, and a few BLW members are participating again this year. Poet and blogger Robert Lee Brewer posts a prompt each day, and then participants produce a poem based on the prompt. Or one prompted by the prompt. (Ha.) Individual interpretation of the prompt is encouraged, and sometimes a poet pushes the idea of the prompt way outside the lines, which makes reading the poems very interesting.
Poets can post their daily poems to the blog, or not, as they choose. I recognize many poets’ names from reading the blog last year; it is intriguing to see how the prompts work on the minds of other writers. I have chosen to post my poem drafts as one way to keep me accountable and writing, but also to see which poems prompt (!) someone to respond. Since the poems posted are mostly in the draft stage (though admittedly there are poems posted, by me and others, that read as pretty darn finished), they can still be used in contests and marketed for publication. From what I’ve read, most people in the industry do not consider work posted to a workshop-type blog as having been published. However, each writer must make that determination for him or her self.
During December, poets edit their work and create a 10-20 page chapbook of poems from the PAD challenge, which is then sent to Brewer as an email attachment by the January 5, 2011 deadline. He and his wife, poet Tammy Foster Brewer, will select one chapbook as the winner by February 2, Groundhog Day.
Last year, five BLW members participated in the daily writing, and three of us were able to work together in a couple of editing sessions, helping each other select poems to include in our chapbooks, then crafting and arranging those poems into a cohesive, readable whole. Much to my surprise and delight, my chapbook Wild Grace was selected by the Brewers as one of 21 finalists in the 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge. Nancy Posey won with her collection Let the Lady Speak; Posey is a participant again this year, too.
For those just reading about the chapbook challenge, it is not too late to join in. The link below will take you to the web pages containing all the information you need to begin “poeming” to a daily prompt.
As we move ever closer to winter, may your writing continue to spring forth, unfold, and flourish.
Jeanne Rogers
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/CategoryView,category,NovemberPADChapbookChallenge2010.aspx
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday, April 17, 2009
BLW News and Notes
The writers of Bearlodge have been busy—the news snippets below for late 2008\early 2009 are in a loose chronological order:
Last fall, long before we added this newsy blog to our BLW web site, Helen’s book, Eco-Friendly Families, was published by Alpha Books (a division of Penguin), ISBN-13: 978-1592577613. Her additional fantastic news: on November 19, 2008, Helen appeared on the Today Show (!!!) with Al Roker (and another reporter); video here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#27802999. The following is a Today show link to a front-page online article excerpted from Helen’s book. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27721336.
"Take Back Your Life", a piece on anorexia by Jackie Lindstrom, is included in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk High School: 101 stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens. ISBN-13: 978-1-935096-25-2. http://www.chickensoup.com/. The Chicken Soup books are distributed to the book trade by Simon & Schuster.
Last October, Bathsheba Monk, author with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, announced a short story contest via her web site http://www.bathshebamonk.blogspot.com/, complete with prize money and publication on her site for the winner. Amanda retrieved an answering machine message in February informing her that her story, “Tybee Island,” had won. Her winning entry (along with a gorgeous photo of Amanda) is front and center of the contest blog site, http://bathshebamonkssc.blogspot.com/, with links or posts on Monk’s other web pages.
On February 10, Kathy received this email from Writer’s Digest: Congratulations! Your piece has been selected as a finalist in our contest. You can see the full list here: http://writersdigest.com/article/redheart-blackheart-finalists. Kathy had entered a poem, “Moment,” in the WD Red Heart::Black Heart Valentine’s Day contest. Scroll partway down the page to see Kathy’s name listed with the Black Poems.
Dave Wagner’s first book, Powder River Odyssey, is now available for purchase! http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html Published by the Arthur H. Clark Company, an imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press, http://www.ahclark.com/, this book brings to life the ill-fated 1865 Powder River Expedition (the story is continued in his second book, Patrick Connor’s War, due for publication this fall). We remain saddened by Dave’s untimely death last November; he would have been so proud to see this result of the almost forty years he spent as a serious student of the military history of the West, and we would have been delighted to share this with him. Books available from Backpocket Books http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html.
Andi Hummel and Lanette Bousa have poems in the March 2009 issue of WREN (Wyoming Rural Electric News), a monthly publication with a circulation of over 40,000 readers.
Helen’s article on barrel racing, "Take 'er to the Line," is in the March-April 2009 edition of I. M. Cowgirl (International Magazine of Cowgirls), a classy, fairly new magazine celebrating “The Life of the Western Woman.” A short blurb on her article is the third snippet down on this page: http://www.imcowgirl.com/html/thisedition.html.
Connie received this email in early March: We wanted to let you know your poem entitled “Searching for Proteus” has made the "1st Cut" by our judges. Less than 15% make it this far. Overall winners will be announced March 15th. Franklin-Christoph. The maker of fine pens hosts a poetry contest every year. Another email was sent to all entrants on March 13: Earlier this week our university judges realized they had some 120 extra poems they had not yet judged for the contest. Rather than try to rush to make the March 15th date, I've asked them to extend the date to April 13th. Unfortunately, no one in BLW made the final cut.
Maureen will have an essay, “Harvesting Hope, One Tomato at a Time,” in The Ultimate Gardener: The Best Experts’ Advice for Cultivating a Magnificent Garden with Photos and Stories, a 248-page paperback by HCI, publisher of the Chicken Soup books. http://www.hcibooks.com/ ISBN-13: 9780757313523. The book is scheduled for an April publication.
My poem (Jeanne), "Lady of the Manor," has been accepted for publication in Plains Song Review, volume XI (Spring 2009), an annual journal from The Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/PSR/psr.shtml. A reception and reading will be held April 22 at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln. View the invitation here, with the journal cover photo and contributors’ names: http://www.unl.edu/plains/CGPS_images/publications/psr/PSR%2011%20invite%204-09.pdf.
My other news: The second printing of Standing Witness: Devils Tower National Monument, A History has arrived at the Tower. With revised text (no more 21-foot-bison-horn-span!), wider margins, corrected typos, and a properly-laminated cover, the new edition feels and reads much better than the first. I remain extremely thankful to Linda Tokarczyk, business manager of the Devils Tower Natural History Association, for her continued diligence to have a quality product. Books are available from the DTNHA bookshop http://www.nps.gov/archive/deto/bookshop.htm or from Backpocket Books http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html.
Pat has a chapbook, Grassland Genealogy, in the publication pipeline with Finishing Line Press, http://www.finishinglinepress.com/, with a due date of July 31, 2009.
Last fall, long before we added this newsy blog to our BLW web site, Helen’s book, Eco-Friendly Families, was published by Alpha Books (a division of Penguin), ISBN-13: 978-1592577613. Her additional fantastic news: on November 19, 2008, Helen appeared on the Today Show (!!!) with Al Roker (and another reporter); video here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#27802999. The following is a Today show link to a front-page online article excerpted from Helen’s book. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27721336.
"Take Back Your Life", a piece on anorexia by Jackie Lindstrom, is included in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk High School: 101 stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens. ISBN-13: 978-1-935096-25-2. http://www.chickensoup.com/. The Chicken Soup books are distributed to the book trade by Simon & Schuster.
Last October, Bathsheba Monk, author with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, announced a short story contest via her web site http://www.bathshebamonk.blogspot.com/, complete with prize money and publication on her site for the winner. Amanda retrieved an answering machine message in February informing her that her story, “Tybee Island,” had won. Her winning entry (along with a gorgeous photo of Amanda) is front and center of the contest blog site, http://bathshebamonkssc.blogspot.com/, with links or posts on Monk’s other web pages.
On February 10, Kathy received this email from Writer’s Digest: Congratulations! Your piece has been selected as a finalist in our contest. You can see the full list here: http://writersdigest.com/article/redheart-blackheart-finalists. Kathy had entered a poem, “Moment,” in the WD Red Heart::Black Heart Valentine’s Day contest. Scroll partway down the page to see Kathy’s name listed with the Black Poems.
Dave Wagner’s first book, Powder River Odyssey, is now available for purchase! http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html Published by the Arthur H. Clark Company, an imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press, http://www.ahclark.com/, this book brings to life the ill-fated 1865 Powder River Expedition (the story is continued in his second book, Patrick Connor’s War, due for publication this fall). We remain saddened by Dave’s untimely death last November; he would have been so proud to see this result of the almost forty years he spent as a serious student of the military history of the West, and we would have been delighted to share this with him. Books available from Backpocket Books http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html.
Andi Hummel and Lanette Bousa have poems in the March 2009 issue of WREN (Wyoming Rural Electric News), a monthly publication with a circulation of over 40,000 readers.
Helen’s article on barrel racing, "Take 'er to the Line," is in the March-April 2009 edition of I. M. Cowgirl (International Magazine of Cowgirls), a classy, fairly new magazine celebrating “The Life of the Western Woman.” A short blurb on her article is the third snippet down on this page: http://www.imcowgirl.com/html/thisedition.html.
Connie received this email in early March: We wanted to let you know your poem entitled “Searching for Proteus” has made the "1st Cut" by our judges. Less than 15% make it this far. Overall winners will be announced March 15th. Franklin-Christoph. The maker of fine pens hosts a poetry contest every year. Another email was sent to all entrants on March 13: Earlier this week our university judges realized they had some 120 extra poems they had not yet judged for the contest. Rather than try to rush to make the March 15th date, I've asked them to extend the date to April 13th. Unfortunately, no one in BLW made the final cut.
Maureen will have an essay, “Harvesting Hope, One Tomato at a Time,” in The Ultimate Gardener: The Best Experts’ Advice for Cultivating a Magnificent Garden with Photos and Stories, a 248-page paperback by HCI, publisher of the Chicken Soup books. http://www.hcibooks.com/ ISBN-13: 9780757313523. The book is scheduled for an April publication.
My poem (Jeanne), "Lady of the Manor," has been accepted for publication in Plains Song Review, volume XI (Spring 2009), an annual journal from The Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/PSR/psr.shtml. A reception and reading will be held April 22 at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln. View the invitation here, with the journal cover photo and contributors’ names: http://www.unl.edu/plains/CGPS_images/publications/psr/PSR%2011%20invite%204-09.pdf.
My other news: The second printing of Standing Witness: Devils Tower National Monument, A History has arrived at the Tower. With revised text (no more 21-foot-bison-horn-span!), wider margins, corrected typos, and a properly-laminated cover, the new edition feels and reads much better than the first. I remain extremely thankful to Linda Tokarczyk, business manager of the Devils Tower Natural History Association, for her continued diligence to have a quality product. Books are available from the DTNHA bookshop http://www.nps.gov/archive/deto/bookshop.htm or from Backpocket Books http://www.bearlodgewriters.com/bearbooks.html.
Pat has a chapbook, Grassland Genealogy, in the publication pipeline with Finishing Line Press, http://www.finishinglinepress.com/, with a due date of July 31, 2009.
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