Patricia Frolander News!!

As you can tell by our lack of blog posts, BLW has been busy. This post will feature the news of Patricia Frolander and the journey she and her latest book, Married Into It, are taking--and what a trip they are having!

On November 7, 2011, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead appointed Pat as Wyoming's fifth Poet Laureate. She joins past poets Peggy Simson Curry, Charles L. Levendosky, Robert Roripaugh, and David Romtvedt in serving in the honorary position. According to Renny MacKay, communications director for the governor's office, Pat's appointment will last through May 31, 2013.

Upcoming events for Pat as Poet Laureate include writing and reading a poem for the 2011 Governor's Arts Awards dinner and awards ceremony February 24, 2012, and serving as a judge for the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud state competition March 5-6, 2012. (Poetry Out Loud is a national program in which ninth through twelfth graders are eligible to compete.)

Then, about a week ago, Pat received a letter from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (formerly the Cowboy Hall of Fame) which said this: Independent judges have named Married Into It as the "Poetry Book" of 2011.

The letter continues: "Since 1961, the Museum has hosted the Western Heritage Awards, which honors excellence in Western literature, television, film, and music. Each year, the principal creators or winning entries accept the Wrangler sculpture during special ceremonies at the Museum."

Pat will be traveling with Nancy Curtis, her publisher at High Plains Press, to the Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the award activities on April 20-21, including a black-tie gala with master of ceremonies Katharine Ross.

BLW is so very proud of Pat and her accomplishments. She is taking the Wyoming literary scene by storm, and deserves every minute she has in the spotlight.

Congratulations, Pat!

Local Authors to "Guest" at Sundance Book Signing

Enjoy conversation and refreshments with Crook County authors Patricia Frolander, of Sundance, and Renee Carrier, from Hulett, at an afternoon book signing to be hosted by the Bearlodge Writers from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21 at the Crook County Public Library in Sundance, Wyoming.

The event will feature Married Into It—Frolander’s latest collection of poetry about the truths of ranch life—and Straight and Level: A True Story of a Young Man’s Quest to Become a Flying Cadet in the U. S. Air Corps—an unfinished memoir by Carrier’s late father S. Paul Latiolais, Colonel, USAF which she recently completed with much insightful editing and a daughter’s love.

The books are priced at $12.95 each and will be available at the signing. Whether you’re making up a gift basket for a friend or planning for birthdays or Christmas, autographed copies will make delightful gifts for the readers on your list.       

Getting Back in the Writing Saddle

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

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories

Call for submissions: Mapping Me Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry, Photography and Artwork

20 June 2010

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women’s Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections – the invisible threads – that exist between women across the globe. Our starting point is to place the most basic question of identity, “Who am I?” within the complexities of culture and ethnicity. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We ask the writers and artists to tell stories, which negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society. The goal of this project is the sharing of such stories that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions whether or not culture is a divisive state between women.

Some Questions To Think About

So what does this mean for you? Well really, it is up to you. Some questions we have we been asking artists and writers to think about are:

1. Who are you? Are you a ‘Culture’ first or a ‘Woman’ first? What is your voice?

2. How do you negotiate the cultural and/or societal authorities that tell you to be thin, pretty, get married, have children, worship, obey/disobey, have a career, stay at home etc.

3. Do you have a burning story about an event, a lost love, heartbreak, arranged marriages, unarranged marriages, infertility, fertility, or even a bathroom cluttered with make up.

4. Do you want to express conflict? Family dynamics? Frustrations over rivalries, children, demands of home and work, silences, arguments, tension with extended
families. Do you have a story of revenge? Manipulation? Women are complex creatures and we are capable of great loving as well as great evil too. We are, of course, human.

5. Who do you see in the mirror each morning? How does your culture affect your body image? Does it? Do you fight against it? Do you buy into any stereotypes? Do you have a funny story to share. We are looking for humour too. This is not a grim book.

Categories

Please select a category and create a story, poem, creative non-fiction or artwork.

· Category 1. Stories of movement and motivation, restriction and escape.
· Category 2. Stories about food and nurturing.
· Category 3. Stories about, touch, love, sexuality or virginity.
· Category 4. Stories about self-image, judgments, perceptions and observation.
· Category 5. Stories about motherhood, family, marriage, fertility, birth.
· Category 6. Stories of laughter, fun, malice, viciousness.

Additional Guidelines

Please make sure your work conforms to the following guidelines:

· For round two, contributors’ literary works must be original and unpublished.
· You may submit as many works as you wish.

· Writer’s Word Count Guidelines
1. Short stories: no more than 1000 words
2. Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
3. Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.
4. Flash fiction – anything less than 500 words.
· Your work must be submitted as either an attachment in a rich text format (RTF) or a word document (doc). No PDF files or docx files, please! We simply cannot work with these file formats. Alternatively, you may paste your work in the body of the email. If your writing has a specific format, attach it as a file to the email.

Works can be submitted in your mother tongue. Please provide an English translation with your submission.
Please do not send us web links of your writing or artwork. We will not see them.

· Artwork Guidelines
· You may submit as many paintings, photographs or a mix of art and prose as possible. We accept JPG files (no JPF).
· Submit your work to the editors at mappingme@gmail.com
· Please provide a cover letter and include a short biography (no more than 50 words).
· Let us know under what categories you are submitting your works.
· Deadline is the 1st of September 2010.
· Our reading period is 1 to 3 months.

Payment

We regret that we are unable to provide payment to contributors. Our goal is to provide a copy of the book to contributors but this is subject to the publisher’s approval.

Any questions please contact us at
mappingme@gmail.com or visit us at www.mapping-me.blogspot.com

Mad Hatters' Review Contest

THE FIRST MHR KNOCK OUR HATS OFF CONTEST

Mad Hatters’ Review will consider submissions in FICTION or POETRY commencing on MARCH 1ST, 2010 (12 a.m. USA EST) and ending on June 30th (11:59 p.m.).

First prize winners in both genres will receive $250 (each) plus publication of their entries in Issue 12. The winning works of 5 runners-up in each genre will also be published in Issue 12.

All winning entries will be published in a print anthology called “Knock Our Hats Off: A Little Book of Curious Delights.” Each winner will receive a copy of this deluxe collector’s item.

The terms “fiction” and “poetry” may be interpreted broadly. Take a walk on the wild side through our pages. Take liberties. Governments are taking them away from us, so we’re giving them away free.

Our honorable judges:

Cris Mazza, Fiction
www.cris-mazza.com

Sheila E. Murphy, Poetry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Murphy


Our entry fee and modus operandi:
$12 per entry via PayPal to madhattersreview@gmail.com.
Poetry: 3 poems max per entry.
Fiction: 3000 words max per entry.
By all means, enter as many times as you wish.

All submissions must be sent to madhattersrev@yahoo.com with the following information in the subject line:

• Your Name
• Genre (Fiction or Poetry)
• Title/s of submission
• Word Count

Submitted works should be copied and pasted into the exquisite corpus of your email AND attached as an RTF Doc. If you’re submitting visual poetry or visual fiction, attach your entries as jpeg/s or gif/s. If you absolutely MUST, submit these offerings in PDF format.

Pages of texts should be titled, but your name should only appear on the subject line of your email, as submissions will be read blind. We’ll ask for your bio and optional pic if you’re a first place winner or runner-up.

Simultaneous submissions are expected. Just tell us immediately if some other lucky editor has grabbed your gem/s. But please realize that we won’t refund entry fees.

Winning entries will be announced by September 15th. Please address queries to madhattersrev@yahoo.com (subject line: QUERY).

Writer's Digest November PAD Chapbook Challenge results

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.

BLW members participating in the Writer's Digest November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Bearlodge Writers members Pat Frolander, Maureen Blake, Amanda Fall, and I are participating in the Writer's Digest November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge. Each day in November, Robert Lee Brewer, poet blogger for Writer's Digest, is giving a prompt, and those of us taking the challenge then write a poem tied to the prompt.

Participants can post their work, or not; all four of us have been posting our daily poems. The poems are to be written after receiving the prompt, not previously written work.

The chapbook challenge comes into play after the November prompts have concluded. All participants will have the month of December to revise and organize their November poems into manuscripts of 10-20 pages, emailing the manuscript to Brewer by midnight January 5, 2010. He and his wife, poet Tammy Foster Brewer, will announce a winner on Groundhog Day.

Check out our poems, and those of many other poets, at http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/
(after linking through to the comments page, use your browser's "find on this page" function to locate our names easier; most days have had well over 100 poems posted in the comments)

We are enjoying the process, though it is a bit scary to post poems that have had little (if any) editing. And very interesting to see how the prompt materializes in the poem from each writer.

For me, this is a personal challenge, too, writing on demand to a particular idea--trying to craft a poem on the fly, and create something worthwhile.

Wish us luck! Jeanne Rogers

Open House\Book Signing for Pat Frolander

All are invited to an open house and book signing honoring award-winning Sundance poet Patricia Frolander on Monday, October 26 at the Community Room of the Crook County Library in Sundance, Wyoming. The event, which will run from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m., is hosted by Bearlodge Writers and friends of the poet, and will debut Frolander's new chapbook, Grassland Genealogy (Finishing Line Press, July, 2009).

Frolander, who promises to entertain those attending the event with poetry about raising children, weathering ranch life, and life in general, is celebrating more than a new book. She was recently notified that her poem, "Father, when You call," was named the 2009 winner of the 17th Annual National Senior Poets Laureate Competition. Sponsored by Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation, the competition draws entries from all over the United States. Picked as best from more than 700 entries for this year, "Father, when You call" brings its author both prestigious recognition and a cash award.

Frolander has also recently been notified that U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser (2004-2006) selected her poem, "Denial," for use in his weekly column, American Life in Poetry. Kooser's column is supported by the Poetry Foundation and Frolander's piece will be used in the June, 2010 publication.

This poet, who admits to digging deep when she pens her lines, is definitely on a roll. Determined to keep the momentum going, she's submitting more—-already has a new manuscript making the rounds—-and is also on the schedule for a reading and workshop (with fellow Sundance poet Jeanne Rogers) at the Campbell County Library in Gillette, and other upcoming events. Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies, newspapers, and magazines, and she often speaks to the joys and problems of Wyoming ranch life when she shares her lines at gatherings throughout the region. One recent event was an old-fashioned parlor reading in Glendo, Wyoming, with fellow poets Katie Smith and Jeanne Rogers.

Grassland Genealogy will be available for purchase at the signing. You may also pick up a copy from the author or from your favorite local bookstore, or order it from Backpocket Books, 364 Farrall Road, Sundance, WY 82729 (307-283-2665) for $14 plus shipping and handling. It is also available from the publisher, Finishing Line Press, at http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm.

Please join us October 26, 2009, at the Crook County Library meeting room from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to celebrate poet Patricia Frolander and her new chapbook, Grassland Genealogy. (We'll be serving some fabulous refreshments, too!)

Wyoming State Historical Society Book Awards

Standing Witness: Devils Tower National Monument, A History (National Park Service) was in the very good company of works by fellow Wyoming Writers, Inc. members at the awards given at the Wyoming State Historical Society annual meeting in September.

My book won an honorable mention in the Publication-Books-Nonfiction category, along with Marcia Meredith Hensley's Staking Her Claim: Women Homesteading the West (High Plains Press) and Diana Allen Kouris for Riding the Edge of an Era: Growing up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail (High Plains Press). Top honor for nonfiction went to Nancy Heyl Ruskowsky for Two Dot Ranch: A Biography of Place (Pronghorn Press).

Another WWInc member, Mackie d'Arge, received the top award for fiction with her novel, Lifting the Sky (Bloomsbury USA Children's Books).

Congratulations, all!

Jeanne

Cancellation of open house-book signing for Pat Frolander

The open house-book signing event scheduled for tonight, Monday, September 21, 2009, from 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. at the Crook County library meeting room has been cancelled. Pat is very, very ill.

We will reschedule for a Monday in October, but no date has been selected yet.

Sponsored by the Bearlodge Writers, the event will be a celebration of the publication of Pat's first chapbook, Grassland Genealogy. Please check back for further information.

Parenting Anthology Call For Submissions

Parenthood

City Works Press seeks poetry, fiction, prose and art on motherhood and/or fatherhood for our upcoming anthology. Give us your moments of sublime joy as well your dark nights of the soul. Talk about birth, nursing, relationships, adoption, same-sex parenting, high tech conception loss, etc. Tell us what it means NOT to have children. Limit 2,500 words for fiction/prose or 4 poems. Please attach a short bio.

DEADLINE: January 4, 2010

Send to:
City Works Press
ATTN: Mamas and Papas
San Diego City College
1313 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92101

National award for Pat Frolander

Pat Frolander is the 2009 winner of the 17th Annual National Senior Poets Laureate Competition sponsored by Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation headquartered in Monterey, California. Her award-winning poem, "Father, when You call"--selected from over 700 entries--also garnered a cash award.

Congratulations, Pat!!

Patricia Frolander's Grasslands Genealogy

Now Available:

Patricia Frolander's Grasslands Genealogy

The distance between Bearlodge poet Patricia Frolander's Boston, Massachusetts childhood experiences and her life as a Wyoming ranch wife must be counted in more than miles. It is a cultural revolution of sorts, a self-development that is more than simply "a growing up." It is the story of a woman not afraid to dig deep . . . a woman willing to take a hard look at the grassland she loves . . . a woman who will readily admit she is not in absolute control of her life.

In her newly-published Grassland Genealogy (Finishing Line Press, July, 2009), Frolander shares forty years of ranching, raising children, and poetry. Her lines sing "a heart-deep melody." They capture the essence of the land and its people, revel in the blessings of close friends and closer family, and reflect upon hardships caused by unpredictable weather, markets, and livestock.

Frolander's authenticity evokes laughter . . . and tears. With it she plays the reader's life experiences by sharing hers. She coaxes, nurtures, calls us out past that safe zone we build around our memories; she makes us see that everything, including life's smallest mishaps, must be engaged. Robert Roripaugh, Wyoming Poet Laureate 1995-2002, sums up Frolander's poetry when he says it will "develop a reader's appreciation for her understanding of the subtle strands of heart and mind that tie humans and animals to each other and the grasslands they share."

Grassland Genealogy, a paperback, is Pat Frolander's first book. It is available for $14.00 plus shipping and handling from Backpocket Books (click on "Books" on this website) or from your favorite bookstore. You may also purchase a copy from the publisher, Finishing Line Press, P. O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324, or check their website,
http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm for ordering information.

Microfiction Call for Submissions

Cinnamon Press

Call for submissions for new anthology of microfiction/prose poetry

We are looking for pieces of microfiction, sometimes called short short fiction or flash fiction, and pieces of prose poetry that tell a story in under 600 words. There is no minimum word limit.

Microfiction and prose poetry are very short prose pieces that harness a poetic world but still contain a story with a beginning, middle and end, and imply a lot more than their small structure can contain. They are flashes of something – an epiphany, perhaps – that often subvert expectation and work in a minimal structure. Some argue that there is a definitive boundary between prose poetry and microfiction, but you may submit either for this publication.

You may submit as many pieces as you wish, and those chosen will appear in a new Cinnamon microfiction and prose anthology to be published in late 2010, co-edited by Holly Howitt and Jan Fortune-Wood.

Submission Guidelines

Please read these carefully. Due to the large volume of submissions expected we will only be able to process those submissions that conform to the guidelines.

• The deadline for submissions is: 15th August 2009
• Each piece must be no longer than 600 words. There is no minimum length.
• Pieces can be on any subject and you may send several pieces, but please submit them as a single word attachment using a .doc or .rtf format
• Submit pieces to both - Holly Howitt and Jan Fortune-Wood
• with ‘microfiction anthology’ in the subject line.
• In the body of the email please type your name and location.
• Submissions without virus protection will not be opened and read so please ensure your virus protection is up to date.
• We hope to inform everyone who has sent a submission of which pieces will be included by late November 2009. Please ensure that you inform us if your email address changes after sending the submission.
• The decisions of the editors are final.
• All those whose work is selected will receive a copy of the anthology.

The Consequence Prize in Poetry

Consequence Magazine announces The Consequence Prize in Poetry

Volume I

The prize will be awarded in October, 2009 for the best poem addressing current war or armed conflict.

The winner will receive $100, have the selected poem published in both print and online editions of Consequence, be invited to read at the launch of Consequence Magazine's next print edition, and receive a three years subscription to the magazine.

All poems submitted will be considered for publication in both print and online editions.

Our Judge this year is poet and translator Kevin Bowen who will also present the award.

Submission Guidelines

• No entry fee is required.
• Entry deadline is September 1, 2009.
• All poems must be in English: no translations please.
• Submit up to three original and unpublished poems.
• The total number of pages submitted should not exceed six pages.
• Submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter with biographical information, address, phone number and email address.

Email submissions

• Send to: Poetry Editor, consequence.magazine@gmail.com
• Email submissions can be in the form of a Microsoft Word document or embedded in the email.

Mailed submissions

• Send to: Poetry Editor, Consequence Magazine, P. O. Box 323, Cohasset, MA 02025-0323
• Please include a SASE for notification of results and returns.