Progress report

I have a few success stories to crow about, so I’ll let them all go here.

First, I’m proud to have three poems in the anthology As the World Burns published by Indie Blue. I get a special thrill that my third entry is the poem that closes the collection. Yes, my desk is a mess but I can’t tidy it because of the ladybirds hibernating on it.

 

Second reason to be cheerful, a haibun of mine is one of the Ekphrastic Review’s five nominations for the Sonder Press’s Best Small Fictions anthology!

Third—my second collection of poems, birds and other feathers will be available in kindle version from November 27th (husband’s birthday) but the print version will have to wait until I’ve seen a proof copy, and that is in the hands of the postal service.

And last, but not least, I have finished another novel! I know, I do this often and nothing happens. One day though, I hope to be able to say, and somebody has picked it up.

Published!

Today’s the day, my mum’s birthday and publication day for my first chapbook of poetry! I never thought I’d do it, but never say never. Having received enough rejections from literary agents for several lifetimes, it would have seemed like pure masochism to submit my poems to a publisher. We’re only constructed to take so much punishment. So, I did it myself. Quick, simple and completely painless. Except for the cover which is always a pain.

The poems are new but the themes are old. The usual, but mainly about water, what it says on the tin. Here’s what it looks like

and if you’d like to get your very own copy here are some amazon links

Link co.uk https://tinyurl.com/y2et7dcr
Link .com https://tinyurl.com/y5ueldrq
Link Australia https://tinyurl.com/yykla7nm
Link Canada https://tinyurl.com/yxu5azlk
Link India https://tinyurl.com/yy6qvle5

Chapbook

Well, I didn’t think I’d be doing this again, but I am. The cycle of submit a manuscript, wait for a rejection, accept that I’m not even going to get a rejection, submit another manuscript, wait for a rejection and so on ad infinitum is soul-destroying. I am still doing it for novels, but I’m not such a glutton for punishment that I’m going to take the same road for poetry.

I do have a lot of poems though and I’d like to do something with them, so I have decided to put them into themed chapbook collections and self-publish. The decision was made in the middle of last week; I chose a first handful, revised them, arranged them into a sensible-looking format, made a cover and uploaded them to kdp. I didn’t want a kindle version necessarily, but you seem to need one before you can make a print version.

I’ve held off the release date until October 27, my mother’s birthday, a good day, I think, and it will give me time to have received and checked the proofs of the print version, so it can be published asap after the kindle version goes live. That means it’s already on amazon for pre-order. The result doesn’t look professional, cover’s a bit hit or miss, but if I spend any time fiddling with it, I’ll be permanently dissatisfied.

So, I’d like to thank all the bloggers who have encouraged me to just do it, and to believe that it’s a good idea. This is the cover of the first chapbook. I’ll post a reminder when the kindle version goes live, and when the print version is available.