Tag Archives: collaboration

Writing Goals

I don’t set a lot of writing goals. I don’t set a lot of goals, period. My body just doesn’t let me. My reality is that I have to adapt to whatever my body needs in the moment and so setting goals tends to set me up for disappointment. This year, though, I sort of stumbled into a goal. In March, I realized I’d submitted once piece of writing a month for publication and I decided it felt doable to continue that trend. Which means, I cautiously set a goal: submit one piece of writing per month.

Well, it’s June and I have stuck with it for another three months! I have submitted (at least) one poem per month to literary magazines. My track record of success is not so awesome, as only January’s submission was successfully picked up. BUT it’s been a small thing I do just for me that has nothing whatsoever to do with my health and that feels good.

In case you’d like to read it, here is the piece that I subbed in January that was picked up. It’s a collaborative piece (my first!) in a style that is far outside my normal writing, and it was so much fun to write: Habitat, Haunted, in the engine(idling. You can find the entire issue here in PDF (free to read) and available for purchase in hard copy.

Thanks for reading!

I contributed to a collaborative poem!

About a month ago I came across a new-to-me blog, Lucy’s Works. Having a look around, I saw she was creating a collaborative poem on the theme of “freedom.” Requirement was to post at least two but no more than four lines on what freedom means to me right now. I don’t usually do poetry, but this seemed interesting so I joined it. Lucy published it on May 1st, giving credit to the individual authors. I’ve put my four lines here, but I encourage you to check out the poem in its entirety – it’s quite interesting!

Lines 75-78 of the poem, attributed to The Edifying Word:

I choose.
Health, safety, caution.
For those I love and those I don’t know.
This is my freedom to love.

Thanks for reading!