Just Me

  Last year, I saw a posting from a writer friend that said there was one year where she challenged herself to only submit her work to paying markets. I thought that was an interesting challenge so I decided to do it, too.   Little did I know just HOW MUCH of a challenge it is!   So when January 2025 came around, that’s what I did. However, I soon realized that I have a soft spot for charity anthologies, and I REALLY wanted to have work included in anthologies that support charities which I believe in. So, I made an exception to submit work to charity anthologies. Then I saw friends posting about calls to submit to their nonpaying anthologies and E-zines. I liked what I saw and wanted to support them and their new venture, so I made another exception. And, in the end, I decided, okay, I will ONLY submit to the nonpaying stuff on Fridays.   And you would think that submitting my writing to only the paying publications meant I would be able to make enough o...

  April was National Poetry Month, so I made it a point to read some poetry books. Thanks to my digital subscription with Alien Buddha Press, I had plenty of new poetry books arriving in my inbox! Hooray! I wish I could have read them all, but that was not possible.   This month, I created a new reading routine! I am reading two ebooks on my phone in the mornings, then another ebook from a publishing company on my computer. I selected ebooks from ABP for this purpose. Later in the day, I read three more ebooks: One from an author who requested I review their book, then two more from other publishers: Baynam Books Press and either Ghoulish Books or Cursed Morsels Press (depending on which ones I have!). Finally, at night, I read three more ebooks on my phone.   Along with this, I am reading print books as well. I was reading three to go with each of those reading periods, but towards the end of the month, I threw in another print book to read – for research! – an...

  This month’s reading list is a little bit different. I did not finish reading any books that I stared reading in February. Instead, I read other books from beginning to end!   And I managed to do that with 14 books this month. Woot!   So here are all the books I read this month:   17. Felones de Se: Poems about Suicide by LindaAnn LoSchiavo   18. Stitched Together by Juliet Rose   19. You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World Edited by Ada Limón   20. Lady, Will You Hear Me?: A True Ghost Story by Susan E. Rogers   21. Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces by D. Matthew Urban   22. The Sins of God by Benjamin B. White   23. The Lake House Massacre by Chris Bedell   24. Nightmare Tide Edited by Andrew Robert and Ben Long   25. A Terrible Place and Other Dark Tales by D.L. Winchester   26. Aberrations by Matt Dymerski   27. Whispers From Beyond: A Showcase of ...

  Image credit: Sibling_Yonten via Pixabay   I have an Instagram account , and while I was on there recently, I saw a post that read, “I will not be quiet just so you can be comfortable.” This inspired me to write a poem with that very same title for a collection of anti-Trump poems I am writing, because lately, I have been posting things online that speaks out against things that have happened because of our current president.   And lately, I have amped up this activity, only because one thing about that president is that he is at war with the LGBTQA+ community. One of the things he said during his campaign for the second term? “No transgender.” And, ya know, one of my kids is transgender. The other one is gay. So he essentially decided to pick a fight with a community that my kids and I belong to. I am also disabled, and since he has eliminated DEI, this affects the disabled community, as well.   This means war!   Anyone who has taken it upon the...