Thursday, May 28, 2015

Resurrecting Those Old Works

Has this happened to you? You read a story or poem online that you enjoy. Wanting to read more from this writer, you follow the link to his or her blog or website. You start making your way down the list of links to other published works, but some of the links lead nowhere. The journal or site where the work was originally featured has closed shop and you feel like that kid waiting outside the window of a candy store that closed minutes before you arrived. Drat! I hate that.

What's even worse is when you yourself have work published online and the links you've previously shared no longer work. The trail is cold and your new readers (or even old ones who might want to read it once again) cannot access it. What to do, what to do? There are a few journals that actually do reprints. And I just came across a new site that offers writers a place to resurrect those old works. It is called The Dead Market Writings and was started by editor Timothy Gager.

I will be searching through my old material to see what I might be able to submit. I also have a few poems and flash fiction stories from print journals that are no longer in business, but I am not sure if he'll take those or if he just wants work from online sources.

In any case, if you have work from online journals that are no longer running or have not archived the work, then head on over to his site. Here's the link:

https://deadmarketfile.wordpress.com/

Get to it!
and have a nice day :-)

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Weekend Window #8 - Mother's Day!!!!

I find so much cool stuff on the internet. Pictures of people posting their latest artwork, amazing photographs, beautifully-crafted poems, and well-written short stories. Every weekend I like to acknowledge these works and post links to them so other people (like you) can enjoy them.

Since today is Mother's Day, all the links are related to "mom". I hope you find something you enjoy. If so, feel free to tell me which ones you liked and leave a comment for the artist on their post (if possible).

Here are the links:

A poem by the wonderful Laurie Kolp is featured in the current issue of The Linnet's Wings. Much of motherhood is made up of simple moments like a day at the park and this poem captures the essence of that and much more.

http://www.thelinnetswings.org/?pageno=8&id=18254#

The next poem is called "Unsigned Mother's Day Card" and it is written by Bayleigh Fraser. It is currently featured in Rattle. I think it is beautifully written.

http://www.rattle.com/poetry/unsigned-mothers-day-card-by-bayleigh-fraser/

Every Mother's Day I find myself going to YouTube to watch Billy Collins read his poem "The Lanyard". Such a funny poem yet so true. If you ever, as a child, hand-crafted a Mother's Day gift, you will probably enjoy this.



And last but not least, for my friends and family who have lost their mothers, for mothers who have lost a child, or for any other reason why this day might be difficult for you, John Pavlovitz has written an excellent post entitled For Those Who Hurt on Mother's Day. My sister lost her son in October and this is the first Mother's Day without him. It's not an easy day, but she found comfort in his words. If this is a sad day for you, hop on over to his blog and read the post.

 http://johnpavlovitz.com/2015/05/09/for-those-who-hurt-on-mothers-day/

No matter what your situation, no matter what you do today, whether you are female or male, I hope this day brings wonderful things your way.