Category Archives: Writing

by | December 22, 2011 · 7:51 am

Early Resolution for Next Christmas


I love Christmas cards. Especially the ones with old-fashioned, Victorian designs, and the ones with pithy quotes. I collect them like crazy. If I have the means and the price is just right, I’ll snatch up a box or two of those wonderful boxes of holiday well-wishes. I’m a Christmas card addict.

With all those cards, you probably think I send out bundles each year to family and friends, yes? Ah…no, not quite.The boxes of cards sit throughout the year collecting dust. Then around Thanksgiving, I dig them out of whatever dingy hole they fell into during the past 11 months and revisit my treasures. And I think about all the people I want to send Christmas greetings to. I plan to have them all written and sent out by the 2nd week of December, so friends and loved ones will receive them before THE BIG DAY. And then life steps in. My best laid plans are put aside for a few weeks, in deference to holiday parties, children’s dramas, concerts, shopping, decorating and gift wrapping. Before I know it, December 21st rolls around and I’ve sent out no cards at all. Haven’t even written notes or addressed the envelopes.

I love receiving Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. I love Christmas. But somehow the holiday rushes by way too fast and my good intentions are left in the dust. Part of the problem I think is that as a writer, I can’t just pen a quick note and send it on its way. No. I’m compelled to compose a missive that will fill the entire card, and perhaps the back also. I hate white space. If there’s too much of it, I’ll blissfully blather away about nothing and everything just to fill the empty spaces. I blame this in part on my journalism classes many years ago, where they repeatedly instructed us to “fill the white spaces.” I was brainwashed, utterly and completely.

I think for 2012, I’m going to purchase leftover Christmas cards after the 2011 holiday season and leave them on my desk. I’ll be sure to see them each time I sit at my computer and won’t forget where I’ve stored them. I’ll have holiday photo cards printed up of my son & I sometime around April. I’ll start working on the cards in August or September, and have them all addressed before Thanksgiving. That way, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, all that will need doing is purchasing lovely holiday stamps and sticking them on the envelopes. The first of December, in the mailbox they go. Yes, lovely.

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by | December 14, 2011 · 3:13 pm

Building a Writer’s Resume


Just in case you were wondering, building a writer’s resume is easier said than done. Yes, I know, being a writer, I should be able to find more imaginative words than those of a cliche. Maybe another time.

So, building a writer’s resume. If you’re like me, up till now, you’ve only been “published” in obscure poetry anthologies nobody’s ever heard of that have never graced any bookstore shelves, or in an over-priced college textbook that may or may not be in circulation today, five years after publication. Why then submit to these publications that would seem to do very little to further my writer’s resume? Well, if they did nothing else, they helped me get into a respectable creative writing degree program, and they taught me to do my homework before submitting my hard earned money and expressions of creative flair.

In my three years at Wilkes University, I’ve learned that two of the easiest – and probably quickest ways – to build a writer’s resume is to blog and to review.

I started a blog a few years ago, but didn’t keep up with it…and I have trouble keeping up with this one. Life happens, you know? And sometimes pure laziness sets in. Other times, I’m whiny and choose not to subject you all to that. (Quite nice of me, no?) Anywho…from now on, whenever I run out of stuff to talk about, think I’m going to post about the joys and trials of writing and research…rather than not post at all. That’s part of what this blog is all about, after all.

I’ve been reading books for as long as I’ve known how to read, but the reviews have been few and far between. Not anymore. Goodreads.com is a great resource for book reviews. You can create a library of books read, currently reading and plan to read, leaving comments/reviews as you complete each one.

I’ve listed several hundred books on Goodreads, but haven’t kept up with the reviews. And there’s no time like the present to correct that mistake. Especially since recently I was politely refused when I requested a couple of books to review from one publisher…because I don’t have an established review resume. Ack. That was a bit embarrassing.

Now that I’ve officially launched the Grenade Magazine site and have begun accepting submissions, I’ll be able to add “publisher” to my writing credentials! I’m so excited about this endeavor! The magazine will be a bi-monthly, online publication, with an anticipated yearly anthology. This is the culmination of my MFA capstone in Creative Writing at Wilkes. If you haven’t checked out the site yet, head on over and take a look. And if you’re a member of the military, former member, or family of a service member, please feel free to submit something (guidelines available at the site)!

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by | December 14, 2011 · 2:53 pm

Calling all service members!


Grenade Magazine is finally accepting submissions! This is a bi-monthly, online publication, featuring the artistic creations of military members and their families. It’s my hope that I’ll be able to add a yearly print anthology.

This project is the culmination of my MFA publishing capstone in Creative Writing at Wilkes University. When I chose to create a mockup business plan for a literary journal, I didn’t want it to be merely a “mockup.” I wanted to create something lasting; something different. After a bit of research, I settled on a literary journal featuring the artistic and literary creations of service members and their families. Being the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran who gave me the love of reading and writing at an early age, I wanted to give something back. I’m also related to and acquainted with many more artistic service members, including my mentor and advisory board member, retired naval captain and novelist David Poyer.

If you haven’t checked out the site yet, head on over and take a look. And if you’re a member of the military, former member, or family of a service member, please feel free to submit something (guidelines available at the site)!

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