I’m so excited to have a piece in Briefly Write with some amazing writers!
I actually wrote this as a story for Visual Verse, so I wanted to share the original picture by Olga Naida. I was bummed when it wasn’t accepted for that issue because I thought it fit well – and wouldn’t stand on its own. But I’m so glad Briefly Write picked it up!
If you read it without seeing the picture, what did you think? Does seeing the image change your interpretation?
I can’t believe that I forgot to log this submission on my spreadsheet, and therefore forgot to mention it in my 2023 Writing in Review post!
Last March, Gnashing Teeth Publishing posted on Twitter that they were tearing pages out of a book (Dead Girl Running by Christina Dodd) and sending them to anyone who requested one. Once you got a page, you’d create an erasure or blackout poem and send it back to be published in an anthology.
I love strange constraints and any type of project, so I requested a page. When it came in the mail, I think I was frozen for a week or two. I had no clue where to start. What if I blacked out a word I wanted back later??
I decided to take a photo of the pages and use the mark up feature on my phone to draft some poems. I’m really glad I took that approach, though I don’t remember changing a lot of the words. In fact, I kept taking away more. But it was nice to have the original page to look back on when I wanted. And once I completed my poem, I could carefully black out the right sections on the book page.
With that done, I mailed the page off and waited. And forgot about it, honestly! Then preorders were announced, so I preordered and forgot about it again! Which means I was pleasantly surprised by a book in my mailbox one day.
It was so cool to not only see my poem in this book, but to see how other people approached the erasure aspect of the project. There are some works of art in here! It’s also really interesting to see how many poems kind of fit together. Probably because the book is one cohesive work so it’s understandable there’d be some overlap in the poems, but it’s still fascinating!
This year felt like a slow one to me, but when I look at my submissions spreadsheet and publication track record, it was pretty great! I did take it a bit slower in terms of workshops. I love the prompts and feedback in workshops, but this year was a rollercoaster in terms of my paid writing work, so not having the pressure (or expense, yikes!) of many workshops was a necessary break. (That said, I took seven workshops total, though many were in the spring when my work life was still running smoothly!)
I like the goal of submitting to a certain number of places a month because I like marking accomplishments off my list. However, I don’t like the pressure of submitting just because. So for 2024, I’m going to take a small step back. I’m going to focus more on the ideas I have for collections and novellas-in-flash and strive to finish those instead of writing one-offs for submission. I think having a few bigger projects on my plate will be a nice change of pace from these past three years.
Anyway, my 2023 stats meet the goals I set for myself at the end of last year. I submitted 62 times, compared to 63 written in 2022 (I also submitted photography that year) and 44 in 2021. I had 16 acceptances, compared to 13 written acceptances in 2022 and 5 in 2021. Six stories are still out/under consideration.
I also wrote blurbs for two amazing collections: Winter Dance Party by Brett Biebel and Awakenings edited by Diane Gottlieb.
Two of my 2023 acceptances are for anthologies coming in the future from Reflex Press and Stanchion, but the rest are online and linked below:
Ladyfingers published by Visual Verse 9/2023
The Hand, The Remorse of Conscience in The Ekphrastic Review’s Lucky 8 Marathon 8/2023
Precarious Pile published by Visual Verse 8/2023
Nectar published by SoFloPoJo 8/2023
Waiting in the Rain published by Visual Verse 7/2023
Blue Monkey published by Ellipsis Zine 6/2023
Crosstown Traffic published by The Write-In 6/2023
Moving Day published by The Write-In 6/2023
Trick or Treat published by The Write-In 6/2023
She’s Where the Sky Meets the Water published by The Write-In 6/2023
Dreamless Reality published by The Write-In 6/2023
Close Your Eyes published by Visual Verse 5/2023
Midway shortlisted for the Brilliant Flash Fiction Contest 5/2023
Mother of Pearl published by Visual Verse 4/2023
501 published by Spartan 4/2023
Death of an Influencer published by Visual Verse 3/2023
Bank Balance published by Friday Flash Fiction 3/2023
“Shining Light” photograph in Rock and a Hard Place Issue 9 2/2023
Related Posts:
I’m thrilled that my creative nonfiction micro was accepted for the September image prompt at Visual Verse!
The artwork made me think of a ring my grandmother had since childhood.
And my memories flowed from there!
It seems very appropriate that my 100th blog post is celebrating one year of my chapbook, Won’t Be By Your Side!
I’m hosting a giveaway on Instagram and Twitter, so check it out and enter to win if you don’t yet have a copy! Entries are open until Wednesday night.
I’m also still sending out signed bookplates, so you can DM me for one of those (no contest/comment required)!
Last month I took part in the Ekphrastic Review‘s Ekphrastic Marathon and wrote several pieces based on amazing works of art. I’m excited that my story inspired by “The Hand, The Remorse of Conscience” was featured in the Marathon Showcase!
Read it, and many other wonderful pieces, here.
Yes, Visual Verse only publishes one image prompt per month, but I forgot to update when they accepted my piece last month, and they’ve just posted my submission for August, so you get two here!
Read my July story, “Waiting in the Rain”
I’m so happy that South Florida Poetry Journal accepted my micro fiction “Nectar” for publication! I wrote this in Nancy Stohlman’s “Courting the Muse” workshop, which truly let me unwind and chase story fragments wherever they led me. I loved getting a chance to explore the magical realism of this story and hope you enjoy it, too!
Read “Nectar” here! Also check out all the other amazing writers in this issue.
I’m so excited that my flash piece, “Blue Monkey,” was published today at Ellipsis Zine!
I wrote this in a Sarah Freligh workshop that centered around place. After drawing a map of a street in my city, I realized there were tons of stories I could write… so I did! And this is the first to find a home, so I hope you read it and love it and demand someone publish my chapbook centered around midtown Memphis.
As my last post mentioned, I had a great time writing and submitting to The Write-In on National Flash Fiction day. I’m thrilled that five of my submissions were published! I’m sharing the links here, along with the prompts to give an idea of the guidelines/constraints.
Crosstown Traffic: A triptych where each section takes place in the same moment of time.
Moving Day: A story in which the action happens backwards.
Trick or Treat: Flash without a full stop or period as a punctuation mark.
She’s Where the Sky Meets the Water: 24-word flash with a seven-word title.
Dreamless Reality: A version of a fairy tale set in modern times.
Allison Renner Writes 