Publication Alert: Thin Air Magazine, Writers Get Together, and more to come!

Dear Reader,

The world never stops spinning, does it? It seemed as though the minute I returned home from the lull of a week-long vacation, I was stepping into a whirlwind of business, inconveniences, and surprises.

View of the sunset from my family's vacation stay

First, on Tuesday I received word that my story, "This Is How We Mourn," has been accepted for publication at a new magazine that's set to debut in August. I presented this story back in March at the Sigma Tau Delta Convention in Albuquerque, NM, and have received a great deal of positive feedback on it from fellow writers, so I'm excited that it will be finally appearing in published form. More details on that as it develops.

Second, by chance I discovered a nasty glitch in my e-mails that was causing multiple correspondences to skip my inbox, leaving me to wade through a mess of unread e-mails dating from up to six weeks ago. (Remember last month's publication that I didn't know about? Yep, this is what happened to that notice.) In the midst of that clean-up, I found several rejections from venues I'd been waiting to hear from, as well as -- more importantly -- two acceptance letters.

The first accepted piece has already been released at Thin Air Magazine, which is a part-online, part-print publication by Northern Arizona University's MFA Program. This prose piece is called "Night Noise," which you can view here. The second accepted piece is my poem "Lack of Redemption." That will be appearing at Yellow Chair Review in August.

Third, as of tonight, my blog as been featured yet again on Writers Get Together, a writers' networking website that has been gracious enough to publish three of my blog articles so far. You can read my article "Blue Writings," detailing the terrible dry-spell I went through some months back, on WGT's site here. (Be sure to look for my past articles on there if you haven't read them yet!)

Phew! Four publication announcements in one week. It's overwhelming. I recently glanced at my resume and realized that I've managed to land at least one publication every month since January -- and I still have stuff scheduled through to September! I continue to feel like such a beginner in this field, and yet it's humbling to see the recognition I've received in the past few months. I don't feel worthy of it at all -- there are still so many areas I need to grow in my writing -- but I am grateful knowing that so many of these small successes have been because of the constant support of my family, friends, readers, proof-readers, and fellow-writers. Without you all, I have no one to write for. I wish I could thank you all by name. But for now, please know that, even if you're an internet-reader I've never met, or a friend that only peruses my blog because I guilted you into it (ha), every tiny thing you do for me is appreciated. Thank you. With all my heart, thank you.

Grace and peace to you all.