Monday Submissions

63º ~ wild storms last evening, the threat of a tornado, this morning, cloudy, breezes cool & damp

Dear Reader, I confess, I'm a list maker.  It clears my mind and calms my nerves to list out those tasks before me, and then I am addicted to the joy of firmly marking out the job when finished.  This weekend, my list included grading and averaging overall grades and sending out poems.  I only made it through the grading portions of the list before my body and my brain insisted on some down time.

Today's list, my journal spreadsheet

Therefore, this morning, I was happy to send out two batches of poems.  Long-time readers will know that I usually spend a weekend doing submissions and end up sending out twenty-something batches of poems.  I'm learning that working in this smaller time frame has its benefits as well.  I spent a bit more time with each poem, fine-tooth-combing each and making small tweaks.  I also bless those journals that have adopted online submissions, as there is less time spent fumbling for SASE's and new ink cartridges.

Perhaps I'll try to do a packet or two on Mondays for a bit and see how that works out.  I hope you'll join me in wishing these two packets well as they sail out into the electronic world of poetry editors and staff readers.

~~~~~

On another happy note, tomorrow night I get to enjoy a live poetry reading!  Woo Hoo.  New friend and new-to-Arkansas poet, Shin Yu Pai will be reading from her latest book, Adamantine, at the Hendrix College Bailey Library at 6:30 tomorrow night.  Watch for my mini-review, as I already have the book and am reading it in preparation for tomorrow night's event.  It seems that central Arkansas is hosting more and more readings, and this makes me such a happy poet here.