2014 was a really good writing year for me. I reached a couple of loose goals I set for myself and was on the receiving end of some unexpected surprises. Out of 17 submissions I had 9 acceptances and 8 rejections (one of which asked for a more fleshed out second draft but I was in a slump at the time and never resubmitted – my bad.) plus I had 4 solicited publications so that’s a total of 13 actual publications of 15 poems and micro-fictions.

One micro-fiction, “Something About SW”,  was chosen as a finalist for the 15th Glass Woman Prize which was a complete surprise as I had no idea it was in consideration. Thanks, Beate!

One poem was selected as Poem of the Month for May on Long Story Short. Thanks, Amy!

October and November brought a flurry of surprises. My poem “(From an Awakened Sleep)” was featured on 3 separate websites. Originally, it was accepted with 3 other poems by The Poetry Storehouse which presented them all in text and mp3 format (and where the wonderful Bill Yarrow made an mp3 reading of one, “Worlds Apart” – squee!). Subsequently, “(From an Awakened Sleep)”  was remixed by The Poetry Storehouse’s very talented Nic Sebastian and posted on Vimeo where it was seen by Dave Bonta of Moving Poems and featured there, as well. I was over the moon. Having one of my poems remixed into a video-poem was one of those “loose goals” of mine but also one I knew I had no control over unless I did it myself which is totally out of my talent range. I really never thought it would happen so, again, thanks to Nic for making that dream come true. Both The Poetry Storehouse and Moving Poems have been on my reading list for years. As if that weren’t enough, Michelle Elvy published an interview with Nic and myself on her website, Glow Worm, with links to the work. Thanks, Michelle!

2014 is also the year I received my first monetary payment for my work. Making money is not the goal of submitting, obviously, since so few journals pay their contributors. But the fact that someone thinks enough of my work to pay me for it makes me feel good. Especially when that someone is a respected editor of a respected journal with a great track record. So look for me on March 25, 2015 in Camroc Press Review. Thanks, Barry!

In addition to the thank yous above I want to thank the following Editors and journals for choosing and publishing my work in 2014:

• Mad Swirl – Johnny Olson
• Scissors and Spackle – Ariana Bleyker
• Literary Orphans – Mike Joyce
• Connotation Press – Meg Tuite
• Camroc Press Review – Barry Basden
• Blue Fifth Review/Blue Five Notebook – Sam Rasnake and Michelle Elvy
• Olentangy Review – Darryl and Melissa Price

Links to my work in these journals can be found here.

I also want to say a huge THANK YOU to my readers and fellow writers and bloggers. (Link love post coming soon!) It will always be astonishing to me that you choose to spend a bit of your time on this little blog. Your likes, comments, and your time are stars of inspiration for me.

CHEERS FOR A STUPENDOUS 2015!