Poem in New Issue of Apex Magazine

I have a poem in the new issue (#68) of Apex Magazine which can be read for free on their website. Before My Father Vanished is a poem I wrote last spring and I sold it to the first place I submitted it to.

Also on the poetry front, Eldritch Press is working with me on the cover for my new poetry collection, Turn Left at November. Things are moving along quickly there and the book should be out soon both as an ebook and paperback. I'll keep everyone updated here and on Facebook.

More new poems will be out in various magazines this year, too.

Reality check: While I like to keep this blog mostly positive, I do get a ton of rejections, too. I don't usually report them, but a writer's life is made up of rejection. A lot of it. Never be fooled it's an easy path. The trick for me is to diversify and that is harder than it seems. I get used to certain markets. I get used to thinking of myself as writing science fiction/fantasy/horror/vampire when a lot of my work defies genre labels. It's easy to stay in comfortable territory and keep submitting to genre markets because they are what I know and often what I prefer.

I have branched out to some haiku sites. That is fun for me. I put up a couple of haiku here at tinywords.com for their current photo prompt. And I submitted poems to their new issue (haven't heard back yet.)

The most important thing to me about being a writer is to never forget to have fun. It's hard work, and there are a lot of business things writers need to be informed about (especially these days) but in the end, for me, it's about daydreaming on paper (or the computer screen.) That is what it's about. Telling a story/poem and using the best words I can find to do that. I write what I love so that I can love what I write. Most of the time, despite rejection, it works. It fulfills me personally. A triumph!

Wendy Rathbone