Making Books: Mignon Ariel King's Blog
new england writer: memoir * poetry * novella
The countdown to Halloween begins! I love Halloween. I’m back to submitting work after a frustrating 6 months or so of fighting with technology to get out two journal issues.
Tell-Tale Inklings #4 has been in limbo since CreateSpace began scaling back services. It turns out they are merging with KDP. Like a ninny, I edited Tell-Tale Inklings #3 over a few nagging typos–and ended up redoing the whole thing. It takes forever to format and upload and have page numbers bounce to the top of the next page, then format and upload and have page numbers bounce…. You get the idea.
Bitching and moaning done, I’m feeling hopeful about getting work done once the kinks are worked out. Also, it’s hard to be crabby in October. I love crunchy Autumn leaves, breathable crisp air, and all things Halloween. (Well, all silly, fun, and mind-bending things; I don’t dig extreme, gory horror. I like Poe’s tales and Stephen King’s movies (his books are to scary). September through mid-October mark some very difficult anniversaries for my family; so many relatives have died during those months, from my father when I was 16 to my grandnephew, who was only 17. So, I plow through leaves and silly my way through Halloween, in a state of semi-denial.
When I began this post, it was the first of October. Now it’s the second. I need some new material. Here is TTI #3 .
COVER IMAGE: Stephan Anstey Copyright 2017
Phew! We poets who were writing 30 poems in 30 days during April have made it through another National Poetry writing Month.
This is when I disappear into the small-press publisher’s world of collecting, editing, proofreading, et cetera until Autumn. I’m also trying to submit more of my own poems to journals; nobody can read my work if I never publish it. Sadly poems lack wings, so they can’t fly themselves to literary journals and squawk, “Read me! Read me!”
Both the print anthology Extra MoJo! series (Hidden Charm Press) and the print journal Tell-Tale Inklings (via Tell-Tale Chapbooks) are open to submissions this spring and summer. Please go to the web sites for details; nothing adds grief to the days of editors and publishers like submissions from writers who haven’t bothered to familiarize themselves with our Press websites, much less read the Guidelines pages.
Tell-Tale Inklings #1 (Tell-Tale Chapbooks, 2015) is now on sale, discounted to $10.
96 pages. 30+ writers of narrative poetry and flash fiction and visual artists.
Cover Image: “Une Morte Balkanique” c. 2015 Mark Hanser
1) My first published poem of 2015!
2) Links to the published books of my autobiographical pentalogy.
[Book II, v.2 of the poetry (trilogy within a trilogy) “A City of Trees” will also be published this spring by ALL CAPS Publishing.]
Book I (memoir)
How a survivor of the 1990s race, class, and gender wars in academe transformed into a middle-aged writer and small-press publisher.
http://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Mask-non-Academic-reflections-womanist/dp/061598889X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418603122&sr=8-1&keywords=dropping+the+mask
Book II (poetry)
Inspired by the poetry of Charles Bukowski.
http://www.amazon.com/What-Goods-View-Charles-tribute/dp/061589609X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418603345&sr=8-1&keywords=what+good%27s+a+view+of+the+charles%3F
Book III (novella)
A love story for people with brains.
http://www.amazon.com/Concrete-Wish-modern-fable/dp/0615920179/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418603584&sr=8-1&keywords=a+concrete+wish
3) I’ve finished my novella (Ramshackled), which is more of a novelette, and will be publishing it along with 26 microfiction tales about 26 women (working title: Rosebud).
4) I forgot. I did a lot of bookmaking last year. Exhausting! But it’s nice to see it all booked up this year.
I finished typing my first story collection Rosebud this morning.
I fixed my Goodreads Author’s Page.
Then I logged onto FB to veg for a bit…and found out that Maya Angelou died. So many Black women writers of my generation couldn’t believe how brave she was actually committing to ink what she thought and felt whether or not it was popular or acceptable. She made me feel a little less weird and alone in this world. Thank you, Miss Maya. You made my life better!
Now, in the spirit of keepin’ on, I’m going to start typing my next novella, Ramshackled.
Making Books: Mignon Ariel King's Blog 