Publishing Round Up for 2017

With three days left in 2017, I'm behind on my blog posts, so I'm going to try to make these last three days count.

In 2017, I continued to work hard at getting more of my work out in the world. Women Who Submit, an amazing group of writers here in Los Angeles has been a driving force for me.

I managed to get 70 submissions out this year to literary magazines, presses, conferences, agents, residencies, anthologies, and book contests. Here is a summary of my work published online and in print this past year.

"A Short History of Insanity" an essay that is the opening pages of Waiting for the other Shoe to Drop: One Family's Battle with Mental Illness was originally published in Meridian's winter issue. It was then republished in Lunch Ticket's alumni issue for the 20th anniversary of Antioch's MFA program.

Compose magazine chose "Picture Day," an essay from Dispatches from a High School Feminist: Rising Up from Rural America which ran this past spring.

I'd been trying to find a home for "Running from the Dark" for three years and it finally made it's way to readers in Catapult this past May after editor Mensah Demary made it better.

"Geometry," a flash essay from Dispatches from a High School Feminist: Rising Up from Rural America went up at Lady Liberty Lit in May as well.

Over spring break, I had a series of nightmares. This was in the middle of National Poetry Month, so the nightmares ended up in these poems. In June, two poems I started writing that spring break went up at Rising Phoenix Review: "Sarin Nightmare" and "Mother of All Bombs."

In July, Linden Avenue published, "Final Days," a poem I wrote about losing my mom.

I finally broke into an Asian American press when Kartika picked up two poems: "Camp Stories," and "Howl."

This past fall, Sky Island Journal published "Winter Ball," an essay from my middle school memoir Overdue Apologies.

My last publication this year came in December when East Jasmine Review picked up an essay from Dispatches from a High School Feminist: Rising Up from Rural America: "Open Gym."

This year I also had the chance to read for Women Who Submit at the West Hollywood Lit Crawl and to attend a week-long residency at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods. Through Eyes Like Mine was also short-listed for the 2040 Prize which seemed to breathe new life into this book.

2017 was a challenging year, but I appreciate all who read my work and work by those who attempt to cut through the noise, challenge long-held silences, and use art to resist. 2018: let's do this.