Sunday, March 31, 2013

Good News, Bad News

I recently got back to writing fiction. This year, I finished three already. I decided to submit some to markets I love, like Strange Horizons. I waited less than a month. I was getting nervous since I really worked on that story I sent, but it came back with a rejection. The good part is, it was a personal rejection letter and the feedback from the editors is really helpful. I had readers before I submitted, but looks like none of them caught the problem, which was quite a biggie T_T

In any case I've edited the story and will try other markets.

The good news is, I got an acceptance from Modern Haiku for a poem of mine (with a minor edit). The poem is set to come out on their issue 44:3.

It is not all doom and gloom today, fortunately!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Authors David McKirdy and Tim Tomlinson to Join Silliman Workshop Panel

(Oh wow what an amazing line up! Wish I could join them again those days were amazing!)

Repost from the FB page of Silliman University National Writers Workshop
 
American author Tim Tomlinson and Hong Kong-based Scottish author David McKirdy are joining the panel of the 52nd Silliman University National Writers Workshop, which is slated to start on 6 May 2013 at the Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village in Camp Look-out, Valencia, Negros Oriental.


Tim Tomlinson

Tim Tomlinson is a co-founder of New York Writers Workshop, and co-author of its popular text, The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. His recent fiction and poetry appear in Asia Writes, Caribbean Vistas, Citron Review, The Dirty Napkin, Entasis, Extracts, Full of Crow, The New York Quarterly, The Tule Review, Unshod Quills, Write Place At the Write Time, and in the anthology Long Island Noir (Akashic Books). Two of his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013. Currently he resides in Shanghai, where he teaches with New York University’s Global Liberal Studies Program.


David McKirdy

David McKirdy was until 2008 a director of the HK International Literary Festival, having been involved since its inception in 2001. He is one of the organizers of local HK poetry group Outloud. He has taught at the Hong Kong University’s Moving Poetry initiative in 2002 and 2004. His current collection Accidental Occidental, published with a grant from the HK Art’s Development Council, was selected by The Harvard Club of Hong Kong for their book prize two years running. Mr. McKirdy has in recent years been the Poetry commissioning editor for Chameleon Press. He was one of the Asian poets selected by HK University’s Associate Professor Agnes Lam’s study on “Contemporary Asian Poetry in English.” In 2011, he was a featured poet at The Shanghai International Literary festival, The Singapore Writer’s Festival and has organized and participated in events as part of The Baptist University of HK’s International Writers Workshop.

The panel of writers/critics for this year includes Director-in-Residence Susan S. Lara; Dumaguete-based writers Bobby Flores Villasis and César Ruìz Aquino; and guest panelists Dean Francis Alfar, DM Reyes, John Jack Wigley, Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., Ricardo de Ungria, Marjorie Evasco, Alfred Yuson, Gémino H. Abad, and Grace Monte de Ramos.

The workshop, which traditionally lasts for three weeks, is the oldest creative writing workshop of its kind in Asia. It was founded in 1962 by S.E.A. Write Awardee Edilberto K. Tiempo and National Artist Edith L. Tiempo, and was recently given the Tanging Parangal in the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

This year, the workshop is co-sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Embassy of the United States of America in Manila, and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.

For more information about forthcoming events during the workshop, please email Workshop Coordinator Ian Rosales Casocot at silliman.cwc@gmail.com or call the Department of English and Literature at (035) 422-6002 loc. 520. (Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center)

Monday, March 18, 2013

Bye Bye RH Law

I thought I'd see some change at last, RH Law. You know, better accessibility to birth control... improved healthcare for women. But the SC voted against you, RH. And I have a feeling it's the stupid, closed-minded Catholics who claim this is God's will that might be behind this.

It's just a feeling. This Rappler article is silent as to why you are not going to be implemented for a long while. Like... maybe forever?

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Headache, Backache and Writer's Bloc

Good Lord, what's up with my head? I've been getting migraines for weeks. I'm thinking it might have something to do with my love affair with chocolate, but I'm in denial. I mean, chocolate's got antioxidants and stuff, so it can't be bad for me, right?

To top it off, I have this backache. The cause of which is my table at work. It's too high up, so I have to tense my shoulders to be able to type well on my laptop. When I try to pump my chair up, within a few hours it just sinks back down. Is it cheap or is it broken? I have no idea but it's giving me back problems.

But there's good news amid all these aches and pains. I recently got an acceptance letter for two poems of mine. "A Saint to the Wise Man" and "Fear of Water" will appear in the 2013 issue of Writer's Bloc Literary Magazine, the official literary journal of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas. Some of the renowned names that this magazine has published: Bruce Bond (read some of his poems from the Beloit Poetry Journal and I'm a fan), Marjorie Agosin, Cathy Downs, George Vargas, and others. Found the call for submissions here while looking for a home for some of my work.

Subscriptions to Writer's Bloc: Copies of the magazine are available in Fore 110 or the TAMUK Barnes and Noble Bookstore for $2.00, or via U.S. mail for $7.00.

Here's the (rare) acceptance letter:
Dear Anne,


If still available, we would like to publish the poems, "A Saint to the Wise Man" and "Fear of Water" in the 2013 issue of Writer's Bloc Literary Magazine.

The issue is scheduled to appear in November. Payment is one copy.

We look forward to hearing from you.


Octavio Quintanilla
Editor, Writer’s Bloc Literary Magazine
Thanks, Writer's Bloc!