L'aura del Campo

Alps. Submitting (sending your babies to slaughter)

Alps

You have entered my orogenous zone,
my Adriatic substrate sublimating to your European overthrust,
your upright crust, your Matterhorn,
your vulnerability I wish to climb, to conquer, hang my life on.
In this place where mantle trembles with our touch,
our movement one above the other, zones of bend and thrust
we've created havens for the clouds, the crystal waters
of the snow-fed lakes, where children yodel between your peaks
and in my fertile valleys sow Spring wheat. May this, our legacy
now sleep where skin meets skin, wrinkled far above our inner heat.

[164.20]

Geologic terms have a certain way of heating things up. For a friend who will remain unnamed until this is edited ... and maybe even not then.

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BEWARE THE DANDELION THAT ROARSBEWARE THE DANDELION THAT SNORES
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L'aura del campo

Spring: 11 Bahá 164 (31 March) 54º with 40 mph gusts.

'é a lua, é a lua, na quintana dos mortos'
♣ Federico García Lorca ♣

Submitting (sending your babies to slaughter)

I wrote this as a comment to a blog entry by kh53150 who was wondering if anything in her port was good enough to submit for publication. Since we all go through this to greater or lesser extent, I thought I'd share what I wrote (edited).

You could submit and by submitting learn how-to and how-not-to submit or your could study this a bit (not too much) and then go through the same process: submit and learn by submitting. It doesn't have to be perfect.

What to submit and where ... does anything fall into a very specific genre? If so, it's a tad easier. If not, read what they are looking for and humbly submit. There can be pleasant surprises on both ends of this conversation between writer and editor.

Is there anything you've written that is 'knocking the socks off' folks? If you have an item that has a cluster of 5.0 and 4.5 read the reviews closely and look at the stats. Where's the audience? If you have something that shows promise but it has less than 10 ratings and/or good reviews ... promote it on the Review Page and the Shameless Plug page until it has enough feedback for you to make a decision.

But don't wait forever. Just because an item has a mediocre overall rating of 4.1 let's say, doesn't mean it is not publishable. The items I have had published are rated lower than many items I have not yet submitted (I get puzzled as to what to do too).

Since I suffer from depression, anxiety and trauma I am easily overwhelmed and far too sensitive for my own good. And yes, I need to follow my own advice! But, truthfully, just take the initiative of submitting and let an editor decide. Don't worry about the rejection slips, embrace them (have a bathroom that needs wallpapering?), learn from the experience and move forward.

When you have successfully accomplished this (you are more than capable) send me an email and ask why I haven't done the same .

WRITING

I got my story for the big WDC contest done: "Laura by moonlight" . Yay.

Fairly new to me and you, so go review: "Footprints in the snow"  (for Nyia Page), "Violets" , "The moon is blue ice" , "Song of an Age" , "Plain cover jacket" , "In search of Iris" , "Crow feathers" , "Like water for chocolate," , "Love-lies-bleeding" , and "Spear" .

My port is full, over-stuffed. So I'll need to consolidate or delete before I post anything else.

Me, my friends and my family

Susan and me (and Fibber McGee) filled out a form Friday that needs to be sent in for me to get some funds to live on. I hate filling out forms.

As I told KimChi : The receptionist today said she had a, "16 wheeler around her waist". Hmmm.... sounds poetic to me! Did she have an 18 wheeler in her arms? Do I dare ask?

And then I mention to Kelly that I had this image of her being a vampire (she loves to wear black and has a candy-apple red purse). But, alas she's vegetarian and loves garlic ... but is there a short story in there about a wayward daughter of vampires? perhaps a vegetarian vampire to boot!

Saw John Lee, T-Rex-Rocks, Brett, Sheryl-Lynn.

Still eating ravioli.

Daily Scripture

O friends! Prefer not your will to Mine, never desire that which I have not desired for you, and approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings.

— Bahá’u’lláh

from Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh, Persian #19, link: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/HW/

WATT'S GNU!

The United Nations just issued a convention on disability yesterday, March 30th. Over 80 nations have signed the act. Notable exceptions: the United States, Canada and the Vatican. The BBC report:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5274354.stm

There is little if any news of this in the United States press. Having spent a day in the Kansas state capitol where numerous independent living agencies met with representatives and senators to speak on legislation, it is sad to note the lack of concern.

I guess Brittany Spears wasn't involved and no one at the U.N. claims to be the daddy of Anne Nichole Smith's daughter; although, that's not proven yet.

IMAGES and RAMBLINGS

An odd mixture of flowers: forsythia and tulips; daffodils and lilac. Wind chill! Downed branches. Anthills. Dark grey clouds; light grey clouds. WIND.

Two black eyed bandits in the cop car's headlights. Squirrels and birds everywhere.

The tap tap tap of a typewriter. (Not so common these days.)

The weather has been stormy. We had tornado and flash-flood warnings. This coming week we may get temperatures ranging from 80º down to 25º. Some flowers are blooming 2 weeks early due to warm nights. Come the frost? Pray we don't get a severe freeze.

I'm disgusted by the weather at Yahoo. When we have severe weather here I don't want to see radar from 5 hours ago. Here is a site that is ab-fab, especially when there are watches and warnings:

http://www.wunderground.com

They have detailed info for U.S. locations, less for international ones. But I was impressed with the maps of winds and temperatures for Antartica.

READING

Does the newspaper count?

BLOGVILLE

So many people leaving and many others that have had to cut back that I have gone fishing for new folks to replenish my fav's list. I especially would like to be in touch with anyone in Kansas, Oklahoma, NW Arkansas, Nebraska, SW Iowa, W Missouri. (I already have lots of friends in Illinois, Montana, California and Texas ). Of course, Mongolia, Kenya, Norway, Costa Rica and Japan would tickle me too.

Still no answer on what those views mean on the 'manage blog entry' page. . These are my 'Top 5' entries"

1. 133 - "Doing and don'ting. A scene in 2nd person."  10/12/06
2. 62 -- "In a garden of roses, baby"  4/21/06
3. 61 --"Even in chaos ... More hockey poems."  6/05/06
4. 37 --"When is it proper to tell someone you love them?"  10/27/06
5. 35 --"Czernina (Dirk's-blood-soup?) and Murv Jacob's mural"  4/09/06

Why? Who knows why ... could be based on how people google or key words I used. Going through old entries was fun, almost too fun.

And where have 73 bloghits come from the last month? Hmmmm ... I was surprised. From Alabama, as in dareng. Thanks Daren.

17,100 views

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 Kåre Enga
~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go.
~ Elizabeth Bishop,
The Fish