Writing year in review: 2014--not bad!

8 acceptances (individual poems)

1 individual poem awarded, 3^rd place.

2 chosen as readers’ favorites (#1 and #3)

1 chapbook runner-up award

1 chapbook accepted (20 poems)

1 Pushcart Prize nomination
1 interview to be published (for Arte Latino Now, at Queens College at Charlotte)

I am most pleased with the Readers' choice and Pushcart nomination!  

Fall was slow, but things picked up in the Winter:

"Nothing in the Dark" a poem inspired by the eponymous classic Twilight Zone episode was published by FLARE: the Flagler Review, Fall edition, page 39.

And "Late Bloomers" was just chosen to be the poem for May in the Writer's Rising Up 2015 calendar.  

The calendar will be available to download for free in January: Digging to the Roots .

Readers' Choice: Letter from Lara and Point of No Return chosen as readers' favorites.

I was very happily surprised to come across this post from Spark: A Creative Anthology--they had a vote on which pieces, either prose or poetry, from each volume over the last two years were the readers' favorite pieces and two of my poems were chosen!  "Letter from Lara" was chosen as the number one favorite from Volume V, which was an excellent volume of stories and poems, so I am extremely flattered!

Spark: Readers' Choice--The First Two Years

Shining from a Different Firmament: my first chapbook of poetry!

My first chapbook will be published just in time for Valentine's Day (and Women's History Month in March)!
It can be pre-ordered at the publisher's site:

https://finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=

The Table of Contents:

Hypatia’s Revenge

Sister Mary Melanie’s Last Cotillion

Nefertiti’s Secret

The Picture of Constance Wilde

Heloise Alone, Argenteuil, 1118

On Viewing ‘Dante and Beatrice’ by Henry Holiday, 1884

Very Truly Yours, Irene Norton, née Adler

Rachel’s Reasons

Monody for Pierre by Marie C., Paris, 1910

Cassandra Austen Writes to Jane’s Faithless Lover

The Amazon Warrior Champion

Letter from Lara, Yuriatin, 1920

Richard the Lionheart’s Mummified Heart Examined

Red Light

I designed the cover and Jim took the picture of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy and my author pics!

Why Write?

I've been thinking about why I suddenly decided to begin publishing my poetry and trying to improve my writing in order to make it publishable.  I certainly don't intend to supplement my income or launch a career at my age, but I notice the poems I'm writing are like a file card index of my memories. My new poems reflect seemingly random flotsam and jetsam that got caught in my imagination and never left me.  But why we notice one thing and not another--how we filter the stream of our life's events through our psyche--these things make up a person.  My touchstone moments are being manifested and recorded via my poems.

We are happy to inform you.....

I really love emails that begin with those words!

I am happy to inform you, dear Imaginary Readers, that FLARE: the Flagler Review just accepted my poem "Nothing in the Dark" inspired by a classic Twilight Zone episode and more distantly by William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

My first Pushcart Prize Nomination!

I just received a letter from the editor of Falling Star Magazine that the he and his staff had nominated my poem, "Lincoln's Long Trip Home, 1865" for a Pushcart Prize!  As far as winning, this means nothing because tens of thousands of poems are nominated by small literary journals and presses worldwide, but as it is my first, I am still excited and pleased to have written one of the six poems nominated by Falling Star this year.  The editors put a lot of faith behind my poem and I'm happy they liked it enough to nominate it.  As it came on the heels of several rejections (my record of at least one acceptance a month which began last June was broken in July) it was even more appreciated.

Poetry Chapbook Accepted by Finishing Line Press

My poetry chapbook entitled "Shining from a Different Firmament" was accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press.  (I had entered their yearly New Women's Voices chapbook contest and although I didn't win, they still offered me general publication.)

The chapbook consists of 20 mostly persona poems about historical and legendary women, among them:

Hypatia of Alexandria
Irene Adler, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis
Doc Holliday's cousin Sister Mary Melanie, the model for Gone With the Wind's Melanie Hamilton later Wilkes.
Madame Curie
Beatrice, whom Dante loved and featured in his Inferno.
Constance Wilde, wife of Oscar
Queen Nefertiti
Heloise
Rachel of the Bible
Cassandra Austen, sister of Jane
Lara, a character in Boris Pasternak's sole novel:  Doctor Zhivago

Those who can't write....submit!

The past few months have not been very productive for me, poetry writing-wise, so I'm taking advantage and concentrating on submitting my backlist of poems.  Some of my best haven't been published because they need particular markets which I haven't found yet (or haven't been invented yet!)  Well, that's my take on it,anyway!

It's one way to stay productive in those sparse writing months--no one can publish it while it's sitting in your computer!  And waiting for acceptances is excruciating, so you want to have a constant rolling submission rate to ensure the flow of acceptances is a stream (or at least a trickle!) and keeps you encouraged.

Somewhere I read that if you are a writer who needs encouragement to write, then you can forget about being a writer!  But that's a little harsh, don't you think?  Everyone needs encouragement; sure, there are writers like Emily Dickinson who write in isolation but even she sought out encouragement--that she didn't receive as much as she deserved is another thing.  Genius is often not rewarded in its own age, but most of us aren't geniuses, so we can expect some encouragement, I hope!

I've been receiving acceptances on a regular basis, at least one a month for a year now, and I am waiting to hear from five or six journals/contests right now.  In late May I heard from Spellbound that they accepted The Coqui Prince, my Puerto Rican Frog Prince fairy tale adaptation poem (Whew! That's a mouthful!) for publication in their special anthology edition.  I'm very happy to be included in that!  This poem flowed out very naturally and is based on memories of my father's country house in the hills of Puerto Rico.

I have now passed the criteria (which does not include publications in children's poetry magazines, by the way, which I think is a shame, since writing for children is much more difficult than for adults!  But they were very prompt in adding some journals that were not listed in their publications list, so I can't complain!) to be listed on the Poets & Writers directory, click on my name to see my listing:

Beatriz Fernandez

More Poems Finding Homes

I'm very excited to be published by a journal I've submitted to several times, Boston Literary Magazine, whose Editor-in-Chief Robin Stratton just accepted "Fourth Grade Dance" for their summer issue.

Last month, Falling Star Magazine, a paying market, accepted "Lincoln's Long Trip Home" for their upcoming issue themed "Point A to B."

Friday I received my contributor's copy of Spark: A Creative Anthology, volume V, so my birthday month is replete with writing pleasures!

I'm busy at work for Spellbound, who solicited world-wide fairy-tale related poetry with a diverse background for children aged 8-12.  Writing for children is always a challenge for me, but this is such an interesting anthology, I'm giving it my best effort!

Spellbound Table of Contents

Fiction

Jacinta and the Cornstalk by Kari Castor
The Boi Who Drew Cats by Jay Wilburn
Black River, Blue Sky by Pamela Love
The Frog and the Condor by Christina Tesoro
The Four Skilled Sisters by EM Beck
The Key by Alex Townsend
Queenie the Beautiful and her Magical Doll by Szmeralda Shanel

Poetry

What you need to know about fairy godmothers by Laurel Klein
Mirror Image by Beth Rodriguez
Counting by Jennifer Moser Jurling
The Coquí Captain by Beatriz Fernandez
After the Nettles by Sara Cleto
Vasilisa the Beautiful by Sharon Fedor

Artwork

Jane Baker, Paul Davey, Melanie Gillman, Charli Gunn, Tory Hoke, Susan Knowles, Nilah Magruder, Marta Milczarek, Audrey Roche & Steve Wood.

"Letter from Lara" to be published by Spark

Spark, A Creative Anthology will publish my poem "Letter from Lara, Yuriatin, 1920" which won 3rd place in their "Winter" contest--Spark is a beautiful publication consisting of an eclectic mix of writing styles, short stories and poetry.  I am so fortunate to have discovered them and feel very proud to be published there.  They offer fair compensation for publication and excellent prizes in their quarterly themed fiction and poetry contests!  The artwork is also standout, as exemplified by this cover art by Casey Robin for their Volume V, where I hope the poem will be included:

The Best Rejection Letter.....

I just heard that I didn't win the Minerva Rising Literary Journal chapbook contest, but the Editor sent me such a wonderful rejection letter that I am just as excited as if I had won!  They will be awarding me a runner-up prize and publishing one of my poems in a later issue.   I am very honored to be a finalist in their first chapbook contest and look forward to seeing one of my poems published in their journal this year!

Northern Liberties Review publication and Label Me Latina/o acceptance!

Northern Liberties Review published my poem "Demo Session at the Newport Guitar Festival" this month!   They are published from Philadelphia, my hometown, so I was particularly happy they accepted it.

This was followed by an acceptance from Label Me Latina/o, "an online, refereed international e-journal that focuses on Latino Literary Production in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The journal invites scholarly essays focusing on these writers for its biannual publication. Label Me Latina/o also publishes creative literary pieces whose authors self-define as Latina or Latino regardless of thematic content."

They will publish my poem "Poem for My Father" in this year's Spring issue.  I am very excited to be published there, as I enjoy their unique mix of scholarly articles with creative works, and I admire all the poems they have featured.

2014 auspicious beginnings...

2014 seems to be getting off to a good start--I just found out yesterday that my poem, "Letter From Lara, Yuriatin, 1920" won 3rd place in Spark, A Creative Anthology's Contest Four!!

"Letter From Lara" is a persona poem written from the point of view of a fictional character from Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago.  Pasternak was a Russian poet; Dr. Zhivago was his only novel besides one written in verse.  The prompt for the contest was "winter," so the frozen steppes of Siberia inevitably came to mind!

2013 in review

Writing-wise, 2013 was a great year for me:

• 11 publications
• 2 radio appearances on WLRN (one reading and a reading/interview)
• 2 writers conferences/workshops (resulting in 3 poems)
• 1 guest blog
• 1 Quote of the Day
• 1 poetry contest award

I feel like I made significant progress this year; I think
it will turn out to be turning point in my writing.

Next year I already have made commitments for two poetry
events in April, National Poetry Month!  2014 is shaping up!

Random House's "Zombies Take Back the Library" contest winner

I just found out my zombie library display was one of the winners!  We won four free books for the library!

Interviewed for WLRN-Miami Herald News --Miami Book Fair International takes off!

I received an email from WLRN-Miami Herald news wanting to interview published poets who have another job during the Miami Book Fair International.  Because of my participation in the O'Miami Poetry Festival, they must have had my name on a contacts list. The feature article, "These Are the Day Jobs of Miami Bards" by Rachel Morello aired on 91.3 FM, November 22, 2013.

Photo Courtesy of Rachel Morello, WLRN Miami News

Quite a few of my favorite poets are appearing at the Book Fair this year, beginning with Sharon Olds, Mary Jo Salter, Robert Pinsky, Campbell McGrath and Richard Blanco and ending with a reading by the Miami Poetry Collective!

My retired colleague and friend Andy Grof, will be reading from his novel as well!

What happens when you google yourself....

I found out that I was "Latino Quote of the Day" on November 14th!  Thanks to Bobby Gonzalez for the honor!  He quoted from my Latina Book Club guest blog about writing.

He shared my quote on his syndicated site:  Latino Quote of the Day

“At 50+ I can claim many freedoms I did not possess before—my hair is thinner but my skin is thicker—I can take rejection and criticism and stand my ground better…”
             -    Beatriz F. Fernandez, Puerto Rican/Peruvian author.

Latino Quote Of The Day™ is curated by Bobby Gonzalez.

Bobby González is a nationally known multicultural motivational speaker, storyteller and poet. Born and raised in raised in the South Bronx, New York City, he grew up in a bicultural environment. Bobby draws on his Native American (Taino) and Latino (Puerto Rican) roots to offer a unique repertoire of discourses, readings and performances that celebrates his indigenous heritage.

FIU Writers Conference Wrap-Up

I fought burn-out and migraines during the FIU Writer's Conference but it was well worth it!  I attended sessions held by Frances de Pontes Peebles, Lynne Barrett, Campbell McGrath and the keynote speech by Dennis Lehane, who is very funny!  He told the audience to get used to being "mutants" who care about this weird thing called writing and not to expect others to understand (paraphrasing wildly from memory here, but you get the idea!)

The best experience for me, naturally, was the poetry workshop held by FIU professor and poet Campbell McGrath.  We discussed various styles of poetry and then he assigned us two poems and then we read them and discussed them in class. He said one of my poems was "terrific" and told me to go home and write some more!  When Campbell McGrath tells you that, you dare not disobey!

Lynne Barrett led us through a breakdown of good fiction-writing practices by using Hansel and Gretel as an example of an enduring and effective story.  This was a very interesting method which clarified many things in my mind even though I'm not writing fiction right now.

I wish I could have attended all the sessions and events but I wasn't able to--the activities began at 7:30 in the morning and lasted until the evening with breaks for meals.  I met many nice people and was very impressed with the level of writing of the participants,

Irene Adler haunts Sherlock's mind....

My poem, "Very Truly Yours, Irene Norton, née Adler” which won 2nd place in Spark's Contest Two, will be published in Spark, A Creative Anthology Volume III on Halloween!  

“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen.... And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.”

― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Marissa Ball made this great pastiche of photos from my Zombie Halloween display for the FIU Green Library!