News, Links and Upcoming Stuff

It won’t be news to anyone that is is damn hot here in NYC. It’s 94 degrees and it feels like you are walking around inside a blast furnace when the hot wind blows. I guess in this age of global warming, we’d better get used to it.

It was news to me that Harry Ramble’s 50th birthday is today. Happy Birthday Harry! I can only hope the next 50 years are at least as good as the first fifty. I found out about this event by reading his sly blog post I’ll Never Be a Real Dentist (http://harryramble.com/2012/06/29/ill-never-be-a-real-dentist/). Now Harry would never admit to having a wicked sense of humor, or taking any glee in popping my angst filled bubble when I rend my clothes and pour ash on myself in public, such as my previous post “Would the Real Artists Among Us Please Stand Up.” It would be in all of our best interests to read his post and have a chuckle at ourselves (but mostly he skewers himself in the post.) And Harry, while YOU may not think you’re going to write the next great American novel, there are a few of us out here who might bet against you on that.

If I’m going to wish Harry a happy birthday, then I must also wish George a belated Happy Birthday too. In George’s case we went out to Sunday brunch so he knows I wish him the best, but now it’s officially public too. George won’t let me say much about his fantastic novel that he’s planning to publish soon, but I’m so bursting with pride after having worked on it with him from an editorial perspective that I can’t wait to sing out to the world once it’s available for everyone to read.

Okay, I had to get all that off my chest. 🙂

Erin Fitzgerald, editor of The Northville Review let me know via email that There Was An Old Woman is coming, soon. I’ll do my usual announcement, but I’m so excited to see this story go up over there I’m doing the preliminary tease here. I know… you’re all as anxious with anticipation as I am, aren’t you?

And finally Dale Wisely, editor of Right Hand Pointing, contacted me recently because I’ve been invited to have my flash piece New York City included in their upcoming anthology CITIES AND STATES: A RIGHT HAND POINTING COMPILATION. Of course I said yes!

Dale mentioned it will take a few months for him to do all the work needed, but once I find out more information about it, I’ll let everybody know in case you’d like to purchase a copy.

I should really re-plug the Cities issue of Right Hand Pointing because I thought it was awesome… and not just because my little piece is in it. If you go to the RHP site, you can find it in the archive, or go to my Published Stories page for the link directly to my short piece.

New Piece at Right Hand Pointing!

My new prose piece New York City has been posted as a part of the wonderful, amazing, incredible Right Hand Pointing Cities Issue.

A permanent link to this story will also be available on the “Published Stories” page too.

Enjoy!

Stories Accepted for publication: Blink Ink!

I’m extremely pleased to announce that Doug Mathewson, Blink Ink editor has accepted a pair of micro-fiction pieces (Blink Ink publishes 50 word stories…) for the Spring 2012 issue.

Quick story on how my submission came about:

For the Right Hand Pointing “Cities” issue Dale Wisely (Right Hand Pointing editor) asked the writers to proof-read the issue prior to publication. It turns out Blink Ink editor Doug Mathewson and I both have pieces appearing in that issue coming any moment now in December. I hadn’t visited the Blink Ink site before, but Doug’s story in RHP made me curious.

I checked out the Blink Ink site and I was intrigued by the challenge of a 50 word story that was self-contained. I’ve learned that micro-fiction can be extremely challenging to write, but I enjoy it. My inspiration for the pair of pieces was familial in nature and highly personal, which resonated with Doug and for that I am grateful.

But you’ll have to wait until Spring 2012 to find out what I wrote! Of course I’ll publish a link to the stories here, along with a permanent link on the Published Stories page.

Story Accepted by Right Hand Pointing!

I’m extremely pleased to announce that Right Hand Pointing has accepted a flash fiction piece for inclusion in their “Cities” issue, coming out in December. My piece is titled New York City. 

As usual, I will post a link on the blog when the issue comes out, and a permanent link will appear on the Published Stories page too.

If you are not familiar with Right Hand Pointing, I highly recommend you check out their innovative (and very orange) website.

From the website’s About page:

One feature of rhp is the sequencing.  Each issue is designed to be read from beginning to end.  Thus, a simple, stripped down, low-tech design. (This simplicity has NOTHING to do with the fact that we don’t really know how to produce a more technically sophisticated website.) 

The reader moves  through each issue by clicking on the pointing right hand icon on the right of all pages.  It looks like this .  The right hand pointing is your key to moving through right hand pointing, and indeed, your life.