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An amazing week away in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, and good news while I was there. My flash fiction "Pretty Girl" was accepted for publication in the next issue of NEW FLASH FICTION REVIEW, a stellar flash magazine edited by Meg Pokrass (the founder—a wonderful writer and one of the mothers of flash), Santino Prinzi, and Al Kratz. They've published all the flash heavies, and I've already seen some great writers announcing acceptances in this issue. Can't wait! Also, an anthology that's been a long time in the making seems to be making progress toward publication. FEMININE RISING, edited by Andrea Fekete and Lara Lillibridge (who did a wonderful review of THE MISSING GIRL in The Mom Egg Review) unveiled a cover. (Latest literary gossip: Anna March, who's doing the foreword, has been unmasked by Melissa Chadburn and Carolyn Kellogg in the LA Times as a fraud and scam artist; I wonder whether the editors will retain her foreword). The tentative release date is late April 2019. It's available for pre-sale by Cynren Press now. Also while I was away, flash guru Kathy Fish gave THE MISSING GIRL five out of five stars on Goodreads, and wrote in a tweet that she loved the book (especially "My Blue Heaven"). So that is very cool. I want to try some stories I haven't read before in the Black Lawrence Press reading in Sausalito in September; I will include that one (maybe have Steve do the male voices since we read well together).
p.s. The editors at FEMININE RISING are replacing Anna March. Alison K. Williams did a good blog post in BREVITY about the Anna March scandal and its implications for emerging writers. Roxane Gay (whose work and advice is invaluable) did a twitter thread and said the following: "Guys, look… there are good and great writing coaches out there, but… you do not need a writing coach. You don’t need an MFA. You do need to write and read a lot. Feedback CAN help you improve as a writer. There are virtual and real writing groups out there. Even when I was a young writer who did not know shit about shit, who did not know that you could get a degree in writing, I did not pay someone to read my writing. I just wrote, constantly. And I am not special. This is how most writers develop." I don't have an MFA. I've done some workshops (Bread Loaf, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, others) which were interesting, quite expensive, and not really necessary to my development as a writer. My work has definitely improved through the mentoring of my writer-husband, my excellent writing group in San Francisco (seven years now!), and a couple of online writing groups I just joined this year. I agree with Roxane Gay: you develop by writing, constantly. There's no magic shortcut.
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