Thursday, January 31, 2013

Writing from the Heart

We writers want to see our work published either in online or print journals. Before we get there, we need to write good poems, stories, essays. And, the joy of publication does not end in being read by people but in how it will take us: One thing leads to another. It happens to me with my poems. Four of my tanka have been selected for publication in Robert Epstein's new anthology Now This: Contemporary Poems of Beinnings, Renewals, and Firsts which will come out soon. How did I get the invitation from the editor? He liked one of my tanka published in Bottle Rockets #28 and contacted me. One thing leads to another.

Another bit of good news excites me further. I am one of the two winners of the 2012 Jerry Kilbride Memorial English-Language Haibun Contest. Yvonne Cabalona the Contest Coordinator is generous with her kind words. In the notificaion she wrote: " . . . In our very mobile society, there is always that longing for home, isn't there? That emotion resonates with all of us. . . ." My haibun that has won the second place touches on a universal theme that people of different cultures and backgrounds can relate to.

We don't have to strive to write to win. If we write from the heart, the writing itself will resonate with the reader. Our writing will shine.