Tag Archives: Writing

The Meaning of Rejection

Submittable calls it “Decline.” I like to refer to it as “Returned” when my manuscripts come back to me, which they still do more often than not. As an editor for Poetry South and a frequent submitter to many magazines, I have a complicated relationship with rejection. On the one hand, I have a toughContinue reading “The Meaning of Rejection”

How Do You Know When You’ve Written a Poem? — A Dream Answer

In a dream last night, I was at an event aswering questions, and someone asked, “How do you know when you’ve written a poem?” I had a pretty good answer, or at least so it seemed in the dream. So let’s see how much I can remember here. The first part of my answer wasContinue reading “How Do You Know When You’ve Written a Poem? — A Dream Answer”

Two Tiers of Pushcart Nominations

Did you know that there are two kinds of nominations for the Pushcart Anthology? I was looking through some old papers this morning and was reminded of the distinction. The one most of us get is a nomination by the editors of a journal. Each editor of any literary magazine can send in up toContinue reading “Two Tiers of Pushcart Nominations”

February Wrap-Up

February has been a busy, busy month. Even with the extra day that leap year afforded, it seemed to go faster than ever. At Mississippi University for Women, our year began with the announcement of a new name: a name that went over like a lead balloon. So February started with a scramble to comeContinue reading “February Wrap-Up”

MFA Application Advice 2024

Now that it’s January, we’ve started to see some applications again for our low-residency MFA program for another year. This has me thinking about all the advice I’ve given to applicants over the years. If I could give one piece of advice on how to apply, I think it would be to just be you.Continue reading “MFA Application Advice 2024”