IWW Members Published and in Print

Good Yahoos this Week! Among them are major triumphs like an acceptance by Notre Dame Magazine on the one hand, and the great happiness that comes from ending a long writer's block on the other.


Carol Hicks

Talk about highs. Being a member of this writing group has changed my perception of my own talents. I spent many years trying to be a poet, but apparently I'm much better at prose.

I just received notice that my second try at publication has been accepted by PenPricks for their May issue. Title: "Professional Critiques? Maybe Not."

For any newcomers who haven't tried it, take a look here.

Thanks to everyone for critiques and for encouraging me.


Ann Hite

My story "Last Year's Easter Egg" has been published at Long Story Short. The issue is dedicated to Susan Scott, the poetry editor, who died suddenly March 19, 2008. I am shocked. I worked with Susan when she edited nonfiction. She was a pleasure to work with at all times. Long Story Short has lost one of their founding members. It is an honor to be a part of this issue.


Here's my latest review, this one on a book by Ursula LeGuin. I really got carried away with the use of language in this book. It's wonderful.


Kristen Howe

I have a weird Yahoo to tell you today. Back in February, Sue Scott, the poetry editor of Long Story Short, wanted me to work on my poem "The Reward of Being Published and Accepted" for the April issue. That was before she got sick with the flu. I sent her my revision; she wanted me to work on it more. Then Sue got sick with the flu, and a week later went to the hospital She passed away last month. So I sent my poem to the interim poetry editor, Marie Travis, with the last revision Sue wanted me to work on. Marie last month wanted me to work on it a bit more. Well, it turns out, that my poem somehow got published this week for the April issue, while I was still working on it. Sue probably worked on the April 2008 LSS issue before she got sick and passed away, with my revised poem. I e-mailed Marie--she told me congrats and I'm off the hook. Weird. So anyway, Yahoo! for that poem. (There's one typo, which is the "s" after the last period in the third stanza.) Please feel free to check it out--you have to scroll down the page to see it.


Jayne Pupek

Bryan Stokes II reviewed my poetry book Forms of Intercession (Mayapple Press, 2008).


Marcus Rose

Ken*again has accepted my short story "The Entrepreneur" for their summer issue. It is my first acceptance and my second submission, which puts me at a 50% average; clearly I'm simply on the beginner's confidence plateau, waiting to be cut down. Thank you all for all your critiques.

Jennifer A. Saccani

Hello Fellow Writers,
I'm Jennifer (a.k.a. "Amethyst"), relatively new (a couple weeks) to these groups and workshops and eager to share what for me is a first-step Yahoo in the writing department. What led me here in the first place is an extended case of severe writer's block of the worst kind and a passion to get back to my first love, writing fiction but unable to get past the blockage. Well, I'm in the FICTION and PRACTICE-W workshops as well as here, and I'm finally over the block! This week's PRACTICE-W exercise, which I'll be posting there (my first SUB since joining) by or before tomorrow evening, totally inspired me and made all the difference in the world for me and woke up my long-slumbering Muse. I'm so THRILLED to be WRITNG again...and actually LOVING what my pen is producing on the page! I just had to shout it out! And, hopefully, this exercise will lead to what I hope will become my first serious for possible publication SUBMISSION somewhere!

Anyway, I realize this is but the first step in my journey as an aspiring fiction writer, but every journey must start somewhere, right? And this first step feels WONDERFUL! Makes me want to keep "write" on going!

I finally did it! I've been struggling all week with my first attempt at a PRACTICE-W exercise to earn my first SUB credit. My first effort yielded a complete story of 2,136 words when the exercise is to be 400 words or less, so that didn't fly, though I was excited to have FINALLY COMPLETED something I wrote and actually LIKED it. Well, after a full day at the Page, I totally revamped the exercise, in a way beginning from scratch, put the thing through three on-the-spot revisions to shrink it, and I GOT MY 400 WORDS!!! In fact, I was so PSYCHED and EXCITED to submit this first SUB to the workshop that I hit SEND on the post, only to realize I forgot to run it through my WebTV system's spell-checker. Oh, well, at least I got it in before today, Friday, has ended, and proved to myself that, YES, I really AM capable of writing SHORT enough to stay within an established word length guideline/requirement. And I can live with the spelling errors it probably contains due to getting so caught up in the dead-on accurate length that I forgot to check it for spelling and such. At least I GOT MY FIRST SUB, and it feels WONDERFUL!!!


Wayne Scheer

I've come close to winning a couple of contests but no cigar.

My essay "Watching Baseball with My Son and Grandson," won an Honorable Mention at Spindle Magazine's Play Ball contest. For those of you with a New York state of mind, this is an interesting site. My essay can be read at:

Also, unlikely though it may be, my story "Final Wish," was a runner-up in a contest sponsored by Women on Writing (WOW). They sponsor a quarterly flash contest with prize money for the winners (not the runners up, alas) and the contest is open to men. The stories have to be written for a female audience.

Pen Pricks has accepted another 55-worder from me, "The Stone Wall." It's set for their May issue.

My story "Making Her Shot," written originally for the Practice list, is up at Long Story Short.

And finally, saving the best for last, my essay "Sunset Trip" is up at Notre Dame Magazine. They changed the title, probably wisely, from "Wayne Has Left the Building."

Thanks to everyone at IWW for helping me with these stories.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------