SILENCE HAS A NAME (Poetry Chapbook)

SILENCE HAS A NAME (Finishing Line Press, 2016)
$12 (plus $3.50 shipping and handling) via PayPal 
arya.jenkins@yahoo.com




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PUBLISHING TODAY

Image
It will come as no news to those struggling to get books published these days that times are especially tough right now. An author friend who finally got an agent last year and is trying to sell what I don't doubt is a well-written novel has struggled through 26, that's right, 26, rejections from publishers since then. For starters, the market is saturated, as more and more people want to write books, even if they are neither readers nor experts nor experienced "writers," even in terms of understanding Grammar and style. AI and self-publishing both support these kinds of authors and they are creating challenges for those more practiced in the field who need to generate interest in and sell their work too. Another big problem is that marketability has taken the place of originality in terms of what publishers now seek. How likeable are you as a writer? How likeable is your style? These are questions that would have made most, if not all authors from the past with any ...
Read more

REFLECTING ON WHAT REAL SUCCESS IS

Image
Someone I hold very dear recently wrote to me about her refusal to go by the cultural standard in America where one must pretend always to be successful, that one's life and work are in great shape and failure nowhere in sight. Failure is intrinsic to human life and we tend to forget that in a competitive society. My friend's statement prompted me to question my own ideas of what success is. To what standards do I hold myself? Who selected them? What does it mean to succeed in life? Are the values of our culture, my values? What do I consider success to be? As a writer, I've long grown accustomed to rejections from journals. It's part of the writing process which writers have to learn to take in stride. I've developed a pretty good sense of equanimity about that by now, taking into consideration a journal's timing, themes, taste, preferences, how many editors are reviewing my work. There are multiple factors to consider and sometimes it seems like a literary acc...
Read more

TO WRITE

Image
"To Write, first of all, is not to be seen," relays the narrator of The Possession, Annie Ernaux's 62-page novel, written like a journal entry, on the subject of jealousy. Someone else I am reading wrote that it's best to write in secret, as if no one will ever read one's thoughts. Or maybe this was Ernaux's protagonist, who is a writer, earlier on, while in the initial throes of her obsession.  Most writers I've known treat their craft like an obsession. How often have I heard, even out of my own mouth, "I have to write. If I don't, I'll go crazy." Well it's true, even if it's equally true that everything we set down is not necessarily fit for public consumption, or even publication through Amazon.  It is a noble endeavor to commit to the act of writing, regardless of outcomes. The process inevitably leads to truths, and so it's a brave act too. The arts are not just an exercise for the ego, they are one of the few ways we ca...
Read more