Eschew Bad News. Refuse the Blues.

Selected friends and family have read advanced drafts of my poem, "Think of Pink," but no one has yet read the latest, probably final revision. I improved it last night, mostly by excising some of the repetitive lines, but also by relocating two poems from the top of the poem to the bottom. It flows much better, now.

"Think of pink. Think of pink!"

I submitted an earlier, but decent draft of "Think of Pink" to "Lighten Up Online," the same quarterly e-magazine of light verse that published "Where Angels Dance," but editor Jerome Betts gently rejected it as "not quite in LUPO's territory." 

Too bad. Even though LUPO is a non-paying market, and I may not be able to hope for better when it comes to light verse. At least there, I my work is in good company. (There's a lot of good poetry on the site. I recommend giving it a look.)

On that note, The Winning Writers' Wergle-Flomp Humor Poetry Contest publishes quality stuff and potentially pays, but is (therefore) even less likely to accept my work. 

Despite earning an Honorable Mention in that contest in 2019 (for "Where Pixies Relax") I have had no luck since. More discouraging, I've read some incredibly well-written poetry among the winners, but too few I found humorous. To sum up: 1). What I consider funny doesn't seem to amuse the Wergle-Flomp judges; 2) What the judges choose to win--while reliably high art--is less reliably funny. Ergo, I don't feel particularly hopeful about the prospects of succeeding in that market.

Speaking of major rewrites, I'll confess I've often contemplated replacing some mediocre lines in "Where Pixies Relax" (specifically, the verse about backpacks). 

A broader problem I have are humorous poems that rely on cultural references, since those quickly lose their meaning. "Santa Claus is Coming and He's Pissed" (an old favorite, never published) contrasts Charles Bronson's menace (see "Dirty Dozen" and "Death Wish") with Tinkerbell's harmlessness. "A Spaceman," (published in Clarendon House Publishing's, Poetica 3: Inner Circle Writer's Group Poetry Anthology 2021" likens a starry sky to "Liberace's sequined robe."

[Before I leave the topic of perishable references, I'm currently rewriting a short story that, in earlier drafts, mined humor out of "Rambo" and famous extraterrestrials: "E.T., Kal-el, Chewbacca, Spock and Doctor Who." None of those references will survive another draft.]

Back to poetry for a final subject. After Dad passed away, I inherited a stack of my own creative writing that he had saved for me. Among the stacked papers was a long-lost love poem I wrote for Sara while we were still newlyweds, living in Oakland, California: "The Light of My Life."

It's very nice, but not precious. So, I'll probably submit it soon to a vanity venue such as "Clarendon House Publishing's Poetics anthology series, or perhaps, "Spillwords.com". Once it's published, I'll likely come back and share it here, too. It begins:

The Light of My Life

Some days, I commute before sunrise,

On a train that dives under The Bay,

To a job in a windowless office,

Where I work without daylight all day...

Hungry Thing 2nd Edition Now Available (in Four Formats!)

When Hungry Thing was first self-published in December of 2019, I listed the publisher as my own,"Jot in the Dark Publishing." I even registered the business name in my street address at the time, which is still printed inside old or unsold copies of the book.

It was news to me that once I let Lulu.com provide a free ISBN, they became the actual publisher, no matter what I had printed inside the books opening pages, aka "front matter". This was disappointing news, but for the best, since I am a military dependent in the habit of being relocated every three years, which means that address was promptly obsolete. (A stranger lives there, now.) 

Moreover, Norbert and I decided together on two versions of the book: hardcover and paperback, in only one size: 6x9. (He formatted the covers, back and front, and I formatted everything else.) 

Norbert shared with me that when he first held his own copy of the book in his hands, though he was proud of it, he was also crestfallen by how small it is. The largest illustrations fill most of a single, 6x9 page, framed with plenty of white margin. By comparison, his painstakingly detailed original artworks are each triple that size up close. A 6x9 book is not the ideal presentation.

Ever since, Norbert and I have dreamed of updating the book, including a larger edition (8.5x11 or "US Letter Size) but I kept putting it off. 

Also, I wanted to own the ISBN next time, so that I would be free to change publishers without losing all the 5-star book reviews, etc. ISBNs are expensive, and I would need a different ISBN for each format of the book.  For U.S. based publishers, a company named Bowker sells a block of 10 ISBNs, which is a good deal if you plan to publish more than one book. So, kept putting it off until I was almost ready to publish another title--probably my planned, debut short story collection.

Meanwhile, my writing output had slowed, and most of my recent finished work kept getting rejected. The dilemma of whether to keep refining rejected works or focus on completing unfinished stories or even writing new ones was nearly paralyzing. Watching deadlines pass by, while losing momentum is very dispiriting. Yet somehow, this year I have reached a stage of having half a dozen unpublished stories collected, all of which are theoretically publishable, if I only keep submitting them (or improving them). Therefore, my next priority became overcoming my procrastination.

As we approach its six-year publishing anniversary, republishing Hungry Thing finally struck me as most urgent on the list of long-neglected imperatives. 

So, after some struggle, I have finally finished a 2nd Edition. Hungry Thing is now available in new formats as well as old. For the first time, it is available as an EPUB  (digital book) readable via Kindle, Apple, Google Play, or Kobo. It available again as a 6x9 paperback, but via Kindle instead of Lulu. Because Kindle will not publish a hardcover book having fewer than 75 pages (HT has roughly 40), I have kept Lulu as the publisher for the 6x9 glossy hardcover you may remember, PLUS a new, US Letter Sized matte-finish hardover on premium, 80lb paper stock.

"Ship of the Dead" published in The World of Myth Magazine

As of July 15th, 2026, the fourth and final installment of my serialized horror story, "Ship of the Dead" became available in issue #151 of "The World of Myth Magazine." 

Also in this issue, a drabble: "Prayers of Dread: Matthew 5 Heresy," and my humorous science fiction poem, "Jenny's Junkyard Rocket."

Serialized chapters began appearing in April, starting with

"A Fateful Meeting" in issue #148;

"A Perilous Invitation" in issue #149

"Night of Catastrophe" in issue #150

And concluding with, "Nightmare Seance," in issue #151

Meadowsweet and the Eldritch Codex (The Witch, Ghost, & Troll Rise from the Dead)

On May 7th, I blogged that my short story, "The Witch, the Ghost, and the Troll," intended for the Black Hare Press "Emerald City" anthology had been rejected for incorporating obvious Wizard-of-Oz references, owing to a misread of the submission guidelines (including an emphatic warning to avoid Oz mythology or "fan-fic".)

Fortunately, those Oz-related details were not essential to the story, and I was invited to rewrite and resubmit, since plenty of time remained before the submission deadline. A helpful critique which I was advised to heed if I followed through, was that my story had ended with a key emotional thread unresolved. Honestly, this happened because I believed my story had already reached the maximum word limit, and so I chose a rushed ending. It wasn't until much later someone else pointed out that the word limit was 10k, not 5k. *Heavy sigh*.

Anyway, while still believing my revision had an upper limit of 5k, I was forced to cut mercilessly in order to make room for a more complete ending. Somehow, I completed a new, more satisfying draft in fewer than 5k words. The ending was poignant, but summarizing. I was still being economical. 

And then, because as I was preparing to submit, I noticed that the actual word limit was 10k words,  I explored a more thorough, descriptive ending. My own readers assured me this 6k-word version was the strongest yet, and so I submitted it this week. No word yet, whether it has been rejected.

Time Travel Drabble Published by Black Hare Press Patreon

"Belated Foresight," a time-travel-themed drabble I submitted for the Dark Moments monthly contest, did not win one of the twelve, top spots, yet was accepted for an "honorable mention" of sorts, to be published on the publisher's Patreon site, and should be reprinted in the year-end, Dark Moments/Patreon drabble anthology.

Unfortunately, only subscribers to the Black Hare Press Patreon can read the story until then: https://www.patreon.com/blackharepress/posts/belated-by-shawn-161943208

Since I've been experiencing a publishing dry spell while working on longer projects, I was delighted to have anything published. The $4 payment was welcome, too. Just enough to tip the  time-travel taxi driver.