In the Spirit of Poetry Has Value | August 2016 Report

August was more about scheduling and prepping for the fall semester than it was generating and sending out my own creative work with two exceptions:

• I participated in a four-day Highlights Foundation Unworkshop and completed the first draft of my pre-Holocaust novel in verse.
• I’m continuing to write poetry each week with instructor Matthew Lippman in a one-on-one and feel like I’m finally accomplishing some emotional depth.

Here are my August statistics:

Poetry: Sent to one venue, Reformjudaism.org. Acceptance, one, by Reformjudaism.org. I’m super excited about this one, because it’s a direct result of my research fellowship at the American Jewish Archives in June. I proposed a blog post about Emma Lazarus and Reform Liturgy. It was accepted and will run in October on the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. Rejections, four, by US #1 Worksheets, Prime Number, Whale Road Review (but a lovely, personalized rejection), and Massachusetts Review.

Short fiction: No action.

Creative nonfiction: No action. But I have signed up for a one-day workshop at the New School with Nancy Kelton, whom I interviewed recently.

Academic journal articles: Submitted “No Stone Unturned: Newark’s Grove Street Cemetery” to New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. I proposed a first-year literature paper to the Northeast Modern Language Association.

Other August activities: I drafted a picture book biography manuscript.