Pushcart Prize Nominations

Our Pushcart Prize nominations have been mailed. What a difficult decision considering how much we love the outstanding writing from each of our contributors.

Our nominations are as follows:

Poems –

• Explaining (Chronic Depression) by David Russomano (published May 2012)
• River by Chris Kobylinsky (published July 2012)
• Lonely in Peru by Karina van Berkum (published May 2012)

Short Stories –

• The Bell Ringer by Robert Boucheron (published April 2012)
• Camp Kusini by Finley Pines (published May 2012)
• Memories I Cannot Recall by Mercedes Lucero (published August 2012)

To our contributors and our readers, thank you for your continued support of Mouse Tales Press.


***

Pushcart Prize Nominations

Photo by Mateusz Stachowski

It’s official.

Mouse Tales Press is sending out nominations for the 2013 Pushcart Prize. Its Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is known as “the most honored literary project in America.”

The competition is fierce. Magazine and small book press editors (both print and online) may nominate up to six of “any combination of poetry, short stories, essays, or literary whatnot.”

We have been thinking hard about our decision, reading through all of the wonderful poems and short stories that appeared on our website in 2012.

Please stop by again after we finish our nomination process on November 15, at which time we will announce our nominees.

Thanks for your continued support of Mouse Tales Press.

*****

• Be sure to check out the November issue of Mouse Tales Press.
• Participate in Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-a-Day Chapbook Challenge. 

*****
.

November Issue

The November issue is now online. Please enjoy - and leave a comment if you have a moment.

Thanks for reading!

medium tales, aka short stories

          Gene G. Bradbury -

          Gilbert's Dilemma

          Melodie Corrigall -

          Cyclops, One

short tales, aka poetry

          Patricia Bruce -

          Who Feels?

          Joe Gianotti -

          Sunyata

          Mike Perkins -

          Service at Eventide

          Daniel Wilcox -

          Face-Overs

The October Issue of Mouse Tales Press

Just a quickie update to let you all know that the October issue is now online. This month we have our usual number of short stories (two), but instead of our standard four poets, we have five.

Enjoy!

Short Stories

     Mike Cavanaugh -

The Edge

      Kate LaDew -

The Gutter and the Stars

Poetry

      Virginie Colline -

Black and White Haiku
(accompanied by illustration by Antonin Crenn)

      Elizabeth Farrell -

Modern Haiku

      Colleen Fullin -

Heart

      Chris Russell -

Amateur Necromancy

      George Such -

i'm inside

A Special Announcement for Our Writers

I haven't officially announced it on the Mouse Tales Press Facebook page or blog yet. But if you want to get ahead of the game, check out my other blog where I unofficially announce what my editor, Elizabeth Johnson, and I are up to. You will have to read my post, "Nourishing the Soul (and Stomach) with Creativity" to find it though. :-)

Happy Sunday!

Inspiration by M. Eileen Bohrer

She sat, writing lines
About bucolic meadows,
Peaceful streams and birds.
Unaware of the
Earwig about to ascend
The slope of her leg.
Inspiration.



M. Eileen Bohrer is an artist who likes to write poetry and inspirational articles; some of her written works have appeared on Buddha Chick Life online magazine. You can find some of her photography and other artwork on her Wordpress blog, Melzzartt, or on her Facebook art page.


*****

• Like the Mouse Tales Press Facebook page.
• Follow Mouse Tales Press on Twitter.

*****

One Hundred Leaves - A Collection of One Hundred Tanka Poems

From the moment I picked up One Hundred Leaves, a translation of “one hundred poems from one hundred Japanese poets,” I was enamored. The lovely photo on the cover, even the smooth feel in my hands drew me in, but the best part waited inside.

Its analysis of the Japanese poetry now commonly referred to as tanka, includes a description of how visual images, pivot and pillow words, nature, season and time of day, and overall experience were handled during the time frame from when these poems were written, the 7th to the 13th century.

Turn the page to another world and discover a piece of Japanese artwork, each poem in its original Japanese form with a pronunciation guide, Blue Flute’s translation, poem author name with birth and death dates, and literal notes regarding the translation.

For any poetry lover or fan of Japanese culture, this is a beautiful book to add to a collection.

One Hundred Leaves: A new annotated translation of the Hyakunin Isshu [Paperback] Blue Flute (Author)



*****

Check out short stories and more poetry on Mouse Tales Press.
Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest!
Sign up for email updates from this blog by signing up in the box above my profile photo at the top of the page.  


*****

Making a Poetry Chapbook

The question of the day seems to be, "What is a chapbook?" There is a great answer at Writer's Digest.

I'm putting one together for a class I'm taking and I'm about three-fourths of the way through.

Read about my experience at the whatnot shop.

Poems, Poems, Poems

My son came home with a gift for me today. A book of poetry he wrote in his 4th grade class.

It made me cry. I guess I have another poet in the family. Here is one selection:

         I wish I could fly.
         Like a bird.
         And dream about falling off a cliff.
         I am flying over the sea.
         I used to swim all day.
         But now I want to fly.
         I seem to make a house.
         But I'm really me.

By Miles Hatton, Age 9 (when he wrote it)


*****

• Check out short stories and more poetry on Mouse Tales Press. 
• Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Oh, and I'm now on Pinterest! 
• Sign up for email updates from this blog by signing up in the box above my profile photo at the top of the page. 

 *****

Book Spine Poetry

A friend that I met through My Name is Not Bob’s Platform Challege was inspired to create a Bookshelf Poetry Challenge.

Spine Poetry is a bunch of books stacked up to create a poem from the titles on the book spines.

I raided my kids’ bookshelves for this one – and then also tossed in a couple of my favorites.

Amazon inserted more information than I included.

Here is how I wrote out my poem (see below for Amazon's version):

         Dear Children of the Earth, (A Letter From Home),
                 How to Be An Explorer of the World:
         Vacation Under the Volcano
         Picnic, Lightning,
         dream of night,
         Ask and It is Given
         Good night,
         Moon

Dear Children of the Earth: A Letter from Home [DEAR CHILDREN OF THE EARTH -OS]
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum
Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House, No. 13)
Picnic, Lightning
Dream of Night
Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
Goodnight Moon

*****

Read More Spine Poetry:

• MiskMask
• Margo Roby: Wordgathering
• One Inch Tall
• Alvarado Frazier
• Whimsygizmo's Blog

*****

Visit my Bouts-Rimeś challenge at the whatnotshop.

*****

Raychelle Writes: The Writer's Block Interviews

Raychelle Muhammad was kind enough to interview me and post it on her blog. Check it out and learn how Mouse Tales Press came to be.

Thanks, Raychelle!


*****

• Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
• Read my other blog, the whatnot shop.
• Visit Mouse Tales Press.
• Sign up for email updates from this blog by signing up in the box above my profile photo at the top of the page.

*****

Submission Guidelines Update

In September 2010, I decided to create Mouse Tales Press. Mouse was my childhood nickname given to me by my father; he had died recently, so I named it in his honor.

What did I want to gain from the experience? I had two main goals:

1) To help keep my knowledge of web coding fresh in my brain.
2) To encourage emerging writers by publishing their work.

I started by creating a basic page and placing “Submissions Wanted” ads in Craigslist. I figured I would get a trickle of writers sending in their works. Yet by December 2010, I was swamped with submissions.

My initial intent was to send personalized responses to each writer; I was able to keep that up for a few months. However, since running the site was my side job, and the submissions kept coming, I decided it was probably unrealistic to respond to each one personally. Instead I set up an automatic message to be sent to each submitter, asking them to re-send their work if they haven’t heard back within a certain time frame.

I have been known to place a piece inside a “maybe” folder and accidentally overlook it. Sometimes I make mistakes.

Each month, when I put together the new issue for the month, I add in small features to the website as well. I tweak things here and there.

Now I’m tweaking my submission guidelines.

Initially inspired by my daughter's writing talent (she has won numerous awards; you can read a sampling of her work on Storybird), I started Mouse Tales Press with the intention of publishing works for and by children.

However, as writers began sending me their work, I came to realize that I wanted the site to be for adults rather than children. Even so, I didn’t want to have to place a disclaimer on the site warning of “adult” content, such as stories with sexual content. The line is fuzzy. Stories come in that may have mention of the word sex, but are not centered around this theme. In cases such as these, I may be more open to placing the works.

As usual though, please refrain from sending in graphically violent or sexual works. Please feel free to email Mouse Tales Press with any questions.

Happy submitting!

*****

Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Sign up for email updates from this blog by signing up in the box above my profile photo at the top of the page.

• In the meantime, please read our formatting preferences.
• Working on a novel? Wait no more.

*****

Starting Your Own Website (for Beginners)

How to create a website? Start with an idea, of course.

Make a list of your interests. Now imagine which one you would never tire learning more about; one you could talk about every day.

Think of a name that is somehow connected to you. (Years ago, I came up with the name for a late-night cabaret – Insomni-Acts. I could relate to that name because I was an insomniac and I was pursuing a life in theater back then.)

Purchase your domain and find a host. I use GoDaddy for both.

If you don’t have web design knowledge, there are many free templates out there.

Then find communities of the same subject where members would benefit from your website. Place ads on Craigslist or other websites appropriate for your content.

That is only the start . . . tomorrow read about my story. Tune in for some changes to our submission guidelines as well.

*****

Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Sign up for email updates from this blog by signing up in the box above my profile photo at the top of the page.

*****

• In the meantime, interested in submitting? Please read our formatting preferences. 
• Working on a novel? Wait no more.

Writer Submissions (and Networking Information)

While reading submissions, I've noted something that slows me down. Formatting!

And now that I’m participating in Robert Lee Brewer’s Platform Challenge, my time is more precious than ever. So for those of you interested in sending submissions to Mouse Tales Press, it would be greatly appreciated if short stories were submitted with the following formatting:

• 12pt. Font
• Times New Roman
• 1-inch margins
• To indent paragraphs in Word, under “Paragraph,” “Line Spacing,” go to “Special” and click on the drop down box to bring up “First Line” and then choose “0.5.” If your text is already written, select all of your text before changing the setting.

Thank you for taking the time to format your story before sending!

And if you are a writer interested in networking, it’s not too late to catch up with the Platform Challenge (now on Day 8 - using LinkedIn).

Looking forward to reading your works!

No More Waiting for Someday

I read a wonderful message the other day. (Keep reading and you’ll see it!)

First, let me start by saying that a few days ago my daughter reminded me how many years I’ve been working on my novel. I told her, “Many writers take years to write their first book.”

Yes, it’s true. And while I wish I could beat the odds, it has already been years.

I’m getting there.

I admit it’s been difficult to find time to re-write my book between running Mouse Tales Press, helping her with Sock Doll Surprise, running my household, and the assortment of other writing projects I have going. (Not to mention my intention of expanding Mouse Tales Press into a hard copy publication.)

Mind you, she only said it because she really wants me to get my book published.

She’s right though. It has been years.

Anyway, about the time she made that comment I got this “wonderful message” delivered to my email inbox. It said, "Waiting for Someday.”

Yes, life is hectic and there will always be something else to do. So why not start making time for dreams now?

This morning, I looked through the recommended-reading book list I received in my last novel writing class and decided to buy this book for some inspiration on where to go with my story.



A few pages into reading it and so far, so good!

If you would like to help support Mouse Tales Press - and decide to buy the book - can you please click through on the link to Amazon to purchase it?

Here is the link to the Kindle version:



Thank you, Piper, and Daily Om for the reminder!

And if you are reading this, perhaps you needed to be reminded too . . . don’t wait. Work towards your dreams now. Even if only in tiny increments every day. It’s a start!