Happy May! Here in Maine, we have sun, warm-for-us temperatures (60s!), and leaves are starting to bud everywhere. It’s especially nice after the past couple days of rain.
To respond to the last newsletter: no, I did not do any better in April.
News
The show took over everything. Then we came down with the post-show plague. It’s clearing up now and I’m working on getting my writing habits back on track, but very little writing happened last month. Writing-related work, on the other hand, kept going.
I created my first ad! Still no clue what I’m doing when it comes to graphic design, but I’m proud of it. It went in the program for Frozen, so if nothing else, it helped support the theatre group.
I’ve also been busy with mentoring work, which is so much fun. And the link for my kids’ workshop at the Ellsworth library is officially live!
Stats
I received two short story rejections this month: one a form letter, and one personal. The personal one made it all the way to the final selection round, which is incredibly awesome.
With those rejections, I’m down to a single short story out in the wild. One of my goals for May will be to send out more!
But April also brought a funny story. See, I have a friend who works with a small press, and last month they texted me all excited that their team was going to send a request to see my full manuscript. Which cued some confused joy, scrambling through my inbox for proof of a story submission I didn’t remember making, and ultimate hilarity. Spoiler: I never sent a submission. My friend knew I’d wanted to sub there and saw a similar name on the list. They didn’t know I’d chosen to revise the story before sending it anywhere else. They, of course, felt terrible about getting my hopes up like that, but I’m still laughing over it. It’s also really freaking great to know I have friends who are so excited and supportive of me and my stories.
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Currently reading: Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper — cozy magical revenge plot, sapphic, and just the right amount of fluff when schedules are so busy, with some beautifully poetic descriptions.
Just read: Alchemized by SenLinYu — dark, heavy, incredibly human, some wonderful and unique worldbuilding, and great pacing that made it feel much shorter than it is.
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Melissa Burkart 
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