Ellie Anderson
Gardening, Literature, Family, Friends
2023
So far 2023 has been sloooow for me. I have been basking in a good experience I had at the end of 2022. Caesura published two pieces of flash fiction: Ribbons and Eagle Feathers and Coleman's Cleopatra. Both of these pieces are posted in the Collection heading on this website.
The folks at Caesura asked me to read Coleman's Cleopatra. The editors and managers at that magazine are the nicest people. Every interaction I've had with them has lifted my heart. Reading Cleopatra was no exception. Reading on Zoom was a bit odd as there are none of the visual cues that you get from reading to an in-person audience. So though I couldn't see anyone leaning into the reading, I got a lot of positive feedback from the listeners, most of whom were also writers for the magazine. It was just so much fun.
I'm still working on selling the novel, revising the short fiction collection and completing a collection of poetry. I've added a blog for gardeners, called agardenersblog.com
and a Face Book page called Ellie J. Anderson's Fine Literature where I post fine writing from my reading of literary magazines and books published by small presses. And, of course, I keep writing fiction.
It's ski season and I have a new pair of skis and boots. They have been burning me up. The skis are 10 cm shorter than the ones I've skied on most of my life. I can turn on a dime and I'm SO happy doing that. I try to go a couple of days a week, at least.
Here, in October, I've had three pieces of fiction published recently. My goal was to create some fiction credits, so, that's done! The end of the year is typically slow for publishing, so I plan on getting a lot of busy work finished: assembling a short fiction collection and a poetry chapbook. I have enough material to do that. That's a lot of formatting and detail work. And I'm moving ahead on the next novel. It would be nice if I could have a rough draft before the next ski season! Now, you know what's really important!!!
For me, 2022 got off to a good start with the publication of Tahuya in Stick Figure. I've always liked that magazine for publishing accessible poetry. So I've been happy to start off the year there. Clerestory printed Bread and included a nice illustration. And the Bryant Review published three poems about my father. I wanted that group to be published together so I am very pleased. You can read all of them under Collections, Poetry 2022. Evening Street and the Comstock Review have both accepted poetry that will be appearing some time soon.
I won third prize in the Idaho Magazine Short Fiction competition for a story called Sun Valley.
Woodcrest has accepted a piece of flash fiction called A Poplar Vase.
I've been revising and re-writing all of my short fiction and assembling it into a collection called Make It Easy. I'm doing the same for the poetry. That little book is called Before the Petals Fall.
I'm changing strategies on getting my novel published. I'm still querying agents but I'm also querying small presses. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I would like to publish all of this stuff sometime soon!
2021 has been a productive year for me. From the publication of an essay called Re-Vision: A Tribute to Raymond Carver in the The Raven's Perch to the acceptance of several poems and more forthcoming in 2022 in The Bryant Review, Stick Figure, and Evening Street. I've posted the essay and all the poetry published this year on this website under the Collection heading.
I won third place in the Soul-Making Keats Memorial Competition with a story called One Night in Smelterville. They have done an online reading of all the winners and posted it here: https://youtu.be/YfWWatOWfdU.
I'm at 49 minutes:13 seconds into the recording.