Ashley Elizabeth

I’ve been slacking on updates and reminders and a little writing. This summer and fall have been absolute whirlwinds, both professionally and personally, but here are some things I am grateful for and some things I have accomplished in 2018:

• I had my first poetry reading. Yes, it was a short reading. Yes, there were other readers there, but I was still chosen to stand in front of people to share my work. This was nerve-wracking and terrifying and I didn’t really look up much the whole time, but I did it.
• I got a new job! I’m still wrangling children, but I’m in one location instead of all over the county. I may have less time for writing and editing during the day, but the work I do is incredibly rewarding minus the temper tantrums and talking back and physical altercations.
• I’ve put together two new manuscripts. Though one I am simply using for personal reasons and probably will not mass produce it (Can’t share yet, guys, sorry!), the other I am starting to send out. Though it got rejected from one press already, the editor has chosen some poems to make into a chaplet and publish, so that is exciting! The chapbook as a whole might make a few people mad, but I don’t care. The subject wanted me to be honest, so now is that time. It feels like a punch to the gut, but they deserve it. I’m not playing nice anymore.
• I’m learning to love myself and my work more. I’m editing poems from years ago, finding some potential, but I am also learning myself to know when poems just need to be dropped.
• I reconnected with my big sister and we get to do work-shopping things. Same with my little sister. Hollins did some good.
• I completed two 30-in-30s. I used to barely be able to do one. But daily writing exercises have definitely helped with getting things out, even if I don’t always like what comes.
• A few of my favorite poems from the past couple of years have found homes, and I’ve also written a few new favorites.
• I’ve applied to several fellowships and presses that I would have never applied to previously, and I’m starting to get serious about grad school and getting an MFA. I just need to find programs that will work for me.