The strange thing was when I stopped submitting so much and went inwards, and left my blog and online publications of video recorded poems etc, people invited me to submit works.

They found me online, and said would you like to send us something not published before. We like your work. I did – and yes some of that work was published.

Some is still under consideration.

I attended development workshops, zoom discussions, and was heartened by people hearing, reading, listening – pieces shared in various online spaces.

I attended conferences, concerts and meetings, and wrote about them.

I researched, wrote and delivered talks, and chaired a panels.

I attended zooms to listen to stories.

I kept my journal, and filed in it lines I loved – ideas with potential.

I went walking.

Watched tv shows that made me laugh, feel uplifted and inspired.

I went deep diving and excavating lots of my earlier drafts of work, that I had quite forgotten about and read with fresh eyes, and began to see what I could do to shape them.

Now I am ready to send works out again.

Now I am sending them out!

I continue to work on long form pieces, novels, biography and am working on finding a routine that will take me to finish lines with these works.

Now I am playing the waiting game, and may send some of the recent works to multiple places. In most cases multiple submissions are okay, as long as you tell them if it is accepted somewhere and withdraw it.

All the best to those in the midst of this cycle, create, edit, submit… and may we all find our spaces to share, and be heard.

I hope that the seeds and saplings of my work, become mighty trees – just like this one!