Scene Break
July 3, 2024
SCENE BREAK July 3, 2024
May the 4th be with you if you celebrate such things. I was with a pyromaniac for over 20 years and had my share of fireworks. I don't go out to see fireworks anymore. If I happen to see them from my yard, fine, but I always worry for the wild animals, and they scare my dog anyway.
When I was in a conference online, I met up with a writer who asked for an exchange. I agreed so I'll share her information and hopefully she will share mine.
https://www.rachanee.net/
WHAT'S NEW IN POETRY
My second chapbook, Hand-Me-Downs is coming out July 18! I'm so thrilled to see these poems in print. They are deeply personal and cutting. The entire book carries a general content warning of childhood trauma and neglect.
My third book, Calling to Shore will be published later this year by Cicada Song Press. I'm excited and honored to be working alongside Johanna in the baby stages of this venture.
Our first collection, poetry about the 27 Club, is planned for later this fall. We are still accepting poems about the artists who died at age 27. Send work to me mona@cicadasongpress.com by August 15. You can reference this article for people to write about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club. Remember artists only.
WHAT'S UP WITH MY NOVELS
My first book is still in the query trenches. I've queried 22 agents so far and have received 7 rejections. A couple of those rejections have been nice and personalized, but no one has offered any constructive advice.
I'm not running any races. Querying takes energy and effort. I send one or two at a time when the mood hits.
My second book, DREAMS TO VISIONS, is underway. Once could say it is a sequel, but it really isn't because it takes place 2000 years after the events of the first book, UNDER THE BUBBLE. In that respect they are stand-alone novels. The stage is set, however, at the end of UTB for DTV.
My signature has turned out to be telling stories of platonic relationships. UNDER THE BUBBLE featured two women, Peggy and Nora. They loved each other and grew very close. In DREAMS TO VISIONS Trebor (male) and Wand (female) develop a loving platonic closeness while having relationships with other people.
WHAT I'M READING
I've started reading the book my grandson got me for Mother's Day, called The Things They Carried. I am not reading fast and sometimes I skip an entire day, but I am enjoying it. Tim O'Brien seems to be telling his personal story but in fiction. I call that "faction." My grandson read this in school and knew I would enjoy a book about Viet Nam.
PUBLICATIONS SINCE LAST SCENE BREAK
On June 12 I read a few poems from my book Questions I Didn't Know I'd Asked courtesy of the Journal of Expressive Writing. https://youtu.be/z8n9jRskvjM?si=f8Vo0dLocvgtkqg-
I have a short story in here called "My Name is Holmes." https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5VMP77Y
An essay I'd tried forever to get published https://www.thehooghlyreview.com/weekly-features/china-1987-by-mona-mehas
Republished because the journal the poem was in folded. https://www.bulbculturecollective.com/read/followed-mona-mehas
This one is supposed to be out but now sure if it's available yet. https://gnashingteethpublishing.com/books/making-room-zine/
I might also list this next month.
STAR TREK
The second season of Prodigy dropped on Netflix July 1, all 20 episodes. I thought I'd binge them since they are only a half-hour each. But have I? Nope. I get so sleepy at night when I'm trying to watch TV that I fell asleep in episode two and had to watch it 3 times! I'm ready for episode 4 tonight.
I predict that Gwen's father will be nicer this time around. When she told him their relationship would be complicated in the future, he looked stricken. I believe Gwen and her dad will save the planet and that evil one will die. (can't remember her name.)
Will Janeway and Chakotay end the season in a passionate embrace? Off-screen of course, it's a kid's show.
Maybe by next month I will have seen them all.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
I should have known --
People don't listen.
I gave a presentation about submitting to journals and still people don't know how to present to journals or where to look for journals. After teaching for 21 years, I should have expected this, but these are adults.
People are lazy.
OK I'll include myself in this. I'm also stubborn. When someone tries to bully me into doing their job from 2 years before and insists time is running out, I dig in my heels. Unfortunately, someone else did it this time but at least she made that person stay involved for over an hour and they realized (though didn't admit) they'd dropped the ball.
I am bored, lazy, and stuck in a rut.
Yes, I said that. Nothing anyone can do about it but me.
TODAY'S CARD
From the Savron Forest Deck by dark.synevyr.
The Ten of Wands
This card shows 10 sticks piled on the ground.
The first line in the booklet talks about reproaching myself. (From Whitman's Leaves of Grass.) I need to do some soul searching and then write about it.
www.linktr.ee/monaiv