Subscribe, listen to, and share Happiness Between Tails Podcast on most any platform; from Spotify and Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and Breaker, to Pocket Casts and RadioPublic and Castbox, plus many more and an RSS feed. The full list of 50+ places is H-E-R-E.
Happy Chinese Year of the Dragon! Here in Los Angeles, fire-breathing dragons are appearing in shop windows everywhere. They’re the only mythical creature among the Chinese zodiac animals and they bode good fortune in all ways. According to Google, their only faults are occasional conceitedness and impatience, understandable from creatures who live on easy-street. Fingers crossed, dragon good luck will rub off onto me as I send out queries to engage an auspicious literary agent who’ll represent my novels.
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir, by Curtis Chin, is an apt read to get in the mood. Here’s my review of it for Goodreads and Amazon: “Curtis Chin is my new author-hero – his “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir,” which he superbly voices for his audiobook version, is far more than a memoir. It’s an intelligent, fun, loving, and deeply moving trip through history and generations, all of it colored by the politics of cities, cultures, sexuality, and more.”
Back to the subject of getting published; today’s guest has great advice, the kind that comes from first-hand success, on how to get into print.
Arizona author/blogger Dawn Pisturino writes poems, limericks, short stories, and articles. Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies, most recently in Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and the 2023 Arizona Literary Magazine. For samples of her creative writing and more about her, check out her blog and her website…
How I Got Published by Dawn Pisturino
Young writers often ask, “How do I get published?” Every writer has their own story. I can only tell you mine.
After participating in numerous writing classes and workshops, I began writing short stories and submitting them to select publications, such as Weird Tales. I received rejection after rejection. Once in a while, an editor would encourage me to keep writing but turned down my submission.
I became increasingly frustrated and searched the Internet for less popular publications. After all, a magazine like Weird Tales received hundreds of submissions from authors with a known track record. The only publication credits I had then were a few poems in a few poetry anthologies that were twenty years old.
Self-publishing as a viable alternative was getting off the ground and not yet entirely accepted by the publishing world. Publishing your works back then meant you weren’t good enough to be received by established publications and publishing houses.
Instead of horror, I began studying children’s literature and writing for children. I mean, how hard was it to write for children? As it turned out, it is incredibly hard —much more complicated than writing for adults—because it requires crawling into a child’s mind, capturing that magic and wonder, conforming to many restrictions and getting it down on paper. Nonetheless, I scoured the web for children’s publications and discovered one getting started and looking for authors.
Underneath the Juniper Tree was a digital magazine and online website that sought to take advantage of the popularity of R. L. Stine and Roald Dahl. It specialized in children’s horror, something I knew nothing about. I was intrigued by the opportunity and set out to get published in their venue.
After some failed attempts, I began to get a clearer picture of what they wanted. Writing horror for children went against my standards for what is appropriate for children, but I gave it my best shot—and they loved it! After that, I earned a reputation for twisted limericks and dark stories and poems that were tastefully written.
The publication eventually folded due to internal conflicts. I was devastated. I turned my attention to working on novels, which are still in progress. After retiring from nursing, I picked up my pen again and worked on the blogs I had neglected. There, I met Gabriela Marie Milton, editor of Masticadores USA, an Internet magazine founded by Juan Re Crivello. I felt inspired to write poetry again, and she published it. I expanded to other Masticadores sites and got stories and more poetry published. With more confidence and publishing credits, I tried Spillwords Press—and got published!
The standard advice I give young writers is to choose a publication, figure out what they are looking for, and write for that audience to get published. I know it works because I’ve done it.
Is Chinese New Year celebrated where you live?
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
Thank you, Dawn, for your sound advice on how to get published. I would also add, your persistence and fearlessness to try something new. Congratulations on your success with your poetry.
LikeLiked by 2 people