“What Makes a God,” A Myth Retold and More!

It’s always nice to return home after a time away to discover you have a small pile of exciting news to share!

Publications

Firstly, my poem “What Makes a God” appears in the most recent issue of Eternal Haunted Summer, just in time for the summer solstice. This issue is full of wonderful poetry, short stories and essays by a variety of Pagan writers, and well worth checking out!

Also, I’ve just received word that my short story, “Yewberry,” has been accepted for publication in the upcoming anthology of Pagan fiction, The Scribing Ibis, due out later this fall from Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The piece is a modernized/surreal retelling of the Dream of Aengus from the perspective of Caer Ibormeith, the swan maiden (whose name means “yewberry”). I’m excited and honored to have my work included in this project, and I’ll definitely be sharing updates and information as the release date for the anthology approaches!

Mentions Around the Web

I was more than a little surprised and flattered (and probably blushing!) when this weekend I had a chance to meet Mike Morrell, publicity coordinator of the Wild Goose Festival, and he already knew who I was. Turns out he’d really liked my post on Chasing the Wild Goose and decided to share it on the Wild Goose Festival’s Facebook and Twitter pages. (Later, we ran into an old friend of Carl’s who said she was hoping to meet the Pagan who’d written that post, and I felt like a minor celebrity! Happily, hearing folks like Carl, Brian McLaren and Patheos.com founder and CEO Leo Brunnick talk about readership and lecture attendance numbers was quickly and thoroughly humbling.) I think it’s a pretty good sign of our progress and pluralism as a nation when a Christian festival is not only welcoming to Pagans in attendance, but actually brags about them!

And finally, it turns out that my blog has been June’s Featured Site on The Druid Network‘s homepage for the entire month! (They describe me as “one of the prolific pagan bloggers around” — which makes me chuckle a bit, since I really have been trying to scale it back these days.) Thanks so much to TDN for the support!

Drop Me a Line!

It’s always awesome to find out that my writing is being shared and discussed around the web, and I love sharing the link-love in return. But despite my best efforts (i.e. a passing knowledge of how to use Google alerts), I don’t always catch the latest pingbacks and conversations.

So I want to hear from you! My writing is one of the ways I engage most honestly and deeply with my community, and it’s important to me to know how that writing is received. As a craftsperson who sees writing as a skill to be honed and refined, I am always hungry for feedback from readers and peers. Also, let’s face it, writers can be a bit neurotic — we can be shy, introverted, socially awkward, and a bit too eager to please. Hearing from readers, fans and fellow writers helps us to feel connected and to stay grounded.

So if you have a response or review about my work, I would love to hear from you! You can share your comments and critiques directly with me on my contact page, or by visiting the Meadowsweet Commons. If you’ve written a longer response or review of some of my work, I’m happy to share the link-love as well!