Hi.
Coffee: Cafe Pajaro Extra Dark, Trader Joe’s Brand; I grind you up like hard-to-swallow pills.
It was cold enough to go outside in long sleeves and a jacket. I had the day off, I took two walks. I liked covering myself in layers. I felt like a precious chocolate. You spend a lot of time trying to get out of your own skin. I passed three people in the neighborhood, all were wearing coats.
I spent most of my afternoon submitting work to lit journals. Pop a fresh bottle of fizzy water, put on a podcast, click tabs. It was a menagerie of websites. Here’s what I saw: two dozen banner pics of prairies; a handful of low-res site splashes; so many drop-downs like a fold-out wallet; design work from the early aughts, charming; design work from last month’s redesign, intimidating. It got me thinking: who reads all these things? Not me. Or at least, not as much as I ought to. I pick up my subscriptions and start a few pieces. Then life barges in the room with this or that distraction and I’m done. I’ve got a pile of unread gems sitting on the bottom of my bookshelf.
Publication’s still the game in 2018, but I can’t help wondering what sort of people I’m trying to hand my heart to.
Currently Reading: Autumn, Ali Smith; Cherry, Nico Walker
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“I’m sippin hard liquor to get my thoughts straight
Road blocked jumping fences when the cops chase
Got cognac in my cup don’t know how scotch taste” – Rich Homie Quan, Thoughts
Livesay Writing 
You’re handing your heart to those fortunate enough to stumble into your work once it gets picked up somewhere. The process is labeled with the correct language, that’s for sure: submission. Could there be a more appropriate word for the process? Two weeks ago I finally got an acceptance for a story I started submitting three years ago. In the midst of all the “good luck placing this elsewheres” I lopped off a page-and-a-half or more of the original ending, the one that made me cry when I wrote it (no tears in the writer, none in the reader, they say….don’t believe it). The story improved thru the amputation. It was still another year until I got a yes. I’m not even the same writer anymore. It will be another year until it’s in print. That’s the literary journal time warp.
I look forward to my daily dose of your Coffee Log. Your unique use of language and image-jumping inspires me to be a more daring writer. Keep writing; keep submitting. Keep being a precious chocolate.
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Congrats on the acceptance! That’s awesome and well deserved, if the writing on your wordpress is any indication. When it comes out, remind me and let me know where to find it and I will look forward to picking up a copy : )
And ‘amputation’ is definitely a good description of the process. The longer I write, the more I think the game is really just a full glass of 80 proof editing with some spritzes of writing or creativity here and there.
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