My First Published Chapbook

Coming soon!

Last August I submitted a manuscript to an open call by the independent press, ELJ Editions. Five micro chapbooks were selected to be included in one volume and mine was one. To say I was happily surprised is an understatement! The entire process with ELJ Editions has been a pleasure. Many thanks to Editor Diane Gottlieb and Founder & Publisher Ariana D. Den Bleyker.

I’m pleased that preorders are now available here. My chapbook, Offset Melodies, is all prose, consisting of micro and flash creative nonfiction and autofiction pieces. I used to think a chapbook or book had to follow a blueprint consisting of intensive chapters of a a significant length. I thought that until I read two books: What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas and Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly. Their wonderful books made me realize I didn’t have to follow a (daunting) prescribed formula, that I could be as meandering and creative as I wanted to be.

I’m excited to be published with four phenomenal writers: Kim Steutermann Rogers, Ronita Chattopadhyay, Kristina Tabor, and Janet Murie. I’m thankful to have words in a volume with them. I want to thank my writer friends Casey Mulligan Walsh and Ronit Plank who agreed to read and blurb the book. I’m so appreciative.

This is only the second time I’ve submitted to a chapbook call because, well, if I were ever to have a book, I wanted it to be with a publisher that means something to me. Over the years I’ve had poetry and prose published several times with ELJ Edition journals Emerge Literary Journal and Scissors and Spackle and it was always a positive experience. Also, to be honest, being in a volume with other writers is a bit of a safety net for me. I’m a little nervous.

Any and all preorders are greatly appreciated! I know you will enjoy the stories in this beautiful volume!