Ever the (Poetry) Bridesmaid, Never the Bride…

Nancy FlynnPoetry Contests, Writing Contests

Once again, a poetry manuscript of mine has made it close to getting the big prize—publication and money!—but not quite. Sigh. My poetry collection, Brief Campaigns of Sting and Sweet, got as far as semi-finalist for the 2025 Fence Modern Poets Series Book Prize. These folks at Fence recently published a couple of my poems…

 
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Making It to Semi-Finalist: “Your Going Away Party at the Hotel Dread”

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Publication News, Writing, Writing Contests

When I first returned to writing poetry, way back in 2005 and 2006, I took a series of classes through an organization called Writers on the Net. I was incredibly lucky to stumble on an outstanding teacher, Bob Haynes and his courses, Daydreams I and Daydreams II…

 
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Poems Can Also Be Short!

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Gardening, Poetic Form, Publication News, Writing, Writing Contests

My husband and I are avid gardeners. Every year, our community garden plot near the Woodlawn Elementary School is 400 square feet of asparagus, beets, carrots, delicata squash, leeks, peas, peppers, pole beans, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, green and yellow wax bush beans, and some years even zucchini. Often we grow heirloom varieties…

 
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The Honor of Being Nominated

Nancy FlynnApostrophe Blog Archive, Awards, Writing, Writing Contests

What is a Pushcart Prize and what does it mean to be nominated? According to its website, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series, “published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America – including Highest Honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.” Their annual nomination process is pretty straightforward…

 
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