Publication Summer: Pulling Back the Curtain of My Most Productive Summer Yet

A Key Aspect of Publication Success? Relationship Building!

Happy Fall!

Before I completely transition into my Birthday Month (Go Libras!) and into the quieter, more introspective, energy of fall, I wanted to reflect on what I’m calling "Publication Summer!"

This summer I had five pieces published; one poem accepted; I spoke at the Latina Writers Conference in LA; I was selected to present at another writer’s conference in the spring; I applied for a grant; and I had two sets of rejections (as WWS has taught me, if you’re not getting rejected that probably means you’re not submitting enough!).

Check out the publications below:

​"Hechizo Para Congelar"

"L.A. Parent: Date with L.A."

“Zika”

“Momentos de María”

“Literatura, Música, y (Huracán) María:
Reflections from the Diaspora"

"Family Physician" 
​(forthcoming Spring 2019)
​

Having that many pieces published in the span of three months was unexpected but it didn’t happen by accident.

Read on to learn more about how I went from one publication in 2017 to Publication Summer in 2018!

Li Yun Alvarado & Luivette Resto at the Latina Writers Conference (Sept 8, 2018 in Los Angeles)

This period of “blowing up” made me think about the ways in which what people see on the outside (Li Yun is posting about new publications non-stop!) does not always reveal the twists and turns in life that led up to each individual publication.

Mapping out the paths toward each poem's publication made me appreciate even more deeply one of my strengths: building relationships.

Today I'll pull back the curtain a bit, particularly in regards to the ways in which relationship building was critical to my successful summer — often in truly unexpected ways.

This post is not meant to suggest that you can’t get published without knowing people.

In fact the last poem on the list was accepted the old fashioned way — I submitted the poem and, after a long wait, it was accepted.

The point is to dispel the myth that a writing life is a solitary one. While I can't escape the fact that the writing itself often happens in solitude, in my experience, the satisfaction of bringing that work into the world happens (more often than not) within or through community.

Whether through sharing my work in a reading, attending a Women Who Submit submission party and submitting work with others, or responding to the call for submissions posted or shared by writer friends or writing groups, I am indebted to the writing relationships I have built.

Ten years ago I started out like everyone else: with not a single publication under my belt. I wrote, revised, learned, read, revised some more, submitted, cultivated community, was rejected, submitted some more, was accepted. And then accepted again and again (and rejected again and again). That’s the work.

At the same time, during this last decade of writing I've cultivated my relationships and stayed open to the opportunities that those relationships provided.

I also honored my work and my Writer Self by maintaining my website and in that way stating to the world and universe: I am here. I am a writer. Here is my work.

Doing these things has allowed me to ride the ebbs and flows of my writer life. It has allowed me to "disappear" while writing my dissertation or while on maternity leave knowing I could "reappear" when I was ready because I had a community that had my back. Having these friendships and communities meant that I could take a step back as needed and still have "writing homes" to return to once I was ready.

There is so much power in community.

​I am ever grateful for everyone in mine.


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(*Related Sidenote: I've been thinking about writing this post since August when so many of these publications came together, but I have also been inspired by Barbara Jane Reyes' recent post "Some manuscript editor notes" where she discusses her relationships with editors over the years. It is in that same spirit of transparency that I share these publication back stories).

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​The Backstory:
​From One Poem in 2017 to Publication Summer in 2018

A few weeks ago, I shared that in my transition from Writer to Writer & Mami, I honored my Cuarentena, took maternity leave from my writing life, and removed all the pressure off of my writing.

I wrote as little or as often as I wanted. I only published one poem in 2017 (by design since I hadn't submitted at all until the end of that year). You can read more about that transition and learn how I stayed connected to my Writer Self during that time here.

In 2018, my energy shifted again. I was ready to give my writing more focused time and attention. I did not know where this focused energy would lead, but as I thought about how I could serve Puerto Rico, I found my voice and began putting work out into the world.

​The outcome, as I outlined above, felt nothing short of magical — I was on fire. I felt energized and electric. 

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​The Making of a Publication: 
​Publication Summer Play by Play

When I trace things back, most of this summer's publications led back to relationships — friendships, partnerships, and collaborations that over time bore fruit in this particularly moment in my life.

Below is a listing of the twists, turns, and friendships that led to each of these publications.

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"Hechizo Para Congelar"

• ​Summer of 2006: I attended VONA and met an amazing community of writers of color including Lizz Huerta.
• Summer of 2014: I attended a VONA SoCal reading in L.A. and met up with Lizz. She introduced me to other VONA writers including Kenji Liu who lives in L.A. We became FB friends.
• Summer of 2015: Kenji and I saw each other at AWP L.A. 
• June 2018: On his FB wall, Kenji put out a call for enchantment poems to quickly respond to several controversies: the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Muslim Ban while overruling Korematsu and the administration's policy of family separation at the border.
• June 2018: I collaborated with my cousin, wrote an hechizo poem, and submitted it to Kenji
• July 2018: "Hechizo Para Congelar" is published in a collection in UnMargin with an introduction to the collection by Kenji.

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"L.A. Parent: Date with L.A."

• Summer 2015: I attended AROHO in New Mexico and meet an amazing community of women writers including Cassandra Lane.
• Summer 2015: Shortly after AROHO, Cassandra and I saw each other at a Women Who Submit meeting in L.A. 
• January 2016: Cassandra attended a workshop in my home: "Beyond Resolutions: Envisioning and Creating Your 2016"
• Summer 2016: Cassandra and I were invited to represent AROHO as one pair of featured readers at the HITCHED reading series, hosted by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo.
• Spring 2018: I invited several women, including Cassandra into a small private FB group to commiserate about writing life.
• Spring 2018: Cassandra, an editor at L.A. Parent, invited me to submit a column for the magazine's new "Date with L.A." column.
• July 2018: my "Date with L.A." column is published in L.A. Parent

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"Momentos de María"

• Winter 2008: I met Urayoán Noel at AWP in NYC and he has become one of my dearest Boricua poet friends.
• Summer 2013: Urayoán is shocked to learn that I don't know Luivette Resto, on of the other Boricua poetas in L.A. (Blas Falconer is the other one who comes to mind). Ura introduced us over e-mail.
• Summer 2013: Luivette and I had an amazing Boricua Poets from the Bronx in L.A. date.
• Fall 2013: Luivette invited me to feature in the La Palabra reading series which she hosted -- My FIRST L.A. reading!
• Winter 2016: We submitted a panel with a few other women poets for the Latino Studies Conference which would be in L.A. (our panel wasn't accepted - womp womp).
• Fall 2017: Luivette invited me to read at an event in honor of Puerto Rico post Hurricane María, but I wasn't in town and could not attend.
• Winter 2018: Luivette invited me to read at a reading at Beyond Baroque:
  "Honoring the Nuyorican." In anticipation of the reading, I finally wrote about Hurricane María. 
• March 2018: I read my new poem "Momentos de María" at the reading. One of the other featured readers, Yago Cura, told me about the online journal Hinchas de Poesia and encouraged me to submit work.
• April 2018: I revised and submitted "Momentos de María" to Hinchas de Poesia.
• June 2018: "Momentos de María" was accepted for publication
• August 2018: "Momentos de María" is published in Hinchas de Poesia.
• September 19, 2018: I share "Momentos de María" on a Facebook Live Reading as part of my fundraising efforts on behalf of Puerto Rico's Taller Salud.

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"Zika"

• Winter 2008: I met representatives from Acentos at AWP in NYC.
• Spring 2008: I began participating in Acentos Workshops and Events in the Bronx.
• Summer 2008: The Acentos Review was founded and Acentos Workshop facilitators Rich Villar and Fish Vargas encourage workshop participants to submit.
• June 2008: I submitted five poems to The Acentos Review.
• Sept 2008: "Your Back" was published in The Acentos Review.
• Spring 2009: I attended a reading and met The Acentos Review editor Raina León. We became Facebook friends.
• 2008 - 2010: I attended Acentos Workshops in the BX.
• Winter/Spring 2016: Wrote first draft of "Zika" in my "Low Stakes Daily Writing" journal.
• Oct 2017: I submitted "Zika," "Family Physician," and "Widow Maker" to Bellevue Literary Review.
• May 2018: I submitted "Zika," "Momentos de María," and "Family Physician" to The Acentos Review.
• June 2018: I withdrew "Momentos de María" because it was accepted in Hinchas de Poesia.
• August 2018: "Zika" ws accepted for publication, and the acceptance note from Raina included nice words about "Momentos de María" as well; I withdrew "Zika" from Bellevue Literary Review.
• August 2018: "Zika" is published in The Acentos Review, almost exactly 10 years(!) after they published one of my first published poems.

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"Literatura, Música, y (Huracán) María: Reflections from the Diaspora"

• Summer 2015: I attended AROHO in New Mexico and met ano amazing community of  women writers including Tisha Reichle. Tisha made an announcement about a new group in LA: Women Who Submit. The group, she explained, hosts monthly lit journal submission parties for women writers, so they can submit regularly in community and celebrate those submissions.
• Summer 2015: shortly after AROHO, I attend my first Women Who Submit meeting in L.A. and see Tisha and another AROHO woman Cassandra Lane there.
• 2015 - present: I regularly attended WWS parties in LA and Long Beach and became friendly with the founders and organizers, including Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo.
• Winter 2016: Xochitl-Julisa invited me to sign up to submit a guest post for the Women Who Submit Blog.
• March 2016: My guest post “The Power of the Post-It: Writing My Life into Existence” was published on the Women Who Submit Blog.
• Winter 2017: Editors from VIDA Review contacted me after reading “The Power of the Post-It: Writing My Life into Existence” and invited me to submit an essay to their online magazine. I explained that I’m interested but did not have childcare and would not be able to write anything until maybe spring. They were very understanding and agreed to contact me in a few months.
• Late Spring 2018: VIDA Review editors reached out again and I shared an idea I have for a piece about the ways in which I turned to literature and music in the wake of Hurricane María. I asked if they were interested and if I could get the piece to them in the next two months (kiddo was still not in preschool, but I had two writing nights a week since my husband had changed jobs and now had a less demanding schedule). They agreed.
• June 2018: After a few more delays (#momlife), I submitted my essay and it was very well received by the editors.
• August 2018: “Literatura, Música, y (Huracán) María: Reflections from the Diaspora” is published in VIDA Review.
• September 12, 2018: I share “Literatura, Música, y (Huracán) María: Reflections from the Diaspora” on a Facebook Live Reading as part of my fundraising efforts on behalf of Puerto Rico's Taller Salud.

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"Family Physician" (forthcoming, Spring 2019)
(Notice there is no writing community relationship building involved: just persistent revising & submitting)

• ​Fall 1998: Met my future husband.
• Fall 2011: Started dating my future husband
• Spring 2013: Married the guy
• Spring / Summer 2016: Wrote “Family Physician,” a poem inspired by him.
• August 2016: Submitted "Family Physician," "The View from the Hospital," "Widow Maker," and "Gutted" to Medical Literary Messenger.
• December 2016: "Family Physician" declined by Medical Literary Messenger (but "The View from the Hospital" accepted).
• Oct 2017: Submitted "Family Physician," "Zika," and "Widow Maker" to Bellevue Literary Review.
• May 2018: Revised & submitted "Family Physician," "Zika," and "Momentos de María" to The Acentos Review. 
• August 2018: "Family Physician" declined from The Acentos Review (but "Zika" accepted); I withdraw "Zika" from Bellevue Literary Review.
• Sept 2018: "Family Physician" is accepted for publication in Bellevue Literary Review and is forthcoming in Spring 2019.

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Before You Go...

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• Latina Writers Conference: On Maternity Leave & My Writer Self
• DIY Writing & Strategic Planning Retreat

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