update
To continue where I left off in late September:
In late October, I started taking classical guitar lessons with a teacher in St. Vital. I've had a lesson pretty much every week, and once I was broken of my bad habits (left hand position like a blues player, guitar tilted towards me instead of flat against me, etc), things started coming along. I'm still a rank beginner, but I'm practicing every day, and I can tell month-to-month how I've been improving. My goal is Asturias in five years. Right now, I'm playing Royal Conservatory grade two repertoire.
I submitted five poems to Grain in mid-October, and kept writing. I got my rejection letter today, a complete form letter (not even really a letter per se, more of a strip of paper, perhaps to keep their costs down). With those rejected poems freed up, I've now got enough good poems for two submissions packages next time. Still, it's disheartening. I really, really wanted Grain to be my first publication. However, I still feel I'm writing at a level that could be published, and I'm not going to give up. I'm writing most days, and thinking about how the poems I've written as a whole since high school might one day shape into a manuscript. One thing's for certain, though: doing this in isolation is difficult. I think I need to join some kind of writing group, or at least meet some writers here in Winnipeg.
Back to practicing. Giuliani studies beckon.
In late October, I started taking classical guitar lessons with a teacher in St. Vital. I've had a lesson pretty much every week, and once I was broken of my bad habits (left hand position like a blues player, guitar tilted towards me instead of flat against me, etc), things started coming along. I'm still a rank beginner, but I'm practicing every day, and I can tell month-to-month how I've been improving. My goal is Asturias in five years. Right now, I'm playing Royal Conservatory grade two repertoire.
I submitted five poems to Grain in mid-October, and kept writing. I got my rejection letter today, a complete form letter (not even really a letter per se, more of a strip of paper, perhaps to keep their costs down). With those rejected poems freed up, I've now got enough good poems for two submissions packages next time. Still, it's disheartening. I really, really wanted Grain to be my first publication. However, I still feel I'm writing at a level that could be published, and I'm not going to give up. I'm writing most days, and thinking about how the poems I've written as a whole since high school might one day shape into a manuscript. One thing's for certain, though: doing this in isolation is difficult. I think I need to join some kind of writing group, or at least meet some writers here in Winnipeg.
Back to practicing. Giuliani studies beckon.