Monday, June 29, 2015

Editor's Thoughts--By Karen O'Leary--United States

Dear Friends,

It is a joy to share a few thoughts with you.  Our writing community continues to expand with fourteen new writers this month.  Thanks to everyone for making this possible.

We, now, have representatives from the following countries--Australia, Botswana, Canada, Canary Islands, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Malawi, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E., United Kingdom, United States and Wales.  It would be wonderful to expand this list as each country brings a different cultural perspective that enriches the community as a whole.  If you know anyone from a country that is not currently represented, please share Whispers with them.

The artistic group that would be nice to see represented is child/young adult writers.  Whispers has only had one child writer thus far share a single poem.  If writing is to continue in generations to come, it is important to encourage young people to share their talents.

                poetry…
                the rippling river
                flows on


May your words ripple around the world.  Best wishes to everyone in your writing journeys.

Sincerely,

Karen O’Leary
Whispers’ Editor

13 comments:

  1. Karen,
    You work hard trying to publish people from all over the world. How do they all hear about your journal? I have had a lot of teens and young adults submit over the years, but very few children 13 or younger. I remember I had a young lady that went by the name "Reem" (13 years old), a 12 year-old Thea Bucherbeam who had been published in Ya'Sou!, a nine year old Kaylee Wilson whose grandmother, June submitted the poems in the same issue who had been published twice but did not say where, and an 8 year old, Mia Mandruccolo (I think) who had never been published. I don't believe any had e-mail, in these days of cyber-bullying, most parents are wary of getting their kids e-mail accounts. (BTW, have had published people from U.K, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and U.A.E.,; a woman submitted from Romania, but I don't want to mess with pay-pal, so she could be published. I'm sure I'll get others as I'm in Poet's Market which is seen most everywhere in the world.) So far Peter Dome is the only person from this site who signed on that I didn't have before. Hopefully there will be others...
    Your friend,
    David Fox

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    1. David, if you were to ask for authors' permission to publish some of the poems selected for the journal online as samples, and then do a blog page with 3-5 poems, that might increase your submissions base. I know I'm personally reluctant to send poems to journals I haven't read, and my budget only runs to a handful of subscriptions and sample issues of journals each year, so I usually try to find ones where there's a site online where I can read samples and lists of contributors to each issue before I decide whether or not to purchase. You might also expand your ad to specify min-max length, number of poems to send, and whether purchase of an issue is a requirement for submission. Also, if you're hoping for international subscribers (or submissions, if purchase is required), you may want to reconsider using PayPal -- at present I believe there are only 18 countries outside the US from which you can send an international money order to the US in US dollars, although that number may have shifted a bit since I last checked. Just some thoughts that might be of assistance. You're also welcome to email me -- I've been swamped, so might take a few days to respond, but I'm at L Kaminski yahoo com, and would be glad to correspond with you about it if you don't mind waiting a tad for responses when I'm behind deadline. Best wishes! -- Laura M Kaminski

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    2. Email is L.Kaminski@yahoo.com -- not sure why the dots didn't take in the first comment, so I'm trying again. - Laura

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    3. Thank you for your helpful comments, Laura. I'm sure David will appreciate them too.

      Karen

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  2. Dear David,

    Getting one's name out there is important. Sometimes people that have been published before come back. I'm glad you have at least one new writer as a result from your ad. People hear about Whispers in a variety of ways. That keeps expanding as the publication gets better known. I still invite a lot of writers that I see published elsewhere. Some respond, others do not. It's a lot of work as you are well aware of. Wishing you the best.

    Blessings,
    Karen

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  3. Hi Karen....just stopping by to thank you for all the sterling work that you do, your patience, and the encouragement. Keep it up!
    As an aside; would like to see Malta included in the above list of countries:)
    Regards and God bless.
    Paul

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    Replies
    1. Oh my gosh, Paul. Thank you for pointing out this. I fixed my mistake. You are such an important part of our Whispers community. Malta indeed has a special place in this list. Your encouragement means a lot to me.

      Blessings and friendship,
      Karen

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  4. I enjoyed your lovely haiku Karen and reading several of the wonderful poems posted for June. Keep up the wonderful work! Blessings, Connie

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  5. Dear Connie,

    Thank your kind words. Your encouragement of me and other writers here at Whispers is greatly appreciated. It is so good to have you a part of our poetry community.

    Many blessings,
    Karen

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  6. Thank you, Aju, for the following--

    With your energetic and enthusiastic work art and literature will flourish and gradually it will connect more countries and people-

    Best wishes,
    Aju Mukhopadhyay

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    1. Dear Aju,

      It's encouraging contributors like you that make Whispers possible. Thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement.

      Blessings,
      Karen

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  7. Dear Karen,

    I love your thoughts on Whispers.

    Poetry...
    the rippling river
    flows on

    You've made me think now.

    Words...
    voice tranquility
    and peace

    Sometimes, one reads something and it's contagious!

    Best wishes,
    Beth

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  8. Dear Beth,

    Thank you so much for your lovely words. Keep your words of tranquility and peace flowing. We need them in the world today to uplift others. I appreciate you ongoing encouragement, my friend.

    Blessings,
    Karen

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