Celebrating Success in a Lonely World
For writers, success comes in many small increments. Because you are often alone in a room with much work left to be done (first drafts, anyone?), celebrations can be lonely. When you make it to a milestone, vanquish an obstacle, or get a thoughtful rejection letter, take a moment for a little back-patting.
At OneRoom, we like to celebrate the achievements of our writers. Help us celebrate their finished drafts, publications, and awards!
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2017
Peter Hamer had his first poem accepted to a journal, DUM DUM Zine! Yay, Peter! A first publication is one of our favorite milestones to report.
Monica Hay was accepted into a graduate program for book publishing! Congrats, Monica. Also, she’s a great one to follow on Twitter.
Charles Halsted had two poems accepted at Rosette Maleficarum (sharing the masthead with Edgar Allen Poe!) and another poem accepted at Degenerates: Voices for Peace. Congrats, Charles!
OCTOBER 2017
Poetry group member Charles Halsted was selected to attend a workshop with Edward Hirsch. Happy studies!
Joe Little, a member of Erica Wright’s novel writing group, completed drafting his novel. Bravo, Joe! We look forward to following you on your path to publication.
Lynette Denny was long-listed for the Mslexia Novel Competition. Best of luck! We’re also excited that she’s sent out her first agent query. Congratulations on putting your work out there, Lynette!
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER 2017
The best news! Allison Whitmore, who worked with Erica Wright, completed her novel. Now on to seeking representation and a publisher!
Congratulations to Daniel McMinn, member of Caroline Goodwin’s poetry group, who has been accepted into the Stonecoast MFA program in Popular Fiction. It’s a low-res program, so Daniel will be traveling from the Ukraine to Maine twice a year for the intensive workshop sessions.
Peter Hamer submitted a poem for consideration with the support of his coach Lauren Hilger. Best of luck! Submitting is a crucial step, no matter the outcome.
Rob McCabe had a poem accepted to be published in the next issue of RFD Magazine. Rob is a member of Lauren Hilger’s poetry group.
Member Debbie Whitmore, who works with coach Caroline Goodwin, had a poem accepted and posted on The Voices Project.
JULY 2017
Congrats to our manuscript consultant, Rachel Weaver, on the publication of her nonfiction essay, “Dizzy,” in The Sun Magazine. Read a selection here.
Members of Erica Wright’s novel writing group aren’t taking the summer lightly. David Anderson completed a draft of his novel, and Misty Mikes completed a rewrite of her novel.
Monica Hay, a member of Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s novel writing group, reached 50k words on her novel draft, a personal milestone.
Lauren Hilger’s group members are redefining summer fun with lots of poet activities. Ralph Long’s ghazal “Childhood Religion” will be included in the Childhood issue of The Ghazal Page, due out later this month. Member Terry Blackhawk was interviewed by Grace Cavlieri for her “Poet and the Poem” podcast series at the Library of Congress and features Terry reading her poems. And a special congrats to member BT Hathaway who received his first publication acceptances, with two poems forthcoming in late summer.
Huzzah, everybody!
JUNE 2017
Michael Cooper, a former novel writing group member, was named one of Creative Kids Tales Emerging Authors. He’s seeking publication for his children’s books, the Neven Trilogy.
The American Journal of Poetry published Patrick Maloney’s poem “Bibliosmia.” Patrick wrote the poem in response to one of the weekly prompts from his coach, Lauren Hilger.
Coach Erica Wright has a new poetry collection out with Black Lawrence Press, All the Bayou Stories End with Drowning. You can find signed copies here.
MAY 2017
Darren Nethington finished a draft of his novel. He told his coach, Erica Wright, “In all my years of writing, from junior high to my two “practice novels” to my blog, I have never actually completed a real, honest-to-goodness first draft.” That could be our mission statement!
Laura Shepperson was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize from the University of Cambridge. Laura is a member of Tupelo Hassman’s group. Congrats, and best of luck!
Sarah Paden has a poem forthcoming in Open Minds Quarterly. Looking forward to it! Sarah works with coach Caroline Goodwin.
Congrats to our long-time coach Kristin Halbrook (pen name K.D. Halbrook) on her successful sale of a two-book series to Henry Holt. We’ll miss you Kristin, and can’t wait to see your new books! See the full Publisher’s Weekly announcement below.
Pat Maloney has yet another poem forthcoming, this one in Edify Fiction. We see a collection coming together…
Congrats to Corrine Van Houten who, working with coach Erica Wright, completed her novel. Corrine’s book is out for submission. Attention agents!
And, coming in at 82k words, Joe Little completed the first draft of his book. Almost as hard as the last draft! Congratulations, Joe.
Member Lisa M. Hase-Jackson has poems forthcoming from The Heartland Review and The South Carolina Review. Check out @ZingaraPoet and her many great poems!
APRIL 2017
Heidi Lynn Nilsson, who worked with Caroline Goodwin for the last six months, has a poetry collection forthcoming from Barrow Street Press, pub date Oct. 1. Can’t wait to see your book on the shelves, Heidi!
Celebrating Judith Altruda and her novel draft, all printed out and ready to edit! Judith is a member of Tupelo Hassman’s group.
Pat Maloney has a poem forthcoming from The American Journal of Poetry. Pat is a member of Lauren Hilger’s group, and his poem will be published in July. Pretty awesome, Pat!
MARCH 2017
Our incredible coach, Caroline Wright, released her new collection, The Paper Tree, on Big Yes Press.
Jenny Montgomery, poet in Lauren Hilger’s group, is off to the MFA program at University of Montana. We’ll miss you, Jenny, but can’t wait to see what you do. Take a bow!
FEBRUARY 2017
Sarah Platt, after three months working with coach Kristin Halbrook, juggling sick kids in the winter, and more, has finished a draft of her YA novel. Yay, Sarah!
JANUARY 2017
So excited for Emma Coquet who has completed the first draft of her book, despite herself! She said, “I have my draft — I honestly didn’t think I’d even ever get to utter those words.”
