40th Bday Support Ask: the Anaphora Arts Publishing Program

Greetings from Martha’s Vineyard!

As many of you know, September + October are likely my most hectic travel and programming months in the last few years. I am starting September (my birthday month, which will be my 40^th birthday) here at my second writing retreat of the summer here, working on Chapter 15 of the novel (the final chapter, though I’m still drafting rough drafts of chapters 10-11 & 13-14, which I’m prioritizing crafting through the end of year). This is another funding ask AND I will separately hare more in a bigger blog post later this month about the learnings and lessons from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute Creative Writing BUT TODAY, I have another fun writing announcement!

On the final night of the writing retreat experience in Ireland, I received a notice from Anaphora Arts that I was accepted into and received partial funding to participate in the Anaphora Publishing Program! This is a mentoring program that will run from January-September next year the mirrors aspects of an MFA cohort experience, pairs me with a mentor, and with the timeline of the novel, 2027 will have some aggressive researching, revision, and refining of the chapters, readying the novel for some of my writing confidants for feedback on sections of the novel, and this experience will help position the novel to be ready for publication.

At the start of the year, I set aside funds to participate in one experience (which is the Martha’s Vineyard trip), and had a few surprises unfold, with the invitation to the Writing the Next World experience in Ireland and now the opportunity with Anaphora Arts—so I’m elated to be engaged in an opportunity, especially a one-one mentorship shared on the heels of my first retreat, feels kismet. And, acknowledging another need to ask for support from the community ON MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!! (Sept 17!!!)

Now if you already offered support towards the Ireland retreat, thank you! Every birthday, I normally ask for support towards several non-profit organizations which I’m directly elevating on other social media platforms. And here’s the ask for my community:

• For the Publishing Program, I am doing another GoFundMe ask for support ($4K) for support for the overall program instead of getting a full loan for this program – if you’re side-eyeing the ask, I have an alternative for you:

• I have launched my LLC and my support services offered! As an ongoing writing facilitator, I also have several assessment certifications that can offer writers self-reflection insights or even explore tools for reflection on building characterization and space for specific writing experiences (I.e.: workshop facilitation, officiant script review and/or also delivery, one-on-one discussion on scripts and texts, and so forth). SO, if you want to support but want to engage in services, review the updated pages and submit a request for one of the services.

• And if cost is prohibitive, you can share this post (or other social media platforms) and also subscribe to my Substack (for free, or you can pay for a monthly subscription).

I’m excited to continue this creative journey and framing next year around refining my work in community with other writers to push my work forward. Any support you can offer will be great, and I will continue to share learnings and insights from the experience through writing process reflections and writing prompts and much more. Thank you in advance for the support, especially on my 40^th birthday, and in funneling your energies into my passions to write and create and dream. I will say, a spoiler for this next blog, there’s many new ideas that came into fruition here in Martha’s Vineyard, pushes for existing stories to get submitted to lit journals, so expect to see some posts (of old work) on the Substack while seeing some new work surfacing across a variety of places during this next season of writing.