Poetry... HERE

I am going to start posting some of my more recent poetry here. None of the old stuff - just stuff I'm working on now or have written in the past year.

There are several reasons for this change in content policy: 1) AllPoetry, the site I've been using to host my poetry, has changed its posting policy in a way that is not conducive to how I wish to use the website. 2) Most of what I've been writing lately is poetry. 3) I've decided it doesn't really make any sense to make you go visit extra pages to see my poetry.

So, voila. Poems. There's going to be a whole glut of them posted after this point.

Enjoy. :)

Back Up on Blog Auditions

For those of you who have sent me blog auditions in the past three weeks, I'd like to apologize for the lack of response. I've been seriously busy lately. I suppose 21+ credit hours can do that to a person.

Anyhoo, you have not been forgotten, you are not being ignored, and I am (slowly but definitely) getting to critiquing blog auditions, giving every audition the time and attention to detail that it is due.

Some notes to remember, however:

* Please, please use proper spelling and capitalization as much as possible, at least to the point where if you break any rules, it's obviously very intentional.

* The pieces for blog auditions should be complete, not excerpts of larger works. When judging blog auditions, I need to know that you have a certain attention to structure and can tie stories or vignettes into a whole. It does me no good to see that you can start a piece.

* For maximum impact, if one of your pieces is an expository work (ie, primarily telling the reader something), make the other piece a narrative work (ie, primarily showing the reader something). While submitting two expository works will not necessarily knock you out of the running, it does make it a tad more difficult for me to judge whether or not your style is compatible with this blog. When uncertain, I am far more likely to say no than I am to say yes.

* Please remember to include an email address at the bottom of your blog audition, beneath your moniker. This serves two purposes: it tells me you can follow directions and let's me keep a running list of those who have auditioned. If you fail to include an email address at the bottom of your blog audition, no matter how redundant it may seem to you to do so, then your audition will be discarded without any further ado. I've already had to do this for several auditions. If you think your auditions may have been one of these, please rectify the issue and send it again.



All this information will be updated on the "Want to Write With Me?" page in short order, and you can look to see your critiques back in the next couple weeks.

Sad News, Folks

Hate to break it to y'all, but here's a bit of not-so-great to break up what's hopefully a wonderful holiday season:

As of now, there will be no new writer on Southern Ineloquence.

As much as I wanted to mix it up with someone fresh and interesting, I didn't get any applications that were anything close to what I was looking for.

Yep, I know - the disappointment is nearly crushing.

But before you let the elephant that's come to perch on your chest crush all the air out of your lungs (not to mention break your ribs, yeesh), here's some good news to restore your holiday cheer:

Because I have yet to receive an application with the potential to set off your warm fuzzies, I'm extending the deadline indefinitely.

That's right. If you think you've got the stuff, send it in. I'll be waiting, and so will all the other readers. Come be a part of something you really enjoy.

In the World of SD....

Good news! Steward House finally saw fit to post the contest winnings for September, and "Reparamus" was the winning (only) piece. I am proud of it, although I am utterly ambivalent about the review it received.

Furthermore, Keayva Mitchell continues to astound me (and Steward House) with her literary prowess. That girl's voice is one of the most entertaining I've had the pleasure of reading lately, and considering how much I read (incorrigible book slut, that's me), that's not a compliment to discount. Check out her latest winnings (yes, plural) here. Warning: Keayva is not for those who don't care to think. Then again, I'm not for people who don't care to think either, so I suppose you're in the right place.

Ordinary news! Due to the fact that my body is disintegrating around my mind, I am having difficulty keeping my creative juices flowing as they have been this past year. I simply do not have enough mind to spare to deal with school, dance, blog posts, poetry, Pluck the Petals From a Daisy, and the Never Ending Migraine (like the Never Ending Story, but less entertaining). Therefore, I will be directing any creativity toward my beloved Carnelia Bellis. That is not to say that I will not be posting at all; I will simply not be posting frequently. However, Carnelia Bellis sends her greetings from my flashdrive, and hopes to be greeting you from bookstore shelves within the next three years. Wish her luck.

However, I am looking to expand this blog. I want you (my adored readers) to have something new, different, and entertaining to read. In short, I am looking for another writer to post here. If you write, and think that your prose pieces are any combination of witty, philosophical, beautiful, clever, lyrical, sassy, sardonic, and entertaining, and if you are willing to post here for (limited) recognition, my (oven-fresh cookie caliber) gratitude, my (relatively meaningless) endorsement of your work, and your own satisfaction, here's what you need to do:

1.  Choose a poetic vignette, a philosophical rambling, a brief essay, or a review of a literary work.
2.  Choose a short story. 
3.  Choose a clever moniker (eg, Southern Darling) that you would want to post under.

 Email your selections to ineloquent.southern.darling@gmail.com.  The subject line should read Blog Audition.  Paste both pieces into the body of the email, preceding each piece with its Title (eg, "Reparamus") and its Genre (eg, Poetic Vignette, or Book Review).  Please send no more than two pieces. Sign the email with your clever moniker and an email at which I can reach you.


As I receive applications, I will respond to them with an "I might be interested and here's why; let's talk about the possibilities" or an "I'm not interested and here's why; thank you so much for applying." At a minimum, you will get some detailed feedback on your work and some love for being a writer.

 I will stop accepting applications on Dec. 20, 2011. I will announce the new writer (or writers, who knows?) on Dec. 25, 2011, and Southern Ineloquence will ring in 2012 with a new addition.

Oh, and you need not be southern to apply. ;)


I look forward to hearing from y'all.

An Accident of Wyrd Returns

... with a winning contest placement.

I've been working off and on with "An Accident of Wyrd" for almost three years. A couple weeks back, I finally decided that it was something and submitted the final version of the piece.

Apparently I'm not the only one who likes it.

I hope it's becoming second nature to you to check out the other winning pieces when you go to read mine, because Keayva Mitchell's "To the One that Fell Away" is also amazing. It's kind of reminiscent of "A Drum Set and a Cymbal," if on the opposite side of the equation.

I'm thinking Keayva Mitchell needs her own little tag for this blog.

Further Winnings

On June 24, 2011, "Parting Laments" won first place.

For someone who doesn't like to write poetry all that much, I write an awful lot of it and I write it rather well. If you really want to read more of said poetry, it can be found at my All Poetry page.

BTW, Keayva Mitchell's "Push," the second place that week, is a remarkable short fiction vignette. It is, as Steward House points out, a "lyrical" snapshot that entices the reader to fill in the backstory. In short, a piece after my own heart.

What are you still reading this blog post for? Go read those pieces!

XD

Guess what...

You probably actually can guess. I won something else.

On June 17, "The Essence of Evanescence" won first place in Steward House's weekly contest. The review was highly complimentary, recognizing the poetry in the story. I was actually rather shocked with the placement, considering that I'd literally wrote the piece not two hours before I entered it. I guess I don't always have to edit the ever-loving stuffing out of everything I write.

The story itself will be posted here... eventually. I'm sure.

While you're there, you should also check out Keayva Mitchell's piece, "Ari and Lina's Spectacular Summer of Fun." I swear, I'm beginning to fall in love with that girl's writing, and I sincerely hope that I can tempt you, my lovely readers, into doing the same.

MORE Contest Winnings!

Somehow, typing that fails to get old. XD

On May 27, 2011, "The End" won second place. Steward House says the poem "has some of the best line endings, alliteration, and assonance we've seen in a poem yet." Nice, huh? And they didn't attempt to summarize it, either. I'm verra content. :)   (In case all the emoticons didn't give that away.)

As always, you can continue to find more of my poetry, good, bad, and downright awful, at my All Poetry page.

I Do Love to Win Things....

On May 6, 2011, "Loves Her...," the opening excerpt from Pluck the Petals from a Daisy won second place in Steward House's weekly contest. However, once more, I feel as though the review completely misses my point. The piece is not about "relentless pursuit," but about desire and inaction. Of course, if you read my recent post about the novel the piece is excerpted from, then you have a fair bit more insight into it than did the editors at Steward House. Nevertheless, a placement is a placement.

By the by, while you're there, you should definitely read Keayva Mitchell's "The Remedy," the first place that week. The poem is absolutely amazing.

Pluck the Petals from a Daisy

I decided on a title for Carnelia's story: Pluck the Petals from a Daisy. This functions on several levels.

First off, Bellis, Carnelia's last name, is the latin name for a daisy. To pluck the petals off a daisy is to pull Carnelia's life away from her - the extent to be assessed by the reader.

Daisies are also associated with innocence, particularly in Victorian flower language. (I'm a huge sucker for the Victorians' everyday use of floral symbolism.) The loss of petals is suggestive of Carnelia's loss of innocence, and, with the association with her name, of her identity.

You are likely familiar with the practice of pulling petals off daisies, saying "(S)he loves me, (s)he loves me not," alternating with each petal. A large portion of the novel concerns Carnelia and Elec guessing at whether or not the other loves them or is capable of love at all. More importantly, it's about Carnelia's uncertainty about whether or not her succubus status means that she has lost the love of the society she was raised in - and of the Christian God that dominates it.

Of course, plucking the petals off a daisy is a very passive way of living one's life, and central to the novel is the necessity of living actively. Does Carnelia take charge of her life? I'll have to finish writing it before you can find out.

~*~

You've probably noticed that in addition to chapter drafts, I've been posting what I've called here "Elec's Excerpts." I felt like the story needed some additional perspective to balance out Carnelia's very opinionated narrative. Although it may be obvious to experienced readers the ways in which Carnelia's story-telling is biased, I want it to be equally obvious to less perceptive readers that they're not getting the whole tale in the chapters. Hence, I've decided to insert excerpts from Elec's notebooks between chapters, although the author will not be named to the readers until far into the story.

The novel's design currently looks something like this:

1. "Loves Her...," presenting the primary themes and some of the title implications.

2. Chapter One, introducing Carnelia and showing the reader how she interacts with her friends.

3. "Identification," suggesting that Carnelia's place in the world is more flexible than Carnelia would like to think.

4. Chapter Two, introducing Elec and giving the reader an idea of their dynamic.

5. "The Post-Modern Narrative," tipping readers off that Carnelia is not the Fountain of Truth, and calling attention to the frequency of Carnelia's insistence that she dislikes Elec.

6. Chapter Three, showing how Carnelia and Elec interact with acquaintances.

7. "A Challenge," revealing how Elec views his relationship with Carnelia. This will most likely be turned into verse.

8. Chapter Four (which will not be up for a long while, although it has been drafted), demonstrating how Carnelia interacts with strangers and broaching her sexuality directly for the first time. 

Stay tuned. ;)

Contest Winnings

On April 22, my poem, "The (Elusive) Answer to Lonely" won first place in the Steward House Weekly Contest. Normally, I am quite happy with the reviews Steward House provides, but in this case I believe that they have merely summarized my poem and, in the process, done it an injustice.

If you would like to read more of my poetry, it can be found at my All Poetry page.

Contest Winnings, Belatedly Reported

On December 31, 2010, "Aftermath" won second place under the pen name Sarah Darling. Steward House says that the piece is a "conversational discussion of trauma." The review further highlights sentence structure, noting that I'll "ruminate on a sentiment only to reflect on it anew with a paragraph break and pithy one-liner that catches the reader under the ribs."

On January 28, 2011, "The Claustrophobic Impasse" took first place. Looking back, this is my weirdest piece yet. I'm not even entirely sure how I managed to write it. But the placement speaks for itself - the review is simply icing. Steward House calls it "intense," "complex," "deft," and "subtle."

Re: Posts from early 2008

Part of the purpose of keeping this blog is to chart change and progress, as well as continuity. That said, there are posts on this blog that represent ways that I no longer think. Some of which I think were great stepping stones, and others of which I do the face-palm for.

So, when reading the earlier posts of this blog, feel free to laugh, appreciate, be appalled, be angry, and mock (well, really, you should always feel free to mock). Keep in mind that only the most recent posts (like, one written yesterday) are guaranteed to represent the way I currently think.

(Of course, all this is assuming that anyone can actually be bothered to go back and read the early stuff. Yeah, I'm vain that way.)

New Contest Winnings

The week of November 5, "Plexiglass Possibilities" was placed second under the name Sarah Darling. I realized only after hearing from some of my readers that it didn't do as well as I might have hoped because it reads like it should be a short story rather than a blog post. However, it is, as Steward House says, "a unique perspective on the 'call-back.'" So, that's a good. You can find it here.

Last week, I entered the piece I've been absolutely slaving over. While the placement was, again, not what I had hoped for (I mean, I've been working on this piece for well over two months), the review showed that it conveyed exactly what I intended. Here's the link and the piece itself will be going up here in short order.

Third Place in Contest; Nice Review

I can't seem to break the third place string, but they're nice, nevertheless.

This one was for "To Andrew."

The review:

"In contrast to the darker preceding pieces, Henderson's thoughtful 'To Andrew' offers a downright lighthearted perspective on love and identity. Diligent readers of the weekly competition will note the reference to Henderson's 'Nobody - Nobody Special,' a piece that won 2nd place the week of June 22, 2010. Readers who take a particularly philosophical approach to life will appreciate the conclusion of 'To Andrew' most, but all writers should take heed: Henderson practices textbook rising/falling action, the imitation of which would behoove any new or young author."

The next piece I plan to enter is almost done. I really think it's first place material, and (if I dare say...) a masterpiece of short fiction.

Third Place in Contest; Amazing Review!

This one was for "Mint". The impressive bit is not the placement, but the review. Check it, chickies:

"A casual reader might mistake this short piece of Henderson for a passage out of a Rice vampire novel. Henderson expertly combines formal dialogue with subtle body language descriptors, which lends a dramatic surreality to the overall product. For readers who appreciate Henderson's artful character interactions, we recommend reading the short stories of Truman Capote. That we can link Capote in any way to Henderson demonstrates the quality of what she's done with 'Mint.'"

Won contest - this time with poetry!

"The Laws of Physics", another piece that I am exceptionally proud of.

You can find more of my poetry at All Poetry.

Placed in a contest

"Societal Standards" under the pen name Sarah Darling.

Third place. :)

WON Contest!

I'm even more excited about this particular recognition. After all, "Introductions" is my baby. Most of my stories go through a mere three or four drafts. What won that contest was a tenth, possibly a twelfth. I find it rather fitting, actually, since I also consider this to be my first work of intentional literature rather than just storytelling. If you're super curious, compare what won the contest to the draft I posted here April 16, 2009. I think you'll be amazed at the difference.

Placed in Contest!

"Nobody - Nobody Special" was placed second in Steward House Publishing's weekly youth writing contest for the week of June 22, 2010.

I am very excited. :)