Larina's Lit Lounge Issue 31
How Do I Know When I'm Ready to Sell My Work? Plus: two poems, a writing prompt, and a grumpy dog
American Rural: Monologues is available now from Amazon. Print edition: $10.99. Ebook: $2.99.
From the Submission Pile
Editor’s Note: Readers get two pieces from the submission pile this week . The first poem, by Katy Z Allen, hits hard. It was written to the prompt “Strange Sustenance” and manages to gather all the political angst of our times into its few lines.
I’m Glad my Mother Isn’t Here
by Katy Z Allen
Often when I read the news I think of my mother. I remember her sitting with her cat in her chair in her 10th floor apartment with its big picture window listening to public radio. WHA, WPR and NPR saved her as a young mother, providing her ever-inquiring mind with much-needed adult stimulation when she was surrounded by rugrats and whining toddlers with runny noses, especially during that long midwestern winter when she was homebound with cases of juvenile chicken pox and measles and whatever filled in between for endless cold, dark days and nights that stretched to weeks and months. They accompanied her through long years of struggling to hang onto her sanity, sometimes not so successfully, and after my father died when daily conversation and connection also ended, and into her later years as she happily roamed the countryside with her camera and traveled halfway across the country to visit her new grandchild, all in her little pickup truck with a topper on back where she spread out her sleeping bag, unafraid to be a woman alone in a campground. And they were with her for hours on end as her mind began to slip but she still understood all too clearly the implications of the daily news reports and appreciated the accompanying thoughtful commentary. When she finally left this world at an old age with her cat curled up beside her, it was time and I knew it and I grieved her quietly and still miss our conversations, but whenever I read a particularly odious bit of news I am so deeply grateful she isn’t sitting alone in her chair with only her cat for company hearing all about it on WHA, WPR and NPR.
About the Poet: Katy Z. Allen is a lover of the more-than-human world, poet, retired rabbi of an outdoor congregation, former healthcare chaplain, co-founder of a Jewish climate organization, and eco-chaplain. She has been writing in one context or another all her life. Her poetry has appeared in online publications and in the 2025 Art on the Trails: Number 9 poetry and art book. Her poetic book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text was published by Strong Voices Publishing. Her work can be found online at www.katyzallen.com.
Editor’s Note: The second poem I accepted for this issue, from Gregory O’Neill, speaks eloquently of things hidden beneath the surface of travel. It’s almost surreal feel captures a dream-like state.
When Night And Day Grow Equal
by Gregory O’Neill
A traveler must learn to go to bed and sleep in preparation, not lie there through those anthracite chunks of the night. He knows the world out there is singing and he knows certain hours when he could determine the meaning of what he figured must be words sunk in the song— songs of farewell, words of goodbye, the kissless goodbyes of good-riddance— the swollen river of going, the pellucid moment of checking pockets and knowing what he reads, is inscribed, etched, yet remained unwritten—forwarded to the incomplete destinies swamped by bringing all things to the sensible conclusions dreamed into their beginnings, and so to arrive at the end—convinced of the mirage of home, the logic of search, the shouldering ache of going alone.
About the Poet: Gregory O’Neill watches, listens, seeks, attunement to the obscure within the mundane, and writes about the canny, uncanny and the seemingly sublime, as he explores the emotional physics of absence, civic-surreal architecture, and the ethics of implication. Home is on Puget Sound, Washington state. Presently with, Jake, Last Leaves, Words Faire, Zoetic Press, Eunoia Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Gabby & Min’s Literary Review, Closed Eye Open, Half and One, Journal of Undiscovered Poets, Relief Quarterly and others. Honorariums are always graciously declined for literary reinvestment by the awarding publication.
When Am I Ready To Sell My Work?
For the last couple of months, I have been in a mental funk. There’s a lot going on in virtually every aspect of my life, and my brain and body have basically said, “F* that. You’re taking a break.” These spirals have a significant (and circular) impact on my creativity. I’m depressed, so I can’t write, so I get more depressed, and so on.
For me, the answer to these spirals has always been to find ways I can be creative that 1) give me a quick sense of satisfaction and 2) don’t require me to activate my brain to a large extent. So I recently took up the lapidary arts (it’s expensive; be cautious if you’re exploring!), and I’ve been learning and growing. As often happens when I take up a new hobby, I find myself wondering how I’ll know if and when I’m ready to sell some of this work (to pay for this expensive-ass hobby).
For whatever reason, I’ve never asked this question, though: How did I know when I was ready to sell my writing? Because, you know, I’ve been doing that since I was 16.
You might not like the answer. I don’t. But here it is: I didn’t know. I just started sending it out because I wanted to sell my work. So I’m going to set up an Etsy shop and start putting my lapidary work on it and see if it will sell. Bam! Decision made! Pretty easy decision, actually. If you want to sell your creative work, just start trying to sell it! Don’t feel like you have to sell it, but don’t be afraid to start trying either. Keep growing. Keep learning. Keep improving. But don’t wait to be perfect to start selling, either. Because if you want to sell it, you’re ready.
Larina’s Writing Updates
Number of submissions out right now: 62
Number of acceptances since last update: 0
Number of rejections since last update: 2 (10 poems)
Number of Publications This Year: 9 (8 poems, 2 stories)
“The Calling,” foofaraw (new)
“The Farmer and the Princess,” 4LPH4NUM3R1C podcast (new)
“Endings” in Space & Time Magazine, Issue #148
“While the Cat’s Away” in Short Editions story dispensers
“Failed Start” in SpecPoVerse Issue 1
“Autumn Waltz” and “con * stant” in SFWP Journal Issue 32
“Programmer’s SciFiKu” in Star*Line
“Mermaids” in Eye to the Telescope
“Carrie Talks Herself Down” at Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Saturday Book Feature for American Rural: Monologues
Forthcoming Publications:
One speculative poem in Strange Horizons (dream publication!)
One horror poem in The Janus Gates by New Myths.
One horror story in Hidden Villains “Duos” by Inkd Publishing. View the Kickstarter and order your copy here.
December 12 Writing Prompt
Aim for up to 1000 words of fiction/creative nonfiction or a single poem.
Wherever you are right now, take a mindful moment to jot down something that triggers your sense of sound, something that triggers your sense of touch, and something that triggers your sense of smell. Combine these three things to write about an entirely different place, time, or situation.
If you like what you wrote, submit it via Duosoma (full guidelines here). If you don’t like what you wrote, send it to me anyway! If I select it for publication in a future issue, I’ll send you or your favorite non-discriminatory charity $20.
Obligatory Dog Photo
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