Crashing on the Lost Highway

I went to McClure's. Lunch was eaten. I meant to work on my story.

Checking out the local news, procrastinating away the daylight. Only from Anderson would we see this headline: Man sought in armed robbery at Anderson PetSmart store. A pet store? 

The Anderson Herald Bulletin had nothing on that story, but it did have Local residents not surprised at Trump 3rd run for President. Let me point out, there is a diversity of opinion shown; probably not what out-of-staters will expect. I checked the Jail Log; saw no recognizable names. I checked out Martha Greene's singing - she used to have a band that was the best in Anderson.

Now, this I call an Indiana story: Indiana man dies after falling into manure lagoon on dairy farm.

According to Sheriff Pat Williamson, first responders were called to Windy Ridge Dairy farm at 8:37 a.m. on Thursday, located near Interstate 65 just south of Fair Oaks. The sheriff said Van Baren apparently fell into the lagoon of manure after a piece of equipment rolled into the lagoon and became partially submerged.

Initially, the sheriff said first responders planned to pump the manure runoff out of the pond in order to locate Van Buren, but the process would have taken two days. Instead, first responders sailed through the pond on a boat with a treble hook, which was eventually used to haul Van Baren out of the lagoon once he was found.

Van Baren wasn’t located until nearly 1 p.m., the sheriff said, more than four hours after he’d reportedly fallen into the lagoon of manure.

I suggest the lagoon probably does not look as pretty as the photo accompanying the article!

It is 2:35.

I took a nap. That is the nice way of saying I just gave up, thinking a bit of rest might make my hip happy. I was up close to 6. I have been spending the time looking to submit my stories rather than working on the new one. The proper mood has escaped me. Listening to the blues show on WXPN, hoping to find the mood.

I am using The Grinder to find possible outlets. Some I pass over from reading The Grinder description. Others I look at their sites, maybe read a piece before I decide not to submit. These are the ones I have looked at so far, and decided against

•  Propagule (I really liked the temptation of conceiving the void and Six Pieces for being imaginative and playful with language and style, but they convinced me that I am not poetic enough for the magazine. Hey, KH, think about that this: lyrical prose may be what the MFA editors are looking for, and we know I am so very prosaic.)
• Qwerty has themed submissions and I have nothing to match.
• Headland is out of New Zealand and while it takes international writers, it just does not feel right. (But then why did I submit to an Irish journal? Maybe New Zealand does not feel as grim as Indiana. Another shout out for KH: check this out. Reading Losing the Land by Franchesca Walker was just great, about the feelings attending the person who leaves their homeland, and left me thinking how my ancestors have been detached from the land for generations now; she convinced me I am just too foreign for this magazine.)
• Cutleaf looks interesting, but I have nothing beer related.
• BODY WITHOUT ORGANS is for young writers (ages 13-23); I am many things, but not young.
• 3Elements does themes only.

Where I did submit:

1. Blue Mesa - even though I really could not read their journal; it seems sort of interactive, but not .pdf. It feels very classy. Still, I submitted "Problem Solving."
2. ARTWIFE - another suspect choice that got "Problem Solving." Why choose this one? Because I liked Josephine Mitchell's The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - not sure if it's speculative fiction or any particular genre, but does it ever capture the deterioration of a relationship!
   
3.  Blue Lake Review also got "Problem Solving." I skimmed two stories and decided I liked their style. That is, I thought maybe my story will not scare them.
4. Vast Chasm Magazine I chose after reading Wild Man by Molly Seeling (a very good coming-of-age story), and Sophia Savva's Unbecoming (a story whose title I read as double-edged; a story that I am not sure if is symbolic or surreal or some sort of speculative fiction, but is certainly wild and disturbing.)

I liked Summer Hammond's Violets so much I was disappointed that when I found its publisher, Barzakh, was not accepting submissions. She packs into her story sibling rivalry, a dysfunctional family, religion, and race. 

Reading these newer stories gives me something to think about with my own stories. Leastways, that is my justification for reading them and not doing any real work. I am sure my style is different from what I see being published - I am quainter and grimmer, but also much less inclined to first-person narratives, which may limit me emotionally.

No stories were available from Black Fox Literary Magazine, and they are not open for submissions until March 2, 2023. I think I will give this one a shot in March.

I am intimidated by The Barcelona Review. So, I will use the excuse of it being 10:35 pm as an excuse not to peruse its stories.

And this was my wild Saturday night.

 I will end the night reading Torgny Lindgren.

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