April - 75% Complete

Ok, but if we look at the math, 19 out of 30 is only about 63%, but it's close enough to a pretty nice, round-looking number, right?

But besides the leap I made in terms of the math, I want to write about a few updates this week. Let's start with what's upcoming: I received two emails from The Eyre and Catheartic Mag regarding the Bibliotheca Project. This is where people submit to any two magazines of eight, and the forthcoming issues will be for sale. The best part is, all proceeds go to the United Nations Crisis Relief. I think this is an amazing cause, one that I am very fortunate to be a part of! In the emails, I receive two independent acceptance emails, for the night she held her son and how to celebrate a forgotten 18th birthday.

The Eyre's theme is on social criticism, and what's a more pressing and relevant issue than religion and race? There are lots of people out there who do not experience the same privilege as I do where I live in a safe country and I'm free to express myself however I want to. Case in point, I once heard of a tragic event that occurred in the United States, where a mother and his son where victims of a hate crime. They were of the Muslim community and faith, their perpetrator was their white landlord. Tragically, the son died. I could not help myself but feel for them. I cannot imagine myself in a world where I would be seen different, where people would treat me as different species. I was inspired to write of this incident, careful not to glorify death, but instead highlight the issue and amplify the human emotions one feels when facing death.

On a much lighter-ish note, Catheartic Mag's theme is coming-of-age, and boy do I have a story to tell about (as you may have guessed) my 18th birthday. I was woken up on my birthday, and I knew I didn't want to go or do anything fancy. I truly did expect to just stay at home and do nothing. Little did I know that I was up for a treat - my family was going to (drumroll please....) Costco! That's right! The place every new-18-year-old wants to go to! So imagine my dismay, but you really don't have to because I wrote one poem for every year I was alive. how to celebrate a forgotten 18th birthday is one of those bitter 18 poems. Looking back, I did quite enjoy myself, but I never got a chance to appreciate the gesture my parents extended towards me back then. That's a regret I'll live with, but I've been learning everyday since then to be more grateful, that life doesn't turn out the way you want it. In fact, it could have been a lot worse!

While I'm still riding on that high, I've been scrolling through Instagram mindlessly when I came across a post from a magazine I submitted to. Ambrosia Mag posted a list of people who are featuring in their upcoming issue - guess whose name was the first one in that list?! Mine! I couldn't believe it myself! I had to ask my sister and my cousin to check out the post for me, that it really was my name! I was genuinely shocked because I hadn't received an acceptance email yet. I've been sleeping beside my Gmail app ever since I began submitting to lit mags, and I've always made sure to stay updated with it. It was only when I checked the emails that I realize that their emails will come after the post. I'll admit it is quite unusual, but you won't hear me complaining! I cannot wait for anatomy of spring, what it's like to be yours and chancing you to be out in the world!

Oh, and a really fun thing happened as well while scrolling through Instagram! And for context, I think I'm in love with The Eyre simply because of their logo, but I know I'll be wanting to submit to them for a long time. Anyways, I refresh my feed and see their post. They had a slideshow of sorts about the excerpts from the upcoming issue. And guess what - I see the first few lines from my poem Water at their last slide! How crazy is that?! Writing Water was an amazing process because I had all this pent up romantic/cringey energy that I wanted to utilize as efficiently as possible. I'm really proud of the poems coming up in the forthcoming issue, and not just in The Eyre, but in everything! I really try to ensure that what I submit is that best of my abilities and that there's no regret in submitting. And I'm proud to say that things are looking really well.

I really hope to keep this progress alive and burning till the end of the year! In the meantime, check out my updated works here.