One of my 2021 goals is to keep a list of my writing activity for each month. I do so partly as a form of encouragement for myself–to show that I am still able to do some writing despite the energy-sucking terrors of the pandemic–and partly as an archive that I can look back on in the future. As such, I will include negative happenings (e.g., receiving rejections), not just positive ones.
I think that it is important for me to share my list publicly as a queer disabled writer of color because mainstream discourse tries to either pretend voices such as mine do not exist or actively tries to suppress them. Whether one is part of a marginalized group or not, writing is an essential act of resistance in these terrible times, so I hope that my list offers encouragement to others.
Here is the list for March (here’s February’s), which is basically in chronological order:
1. Wrote at least one senryu or haiku in my journal most days.
2. Typed up a bunch of miscellaneous notes and writing ideas from my journal.
3. Attended the virtual Association of Writers & Writing Programs annual conference.
4. Had three baseball haiku rejected by Hobart.
5. Submitted five poems to the 2021 Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology for consideration.
6. Had an article on Mennonite speculative fiction accepted by Political Theology. It’s already been published online.
7. Wrote and submitted a book review I was asked to write for Religion & Literature.
8. Had two workshop meetings with a new haiku mentor.
9. Had a poem published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America, for the first time. “pandemic / no tan lines / where I wear my watch”
10. Updated the Mennonite/s Writing Bibliographies website.
Daniel Shank Cruz 
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