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 (Which is still going on! Keep wearing masks!)–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.
Much like May’s list, the June list is fairly short because I am still getting settled after my move as I prepare to begin my MFA program in the fall. The list is basically in chronological order.
1. Recommenced writing a haiku or senryu on most mornings.
2. Gave a friend feedback on their chapbook manuscript.
3. Had an essay on Ana Castillo published, “Queering Space in Ana Castillo’s Give It to Me,” in Transnational Chicanx Perspectives on Ana Castillo, edited by Bernadine M. Hernández and Karen R. Roybal (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021), 123-33.
4. Updated the Mennonite/s Writing Bibliographies website.
5. Submitted a chapbook of haiku and senryu to a publisher during their reading period.
6. Submitted three senryu to a disability poetry anthology at the beginning of the month, and they were rejected at the end of the month.
Daniel Shank Cruz 
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