A Day of Celebration!

I didn’t win NaNoWriMo this year – if I had, surely I’d have plastered this milestone of writerly success on every blog, Facebook and twitter feed possible. Alas, I missed the 50,000 mark by just under half.

I’m not ashamed. The goal was to increase my word count, and I did that. And while I didn’t finish the novel I’d set my sights on for the month, I did write a few thousand words on various other projects. Perhaps my most successful writing month since June.

I’m just a few chapters shy of completing the book I started for NaNo, and I promise to go back to blogging this month. Based on some of your emails, I know I’m not the only one who has missed the weekly muse avatar.

But this Monday, I’m more excited to announce something more important than the muse – the launch of the first “Best of” Vine Leaves Literary Journal Anthology.

It seems just yesterday that Jessica Bell approached me about starting an online journal dedicated to the vignette. As Jessica notes on her blog today, in the past year, we’ve read approximately 1000 submissions. And out of those 1000 submissions, we published around 160 online in our quarterly issues. From those 160 that were published online, we chose 'the best' pieces for our annual print anthology. In our very first anthology, The Best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012, we showcase 108 different authors and artists.

Impressive, right?

This anthology launches today in partnership with eMergent Publishing – and we couldn’t be more thrilled, and proud.

Thank you to all who were involved in putting this anthology together, especially Jodi Cleghorn at eMergent Publishing, for agreeing to partner with us for our annual anthologies, and Nick Panagiotopoulos for his amazing design skills. We couldn't have done this without you. And a special thanks to my partner, Jessica, whose exemplary talent, dedication and work ethic truly keep Vine Leaves progressing.

If you would like to support the vignette, please help spread the word about this anthology today. Here are some quick ways you can help:

Share on Twitter:

@VineLeavesLJ Best of #Anthology, #NewRelease out today! Awesome vignettes, incredible talent. Great 4 #xmasstocking! http://bit.ly/VdvIKj

Share on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/473682022674900/

And of course, pick up a copy for the readers and writers in your life. It’s the perfect stocking stuffer!

- Dawn