1st of all, your P.S. No, Denise and I are not related. Funny story. When I saw her photo, I was certain that we must be related because she resembles one of my cousins to such an extreme I just knew we were related. I emailed her. Find out Larkin is her married name, but her husband's family is from Scotland or Ireland, can't remember now which one, but it's pretty interesting because my family history has been traced back 9 generations to a John Larkin that was born in Ireland. So who knows, maybe I'm related to her husband. I think she does a wonderful job with her publication, though, and I'm tickled to be able to write in it.

Second, you started writing poetry (9/22/20)? I had to sit back in my chair and let that sink in. Is that a typo, I asked? That's about the time I joined Medium. I thought for sure that you'd been a poet for many years. You must've been writing for a long time? Fiction, Essays, Romance?

Have you tried submitting poetry work to small literary mags? If not, you should.

I have been writing for approx. 21 years now, mostly short fiction, and 2 attempts at novel-length projects. I never intended to branch into poetry, but did in a small way 10 or so years ago. I had one poem published in a Journal called Poetry Quarterly. It was called "Walking with Venus." I have gotten very close with submissions of short fiction at a couple of Literary Journals, I've never given up but have gotten very discouraged. Literary fiction and poetry are what I love to write, but it is very hard to break into print mags. I love writing too much to give up. It has been a blast writing on Medium, I've never had so much feedback on my work before and I'm not used to having submissions accepted so easily.

I can't believe I have written so long a response, please forgive me for being so liberal with your time. But please, tell me more about your writing history and plans you may have for your work going forward. With the volume of work you have just on Medium, I would think a book of poetry would be on your writing horizon!

Best wishes, and a promise of restraint and conciseness on future replies!