Comfort Zone is possibly the oddest story I’ve ever written and had published. I wrote it last year in a fit of desperation due to various things not happening in my writing career. I would say it’s my most ‘fictional’ story ever, other than the setting. However when I teach writing I always say that nothing is ever really fiction – I can only suspect that some of the ideas for this story are inspired by the kind of dreams I used to have (decades ago…) when doing stressful jobs like waitressing – in which I’d be running around serving people only to realise I’d shown up to work naked…
I received an email that brought tears to my eyes yesterday: my personal essay “Invisible“, has been nominated for Best of the Net, the awards-based anthology, by Under the Sun. I am so honoured! This is not only my first Best of the Net nomination, but the first personal essay I’ve written that includes my various health issues. Once again, huge thanks go to the wonderful team at Under the Sun, especially editor Miriam Mandel Levi.
(I think Ronan is looking pretty happy with himself, and so he should, given he’s my Muse.)
I’m long overdue for one of my rambly updates regarding my health. For now, suffice to say it’s been a challenging time, a challenging year. But I am super proud that a personal essay of mine, “Invisible“, was just published in Under the Sun. This is the first piece of creative writing I’ve done that includes my physical situation. Other than blogs, I generally avoid writing about my illness, for me creative writing is a way to forget that I’m a sick person. But I was trawling through some old pieces last summer, and found something I wrote about an experience I had in a German sauna. It needed work, a lot of work actually, especially the ending, and I found myself expanding on what I experience physically on a day to day level. It was a bit clunky, to be honest, but I sent it out, and the wonderful readers and editors at Under the Sun, especially Miriam Mandel Levi, helped me smooth things out and make the piece work. I actually haven’t ever had such an in depth and supportive experience of editorial input from a literary magazine. The whole process was a joy, thank you Under the Sun!
Given all else that has happened this year it’s so nice to have a piece of writing published, particularly in this lovely UK magazine,The Selkie. The Selkie is particularly special because they publish work “by individuals who self-identify as underrepresented in terms of race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender, socio-economic class, neurodivergence, disability, and refugee/immigration status.”
My piece is The Four Types of Conditionals. It’s a curious little piece, written for the most part some time ago, but I didn’t give up on it, and The Selkie not only accepted it, but gave me some invaluable editorial suggestions. This is rare with literary magazines, and to be honest, I LOVE editorial input for the most part. It always makes a piece much better to have other, experienced eyes on it. So, thank you so much to everyone at The Selkie, particularly Emerson Rose Craig and Zala Jambrovic Hatic.
Delighted to announce the publication of Jupiter’s Moons, a creative non-fiction essay publication in MORIA, The National Literary Magazine of Woodbury University. It might horrify you, but I hope it also makes you laugh!
It’s been an interesting month to say the least. My first COVID infection, which was truly awful, and I’m still weakened by it; a diagnosis of late-stage Lyme and lengthy treatment protocol (more on this soon). But things on the writing front seemed to suddenly open up – I already wrote a blog about my short essay ECLIPSE being published and awarded Runner Up in the WOW! Women on Writing Creative Nonfiction Q4 Essay contest, but then I was notified about three further acceptances for publication. One has just gone up in Hobart’s “Fucked Up Modern Love Essay” section titled A MODERN EDUCATION. It’s actually my first published longish personal essay. As I wrote on Facebook:
I’m a little nervous about posting this essay of mine that just got published as it makes rather clear what an arrogant, judgemental person I was (am?!). I guess I have the excuse that it’s about a time when some of us are – my late teens, hurtling into a terrible time at university. Just a warning…there is some bad language and description of eating disorder….. It’s yet another piece I wrote many years ago and dug up/dusted off and sent out. It got picked up very quickly to my surprise.
Well, I’m curious what anyone thinks reading it as it’s quite a handful to my mind.
I also have a shorter essay coming up soon in MORIA, The National Literary Magazine of Woodbury University, and a weird little piece that will be published early next year in The Selkie, a UK magazine whose mission is to support and publish work by individuals who self-identify as underrepresented in terms of race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender, socio-economic class, neurodivergence, disability, and refugee/immigration status. I’ll keep you posted when they are up!
I’m super happy that my cnf flash What Men Want is Runner Up in the WOW! Women on Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay contest. I didn’t discover this amazing group until recently. They not only run competitions, but courses and articles, and they also list a number of writing resources on their website. Unusually they accept work that has already been published, which means this piece of mine gets a new lease of life, but more importantly the lovely emails I’ve had back and forth with the organisers were a highlight of the recent months for me – much needed as I’ve been in quite a funk. The emails were supportive, encouraging, personal. Most competitions don’t engage to this level. AND, I have an interview! WOW! asked me questions about the piece, about my writing process, and about the book I was commissioned to write from Story Machine (slated for publication later this year). You can read the interview here.
I’m very proud to announce that “MOTHER“, a creative nonfiction flash story about, yes, my mother–and grief–is now published in Emerge Literary Journal. Many thanks to everyone involved in creating such a wonderful journal, and for all the hard work involved. It’s an honour to be part of the Emerge family.
How I love the smell of a newly minted literary magazine! I am so proud to have my short story ‘Gone Fishing’ published in Wasafiri‘s 30th birthday magazine, issue 79. This issue is actually not available to the public yet, but why not join me for the launch at the special birthday event on the River Thames when Wasafiri hosts ‘Words on the Water’ a literary boat trip on Sunday 21 September. Tickets for the event include a copy of the magazine…
My short story is included in the issue’s section on New Writers. The section is introduced with the following:
“Wasafiri has a longstanding reputation for discovering ‘the best of tomorrow’s writers today’, but if we were to try and include all the authors we know to be on the cusp of great things, we wouldn’t have enough room in a whole year’s worth of issues! Instead, we have focused on just three for this thirtieth birthday issue, all of whom cross generations in their fictional pieces, a theme which captures the essence of this issue, which looks both back and forwards. Balvinder Singh Banga touchingly presents a loving mother – son relationship which is tested by the cruellest of conditions – poverty and ignorance. Meghna Pant’s ‘The Gecko on the Wall’ skilfully depicts a man who, as a father, cannot communicate with his daughter, but who forms a bond with the next generation – his granddaughter. And ‘Gone Fishing’ by Sandra Jensen is a sensitive snapshot of a man whose troubling present is contained within the tragedy of his family’s past. Together these stories are a powerful reminder of how the present is shaped by the past, which also shapes the future. And, most importantly, they are told by three writers whose literary futures look very bright indeed.”
Descant Magazine has just published its issue 167 “Masala” on the South Asian diaspora. My piece “Even in Ruin” is in it, an edited, reworked section of my novel-in-progress, a literary adventure based in Sri Lanka during the civil war. I’m very excited about this publication, and I’ve just started reading the other stories in the magazine, some truly wonderful pieces in here. As guest editor Pradeep Solanki says, “Masala is a heady concoction of spices..” so too this wonderful edition of Descant.
Sandra Jensen 