The other day I typed "Seeker Magazine" in a Netscape search box, and the site address came back with the following description: "A forward-looking literary magazine in search of the new, the unique and the bold."
That's kind of cool, I thought, because I didn't have a thing to do with authoring that blurb. Seeker does have fresh talent...and well-honed talent writing about a wide variety of subjects. And guess what! They keep dropping into my mailbox...along with some that don't quite make my subjectively-objective (or is it objectively-subjective?) cut. Still, I get enough to fill an issue and then some.
Looking through the index pages for the past couple of years, I realized that the article count has crept up, usually because I get enough good pieces during the month and I don't want to leave them waiting. And experience has shown that there will always be enough next time.
Then there are the occasional comments from folks who do a lot more web-reading of, and contributing to, other literary magazines than I do. The comments run something like Derek DeHart's comment at the end of his bio on the Poet Portrait page.
It feels good that the contributors like the content and the mix as much as I do.
It also feels good to watch a young writer grow on these pages. I think Derek is a good example. And so are others who are older, but who are finally opening to the creative side of their lives, like Viv Cassina and Bill Eihausen and this month's new writer, Elaine Clark. At 77 years old, she didn't start writing on a computer until fairly recently, when her family saw how interested she was in writing and in being part of a literary group in Australia and bought one for her. She's in the same group as Lincoln Donald, who forwarded her story to me because she doesn't have email, I gathered.
How did I get to read her essay in the first place? Lincoln had asked to reprint my "Perhaps Pelican" poem in the group's newsletter and sent me a copy (hard) which included Elaine's essay. I found her reactions to the physical appearance of babies echoed my own, and she wrote about them humorously, so I asked to include it. Lincoln showed up in my mailbox a while ago because he'd been admiring Harry Buschmann's writing. In fact, Harry seems to be the subject of quite a bit of admiration in the electronic literary world and has led more than one author to Seeker.
And Seeker certainly has its share of hard-copy published writers. Which brings up a question: do I continue to keep the autobiographical blurbs at the ends of articles to almost non-existent, except for website links if they have them, or do readers want to know a little more about the authors, if they choose to share the information?
The mix of amateurs and professionals writers who grace these 'ethereal' pages is what makes Seeker slightly out of the ordinary, in my opinion. One never quite knows - from the titles - just what avenue of thought or imagination will pop up before your eyes.
For the wonderful eclecticism brought to Seeker by its many contributors, I and, I trust, its readers are deeply grateful.
By the way, Denise Ruiz has been checking on chat room possibilities for me and has found one that could be password protected. If we had a regular chat room meeting time with topic and kept the hellos and goodbyes down to practically zilch, would writers be interested? I haven't gone onto more than four chat rooms in the years I've been on the 'net because it seemed like all they were doing was greeting each other at least 50% of the time. It might be interesting to operate one as a talking circle, where each person in order of logon has the opportunity to speak. What do you think?
Thankfully,
Cherie