We have missed all of you.

Many things have happened at VoicesNet since the last edition on October 27th, 2003. We want to take this opportunity to re-energize you by first telling you about all of the exciting projects that are going on at VoicesNet right now.

Then we are going to bring you some outstanding new work and a profile from a very unique Russian poet named Victor Sklyarov. Mr. Sklyarov has some extraordinary talent that he has recently unleashed on the literary world after some motivation derived from his involvement with VoicesNet.

You know, someday we want the Visions Literary Journal to be known for its interesting poet profiles.. With this in mind, enjoy the work of Mr. Victor Sklyarov in this edition. Some day, decades from now, we envision a library of Visions articles that become a historical journey through time all by themselves. We hope that you enjoy hearing about Mr. Sklyarov.

After that article, we will then end this edition of the Journal with the Top 3 poems and poets from the recently completed VoicesNet Anthology 6 International Poetry Competition.

It was an exciting contest. It turns out that the winner, Mr. Rohan Facey, has just published his own book so we thought we’d throw him a plug since he did so well in our contest (out of close to 8,000 submissions). You can find out more below.

So that’s what we have in store for you in this edition of the VoicesNet Visions Literary Journal.

Please support our staff and site efforts by clicking around our site and checking out our sponsor links. Buy one of our poetry books if you can, we consider them a precious piece of history that should be handed down from generation to generation.

We want to wish you success and safety for all of your travels and adventures in the New Year. The 2004 year should be an exciting year in the development of this cherished gift we know as VoicesNet. Hang on for the ride! We can go far together!

Jeff Humphrey, Executive Editor

Try the following link for one of our sponsors

VoicesNet Website Updates

Thanks so much for agreeing to allow us to contact you via email and allowing us to send you emails regularly to keep you updated on adventures within the VoicesNet world.

There is so much going on at VoicesNet that I don’t even know where to start. Last month, we had over 1700 visitors one day serving over 15,000 web pages to all of you out there in the internet literary community. That was just amazing. It’s very exciting wondering where we will end up by the end of 2004.

New Youth Web Words Poetry Competition Announced

We would like to announce a brand new and quite refreshing international VoicesNet Poetry Competition. Our new contest is called Youth Web Words and has a four month contest cycle with three contests per year.

Poets must be 18 years old or younger to submit their poems. Submissions can be made at www.voicesnet.org/NewEntry.aspx.

We are truly excited to expand our poetry contest offerings on the Internet and hope to continue as a leader in legitimate Internet Poetry Competitions.

Read the new contest guidelines at http://www.voicesnet.com/poemsfromkidscontest.htm.

VoicesNet Visions Literary Journal strides into New Year

We would like to announce that our new Managing Editor of the Visions Literary Journal is Melyssa Sprott. Melyssa will be the sole Managing Editor of the new Journal staff and she will also work as a VoicesNet Literary Representative, helping to coordinate VoicesNet Self-Publishing efforts (read more about self-publishing below).

Melyssa has worked previously as co-Managing Editor of the Visions Literary Journal and has also been a stalwart Senior Moderator in the very active VoicesNet Poetry and Discussion Forums. She has been incredibly supportive and positive about VoicesNet and what we can do with our organization of poets and fans of poetry.

The Visions Literary Journal will continue to be free and emailed out to its subscriber base of over 16,000 opt-in members.

The Visions Literary Journal will be emailed on a monthly basis initially until Melyssa gets things well organized and running smoothly and then we would hope to go back to twice per month mailings at some time in the future.

The Journal will continue its content strategy of exploring fresh poetry from its member base, occasional whimsical articles, signature poet profiles, and regular site program updates.

Expect some great thing from Ms. Sprott in her new roles with VoicesNet.

VoicesNet.ORG versus VoicesNet.COM

We now have the www.VoicesNet.ORG and www.VoicesNet.COM domain names so you can now get to VoicesNet with either one of them.

The VoicesNet.ORG domain gives us additional software capabilities that we are already using to our benefit and will keep new Net visitors from being confused in the future by allowing them to use either domain name.

The two sites are almost identical except that the new Poems Database and poem submission entry is only available under the .ORG domain for now. We apologize for any technical issues but if you just stick with using the navigation menus on the site, then you will be fine in getting around the site.

New VoicesNet Poems Database

We have a new VoicesNet Poetry Database that is now available for poetry entry and poem readings. After just a few days of use amid very little publicity, we already have well over a thousand poems in the database and are getting hits in the thousands. Jump on the bandwagon and get there and post your poetry and read great poetry of other authors who frequent our site. You will be amazed by the submissions and it is really cool to see the names of the authors and their countries and also the wide variety of poetry they are writing.

You can go to www.voicesnet.org/poemcategories.aspx to look around at the new feature. The new database is fed by contest submissions and direct poetry entry by you, our members.

You can sign up online and if you are receiving this Journal in your email, you are actually already signed up and just need to have your password emailed to you. This can also be done online. Go to www.voicesnet.org/poemadm.aspx to get your username and password to use in the new poem database. This username and password is separate than the one needed if you are a member of our current Poetry Forums at VoicesNet. We are sorry for this inconvenience and consider this a temporary situation.

The new poetry database allows you to submit and search for poems in up to two different categories per poem. For example, you can search for poems that are “Teen Love” poems, a popular Net search request for poetry, or you can search for “summer baseball” poems, or “religious political” or “Funny” poems, for example.

Thousands of Internet surfers are looking to read great poetry each and every day and we want them to come to our site to read the works of our contributors. We continue to define our own market for all of the writers who contribute here at VoicesNet. If you are an aspiring writer then please come and join the show.

The exciting aspect of this new software is that new features will be rolled out regularly.

New Online Contest Results Lookup Feature

We now have a new ability at VoicesNet where you can enter the poem ID that was assigned to you and your email address making it possible for you to look up the results of any of your contest submissions.

You will no longer have to rely on receiving email notifications of our judging results of your poetry and its status throughout the process. You can use this new feature 24/7 at www.voicesnet.org/contestresults.aspx. Please enjoy and feel free to send us your suggestions about any additional improvements that can be made with this new feature.

This feature is available for all prior and current VoicesNet poetry competitions.

Poetry and Discussion Forums

The current Poetry Forums are going like gangbusters. We often have 30+ visitors in addition to regulars hanging around the different rooms. We invite you to come and read or post your own poetic works. The camaraderie and critiquing are great for learning and growing as a poet. We hear that there are not many websites that offer the kind of encouragement that is offered in our workshop forums where poets post works in process for others to review and provide feedback for.

Stop in and see Catherine Money, she works the forums under the name of DesertRose - Admin. She is also a Poet in in Residence (www.voicesnet.com/poetCatherineMoney.htm) here at VoicesNet in addition to her Forum Admin role. She is very talented in many ways. Read Catherine's Profile page in the Forums at: www.voicesnet.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=incAboutMods;action=display;num=1053961575.

You'll love Catherine and the other wonderful people that share their time in the forums. The forums are the most popular part of the website.

Self-Publishing through VoicesNet

This is exciting. Check out our self-publilishing page at www.voicesnet.com/selfpublishing.htm

As mentioned earlier, we welcome Melyssa Sprott aboard as a Literary Representative for VoicesNet.

In Melyssa’s new role, she will coordinate VoicesNet’s Self-Publishing efforts to bring book publishing to any author interested in going through the process and growing and enriching themselves and others around them who read their works.

Melyssa has already published one book titled "Descent into the Dark" and she is now working on two other future offerings. A second collection of poetry titled "It Grows Darker Still" and a collection of short stories titled "The Spiral Staircase". To view a preview and ordering info for "Descent into the Dark", please visit www.1stbooks.com/bookview/17301 and for Melyssa's personal home page visit www.descentintothedark.com.

We are very excited to have Melyssa become an official VoicesNet Literary Representative and if you are interested in talking to Melyssa about the Self-Publishing Services that Melyssa can help you coordinate, then email her at Melyssa.

If you're not sure what the VoicesNet Self-Publishing Program consists of, then please allow Melyssa an opportunity to tell you about what we now offer.

As part of our Self-Publishing efforts, we will be rolling out a new website section where you can sell your books directly through VoicesNet. Any author who agrees to have VoicesNet publish their self-published book will have their book sold through the VoicesNet Website for free. You can determine final sales costs so you have control over what your book costs the general public and the amount of royalties that you recieve.

We will also provide free audio capabilities for you to allow sample passages to be read as part of the sales efforts to allow readers to have some samples to entice them to purchase your book.

We will also present your book for free as part of our Self-Publishing Program to our Visions Journal subscribers. Our subscriber base has grown to over 16,000 members and it continues to grow. We are gaining a lot of influence as a group and we should be aware of that influence…it is really exciting for us to be the center of such an exciting energy and we look forward to representing all of you with the utmost respect and trust.

So send Melyssa an email or check out our self publishing page at www.voicesnet.com/selfpublishing.htm.

Suicide Prevention

As the New Year proceeds on, it’s important to recognize that some of us do not always have great days or even good days. Sometimes many of us really struggle, sometimes for weeks at a time... or even longer.

We know from the many submissions that we now receive regularly that many people suffer and many people write about their suffering in their poetry.

Writing is a great way to relieve this type of pain so no matter what, always keep writing and expressing your freedoms.

Suicide is the number one killer of teens and the number two killer of college age students. The pressure of life in our current technological world can be very stressful for many of us and we often have to struggle to keep a handle on day to day activities and commitments.

We have established a partnership with the great people at the National Hopeline Network who do wonderful things in the area of suicide prevention. Their Executive Director, Dave Celebreeze, has agreed to allow us to publicize their Suicide Prevention Hotline number and programs to our members. Anybody can call this hotline number at any time of the day or night at 1-800-SUICIDE. Also check out their website at www.hopeline.com.

We want to say that suicide is not a solution to any problem. Suicide is not the answer.

You are not alone. If you are feeling really bad, call the Hotline number and just talk for awhile … remember, 1-800-SUICIDE, it’s easy to remember. Talking to someone can help.

Also, if you know of someone who is suicidal and needs someone to talk to then you can also call the 1-800-SUICIDE number. It's toll free in the United Statesand does not cost you a thing.

Also, remember, often people consider suicide because they have a chemical imbalance in their bodies and that is nothing to be embarrassed about. So please, think about that if this applies to you and get yourself to a doctor to be diagnosed properly. Depression isn't your fault and can be remedied.

Get help if you need it!