Places to submit

Lucky Peach might be your lucky magazine

Do you like to create recipes? Do you have favorite recipes from way back? Do your stories involve food? “Lucky Peach uses food as a filter to tell stories about people, places, traditions, flavors, shared experiences and cultural identities.” Lucky Peach might be a good place for you to submit your story/vignette/art/photos and the occasional recpe. “For freelancers, the opportunity to break in doesn’t stop at each issue: Lucky Peach expanded its mission with an award-winning website, cookbooks and live events.” Their submissions page is very friendly and inviting: “If you’re interested in submitting your writing to Lucky Peach, we’re interested in reading it.” COMPLETE ARTICLES ONLY: Lucky Peach does not want pitches nor vague ideas. LENGTH is up to you. SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS are okay. Just let them know if your work is accepted elsewhere. COVER LETTER is not necessary. Art Photos:    “Art is important to us. Send us your…

Guest Bloggers

Short essays can be a goldmine.

Today’s guest blog post is excerpted from Anne R. Allen’s Blog… with Ruth Harris. Writing about writing. Mostly.  Book length memoir is a hard sell, but short essays can be a goldmine. Memoir is the most popular genre at any writers’ conference. Unfortunately, it’s the hardest to write well—and the least likely to be successful if you’re an unknown newbie writer. That’s because book-length memoir isn’t likely to become a bestseller unless people already know who you are. So how do you get people to know you? You could become a reality TV star, run for political office, or be related to somebody who marries into the British royal family of course, but not everybody has that option. You can also work to get yourself known through social media, which I recommend for all memoirists. Start a blog, podcast, or vlog on the subject or setting of your memoir and…

Prompts

Create a vignette. Prompt #308

Many of us have vignettes, little stories of things that happened, that we could write about: Events or situations that enlightened, inspired, or changed us.  All are memorable and could be written. But why? Why should you write these stories? “All humans understand and use story on an intuitive level. It’s our most effective teaching tool. It’s how we understand our world, ourselves and each other. It’s how we make and deepen our connections. It’s how we draw meaning from experience.”  — Deb Norton, “Story Structure, Simplified,” WritersDigest, February 2017 What if there was a recipe for this type of writing like there is for voodoo doughnuts? “Learning when to throw the flour, proper handling of a rolling pin, the intricacies of an old fashion, the ‘flip,’ and countless other tricks of the trade were now in the hands, minds, and notebooks of  Cat Daddy and Tres.”  Voodoo Doughnut Recipe…

Quotes

Memoirists are the bravest writers.

Helen Sedwick, author of Coyote Winds, believes “Memoirists are the bravest of writers.” “In exploring the journeys of their lives, they [memoirists] delve into the private (and imperfect) lives of others. Can a memoirist write about surviving abuse without getting sued by her abuser? Can a soldier write about war crimes without risking a court-martial? Helen answers these questions in her guest blog post “A Memoir is not a Voodoo Doll.” We lead rich lives, most of us. Rich in experiences, in friendships, in family, and in our work. I think you can find riches to write about.  So, whatchya waitin’ for? Start writing. And don’t worry about a thing. Just write.

Just Write

Figuring out the important thing

“Writing essays is like therapy because you’re figuring out: What was the important thing in that incident? ”   —   Etgar Keret Keret, an “acclaimed Israeli writer . . . known for his unique and distinctive writing style” began writing essays after the birth of his son. “. . . because I’m sensitive about family issues. . . It never stops me from writing it, but it might stop me from publishing it.”  He wrote personal essays to “have a literary tombstone” for his father.  He is able to create work that is “moving and deeply affecting in only a few pages.” Excerpted from the February 2017 issue of The Writer magazine. Your turn: No pressure to write the next great American novel, just write what you know, what you experience. Write about your trip to the grocery store where you observed an act of kindness or had a weird encounter….

Book Reviews

Every Moment of A Fall by Carol E. Miller

Every Moment of A Fall by Carol E. Miller Carol’s true account of her life, beginning with a plane crash that killed her sister and severely injured her and her parents, through her turbulent years, ending with healing through EMDR – Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing. The book jacket describes this as “a brave and revealing  memoir of recovery and a vividly narrated account of the author’s experience using the increasingly popular eye-movement therapy developed to heal the wounds trauma leaves in its wake.”  A good read for anyone who has experienced trauma. An excellent resource for researching alternative methods of therapy.

Prompts

How we affect others. Prompt #307

It’s after the holidays, when some of us spent time with family. It’s inauguration day.  Lots of energy. Lots of emotions. Today’s prompt, “How we affect others,” is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. We don’t live in a bubble, immune to the thoughts and emotions of others. Today, I suggest writing about how we affect others. If that doesn’t work for you, how about:  Do we affect others?   What does that mean? I look forward to your response.

Guest Bloggers

A Memoir is Not a Voodoo Doll

Guest Blogger, attorney Helen Sedwick, writes: Memoirists are the bravest of writers. In exploring the journeys of their lives, they delve into the private (and imperfect) lives of others. Can a memoirist write about surviving abuse without getting sued by her abuser? Can a soldier write about war crimes without risking a court-martial? Yes, but a cool head is key. Considering the thousands of memoirs published each year, there are relatively few lawsuits. Claims are difficult and expensive to prove. Most targets don’t want to call attention to a matter best forgotten. However, it’s important for memoir writers to be aware of the legal risks. You can’t avoid risk 100% of the time, but you can learn to take the ones that are important to your narrative arc and minimize those that are not. What is Safe Territory? You may write about a person in a positive or neutral light….

Guest Bloggers

Envision your best year ever

Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray writes: Amid what seems like a world gone mad, can you relax, take a deep breath and consider the possibility that all that is happening around us, that seems so disturbing, is really an opportunity for so many to awaken to the divine spark within each of us? The place that holds the light and the creative solutions our world so very much needs. This, I suspect, is what Albert Einstein meant when he said that the problems we face won’t be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. We need instead to approach the monumental challenges we face in our lives and the world from the level of our heart, soul and spirit. We need to work with our creative imagination which is really our hotline to the divine. From here we can respond to situations from a place of love that we…

Prompts

Despair and broken promises. Prompt #306

You might know that I facilitate Jumpstart writing workshops. One day, a participant read her freewrite which contained the phrase, “Despair and broken promises.” I immediately thought that would make a great writing prompt.  What do you think? And that reminds me, during this season of many deaths, if you need to write a condolence note and are stymied about what to write, take a look at “The Condolence Note – What to Write.”  You might get some ideas. Today’s writing prompt:  Despair and broken promises. Post your writing on The Write Spot Blog and I’ll offer commentary  . . . always positive.