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The Christian Science Monitor accepts personal essay, poems and more . . .
The Christian Science Monitor is an independent international news organization that delivers thoughtful, global coverage. “We want to inspire people to think about what they’ve read long after they’ve left the page. To share what they’ve learned with others. And to do something that makes a difference.”
The Home Forum section of The Christian Science Monitor is looking for upbeat, personal essays from 400 to 800 words. “We also welcome short poems. All material must be original and previously unpublished. For seasonal material, be aware that if you submit something that is about a particular month, holiday, event (back to school, graduation), or season, we need to receive it a minimum of six weeks ahead.”
Essays:
These are first-person, nonfiction explorations of how you responded to a place, a person, a situation, an event, or happenings in everyday life. Tell a story; share a funny true tale. The humor should be gentle.
Essays are accepted on a wide variety of subjects.
CS is always looking for essays on travel, parenting (your experiences with children), home, family, gardening, neighborhood, and community.
Poetry:
Poetry that appears in The Home Forum explores and celebrates life. It provides a respite from the bleakness that appears in so much contemporary verse. Of particular interest: poetry that has an international flavor or that offers some global or cultural insights. Short poems are more likely to be accepted (because of space constraints) than poems that are more than 18 lines long.
Submissions are accepted only by e-mail, one poem per e-mail; no more than 5 poems submitted at one time. In order to preserve line breaks and indents, you may want to consider using a Microsoft Word attachment. (We are not able to open any other attachments. If you don’t use Word, please paste the text into the e-mail.)
Click here for Contributor Guidelines.Click here for copyright and terms of acceptance.
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An epiphany . . . Prompt #117
* “An epiphany is a sudden realization of a significant event. At that special moment, a life meaning becomes clear to you —an insight into your personality, a discovery of something you value or believe in, an acute sense of where you are in life.
Here’s an Epiphany Tale one elder told to her family:
I must have been around seven or eight. It was summer, and we were visiting my aunt Clara up at Crystal Lake. I was alone, lying on my back by the banks of the lake, looking up at the sky, and I had my harmonica in my mouth. I was just breathing through it, in and out, not playing a melody, simply breathing. And suddenly, I was overcome with this wonderful feeling of connection to everything in the world. I’d say now it was a spiritual feeling. I listened to the sound my breathing made through that harmonica, and I thought, I am part of the noise of the world. I am part of everything . . . I’ve had that feeling again, from time to time, throughout my life — a certainty that I am part of the universe —but that was my first time. I think that knowledge is one reason I’ve never found the idea of dying very frightening.”Your turn: Write about an epiphany you or your fictional character has had.
* Excerpt: From Family Tales, Family Wisdom — How to gather the stories of a lifetime and share them with your family, by Dr. Robert U. Akeret with Daniel Klein
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Guest Blogger Jean Grant-Sutton and glorious messy imperfections
Guest Blogger Jean Grant-Sutton writes:This time of year I am reminded so pertinently of the glorious messy imperfection of life.
I see it in an amass of leaves on the ground that are so exquisitely beautiful in their array of color, but they make for a lot of clean up and clutter in the yard.
Great in the compost to make nutritious soil — glad for that.
I take comfort in reality.
Life is made up of much glorious messy imperfection.
I feel like I’m one of them
And I continue to practice acceptance for that.
It takes courage to be imperfect.
Click here for a great article by Roger Allen on this topic. I hope you enjoy it.
Integrative Yoga Therapist, Jean Grant-Sutton loves to share writings that stem from an understanding of life based on the ancient art and science of Yoga. She writes to connect and relate with others about the journey of being a human being.
Jean Grant-Sutton ERYT/1000, CMT is a teacher and educator of yoga. She is currently the Yoga Program Director at P.O.S.T. Wellness by Design in Petaluma Ca. Her many years of practice and experience as a retreat leader, studio owner and director of teacher trainings award her the talent to construct transformative experiences in her classes. She skillfully brings depth, clarity, ease, and joy to this ancient bodywork practice. Click here for more information about Jean Grant-Sutton and yoga integrative therapy.
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Seeing red. Prompt #116
Today’s writing prompt: Seeing red.
Photo credits:
Red door – Colby Drake
Children and backpacks – Kent Sorensen
Holiday table – Laura Plunk Davis
Coffee – Laura Plunk Davis
Holiday scene – Jane Person
Red car – Marlene Cullen
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Art connects us.
“It’s a very deep experience for so many people to read ‘Wild’ and feel what they feel, because of course they’re not feeling it about my life, but about their own. And that’s what art does. It reminds us that we are more alike than different and that our common humanity connects us really profoundly.” — Cheryl Strayed, author of “Wild.” -
We write for a variety of reasons . . .
We write for a variety of reasons:~ To tell a story, or what happened as we remember it
~ To create a fictional story
~ To tell a fiction story, based on truth
~ To journal what happened and our feelings about what happened
~ To write non-fiction: share our knowledge or to tell what happened
All of this involves what we learned, what changed us, what impressed us.
It doesn’t matter why you are writing. It is important that you write.
No matter the motivation for your writing . . . Just Write!
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Pressure. Prompt #115
Today’s prompt: Pressure. -
” . . . it’s not the most gifted. . .” — Norman Mailer
“In writing, as in so many pursuits, it’s not the most gifted but the most determined who succeed.” — Norman Mailer -
Crazyhorse Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, & Poetry
Crazyhorse welcomes general submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from September 1st through May 31st, with the exception of the month of January, during which we accept entries for our annual Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry, and the month of July, during which we accept entries for our annual short-short fiction contest: Crazyshorts! From January 1st to January 31st, submit short stories and essays of up to 25 pages or a set of 1-3 poems. Winners in each genre will receive $2,000 and publication.
Click here for submission guidelines.
