Category: Just Write

  • Chicken Soup for the Soul

    About Chicken Soup for the Soul, from their website:

    Chicken Soup for the Soul, the world’s favorite and most recognized storyteller, publishes the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. With well over 100 million books sold to date in the U.S. and Canada alone, more than 250 titles, and translations into more than 40 languages, “chicken soup for the soul” is one of the world’s best-known phrases and is regularly referenced in pop culture. Today, over 25 years after it first began sharing happiness, inspiration and hope through its books, this socially conscious company continues to publish a new title a month

    Please visit Story Guidelines page, which will answer many of your questions about subject matter, length, and style. Following the guidelines will give you the best possible chance of being accepted.

    For a list of new topics, complete with descriptions and deadlines, please visit  Possible Book Topics page.

    There are many Chicken Soup for the Soul books in development. If you have a great story or poem you want to submit but it doesn’t fit with any of the topics below, please save it and check again to see if a topic has been added that’s a better match.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul is always looking for new talent. So whether you are a regular contributor or new to their family, please share your story or poem with them.

    Some of the current topics for Chicken Soup for the Soul:

    Age Is Just a Number
    So, you’re a certain age now, and you’re ready for what’s next. You might be enjoying an empty nest, or starting a second career, or winding down a first one. You might be downsizing, or traveling, or caring for elderly parents.

    You might be going on the adventure of a lifetime or taking long walks in the woods. The one thing you know for sure is that you’re not ready to stop living! You feel energetic and young and there is still so much more to see and do and give and enjoy.

    We are looking for stories about the humorous or serious sides of life after 60.
    Deadline: June 15, 2020.

    Cats
    Our cat titles are so very popular, and you have so many great stories to share with us, that we do a new cat title every eighteen months or so.

    We are looking for first-person true stories and poems up to 1,200 words. Tell us about your cat. Tell us how he made you smile. How she “rescued” you after you “rescued” her. How she brought your family closer together, helped you find love, inspired you to change something in your human life. Stories can be serious or humorous, or both. We can’t wait to read all the heartwarming, inspirational, and hysterical stories you have about your cats!
    Deadline: November 30, 2020.

    Making “Me Time”
    Do you ever say that you’ll take care of yourself AFTER you finish your to-do list? That’s what we did until we started putting ourselves ON our to-do list, right there with the other people we care for.

    Self-care is what we all neglect most. And we’re waking up to its importance. We care for children and partners and parents and friends. We care for pets and homes and volunteer organizations. But, in order to take care of others you must first take care of yourself. And that is not being selfish.

    Taking care of yourself is not just about your physical health but includes your emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing too. Self-care includes that all-important “me time” whether that means exercising or reading or meditating or having lunch with friends. Whatever your psyche needs is your “me time.”

    We are looking for your stories about how you neglected your self-care and then how you realized its importance and so you now engage in it.
    Deadline: September 30, 2020.

    Miracles & Divine Intervention
    101 Awesome Stories about Hope, Miracles, Angels, Amazing Coincidences, Unexplained Happenings, Answered Prayers, Miraculous Healing, and Messages from Heaven

    Miracles are all around us if we’re open to them. Sometimes we just can’t explain how good things came about. Are they celestial, otherworldly, heavenly? However they happened, these events give us peace and comfort, guidance, hope and faith.

    These true stories can be religious or non-religious. We just want them to make people say “wow”—stories that will give our readers chills, in a good way!
    Deadline: August 31, 2020


    Marlene C

  • River Teeth

    River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative was co-founded in 1999 by Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman, professors at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. The journal is recognized as a national leader in publishing quality essays, memoir, and literary journalism. 

    River Teeth has grown from a biennial journal edited by two professors with stacks of envelopes in their offices to a burgeoning organization that continues to publish, without bias, the best of today’s nonfiction. 

    From the very beginning, River Teeth has been dedicated to the simple premise that good writing counts and that facts matter.

    River Teeth invites submissions of creative nonfiction, including narrative reportage, essays, and memoirs, as well as critical essays that examine the emerging genre and that explore the impact of nonfiction narrative on the lives of its writers, subjects, and readers.

    Marlene C

  • Bluestem Online Journal

    Bluestem produces three online editions per year. Please submit no more than 5 poems at one time, or one short story (or 1-3 flash pieces in the same file), or one creative nonfiction essay. Fiction / prose / essays should be no longer than 5,000 words.

    We are currently accepting submissions for our Summer 2020 issue.

    No previously published work is accepted. Simultaneous submissions are fine.

    As part of our paid market pilot project, contributors in 2020 will receive $20/poem and $75/prose piece.

    Sample back issues of Bluestem are available for $5.00 for each issue you would like. The 2019 print issue is $10.00. Click here for purchase information.

    “For writers at home who are feeling the squeeze: in celebration of our relaunch, we’ve opened up free submissions for the remainder of April.“

    Marlene C

  • 2020 Lincoln Poetry Contest

    Inviting You To Enter 

    ✤ The 2020 Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest ✤

    Message from Alan Lowe Coordinator, 2020 Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest:

    Wishing you good health and peace during these difficult times. Looking on the bright side , April is National Poetry Month and the time to begin the 16th Annual Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest. 

    There are five new categories: 

    ~What Do I See When I Look in The Mirror  

    ~I See You in My Dreams   

    ~You Should Have Seen What I Saw Today   

    ~ See A World with Many Opportunities  

    ~See If I Can Make You Laugh  

    Poets may submit a maximum of three poems, no more than one in each of three of the five contest categories.

    Everyone (over the age of 18) is encouraged to enter the contest. Poets do not have to live in Lincoln, CA, to be eligible.

    Rules and Entry Form

    Information (Scroll down)

    All poems must be received no later than Saturday, July 18, 2020, at the address on the Entry Form.       

    Marlene C

  • What do you miss? Prompt #488

    What, or who, do you miss?

    Marlene C

  • Spillway Magazine

    Spillway magazine is an annual publication of poetry, reviews, and articles.  Published each summer, Spillway presents emerging and established poets of regional, national, and international interest.

    Submit!

    Marlene C

  • Memoirs As Textbooks

    Use a published memoir as a textbook to write your memoir.

    Read the memoir. Read it again to examine structure.

    Notice where author used narration vs. dialogue to tell the story. Notice the balance between fast-paced action scenes and slower, contemplative scenes. Note when and how backstory is used.

    Let’s use Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt as our textbook.

    McCourt’s ability to write as if experiencing events as they unfold, pacing, and his strong writing voice made Angela’s Ashes a New York Times beloved best seller.

    Angela’s Ashes takes the reader on an emotional journey. There is so much vulnerability in this book. McCourt reaches into our compassionate hearts as he tells his story, moving from childhood to adulthood.

    He weaves details into a story, similar to the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

    McCourt taps into universal messages and themes.

    Understanding your theme will help to write your memoir.

    Possible themes:

    Being different                 

    Poverty

    Religion

    Coming of age                  

    Alcohol/drug use

    Death

    Despair

    Dignity

    Disease

    Ethnicity                           

    Feeling helpless

    Not fitting in

    Technique

    McCourt uses a variety of techniques to create intimacy in his themed books of children in poverty in Ireland. He changes his writing voice and tone to match his age progression.

    He employs rhythm and repetition, keeping the thread of the theme/plot running throughout the book.

    He “shows” situations so that readers understand what is going on. There is a lot that doesn’t get said. For example, when Frank’s sibling dies, and when a friend’s sister dies, there are no death scenes. Rather, there is action and dialogue seen through the lens of children. This is one method of avoiding too much tragedy: Keep it fast paced and use humor where you can. No woe is me, no pity-parties.

    When writing about unsavory characters, use compassion and find redemption.

    These ideas are based on a webinar by Linda Jo Myers and Brooke Warner, intertwined with my thoughts and observations.

    Another example of going deep in writing and willing to be vulnerable about a difficult subject is “Meeting My Father,” which I wrote and published in The Write Spot: Memories. I have written in my journal about my father for over thirty years. After a series of fortunate experiences, I had the epiphany that he was more than a Third Street bum and more than just a sperm donor. I was able to give him the loving tribute I felt he deserved, even though I do not have one good memory of him.

    More thoughts about writing memoir:

    Write Memoir in Voice of Narrator

    Does Your Memoir Have A Theme?

    Mini Memoirs Unfold Naturally

    Marlene C

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  • Potomac Review

    Potomac Review publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

    Submission Guidelines.

    Marlene C

  • Writing Exercises Are Like Foyers

    “. . . writing exercises . . . are the way architects think of foyers: They usher an individual from one world to another. I use them as a means of transitioning from the outside word of reality to the interior word of imagination and language. . .” — Bret Anthony Johnston, “Narrative Calisthenics,” Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec 2008

    Marlene C

  • New Letters

    New Letters magazine works to discover and publish the finest new writing, wherever it exists. That mission implies encouragement of writers just starting or those who deserve wider readership. By placing the emphasis on excellence, we best promote the cause of the literary arts and affirm their transforming qualities. Editorial decisions arise from three core questions: Is the writing intense; does it advance literary art; does it offer hope?

    New Letters’ Literary Awards for Writers, established in 1986, offers a total of $8,250 in prizes annually. The Awards program discovers and rewards new writers and encourages more established writers to try new genres or new work in competition. In recent years, New Letters has won a National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s highest honor, received multiple Pushcart Prizes, often in a given year, and places selections often in The Best American Poetry, Essays, and other prize anthologies.


    “New Letters will continue to seek the best new writing, whether from established writers or those ready and waiting to be discovered. In addition, it will support those writers, readers and listeners who want to experience the joy of writing that can both surprise and inspire us all.”

    Submission Guidelines.

    Marlene C