Guest Bloggers

Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray and the power of commitment.

Today’s blog post is by Suzanne Murray. THE POWER OF COMMITMENT Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. – Rumi   I’ve been thinking about the difference between trying and doing and how it applies to our creative lives.   Consider how it feels to say “I’m going to try to write a book versus I am going to write book.” The word try brings with it a lot of resistance and a sense of effort, whereas I am going to do it carries the sense “I can do this.”   Perhaps the most well-known line in the Star Wars movies is when Yoda says to Luke Skywalker “do or do not, there is no try.”   Yoda is encouraging Luke to commit fully because he know that if Luke is uncertain that he can achieve the goal,…

Guest Bloggers

Guest Blogger Frances Lefkowitz

Today’s guest blogger, Frances Lefkowitz, writes about the importance of family stories and keeping memories alive. Telling stories ‘round the table, can increase well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, reinforce feelings of closeness among family members, and build resilience for navigating life’s normal ups and downs. Stories about something good coming from something bad are particularly therapeutic. When something bad happens, but you find a way to use it to your advantage, you redeem (and transform) the negative experience. The tales need to be structured, with a beginning, a middle, and — most crucial — an end, a conclusion that makes sense of the situation and gives it meaning. Tips for getting the storytelling started: 1. Share photos: Albums, yearbooks, holiday photos, loose photos in shoeboxes. 2. Start and continue traditions. Rituals contribute to stories. 3. Share stories during mealtimes. Frances Lefkowitz has spent over twenty years writing and publishing. The…

Places to submit

Writer Advice: Flash Fiction Contest

Lynn B. Goodwin is the creator and producer of Writer Advice. Writer Advice’s Flash Fiction Contest 2019 Submission Information  Writer Advice seeks flash fiction of 750 words or less. “Open our eyes. Help us see the world as your characters do.” Finalists receive responses from all judges. Everyone receives a detailed response from award-winning author B. Lynn Goodwin. What is Flash Fiction?  For Writer Advice, it is a story of 750-words or less that has a protagonist, a conflict, a setting, excellent use of language, and an ending that we didn’t predict when we read the first line. We enjoy stories with a discovery, complex characters, lovely language, and a tone that rings true.  PRIZES: First Place earns $150; Second Place earns $75; Third Place earns $40; Honorable Mentions will also be listed.  Submission Details  The contest closes on June 1, 2019. 

Guest Bloggers

Submit. Yay or nay?

Excerpt from “Submission Control” article about submitting your writing to publications, in the March/April 2019 issue of Writers Digest magazine, by Dinty W. Moore. Sending your work to literary magazines puts you at the whim of editors—but there’s more in your power than you may realize. Every few months, ask yourself why you’re doing this [writing]. If writing, waiting, and facing rejection make you truly miserable, maybe you should stop. But if you don’t want to stop, if writing is necessary, like breathing, then change your way of thinking. The long wait, the long odds, the sometimes inscrutable aesthetic taste of the editorial staff: You have to put all of that aside and write new poems, essays and stories. And that’s a good thing. Because the more you write, the better you get. Dinty W. Moore is the author of the memoir Between Panic & Desire, the writing guide Crafting…

Prompts

Spring is . . . Prompt #419

Spring is . . .  . . . The true harbinger of spring is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of the bat on the ball. — Bill Veeck   . . . The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.— E.E. Cummings  . . . a heart full of hope and a shoe full of rain. Your turn . . . Spring is . . . Just Write!