Should your memoir have a theme? Yes, according to Brooke Warner. “Your memoir has an atmosphere, the air a reader breathes, and it’s called theme. Its presence is felt in every scene, whether or not it’s explicitly named by the author.” —Brooke Warner, “Back to Port,” The Writers, February 2016 “If your theme is vague, such as transformation, try to articulate what initiated your transformation.” Warner gives the example of Wild by Cheryl Strayed and H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, both about transformation while working through grief. Find your theme and tell your story. Read Brooke’s guest blog post, here on The Write Spot Blog: Why Keep Writing When No One Is Listening. Just Write!
Category: Just Write
CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine and is . . .
CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine and is fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. We publish poetry, realistic and genre fic, essay, and comics by adults and teens. (We are also inordinately fond of Viking jokes.) Our readers are smart and curious; submissions are invited but not required to engage young adult themes. Especially welcome: works by people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQAI+ folks, genderqueer folks, and other marginalized peoples. Not welcome: cultural appropriation. Fav writers, YA and otherwise: Sarah McCarry, Nnedi Okorafor, Sherman Alexie, David Levithan, Daniel Jose Older, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ntozake Shange, Anne Carson, Jacqueline Woodson, ZZ Packer, Angela Nissel, Sofia Samatar, Malory Ortberg, Saeed Jones, Octavia Butler, Andrea Gibson. “There’s room in the world for your dark weird truths.” Associate editor Anna Neher on what Cicada wants. The above is excerpted from Cicada’s Submission Guidelines….
Conjunctions Magazine-unique literary journal
“The sheer size of Conjunctions—book length at nearly 400 pages per issue—is unique in the literary journal landscape. The scope allows editors to take chances on different voices, perspectives, styles and genres that relate to the central theme, and to publish more longform work— such as novellas—that might quite literally not fit in other journals.” —Writer’s Digest, October 2016 About Conjunctions “Conjunctions is an award-wining journal of provocative, innovative fiction, poetry and narrative nonfiction; a living notebook where contemporary masters and astonishing new voices publish their risk-taking, immaculately crafted work.” — Micaela, Morrissette, managing editor Submitting to Conjunctions All submissions from writers in the US should be directed by mail to the editorial office: Bradford Morrow, Editor Conjunctions 21 East 10th St., #3E New York, NY 10003 In order to receive a response, you must enclose a self-addressed envelope stamped with sufficient postage for our reply and for return…
Submit to Politico Magazine
POLITICO Magazine is always looking for smart, timely journalism aimed at a broad, but well-informed audience with a deep interest in politics. We publish both original reporting and distinctive opinion journalism that illuminate the people, ideas, and institutions that matter most in American politics and government. We’re much less interested in garden-variety op-eds, especially on narrow subjects or those with a limited shelf life. What works: Big swings at big subjects. Deep dives on the hidden forces shaping politics in a key state. Timely, original reporting on matters of national importance. Well-targeted book excerpts. Profiles of the major players influencing the political debate – or the backstage players who soon will. Unique data or new findings that challenge the conventional wisdom. Smart, elevated media criticism. What doesn’t: Op-eds on committee hearings, obscure pieces of legislation or highly specific regulation. Clichés. Talking points and predictable partisan rants. Your random thoughts on…
Why There Are Words Press
An independent publisher of exceptional literary books WTAW Press publishes full-length books of prose (novels, memoirs, creative nonfiction, collections of stories and essays, etc.). Additionally, opening chapters, stories, or essays of full-length manuscripts that show promise may be selected for publication in the WTAW Press Features Chapbook Series. Submissions are welcome from writers unpublished, extensively published, and in between. “We don’t privilege one aesthetic over another: we want to publish books that show us more things on heaven and earth than we have dreamt of.” The 2017 reading period will open June 15, 2017, and run through Sept. 15, 2017.
Is Flash Fiction right for you?
Want to learn more about Flash Fiction? If you live in the SF Bay Area, you are invited to attend the August 17, 2017 Writers Forum when presenter, Peg Alford Pursell, will talk about Flash Fiction: The Power of Writing Short. “Flash fiction isn’t simply fast fiction. It’s storytelling writ big—by writing short. Miniatures hold so much power that authors have turned to them to write highly successful novels and memoirs. Learn more about the short short and explore its potential to enliven and deepen your writing.” — Peg Alford Pursell 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm Copperfield’s Books, 140 Kentucky St, Petaluma Free Read about Flash Fiction— What it is and what it is not Places to submit Flash Fiction Smokelong Flash Fiction Online Pulp Literature Fireside Fiction Note from Marlene: Whether your write short, long, fast, or slow. . . Just Write!
Back in the swing of things
Hi, It’s been a while since I have posted because there have been lots of Happening Things going on here at my sunny place in Northern California. We began renovating our yard in October in preparation for our youngest son’s wedding in June. Eight and a half months of hauling, digging, pulling, moving, planting, paving . . . and our yard is beautiful and hopefully will be easier to maintain in our later years. The wedding was awesome, amazing, and inspiring. Just as I returned the last wedding item, my 85-year-old mother passed away. I’m at peace with that and happy she is no longer in pain. In anticipation of possible after-wedding let-down, I planned a huge project, which I am in the middle of. More will be revealed in the autumn. So, even though I haven’t been able to post here, I haven’t been idle. I’m going to get…
Submit to Wordrunner echapbooks
Two fiction collections, each by one author, will be selected for Wordrunner’s Fall 2017 e-chapbooks, to be published in September and November, respectively. Stories by authors who receive Honorable Mentions will be considered for publication in the annual spring anthology. Last day to submit July 31, 2017. Stories may be flash or longer, from 500 up to 5,000 words each. Quality trumps word count. Minimum of five stories and no more than 15 (if flash fiction). They need not be linked, but it would be a plus if they belong together for some reason, be it theme, location or character/s. Excerpts from novels will also be considered for these echapbooks. Looking for fiction that is subtle in emotional complexity. Submit your best work only. Each story should be original and compelling. No genre fiction, please, unless a story is good enough to transcend genre. General guidelines: At least one-fourth of…
Flash Fiction – What it is and is not.
When I prepared this blog post, I neglected to note the source. I only have “White” as the author. I considered not posting this, but I love this definition of flash fiction. If you know who “White” is, please, let me know. Flash Fiction According to White, flash fiction “combines the narrative grip of traditional short fiction with the compression, imagery and allusiveness of poetry. A good flash tale instantly intrigues us, may also momentarily bewilder us, and delivers an emotional jolt to the solar plexus—all in fewer than 1,500 words.” White lays out the steps to writing flash fiction. Briefly: The best flash stories are bona fide stories in which a viewpoint character struggles with internal or external conflict. Aims for intrigue and complications. Includes unique ways the protagonist struggles with the problem. A lesson is learned or an epiphany experienced. Uses sensory detail. What Flash Fiction is not A flash story isn’t…
Make Sense of Your World Through Writing
“Portable Corona number 3. That’s my analyst.” — Ernest Hemingway Heal Through Writing “Several incidents contributed to social psychologist James W. Pennebaker’s interest in ‘healing writing.’ But when his parents’ visit during college launched a bout of the asthma he thought he’d left behind in the dry Texas of his childhood, he realize climate wasn’t to blame; his emotions were. Once he recognized the connection, the asthma attacks stopped.” —“Writing to heal,” by Gail Radley, May 2017 The Writer magazine. Pennebaker has conducted multiple studies indicating that writing can lead to healing. Dr. Edward J. Murray investigated healing through writing and concluded “’It seems that putting our thoughts and feelings into language helps confront them, organize them, and wrest the meaning from them. . .” —Gail Ridley, May 2017 The Writer magazine. Perhaps we can make sense of our world by using freewrites as a vehicle. Note: If you are experience troubling…