I immediately think of food: Fresh peaches, just picked strawberries with that earthy smell, piping hot chicken potpie fresh from the oven, just-baked chocolate chip cookies, hot buttery popcorn, s’mores = toasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, crisp graham crackers. Yum!
Outdoor smells: Freshly mown grass, river, diesel, ocean, fog, smog, campfire, burning leaves, snow.
“A publisher of ‘best-in-class journalism about hidden places, incredible history, scientific marvels and gastronomical wonders,’ Atlas Obscura spotlights the weird and wonderful from around the globe.” July/August 2018, Writer’s Digest.
There are two main sections on Atlas Obscura: the Places database (a.k.a. “The Atlas”) and Stories, which is the home for reported articles.
If you are pitching us a write-up of a place that you have visited or heard about, it is probably most suited to be an entry in the Places database. These are crowd-sourced submissions that go through an editorial process before being published. You can read more on how to submit a Place entry here. We generally do not pay for place submissions.
For the Stories section, we are seeking original journalism. Stories that will surprise us and article ideas that would never have occurred to us but that we won’t be able to stop thinking and talking about. We pay for stories, at rates competitive with other online-only publications.
Our stories generally have at least two of the following three components:
A sense of place
An element of the hidden
A sense of wonder
Commissioned stories for Atlas Obscura are carefully researched, well-reported, and told from an original perspective. In general, the subjects we cover are history, science, culture, and exploration. But we are hungry for stories of all kinds, particularly from voices and places that are underrepresented. Currently we are especially seeking articles reported from China, Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia.
In addition, we have a handful of planned “theme weeks” for 2018, for which we’re currently soliciting pitches from outside writers. Stories published during these theme weeks will play off of the selected topic, in a variety of creative ways:
July 2018: Landmarks Week
October 2018: In Disguise Week
Things we can rarely use:
Travelogues
First-person essays
Pitches based on an unanswered question. If you’re going to make a question the basis of a story, we need to know you have the answer.
Articles that focus on supernatural events
Event/festival coverage
Things we can never use:
Fiction
“I’ll be in X location next week, what would you like me to cover?” (Please send specific story ideas!)
We are actively looking for and assigning articles now. Rates vary based on the assignment. The most successful pitches will include a sketch of the story, the characters, your access, and the big questions/surprising ideas you think the story offers. We will carefully read every pitch, and, if our curiosity is piqued, we’ll reach out to you.
Pitches consisting of a few paragraphs with basic info about the story idea, how you would execute it, and the sources you would use—no Wikipedia, please—should be emailed to pitches – at – atlasobscura.com
Our food & drink vertical launched in November 2017. We are actively looking for and assigning articles aimed at Gastro Obscura. Rates vary based on the assignment.
Pitches—a few paragraphs, with basic info about the story idea and how you would execute it—should be emailed to gastro-pitches – at – atlasobscura.com. Please also include links to two articles that you have written and that you are proud of. They don’t have to be about food. And if you have a plan to take/find pictures and images for the article, let us know in your pitch. That makes it easier to say yes.
The theme for the Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest is: “The Magic of ‘If . . .’ Through the Power of Poetry.”
There are five categories:
You may submit a maximum of three poems, no more than one in each of three of the five contest categories.
Everyone is encouraged to enter the contest. Poets do not have to live in Lincoln to be eligible.
Young Poets, 18-years of age or under, are encouraged to submit poems and will compete in a special “Young Poets” category.
Entry Forms and Contest Rule can be downloaded: www.libraryatlincoln.org
Poems must be received no later than Saturday, July 21, 2008
Questions—contact Alan Lowe at slolowe@icloud.com
Guest Blogger, Author Rachael Herron has this to say:
Hi readers and writers,
You’re an artist in some way.
Yes, you. I see you there, hiding there in the back shaking your head. I just like to read books. I’m not creative.
What do you do that brings you joy? What do you make? Cookies? Scarves? Do you sing in the car? Do you have a great eye for color?
Yes, keep reading. You’re creative, and I’m so glad to talk to you.
I’m back from my month off (oh, joy), and I’m so relieved to be back at work (I don’t relax well). I’m currently revising a thriller. It’s a departure for me, and it’s what I’ve wanted to write for years. The 911 dispatcher picks up the phone to find her daughter on the other end of the line, and it’s bad, y’all.
I was a dispatcher for many years, and I always knew that when I didn’t work for the department anymore, I’d write about the long, tedious hours, and the pure adrenaline that pounds through your system when lives truly hang in the balance. I’d make it exciting and realistic.
I wrote the thriller. It’s got a mother/daughter team that I just love. I adore the book.
And man, is it kicking my ass.
My incredible, intelligent, and very market-savvy agent is having me revise it again, to get it into the best shape possible before she tries to sell it. She’s right about everything that I need to fix, even though the last time I sent it to her, I was pretty sure it was just about perfect.
It wasn’t.
And every single day, I don’t want to work on it. It feels like doing the same thing over and over. What’s the point?
Sometimes?
It’s just hard to keep going, no matter what we’re in the middle of doing. The political climate is beating us down. Loss happens. Grief arises.
Just getting through the day can be rough.
So that begs the question:
How do we keep going?
I had a chat with my friend Marrije this morning. I asked how her writing is going, and she held up a small blank book. She told me that every day, no matter what, she writes one page in it from the point of view of one of her characters. Often that work makes it into the novel she’s working on, and sometimes it’s background work to better understand her characters.
But it’s her baseline.
It’s the least she allows herself to do.
It keeps her creative writing spark alive.
I picture Marrije leaning down and blowing gently over the paper, once a day. Even if she has no time for anything else, the fact that she touched the work, that she blew until the ember glowed, keeps her going.
And because she does that, the world speaks to her. She finds synchronicity in the happenings around her—she sees an article that inspires a new plot point, or she hears a conversation that illuminates a character trait.
What’s your baseline?
What’s the bare minimum you can decide to do daily to keep your spark alive?
Marrije also pointed me to an AMAZING (truly) talk by the wondrous Austin Kleon with 10 Tips to Keep Going. You should watch this. You won’t regret the time spent. The end, especially, moved me.
So, my friend, find your baseline. Name it. Know it.
Then blow on that spark gently. Grow the ember to a flame and then to a blaze. Feel that warmth. You’re worth it.
Note from Marlene: I watched the 26 minute Austin Kleon video. Totally worth the time. 🙂
When you were a child, did you get an allowance? How much? What did you do with it?
If you didn’t get an allowance, how do you feel about that?
What time period, or era, do you identify with?
Write what your life would be like if you lived then.
About the photo: This is a photo of my mother in her tap dance costume, taken in 1945. Those are envelopes and letters she wrote to her mother, circa 1943. The rest of the items are explained in the recently released The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections. Available at Amazon.
Photo taken by Breana Marie.
Writing is playing with words and ideas. Writing is rewriting. Sometimes writing is . . . just writing.
Today’s writing prompts are about looking at stories through a different lens or from another point of view.
Rewrite a fairy tale. Change character details, change where story takes place, change the outcome. Reframe the bad guy into a good guy. Give the protagonist electrifying faults.
Or rewrite a folk tale. Switch characters, revolve story around a different moral compass, set the scene in the future.
Or reframe a family story. Write a familiar family story from a different point of view.
Just Write!
Photo by Christina Gleason
Set the Scene: Location, Timeframe, Characters
Location: Pick one: cruise ship, theme park, bar, parlor, or a location of your choice
Timeframe: Current, Past (what year?), Future (what year?)
Develop Characters
Character #1:
Name:
Nickname:
Personality trait most proud of:
How did character get this trait?
What do people least like about character?
What habit would character like to change?
If someone looked in character’s bathroom garbage right now, what would they find:
What scent does character like the most, and what does it remind him/her of?
What scares the character?
Character #2:
Answer the same questions for Character #2.
Writing Prompt: Use the following words in a conversation between these two characters.
The last time – How dare you – Explode – Blame – Fire – Party – Light – Dark – Attitude – Box – Present – Water
Photo by Christina Gleason
