"This work is unlike any other, in its range of rich, conjuring imagery and its dexterity, its smart voice. Carroll-Hackett doesn’t spare us—but doesn’t save us—she draws a blueprint of power and class with her unflinching pivot: matter-of-fact and tender." —Jan Beatty

Archive for March, 2017

Prompts to Celebrate National Poetry Month! Join Us on Facebook and Write Something Beautiful Every Day :-) Collective Creative Power Is Magic! <3

My daily postcards to my elected reps have been mailed, my phone calls made, but my most important action today is to support and empower and encourage my community of writers and artists, however I can 🙂

Tomorrow, April 1, begins National Poetry Month, and I run a writing group on here providing art and writing prompts to anyone who passes by and is interested. For the nonwriters here, we have a tradition of celebrating Poetry Month by doing something called PAD–Poem a Day 🙂 But whether it’s poems, stories, dreams, or journal entries, celebrating spring by writing something every day is both inspiring and empowering, and I think, needed now more than ever, this beautiful raising of our collective voices, strengthening our creative spirits in a political culture that seems determined to dim them.

So please come play with us 🙂 Celebrate spring and the power of your creative spirits! You’re amazing! And we need you! ❤

Celebrating National Poetry starting tomorrow!

15 Brand New Prompts Up at the Better Than Black Friday Writing Group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512919158978356/

creativity

 

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2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Family, freedom, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, workshop, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Friday Call for Submissions Love :-) <3 Peacock Journal

Seems appropriate 🙂 

Peacock Journal a daily online literary & arts magazine highlighting beauty in all its forms, seeks original submissions of Fiction, Flash, Poetry, Non-Fiction, Translations, Music, Art and Photography from emerging and established writers and artists.
“We want to see your most beautiful work. Submissions are read year round. Pieces may also be selected for inclusion in our print anthology.”
Please see the website for guideline details.
Submit work using the online submission form at: peacockjournal.com.  

Category:

2017 Prompts, animals, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Call for Submissions, Creativity, Dreams, fiction, freedom, Friday Call for Submissions, Gratitude, litmags, Love, Nature, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, publishing, Writing

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Eyes of the Stars

31 March 2017

Twice this week, I’ve dreamt of peacocks.  I also saw one alongside of the road.

In Greco-Roman mythology the peacock is identified with Hera (Juno) who created the peacock from Argus whose hundred eyes (seen on the tail feathers of the peacock) symbolize the vault of heaven and the eyes of the stars.

In Hinduism the peacock is associated with Lakshmi who is a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and good luck.

Similar to Lakshmi, the peacock is associated with Kwan-yin in Asian spirituality. Kwan-yin (or Quan Yin) is also an emblem of love, compassionate watchfulness, good-will, nurturing, and kind-heartedness. Legend tells us she chose to remain a mortal even though she could be immortal because she wished to stay behind and aid humanity in their spiritual evolution.

In Babylonia and Persia the peacock is seen as a guardian to royalty, and is often seen in engravings upon the thrones of royalty.

In Christianity the peacock symbolism represents the “all-seeing” church, along with the holiness and sanctity associated with it. Additionally, the peacock represents resurrection, renewal and immortality.

Themes of renewal are also linked to alchemical traditions to, as many schools of thought compare the resurrecting phoenix to the modern-day peacock. Along these lines, the peacock is a colorful symbol of transformation. Like the phoenix, the alchemy peacock can remind us that we can rise out of our darkest moments. It’s a metaphor that speaks about dying to the ego-self, and being reborn into a new life of awareness, spirituality and illumination.

Make art inspired by the peacock. 

peacock

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Dreams, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, Nature, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Rise

30 March 2017

Make art about empowering others, about being empowered, about sharing empowerment, about how we rise. 

Abstract blue and purple light background

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2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Family, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 If Only

29 March 2017

Make about being heard, about needing to be heard. 

hear me

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 In the Distance

28 March 2017

Make art inspired by this line.

“In the distance someone is singing.”-Neruda

distance

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Dreams, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, Nature, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 What's Missing

27 March 2017

Find a photo, and make art about what’s not in the picture, what’s missing. 

missing

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Monday Must Read! The Legend of Jesse Smoke, Robert Bausch

The Legend of Jesse Smoke is the latest novel from one of my favorite people, Robert Bausch.

bobby bauschRobert Bausch is the author of multiple novels: On the Way Home; The Lives of Riley Chance; Almighty Me; A Hole in the Earth; The Gypsy Man; Out of Season; In the Fall They Come Back; Far as the Eye Can See; and most recently, The Legend of Jesse Smoke. In 1995, Bausch published a collection of short stories called The White Rooster and Other Stories.

Bobby was born in Georgia, at the end of World War II, and was raised in the Washington, D.C., area. He has worked as a salesman–of automobiles, appliances, and hardware–a taxi driver, waiter, production planner, and library assistant. He was educated at George Mason University, earning a BA, an MA and an MFA, and he says he has been a writer all his life. He spent time in the military teaching survival, and worked his way through college. Since 1975, Bausch has been a college professor, teaching creative writing, American literature, world literature, humanities, philosophy, and expository writing. He has taught at the University of Virginia, American University, George Mason University, and Johns Hopkins University. For the balance of his career he has been teaching at Northern Virginia Community College. He has also been a director on the board of the Pen-Faulkner Foundation. In 2009 he was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize in Literature.

 

About The Legend of Jesse Smoke

What would happen if a young athlete came along who could throw a football as well as John Elway or Peyton Manning? What if this person was as strong, quick, and resourceful as any of the great quarterbacks? And what if this person was a woman?

When Skip Granger, the assistant coach for the Washington Redskins, first sees Jesse Smoke, she is on the beach in Belize. And she has just thrown a regulation football a mile.

Granger knows that Smoke’s talent is unprecedented for a woman, and nearly unparalleled among men. As Granger observes her throughout a season as quarterback for the Washington Divas of the Independent Women’s Football League, he decides to sign her to the Redskins, even as he faces losing his job and credibility. As the first woman on a major NFL team, Jesse Smoke’s astounding success places her in the tradition of athletes like Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. Yet Smoke is quickly faced with her own battles, including the clamors of the press, the violence of her teammates, and the institutional resistance that seeks to keep football in the hands of men.

While a female quarterback in the NFL is a fantasy at the moment, Robert Bausch’s genius as a writer makes it a highly engaging reality on the page. Fans of football–and readers who were just waiting for a player worth getting excited about–will relish Jesse Smoke’s journey to the big leagues.

Visit Bobby’s Wesbite

Buy Bobby’s Wonderful Books!

The Legend of Jesse Smoke

In the Fall They Come Back

A Hole in the Earth

The Gypsy Man

The Lives of Riley Chance

Almighty Me

Out of Season

The White Rooster & Other Stories

More from Bobby Online: Readings & Interviews

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00000463mets.xml#

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sbrfgT8Xoo
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/buzz-bin/2014/11/11/robert-bausch/

http://renaissancesofreading.blogspot.com/2012/06/q-author-robert-bausch-1.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwyF-H922OM

https://spaceslitmag.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/writers-reading-bausch/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNSg3nzyvMw

Happy Reading, Y’all!

xo

Mary

Category:

Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Must Read Monday, Must Read Writers, One Love, Writing

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Voice, and Where You've Been

25 March 2017

“All I have is a voice.” ― W.H. Auden

Make art about your voice, losing it, having it silenced, finding your voice, recovering your voice, raising your voice.

voice

 

26 March 2017

Make art about a past life.

past life

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Creativity, Family, fiction, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts, Writing Through the Chakras

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Friday Call for Submissions Love <3 Two Calls: Sundress Seeking Hybrids, and Panoply Seeking 'Daylight'

Manticore: Hybrid Writing from Hybrid Identities 

Editor: Nicole Oquendo
Publisher: Sundress Publications 
Deadline: May 15, 2017

This anthology aims to feature the strange and wonderful intersection between work by writers and artists of hybrid identities and the hybrid work they produce. We are especially interested in work from writers and artists of color, trans, queer, neurodivergent, or disabled writers and artists, writers and artists with invisible illnesses, and anyone else who feels their identity is itself an intersection. In short, if you believe your identity is a hybrid form that influences your craft, we want to hear from you. 
Since this anthology will be available exclusively online for free, contributors to this anthology cannot be paid at this time. However, submissions to this anthology are free. 

Submissions are due to anthologyATsundresspublicationsDOTcom by 11:59 EST on May 15th, 2017. 

Submission Guidelines

This anthology seeks hybrid or otherwise experimental prose, poetry, and other forms from writers that identify as having a hybrid identity. Shorter work is preferred unless the hybrid nature of a piece demands a higher word or page count. Submit up to one submission batch per genre.  

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but let us know immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere. While disclosure is not required, we’d also love to know more about your hybrid identity in your cover letter, including how you feel your hybrid identity influences your craft. 

Fiction
Send one (1) story of up to 5,000 words, or up to three (<3) flash stories, attached in a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. The email subject line should read FICTION – Your Full Name – Title of Work. 

Nonfiction
Send one (1) essay of up to 5,000 words, or up to three (<3) flash essays, attached in a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. The email subject line should read NONFICTION – Your Full Name – Title of Work. 

Poetry
Send up to five (<5) poems attached in a single .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. The email subject line should read POETRY – Your Full Name – Title of Work. 

Multimodal/Hybrid
If your submission is multimodal/hybrid (possibilities include images along with text, including but not limited to comics and photo essays, work with sound components, or blends of multiple genres), send one (1) piece of up to 5,000 words, or up to three (<3) flash pieces, attached in a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. The email subject line should read HYBRID – Your Full Name – Title of Work. 

If your attachment may be too large to be handled via email, contact us and let us know. 
____________________________________________________________

Panoply

Issue 6: Theme: Daylight
Deadline: April 2, 2017

Please limit your submissions to subjects related to the theme, “daylight.” The Call is open until Sunday night April 2, 2017 at 11:59 pm Central (US) time.

  • Up to 3 pieces
  • Flash fiction or prose of no more than 500 words, and/or poetry
  • We read blind. Do not put your name or other identifiers on any of the pieces
  • Please include a bio of <= 60 words in the box provided by Submittable
  • We publish only one piece per contributor per issue

Approximate publication date, to be confirmed, is May 5.

Panoply accepts submissions through Submittable. For more guidelines and to submit, please visit: Panoply’s Submittable Page

Category:

2017 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Call for Submissions, Creativity, Editing, fiction, Friday Call for Submissions, Gratitude, litmags, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, publishing, Writing

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