"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 the ‘Writing’ Category

A VERY Special Special Call for Submissions: HeartWood: Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Why is this one special special? 

Because in the company of an amazing group of people, this Call for Submissions is coming directly from me!

😀

Allow me to introduce

HeartWood

an online literary journal in association with West Virginia Wesleyan’s Low-Residency MFA program, publishes twice yearly, in April and October. Our inaugural issue will go live April 2016.

HeartWood

 

General Submissions

We accept submissions year round through Submittable, and welcome previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, from both established and emerging writers.

What We Want:

We are interested in writing that pushes into, dares to reveal, its own truth, that takes emotional risks, that gets to the heart of the matter.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, provided you notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere.

We also welcome queries from Appalachian artists (writers, visual artists, musicians, performers, folk artists, etc) interested in being included in our Appalachian Arts section.

 

Submission Details

Prose submissions, fiction or nonfiction, should be 3000 words or less.

Fiction: Fiction submissions may include short stories, flash fiction, or novel excerpts if the excerpt can stand alone. You may submit more than one piece of flash fiction, as long as the total word count does not exceed 3000 words.

Creative Nonfiction: We’re open to a wide range of nonfiction, with the exception of academic articles, or that which would be considered more traditionally journalistic. Personal essay, memoir, lyric, literary journalism, or some blurring in between, are all acceptable.

Poetry: Poets should submit no more than 3-5 single-spaced poems at a time. Include all poems in a single document for upload. Lyric, narrative, experimental, we’re open to all variations of the poetic voice.

Surprise us. Make us think. Make us feel. Make our hearts race.

 

Appalachian Arts Interviews

We also welcome queries from Appalachian artists (writers, visual artists, musicians, performers, folk artists, etc) interested in being included in our Appalachian Arts section. We define Appalachian artists as an artist who is heavily influenced by the Appalachian region and its traditions, history, and people. At HeartWood, we are looking for artists who take these traditions and speak to them in a new and unexpected way.

To query about possible inclusion in the Appalachian Arts section: Submit the following in one document (doc, docx) through the Appalachian Arts link on our Submittable page:

  • Artist bio
  • Artist statement addressing what being an “Appalachian artist” means to you, how you uniquely define yourself as an Appalachian artist, and how your connection to Appalachia as you see/define it connects (or doesn’t) to your work.
  • At least one link to where artwork or samples can be seen/heard (artist website, other publications, YouTube, etc).

If we’re interested, based on the query, editors will email requesting additional information and work sample.

 

What We’ll Do

Submissions will be responded to within three months. If you haven’t heard from us after three months, feel free to inquire by sending us a note through Submittable.

If your work is accepted, HeartWood acquires first North American rights. All rights revert to the author upon publication, but we do ask for first publication attribution in any future publications. We also reserve the right to include accepted pieces in any future anthologies or promotions.

If we have passed on a submission, please wait 6 months before submitting again.

Submit here:

http://www.heartwoodlitmag.com/submit/

Write on! We can’t wait to hear from you!

 

Category:

Bless the Day, Call for Submissions, Creativity, Editing, Friday Call for Submissions, Gratitude, litmags, publishing, Writing

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Two New Publications :-) Grateful to Generous Editors

My house concert tour isn’t over, but has been put on hold while my oldest sister, a tiny fierce woman named Andrea but whom we call Crickett because she’s only 4’9 and quick as all get out 🙂 and who has worked as a nurse for more than forty years, primarily attending to those at the end of their journey, those tender hands midwifing soul after soul after soul into the next life, has been battling cancer herself. Twelve years older than me, she wagged that little finger at me, touting her position as ‘the elder’ in our family now, and told me I ‘better not be neglecting that writin!’ So, while my travel has been limited mostly to running back and forth from Virginia to North Carolina, I have been sending these crazy lil prose pomes out into the world.

“A Chant Against Lonely” at Josephine Quarterly (This poem will be included in my book, A Little Blood, A Little Rain, coming out from FutureCycle Press in 2016)

http://issuu.com/josephinequarterly/docs/summer_2015_issue/5?e=6563413%2F14573219

The Girl Who Read the Land” at Sediments Literary-Arts Journal (This poem is included in my most recent book, The Night I Heard Everything, available now from FutureCycle Press)

http://sedimentslit.com/portfolio/the-girl-who-read-the-land-mary-carroll-hackett/

I’m very grateful to the kind editors who have made homes for some of them.  ❤

 

Category:

Bless the Day, Creativity, Gratitude, litmags, poetry, Writing

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Monday Must Read! Marcene Gandolfo: Angles of Departure

11222301_10206983464528561_8819456232922751560_nMonday Must Read!

This week, meet Marcene Gandolfo. Her debut book, Angles of Departure, recently won Foreword Reviews’ Silver Book of the Year Award in Poetry. Marcene’s poems have been published widely in literary journals, including Poet Lore, Bellingham Review, Bayou, DMQ Review, and Paterson Literary Review. She has taught writing and literature at several northern California colleges.

Get Marcene’s Book: http://www.amazon.com/Angles-Departure-Marcene-Gandolfo/dp/1625490658

Marcene’s Website

http://www.marcenegandolfo.com/

Reviews of Marcene’s Book:

http://www.sundresspublications.com/stirring/archives/v17/e7/gandolfo.htm

http://thewideningspell.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=3

More from Marcene Online:

Bellingham Review

http://bhreview.org/2014/10/05/after/

http://bhreview.org/2014/10/05/again/

http://bhreview.org/2014/10/05/broken-chord/

Jet Fuel Review

http://www.jetfuelreview.com/previous-issues/issue-8-fall-2014/poetry/marcene-gandolfo/

DMQ Review

http://www.dmqreview.com/15Spring/index2.h

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Creativity, Must Read Monday, Must Read Writers, poetry, Writing

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Friday Call for Submissions: Spank the Carp: Wading Into the Stream

Spank the Carp

About

SPANK the CARP publishes unique, thought-provoking fiction and poetry that isn’t obscure or pretentious. Our goal is to invite readers to wade into the stream, not make them afraid of water for fear it’s too cold.

We look for tight, pithy Flash Fiction and Short Stories of any genre, including sci-fi and humor, except fantasy and erotica.

We also look for poetry that takes chances, including concrete or “shape” poetry.

NOTE: Each issue will include only four to six works, with a mix of fiction and poetry. There will be no set timetable; only when we feel we have a good variety will we publish an issue.

Guidelines

We publish fiction and poetry from any author including as yet unpublished writers or writers with only a few publications under their belt.  

PREFERRED CONTENT
Any genre, including hard science fiction, though PLEASE no fantasy, erotica, or sappy romance. Humor is good.

Flash Fiction (around 800 words or less). 

Short stories (around 6000 words or less).

Poetry that is lyrical, where you’ve paid as much attention to the sound of the words as to their meaning. Also concrete or shape poetry.

Regardless, we prefer works that cut to the chase, that are pithy, and have a sense of importance (without overdoing it). And by that we mean, you wrote something you felt needed to be written and put out there in the world.

CONTENT NOTES
Please DO NOT SUBMIT anything erotic, sexual, pornographic, or portraying gratuitous violence. Think PG-13, maybe PG-18. Also do not submit political or religious screeds disguised as fiction or poetry. Sensitive thought-provoking actual fiction that makes a general religious or political point, like something utopian or dystopian is okay, just no preaching. It won’t even be considered. Same goes with anything erotic, sexual, pornographic, or violent.

Anything you submit must be your own original creation. It must never have been published on any website or print publication that you do not personally own. If it has appeared only on your own blog or website or your own self-published printed material it is considered self-published. In this case, as long as you are the sole copyright owner, we will accept your work for consideration for reprint.

PAST PONDS ARTWORK and PHOTOS
I’m looking for images and photos that depict Carp and Koi in artistic and natural settings. See the Past Ponds page for examples. A one sentence bio will appear under your image or photo. Submission process, compensation, and terms are the same as for written work.

Submission Process
All stories must be submitted via email. We will respond as quickly as possible. Expect a 30 to 45 day turnaround time.

Please submit one short story, one flash, or two poems at a time. Simultaneous submissions are fine but please inform us if your submission is accepted for publication elsewhere.

Please include:
– A docx, doc, or rtf formatted document. For visual poetry, png or jpg only.
– A two sentence max description of your work.
– Do not send a formal bio. If your work is accepted we will contact you for a formal bio. DO however tell us whether you have been published before.

Email to: the_carp (at) spankthecarp.com  with the word Submission as the subject.

Compensation
No compensation can be offered at this time. If accepted, your work will appear prominently on the home page, with a link to it’s own page. This can easily be linked to from a personal or other website. Also, since we seek quality over quantity, in the issue in which your work appears, you will appear with only a few other authors and not buried in a sea of screen clutter.

Terms and Agreements
If we accept your work, we ask for First Serial Rights until publication. After publication all rights revert back to the author. Also your work will remain in our past issues archives unless you ask us to remove it. Exceptions to these terms can be granted on a case by case basis, just ask.

Visit Spank the Carp here: http://www.spankthecarp.com/

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Call for Submissions, Creativity, fiction, Friday Call for Submissions, poetry, Writing

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Sometimes YOU Are the Poem <3

Extra prompt for today

Line from the pome I just drafted this morning 🙂

“You are radiant
always, already, although you fail to believe”

Make art about how beautiful, how radiant, you are ❤

Radiance-L

Category:

Bless the Day, Creativity, Gratitude, Writing, Writing Through the Chakras

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Special Tuesday Call for Submissions: A-Minor Magazine

Special Tuesday Call for Submissions

from the fabulous editors who brought out my book If We Could Know Our Bones

A-MINOR Magazine: Stories in the Chord of Am

Reading submissions for the September issue of A-Minor Magazine! Send your prose, poetry or artwork. Spread the word!

Editor Nicolette Wong says, “p.s. we have more room in the prose/fiction house at the moment.”

GUIDELINES/SUBMISSIONS

We’re now reading submissions for our next September 2015 issue.

Please submit in ONE category only. Prose and poetry should be pasted in the body of the email. If your poems require special formatting, you may send an attachment.

Simultaneous submissions are fine. Include a 50-word, third person bio. Longer bio will be subject to editing. Send your work to aminormagazine@gmail.com

Short Fiction/Prose: 1000 to 4000 words. One story/prose piece only.

Flash Fiction/Prose: 100 to 1000 words apiece. One to three pieces.

Poetry: Three to Five poems. Prose poetry and hybrid form welcome.

For fiction/prose, we are partial to surrealist, experimental and quirky writing. For poetry, we lean toward the lyrical, eccentric, ambivalent and wildly imaginative.

Art/Text: One to three flash prose pieces or poems, based on or paired with artwork by the writer or a visual artist.

Artwork: Two to five pieces of visual poetry, asemic writing or other post-literate variety. Preferences will be given to images that work as a series. Collaborations are welcome.

Prose and poetry must be entirely unpublished. Artwork may be previously posted on the artist’s web site or blog.

Please check out the list of selected back issues and features to get a sense of our editorial drift.

If your work has been featured in A-Minor, please wait at least six months before submitting again.

If your submission has been declined, please wait at least one month before submitting again.

A-Minor requires First North American Serial Rights and all archival rights. All rights revert back to the author upon publication. If your work appears elsewhere in print or online, please give due credit to A-Minor.

Send all questions to aminormagazine@gmail.com

Check out A-Minor Magazine’s Fifth Anniversary Issue here:

http://aminormagazine.com/2015/05/28/a-minor-magazines-fifth-anniversary-issue-4/

Category:

Call for Submissions, Creativity, fiction, Gratitude, litmags, nonfiction, poetry, Writing

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I Forgot to Remember :-) Writing Prompt

7/27/2015

I forgot to post a prompt yesterday 🙂
So make art about forgetting.

 

forgot-remember

Category:

Bless the Day, Creativity, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Monday Must Read! Robert Aquinas McNally, Simply To Know Its Name

Monday Must Read!

McNally03This week meet Robert Aquinas McNally, the author or coauthor of nine books of nonfiction, with a tenth in the works, and the author of four poetry chapbooks and the full-length collection Simply to Know Its Name, which won the Grayson Books Poetry Prize in 2014 and was published by Grayson Books this past April. His poems have appeared in a long list of anthologies and journals, including Ecotone, Spillway, Snowy Egret, Quiddity, RiverSedge, Blueline, Minnetonka Review, Sanskrit Literary Arts Magazine, Soundings East, and Runes. Five times his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A member of the National Association of Science Writers and the Western Writers of America, McNally has also written news, features, and essays about the wild, particularly in the American West. He wanders, wonders, and writes in Northern California.

Get Robert’s book! Simply to Know Its Name on Grayson Books:

 http://www.graysonbooks.com/simply-to-know-its-name.html

A Reading of Poems, Plus a Commentary on Poetry and Awe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP3f8lyw50E

Read more from Robert online 🙂

“Sheepshead” http://www.decompmagazine.com/sheepshead.htm

“Passage” http://minnetonkareview.com/IssueSeven/robert_aquinas_mcnally.html

“Red Fox” http://www.versedaily.org/2015/redfox.shtml

“Great Blue Heron” http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/gallery.php?item=19848

 

Happy Reading!

Xo

Mary

Category:

Must Read Monday, Must Read Writers, poetry, publishing, Writing

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Writing Prompts Updated Daily!

Good Morning!

I’ve been on the road, home only three days in the last three weeks–whew! But now, I’m home and it’s time to get a little writing done!

Join me!

Check out my page of writing prompts, updated daily!

Get that beautiful write on, y’all!

https://marycarrollhackett.com/writing-prompts/

Happy writing!

xo

Mary

Category:

Creativity, fiction, Gratitude, nonfiction, poetry, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Monday Must Read! Margaret Mackinnon, The Invented Child

Monday Must Read!

Author_Photo_MargaretMackinnonThis week meet Margaret Mackinnon, author of The Invented Child, for which she received the Gerald Cable Book Award and was given the 2014 Literary Award in Poetry from the Library of Virginia. Her work has appeared in Image, Poetry, New England Review, Georgia Review, Quarterly West, RHINO, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poet Lore, and other publications.

Margaret Mackinnon grew up in the South, influenced by a lush landscape and a family that emphasized a deep connection between language and meaning. Her mother wrote poetry as a young woman (and generously encouraged all her earliest literary efforts). Her father was a Presbyterian minister, so every Sunday, she watched him try to give shape to beliefs and questions through the words of sermons, prayers, and creeds.

In college, at Vassar and the University of North Carolina, Mackinnon studied art history and religion, thinking about how image and pattern intersect with what we see as significant. And then came five years in Japan, where she taught English and studied textile design in a small circle of Japanese women artists. She learned something there about the discipline of a craft, and how that kind of focus can take one into a deeper attention to the everyday world. Back in the United States, she entered the graduate program in creative writing at the University of Florida.

Her awards include the Richard Eberhart Poetry Prize from Florida State University, a Tennessee Williams Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. She teaches at a private girls’ high school and lives in Falls Church, Virginia.

She lives with her husband and daughter in Falls Church, Virginia.

More about The Invented Child

Margaret Mackinnon is a compelling voice in American poetry. Her début collection, The Invented Child, is beautifully poised between reticence and candor. Frequently inspired by visual art, she writes lovingly of her parents, her husband, her child, but also of Sophia Hawthorne and Walt Whitman and Grant Wood, reminding us of the “sweet amplitude” of life. These are splendid poems of feeling that look far beyond the self to the miraculous other. Brava! — Kelly Cherry

Four Poems from The Invented Child

http://www.beltwaypoetry.com/invented-child/

“For Grant Wood” at The Poetry Foundation

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/29417

“Mary Shelley’s Dream”

http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/v12n1/v12n1poetry/mackinnonmary.php

More poems and reviews at Verse Daily

http://www.versedaily.org/2013/aboutmargaretmackinnon.shtml

Happy Reading!

xo

Mary

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