1/31/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #31: Beginning, Middle & End 4

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#31
Beginning, Middle & End 4

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with one image, scenario, line of dialog or place, includes another thing or event somewhere beyond the first and before the last stanza/paragraph, and ends with another required 'thing'.

Begin WithSomeone crossing a stream/creek.

Somewhere in the middle: A bell rings.

End With: Gunfire.

Extra Credit RequirementsYour title must be four words long and you must include the word "water" at least three times.

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If you'd like some unobtrusive background music try this "The sunset is beautiful" lofi mix.

1/30/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #30: Erasing Roger Ebert 20 "Bad News Bears"

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.


#30
Erasing Roger Ebert 20 "Bad News Bears"

For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise, because erasures can be a blast!

Poetry: For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following:  Roger Ebert's review of the 1976 film "Bad News Bears" (3 stars) 

Roger Ebert has been the archetypal film critic for decades, and he's written thousands of reviews. Because of their nature, almost their own bit of ekphrastic art, this series of erasures will be lots of fun!

An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, in this example 'bingo' occurs multiple times and could be a good touchstone for your piece.

Fiction: If you insist on fiction (or just feel like writing a "Title Mania" piece), write a piece with one of these  titles taken from this section:

  1. Intended as a Comedy
  2. Unblinking
  3. Something Deeper
  4. Afraid of the Ball
  5. Sometimes We Can't
  6. In the Dugout


Erasure Selection:

Roger Ebert's review of "Bad News Bears"

Michael Ritchie's "The Bad News Bears" is intended as a comedy, and there are, to be sure, a lot of laughs in it. But it's something more, something deeper, than what it first appears to be. It's an unblinking, scathing look at competition in American society - and because the competitors in this case are Little Leaguers, the movie has passages that are very disturbing. 

The movie's about a team that's surely one of the worst ever assembled (although I once played right field for one that wasn't much better). The kids are uncoordinated and demoralized and afraid of the ball, and wouldn't be playing at all except that a liberal city councilman has made them a test case. The members include a black, a couple of Mexicans, various other minority group members and, eventually, a girl. 

The team's obviously so bad no self-respecting coach would have anything to do with them, so the councilman hires a coach, illegally. His choice is an alcoholic onetime minor leaguer played by Walter Matthau - the sort of man mothers warn their children about. He doesn't understand kids, he's a loner, and he mixes bourbon and beer right in the can and drinks it in the dugout. Even the kids see through him. 

The movie comes by most of its comedy fairly easily. Matthau is, of course, an engaging performer, and the role's a good one for him as he sits in the dugout, hung-over and bleary-eyed, watching his Bears come out of the first inning 26 runs behind. The kids are good, too; Ritchie sees them in a fairly tough and unsentimental way, and lets them use the sort of dialog we'd like to think 12-year-olds aren't familiar with. Matthau works with the kids, despairs with them, finds himself beginning to care in spite of himself and finally goes out to recruit a ringer. She's Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), the 12-year-old daughter of one of his former girl friends, and over the years he'd developed her into a first-rate pitcher. 

All of this is pretty much as we'd expect it, and there are obligatory scenes in which the Bears finally get their uniforms, Matthau finally shaves, the boys say they won't wear their athletic supporters until Amanda wears one, too . . . and the team wins its first game. But beneath this entertaining surface stuff, there's something else going on. We begin to sense how important, how really crucial, Little League is to the adults involved in it. How much emphasis they place on winning. If winning is the only point, how you win starts not to matter. Matthau gets caught up in the competitiveness, too, ordering his kids to deliberately get themselves hit with pitched balls, and telling a new recruit (Jackie Earle Haley, playing a neighborhood juvenile delinquent and natural athlete) to grab as many plays as he can away from his teammates. 

Director Michael Ritchie has made a specialty of movies about competition. "Downhill Racer," about Olympic ski champions, was his first film, and he also made "The Candidate," about a political race, and last year's "Smile," about a beauty contest. They're all three very good films - but "The Bad News Bears" is, in a way, his most harrowing portrait of how we'd sometimes rather win than keep our self-respect. He directs scenes for comedy even in the face of his disturbing material and that makes the movie all the more effective; sometimes we laugh, and sometimes we can't, and the movie's working best when we're silent.

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If you'd like some background music, we're going with music with lyrics today (hopefully that's not distracting) to write to, with "Wanderlust 🌲 - An Indie/Folk/Pop Playlist | Vol. I" from 2018. 

1/29/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #29: Inspired By 3... "Quieted"

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#29
Inspired By 3... "Quieted"

For today's writing exercise you will first read a short piece of writing, and then respond using one of the following prompts. 

Today's inspiring piece of writing is the powerful poem "Quieted" by the poet Holly Day who seems to be in just about every literary magazine out there! This poem was published in the brand spanking new January 2021 issue of the journal Front Porch Review.

Seriously. Go read it. I'll wait.

I mean it, jumping right to the prompts will be borderline pointless as they won't have context. It's a 2 minute read, you got this.

This is a quiet poem about the sounds of nature juxtaposed against of the noisy setting of a home (likely an apartment) right near a train/trolley with a curve making it extra noisy. It's not looking to reinvent the wheel, it's just a nice read. Okay, now that you've ACTUALLY READ the poem, let's write something.

1. Object: Write a piece that includes a train taking a curve too fast and nearly (or actually) derailing.
2. Titles: Write a piece using one of the following titles selected from the piece:
1) Flutters 2) This is a Protest Song 3) Chasing Crickets 4) The Thrum 5) The Lonely Howl of a Coyote Waking Up 6) Filling Everything 
3. Form: Poetry—Write a piece of poetry in three stanzas which contrasts urban and rural life in at least two ways. Fiction—write a flash fiction that is three paragraphs which begins in the 'wild' and ends in the city.
4. Wordbank: A cross between a cento and an erasure, you can think of this as being like magnetic poetry on a refrigerator. Copy the text from the poem and paste it into a word document. Create a new piece using only words from that 'bank', when you use a word, highlight it in the bank and either 'strikethrough' or add a black background so you don't use a word twice.
5. Beginning Middle & End: Using the same 'things' from the piece's beginning/middle/end. For today begin your piece with a woodpecker, in the middle there must be the appearance of a frog and in the end, as is fitting for the last year, we must get a protest, however you get from one to the other, make it your own.

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If you'd like some unobtrusive background music try musician Sungha Jung's "Irony" of acoustic guitar covers of popular songs.

1/28/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #28: Rhymebank Rounds 1

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes. This may be pushing 40 unless you're really writing fast, but writing fast is the goal.

#28
Rhymebank Rounds 1

Rhymbank Rounds are a new type of exercise. Kind of like the Sentence Calisthenics, but there will be more focus on fragments instead of full sentences, and you'll complete a piece, with the main focus of the exercises being on Like Sounds. Save your sentences with your Sentence Calisthenics raw writing for later harvesting. The timer settings you'll be using today are (in minutes) 3, 3, 10, 5, 5, 7. 

Before you start each timer reread the set's guidelines at least 3-5 times so you are sure what you're doing and don't have to waste time checking.

SET 1: Take three (3) minutes and jot down/type all rhymes and slant rhymes (include phrases for multi-syllabic words/feminine rhymes) you can think of just off the top of your head for the word: Heat. If you have trouble getting more than ten or so remember to rhyme with Heap, Fee and Sleek. You want to have close to thirty (30) words even if they're only kind of rhyming.
SET 2: Now take another three (3) minutes and brainstorm rhymes for Tell. Be sure you get at least fifteen (15), but aim for thirty (30) again.
SET 3: Fragment time! Take ten (10) minutes and write down six (6) sentence fragments which use two words from one of your lists and at least one from the other list (so something like "The depleted meat supply a warning bell to the Captain" would work).
SET 4: Fragment time 2! Take five (5) minutes and write at least six (6) 5-word partial sentences that use at least two (2) words from only one of your lists. Don't worry about context or what might be being said, just make sure you can make some logic of the phrasing.
SET 5: Short fragment time! Write five (5) three-word partial sentences which use two (2) words from one of your rhymebank back to back. No dawdling, but try to switch it up and use words you hadn't yet if you can. An example would be "can't beat meat" or "we sweep streets".
SET 6: Fragment time! Take seven (7) minutes and write ten (10) 5-7 word fragments that include a number and two words from either of your lists (you can do one from each for this one).
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Poem or story time!
  1. Rhymed Poem: Write a poem that is 20 lines in five quatrains (4-lined stanzas) with the rhyme scheme ABAB CBCB CDCD DABA ABCD . Try to use fragments from the previous exercises and even the rhymebank itself to fill out your poem with as many 'like' sounds as you can within the lines. Use at least five of your fragments, if not more like eight to ten of them. Start your poem by picking your fragments and determining your rhymes. Don't write to the end words every time, like swinging a golf club or bat, follow through that line break with what's called enjambment and it will be more smooth/organic.
  2. Free form narrative: Pick your ten favorite fragments and find a way to fit those pieces together. What do I mean by fit them together? I mean that you're required to use ten of the fragments you'd written in a coherent piece by adding connective tissue and exposition/whatever needs to get you narratively from one line to the next. Whether you write this as a story or a poem is up to you. Think of it like a 100 piece puzzle which is missing 85 pieces, but you still want to make a picture from it. Take what you have, and create the rest by filling in the missing places.
  3. Title Mania: Write a piece that uses your favorite fragment from #4 or #5 as your title.
  4. Randomize: Pick your favorite ten fragments, and six words from the rhymebanks, either or both. Type Random Number Generator into google and randomize 3 numbers from 1-10. The corresponding lines must be used in your piece. Next, pick 6 strong words from either of your rhymebanks. Randomize 2 words from that list of 6 using 1-6, you must use both of those words in your title, no matter how strange it seems at first. Now make it work.
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If you'd like some background noise today (instead of music) let's go with this "Space Station | Ambient" background, to transport your writing session up into space for a slightly different mindspace.

1/27/21

Hump Day Submission Carousel 1


#1: 1/27/21

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means! HUMP DAY SUBMISSIONS! Because it's easy to fall off the submission train during the week I'm presenting you with 3 cool journals currently open for submissions to save you research time! Pick one of the three journals presented and read some of the pieces in your genre. If you're not digging them, check the next journal. Don't agonize over it, if you're not enjoying the writing or you don't feel your writing would fit in there move along to the next journal. If none of them seem to fit... maybe next week? 

Journal 1: Jet Fuel Review. No fee submissions in all genres via Submittable


We’re looking for all work sent to us to have a unique aesthetic. In other words, your work should be something that can only come from you, that stems from who you are and what you believe. We’re looking for work that articulates itself well and says something interesting in its syntax, metaphors, ideas, and images. We are looking for authors who take risks with language and who write linguistically interesting pieces. When it comes to art, we expect the same kind of risk-taking when it comes to color, design, and technique.

Journal 2: Cortland Review. No fee submissions in poetry via Submittable.

We pride ourselves on the diverse range of truly remarkable work we publish. Each issue of The Cortland Review curates a journey through different styles, experiences, and subjects, and through poems we find to be fresh and surprising. Poems that offer new ways of perceiving experience and the world.
Journal 3: Waterwheel Review. And this is not just because I have one of the three pieces of writing in the current issue. No fee and Tip Jar submissions with no genre distinction via Submittable.

We hope authors will take advantage of our refusal to define what we publish, and send us un-name-able bits and pieces. A fiction that has no shape but feels complete and leaves a hole in your stomach; a nonfiction layered in obvious lies; a recipe that works like a poem. But if you’re looking for a home for a sonnet or a realist short story, or any piece that happens to wear a traditional outfit, we want to see it. If the writing is fresh, artful, and engaging, if we’re moved (to cry, to clench a fist, to laugh), we want it.

Get your writing out there! You got this! I know it's mid-week, but spending just a little bit of time with reading well-crafted creative writing in the middle of the week it can keep your creativity a little fresher when the weekend comes around. I think, at least.

Also a gentle reminder that Sparked is reading submissions of writing from Notebooking Daily prompts, so send them work now! And if you thought this post was helpful, consider shooting me a buck or two for my own future submissions or to help pay writers for Sparked (which comes out of my pocket). No pressure though. I'm just trying to get better with the begging for pennies, submission fees in 2020 are pretty monumental and 2021 is shaping up to be just as bad!

2021 Writing Exercise Series #27: Three Things, Five Words 4

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#27
Three Things, Five Words 4
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which contains the following three things, and these five individual words. The three things should be important to the piece, not just a throwaway reference used because it has to be. This is prompt time, baby! 

If you're not sure where to start, begin by finding a connection between two of the 'things'—whether that is a shared appearance, locale, one of the things might interact with another (or all three), some way that the two are likened or could be physically together. Use one of the things with two of the 'words' in the beginning of the piece and explore for a bit, knowing that you're aiming at the second ''thing' (where the two 'things' have their connection) about 1/3-1/2 of the way through what you imagine the length of the piece (which may be totally off). By then you should have a direction and it's off to the races, with that third 'thing' in your pathway to the finishing line.

'Three Things'
  1. A Juggler
  2. A Cobblestone Street
  3. Molasses

'Five Words' 
Include these five words in your piece: 
Beard, Blemished, Flood, Jogging, Dives.

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try American Saxophonist and member of the Dave Brubeck Five, Paul Desmond's 1996 album "Feeling Blue".

1/26/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #26: Dueling Six Word Shootout 3

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#26
Dueling Six Word Shootout 3

For today's writing exercise write a piece that includes one or both of the following sets of 6 words. Don't front-load them all into the beginning of your piece, save at least one or two for somewhere to 'aim' your piece. Remember sestinas have 6 different end-words, but don't let me tell you what to write. Just use all 6 (or twelve) words in a fashion that isn't throw-away. Don't put them in in a way that you'll definitely later edit them out because they don't add to the piece. Make them important. This might require a little brainstorming at first. Don't be afraid, you can do it!

Set 1: 
1) Blade 
2) Snaked
3) Plaid 
4) Oiled 
5) Doused 
6) Delayed


Set 2:
7) Renounced 
8) Flayed 
9) Raid 
10) Foil
11) Loyal 
12) Coiled

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Bonus Exercise: If that's not enough, also include the following three things: An Airplane, Lava and A Coral Reef.

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If you'd like some background music to write to, try "Genesis - Acoustic Covers for Piano & Chamber Orchestra played by Gazzara"

1/25/21

Spy in the Slushpile #9: Whale Road Review

Spy in the Slushpile #9 Whale Road Review

Psssst! Over here! 
Notebooking Daily snuck agents into the offices of your favorite literary magazines to bring you—the potential submitter—the sweet low down, the inside track, the full two scoops of raisins. Everything you need to know to make as successful of a submission as possible will be here, but remember that the number one rule to putting your best foot forward is to take the time to read the journal you're submitting to and FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. This is vital to show the editors that you respect their time and effort, and because some journals will reject submissions that don't extend the simple courtesy of following guidelines, without even reading it—and no one wants that.

Today we check in with our spy who was sent to the offices of the literary magazine Whale Road Review.
Our dossier: 
Whale Road Review is a journal of poetry and short prose founded and edited by the awesome poet Katie Manning. Their website gives the scoop: "The journal takes its name from an old kenning. The ocean is the whale road. Whale road. Those words conjure an image of whales moving in patterns through the waters of the world. “Whale road” makes me re-see the ocean. Whale Road Review publishes poetry, flash fiction, and micro essays that don’t demand too much time up front, but somehow leave readers changed. We hope readers of all sorts will enjoy these short pieces in stolen moments—waiting in line, using the restroom, riding a train, steeping tea."



For the Whale Road Review there was only one choice of operatives: Viktor, the Russian Beluga Spy Whale. I pulled some strings and the FSB—er, I mean, not them... the Russian Federal Research Institute Of Fishiries and Oceanography allowed me to transmit the dossier and questions for Katie Manning, Whale Road Review's editor. The transcript follows. 


1) I always recommend that potential submitters read the most recent issue or two of a journal before submitting there (at least the genre which they're submitting), but if you could recommend, say three or so pieces (or however many) that you feel especially exemplify for one reason or another, what you're looking for, or that you are especially proud to have published and think everyone, whether they plan on submitting or not, should read? 
TL;DR Pieces that exemplify the journal. 
We're looking for creative work that's memorable and meaningful. We're not afraid of grief, but we also love playfulness. We think everyone should read all of the pieces we've published, of course, but here's a quick list that might show some of the range of styles and subjects that we're drawn toward publishing...

"Arcadia Revisited" by Jordi Alonso
"Submerged" by gina marie bernard
"Dear Alicia," by Jenn Givhan
"Dios Mío" by Shemaiah Gonzalez
"Funerary" by Sonja Johanson
"What I Don't Know" by Aaron Magloire
"Destination" by Luci Shaw
"Morning After" by Sarah Broussard Weaver 

As a bonus, here's one of our pedagogy papers that readers have found especially useful: "A Case for Workshop Alternatives" by Karen Craigo. I've been using it in my own classes for a few years now too! 
2) Is there any genre, topic, theme or stylistic that you are surprised you don't see more of, or that you would like to see more of? For instance prose poems, stories about organized sports (or one in particular), non-conventional family narratives, non-standard typography, alternate history, high sci-fi, hybrid pieces utilizing white space... 
TL;DR I wouldn't kick these submissions out of bed for eating crackers. (updateable, if the interview results in an unwanted flux of submissions)
I joked at our 5-year anniversary reading that I wish we got more dinosaur poems, but I'm not joking. I think McKenzie Lynn Tozan's "Shopping for T-Rex" in Issue 1 is our only one so far. Otherwise, we get a really good variety of submissions, but we would always love to see more pedagogy papers.


3) Hard sells—and not just the standard (though very important) "don't send hateful, misogynist, racist etc" work. Is there a plot, trope, character, motif, idiom or even phrase you would like people to think twice about before using? One that you see a ton, or that stick out when you're reading, in a negative way for whatever reason.
TL;DR Hard sells.
I can't speak for all of our peer reviewers, but I can tell you one of my hard sells: I'm so tired of reading from the perspective of a man describing a woman's appearance. I see this more often in prose, but it happens in poetry too, and it's almost never done in a way that I enjoy. I'd also be happy if I never read another lazily ableist cliché again: "turning a blind eye," "falling on deaf ears," etc. 
4) If you could pick 2-3 pieces of writing that you just love that are already out in the world and somehow have the ability to have discovered it in your slushpile, itching for you to publish them, what would they be? 
TL;DR Wish I could've published that!
Oh, so many! Here are a few I've read or re-read recently...
"The Mother" by Jen Stewart Fueston
5) To your tastes, how would you describe the sort of "experimental" writing you seek? The idea of categorizing experimental or avant-garde writing is very slippery, as it means different things to different people, and it can even change over time from the same person's perspective. So in this moment, allowing that tomorrow you may feel differently and we won't hold you to it, what are you looking for in experimental writing? Is there a 'soft line' where it begins to lose meaning or goes too far (say, where you think the author/artist's intentions are subverted or hurt by the radical level of experimentation—of course allowing exceptions, we're not issuing challenges here), or perhaps a 1-10 scale with 10 fully embracing the avant-garde and 1 wanting no part of it at all. 
TL;DR The journal's place on the spectrum of 'experimental'.
We're definitely open to experimental writing. We don't get many submissions that I would call experimental. I think "A Glossary of Fathers" by Morgan Eklund in our latest issue moves into experimental territory, but hermit crab prose isn't too far out there; the chart form it takes is still familiar. It's always hard to speak of writing hypothetically, but I think one of my "lines" for experimental writing (or any writing) is this: If it's interesting in the moment but instantly forgettable, then it's not doing the work that I want a piece of writing to do.
6) If you could speak directly to a potential submitter as a voice in their head, like their 'submission conscience', neither angel nor devil but bookish nerd that wants the person to have the best chance with their submission as possible, what would you want them to be sure to do or consider when submitting? 
TL;DR Please consider this when submitting.
Oh, I would love to be someone's bookish shoulder nerd! :) I'd whisper: Read the guidelines. Don't say "Dear Sir" or insult your own work in the cover letter. Just be friendly and let us read your work. We're excited to read your work. And if we ask you to submit again, we really do want to see more! 
7) What do you think differentiates prose poetry from flash fiction (or micro fiction), with the caveat that of course there will be exceptions to all 'rules' in writing, so it's something of a soft 'line' by nature.
I'm so glad you asked! I've given presentations about this in the past, and my understanding has evolved over the last several years. I think what differentiates prose poetry from flash fiction is the genre label. :) Seriously, I've seen pieces labeled prose poetry that I thought, "Why isn't this flash fiction?" and vice versa. What I've come to realize is that I don't care about deciding if a piece is really poetry or fiction; I care about how those genre labels affect readers' expectations and reception of the piece. I've experimented with this in my classes: if I give students a piece called "Clean Dead Leaves" by Forrest Roth and tell them it's poetry, then they tend to focus on the diction, the intense repetition, and the imagery. If I tell them that the piece was published as flash fiction, then they focus on different details, especially asking questions about the narrator, setting, and situation. 
8) What other journals do you really enjoy reading, or do you feel especially akin to?
Oh, there are so many! I'll shout out to some fellow online journals: Stirring, Glass, THRUSH, Brevity, Rogue Agent, Waxwing, The Adroit Journal...and the brand new perhappened mag seems like a kindred spirit too.
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Viktor was a very good spy and he received many treats for doing such a great job, and editor Katie Manning was a lovely host. Because not every journal will be quite so accommodating we'll keep reporting back from the various assignments of our Spy in the Slushpile.

2021 Writing Exercise Series #25: Erasing EAP "The Premature Burial" 2

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes. 

#25
Erasing EAP "The Premature Burial" 2

For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise, because erasures can be a blast!

For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following selection of Edgar Allen Poe's 1850 short story "The Premature Burial".

Edgar Allen Poe is considered by some to be the writer that solidified the short story genre as, well, a genre. Not the first writer of short stories, or even popular short stories, but he wrote enough of them that with the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Irving Washington and others, critics were finally like—fine. Short stories can be a thing.

An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, or themes.

If you insist on fiction (or if one of these strikes you), write a piece with one of these titles taken from this section:

  1. Family Vault
  2. By Evaporation
  3. The Iron Door
  4. Rotted, Erect
  5. Living Inhumation 
  6. With the Long Lapse of Years
  7. Trepanning


Erasure Selection:

from "The Premature Burial"

The lady was deposited in her family vault, which, for three subsequent years, was undisturbed. At the expiration of this term it was opened for the reception of a sarcophagus; — but, alas! how fearful a shock awaited the husband, who, personally, threw open the door! As its portals swung outwardly back, some white-apparelled object fell rattling within his arms. It was the skeleton of his wife in her yet unmoulded shroud.

A careful investigation rendered it evident that she had revived within two days after her entombment; that her struggles within the coffin had caused it to fall from a ledge, or shelf to the floor, where it was so broken as to permit her escape. A lamp which had been accidentally left, full of oil, within the tomb, was found empty; it might have been exhausted, however, by evaporation. On the uttermost of the steps which led down into the dread chamber was a large fragment of the coffin, with which, it seemed, that she had endeavored to arrest attention by striking the iron door. While thus occupied, she probably swooned, or possibly died, through sheer terror; and, in failing, her shroud became entangled in some iron -- work which projected interiorly. Thus she remained, and thus she rotted, erect.

In the year 1810, a case of living inhumation happened in France, attended with circumstances which go far to warrant the assertion that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. The heroine of the story was a Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade, a young girl of illustrious family, of wealth, and of great personal beauty. Among her numerous suitors was Julien Bossuet, a poor litterateur, or journalist of Paris. His talents and general amiability had recommended him to the notice of the heiress, by whom he seems to have been truly beloved; but her pride of birth decided her, finally, to reject him, and to wed a Monsieur Renelle, a banker and a diplomatist of some eminence. After marriage, however, this gentleman neglected, and, perhaps, even more positively ill-treated her. Having passed with him some wretched years, she died, -- at least her condition so closely resembled death as to deceive every one who saw her. She was buried -- not in a vault, but in an ordinary grave in the village of her nativity. Filled with despair, and still inflamed by the memory of a profound attachment, the lover journeys from the capital to the remote province in which the village lies, with the romantic purpose of disinterring the corpse, and possessing himself of its luxuriant tresses. He reaches the grave. At midnight he unearths the coffin, opens it, and is in the act of detaching the hair, when he is arrested by the unclosing of the beloved eyes. In fact, the lady had been buried alive. Vitality had not altogether departed, and she was aroused by the caresses of her lover from the lethargy which had been mistaken for death. He bore her frantically to his lodgings in the village. He employed certain powerful restoratives suggested by no little medical learning. In fine, she revived. She recognized her preserver. She remained with him until, by slow degrees, she fully recovered her original health. Her woman's heart was not adamant, and this last lesson of love sufficed to soften it. She bestowed it upon Bossuet. She returned no more to her husband, but, concealing from him her resurrection, fled with her lover to America. Twenty years afterward, the two returned to France, in the persuasion that time had so greatly altered the lady's appearance that her friends would be unable to recognize her. They were mistaken, however, for, at the first meeting, Monsieur Renelle did actually recognize and make claim to his wife. This claim she resisted, and a judicial tribunal sustained her in her resistance, deciding that the peculiar circumstances, with the long lapse of years, had extinguished, not only equitably, but legally, the authority of the husband.

The "Chirurgical Journal" of Leipsic -- a periodical of high authority and merit, which some American bookseller would do well to translate and republish, records in a late number a very distressing event of the character in question.

An officer of artillery, a man of gigantic stature and of robust health, being thrown from an unmanageable horse, received a very severe contusion upon the head, which rendered him insensible at once; the skull was slightly fractured, but no immediate danger was apprehended. Trepanning was accomplished successfully. He was bled, and many other of the ordinary means of relief were adopted. Gradually, however, he fell into a more and more hopeless state of stupor, and, finally, it was thought that he died.

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As your background music sommelier I've chosen Vangelis to pair with your "Erasing The Premature Burial" series. For this sampling I've selected the isolated soundtrack from the 1984 movie "The Bounty"  

1/24/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #24: Title Mania "Enough" 4

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#24
Title Mania "Enough" 4

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose that utilizes one of the following titles, and if you want extra 'bonus points' also include the three items from below the title list.

Titles:
  1. Enough for Now
  2. Not Nearly Enough Sugar
  3. Defining "Enough"
  4. Enough to Rule the Known World
  5. Enough to Say
  6. Having Never Had "Enough Already!" Screamed in His Face
Bonus Exercise: Three Things
(Your piece must also include the following three 'things', if you choose this option)
  1. A Parade
  2.  An Oil Slicked Puddle
  3. Tequila
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If you'd like some unobtrusive background music try this "Mind merged with this place" lofi mix.

1/23/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #23: Beginning, Middle & End 3

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.

#23
Beginning, Middle & End 3

For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which begins with one image, scenario, line of dialog or place, includes another thing or event somewhere beyond the first and before the last stanza/paragraph, and ends with another required 'thing'.


Begin WithSomeone making (or eating) a grilled cheese sandwich.

Somewhere in the middle: Someone smokes a cigarette.

End WithSurfing.

Extra Credit RequirementsYour title must include a color and you must include a fruit or vegetable that is that color in your piece.

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If you'd like some unobtrusive background music try this 1962 live album "Waltz for Debby" by the Bill Evans Trio.

1/22/21

2021 Writing Exercise Series #22: Sentence Calisthenics 2

The 2021 Writing Series is a series of daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep their creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.

This is not a standard writing session. This is pure production—to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink it, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 35 minutes.

#22
Sentence Calisthenics 2
For today's writing exercise complete the following steps for a specific period of time, using the timer on your phone or computer and setting it for 5 minutes for each 'set'. The point here is to produce at very least 6 sentences in each set, but you're looking for both quality and quantity. Don't write a bunch of sentences with the same construction or that are boring—it's better if you have no idea how in the heck you might use the sentence. Something funky, interesting.  Normal, well-phrased sentences are of course good to have in the mix too, but include some quirky ones in each set.

At the end of every set mark your favorite 1-2 sentences.

In order to complete the large number of sentences demanded of this exercise it is imperative that you write fast. Don't stop to think too much at all until you've reached the final exercise. The process of this quick production is to thrust past second guesses or other stumbling blocks that sometimes impede your writing. You're aiming to write 30 individual, unlinked sentences in 25 minutes so you have ten minutes to organize and write that actual piece using the 'round up' prompt. This means you're going to be writing more than a sentence a minute. You can't do that if you're dawdling or trying to figure out the 'perfect' phrasing. The first couple times writing to these sprint-style prompts you may barely squeak the lines out in time, but as you get more used to it you'll get more both in quantity and in quality of your sentences. 

Save all of your sentences to a "Sentence Calisthenics" document, if you participate for awhile we'll have some bonus exercises that will refer back to these sentences, because sometimes you can't see the gold hiding in plain sight when you've just written something. Having fresh eyes might result in a quick, awesome piece. So, save those sentences!

WRITE FAST, DON'T OVERTHINK

Getting into the mindset: Before you start your timer, take a moment and breathe and think about famous people that died young (for instance, the 27 club folks), and any of your own near-death experiences. Keep thinking of these things in the back of your mind as you're writing and in between sets. By no means should all of your sentences revolve around these things, we just want your mind centered with a few anchors in place before we charge into our piece, DON'T LET THIS DISTRACT YOU FROM YOUR SENTENCES. When you feel set, read the set instructions, appropriate Wordbank, and start that timer. 

When the timer goes off move on to the next set regardless of if you met the 6 sentence goal, you wrote only 3, or 12—when the timer rings, move along and if you don't hit 6 for one set, do your dangedest to knock out 6 in the next set even if some of them are short or silly or straightforward or even a fragment.

Set 1: Using the first word bank write six (6) or more sentences which include one of the words and some sort of food. 

Wordbank 1:
  • Goose
  • Stun
  • Coal
  • Flannel
  • Torque
Set 2: Now write six (6) or more sentences which use two words from that first bank. At least two (2) of the sentences must be fewer than six words. Remember to mark 1-2 favorites for each set.

Set 3: In preparation of the next six (6) or more sentences you should first pick two words Wordbank 1 and type/write them out. Each of your sentences for this 5 minutes must include one of those two pre-selected words and one of the words from Wordbank 2.

Wordbank 2:
  • Blues
  • Fishing
  • Knoll
  • Banal
  • Perk
Set 4: Now write at least six (6) sentences which include one word from Wordbank 1 and one word from Wordbank 2 and either a color or a smell. You're marking 1-2 favorites, right? Keep doing it.

Wordbank 3:
  • Spewed
  • Envision
  • Eventual
  • Camel
  • Jerked
Set 5: Now Look back at all of the sentences that you've written and re-write six (6) sentences to include a word from Wordbank 3.

The Round-up
1) Gather up all of your marked favorite lines and pick from those favorites at least three sentences to build your piece around. 
2) Now that you know the core of your piece, go back up to the un-favorite lines and pick three additional sentences that you must use (even if you 'spruce' them up by tightening or quirking up the language). 
3) Now you have 6 sentences that are unconnected. You have a large chunk of a jigsaw puzzle but you've lost all the rest of the pieces. So it's time to make those pieces yourself. Make sure your piece has a 'point' or some sort of larger meaning above just the literal narrative/descriptions. Make an observation for better or worse, large, small or teensy tiny even. But, something new, and unique to your brain.

4) OPTIONAL COMPLETE-A-PIECE. If your piece hasn't jumped right out at you, use this 'formula'. First, throw out three of those six sentences that you don't care for as much. At least two of them. Now write a piece which is broken roughly into 1/3s with the first 1/3 including one of your sentences and briefly retell one of your near-life experiences (or imagine one), be sure to use lots of concrete details, and don't describe things with the first way that comes to mind—"Tell it slant". The second 1/3 should briefly recall a some details of a famous person who died young and include 1-2 of your sentences. The third 1/3 should return to your narrator's current life and meditate briefly on the precariousness of fragile things (a wine glass, china, an everyday or household, breakable object which the narrator could feasibly have nearby). And finish with the narrator enjoying a food's taste or the texture of an object. And that's it. You have your piece. This will definitely take longer than ten minutes but may just be worth it.

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Want some unobtrusive background writing music? Try this "Studio Ghibli Chill Music" lofi mix.