Writing Prompt: Secret Library

Many great modern novels are about the love of books and libraries. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store and The Shadow of the Wind are just two examples.  Both books are about imagined secret libraries. Your prompt today is to write about an imagined library that is for some reason or another a secret. Now this…

The Thirty Word Short Story Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

Writing Prompt: Stuck

Imagine that a character is trapped somewhere. It could be a small room, a well, a crashed car, a stuck elevator, or any number of small claustrophobic  spaces. They have been stuck there for at least thirty minutes when you start writing your story. This is important because they already have to be nervous at…

Quote of the Week

The One Sentence Pitch Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

The Case for Chapbooks

Chapbooks are very small books, usually no more than 30 pages in length, 50 at the most. They frequently have no spine and are often bound with staples. They have been around for a long time, at least since the 16th century, when they were associated with fiction, but now they almost always function as…

Quote of the Week

Writing Prompt: Rhyming Poem

Poems don’t have to rhyme anymore. They haven’t in a very long time. Still, every once in a while I encounter someone who believes that poems have to rhyme, that it is one of the requirements to writing a poem. Most of the time I write in free verse, without any rhymes except the occasional…

Oneworld Publishing: Accepting Book Proposals

Updated October 2020 Oneworld Publishing is an independent print publisher. They were founded in 1986 by husband and wife team Juliet Mabey and Novin Doostdar, at the time they only published non-fiction. Now they publish over 100 books a year. They still publish non-fiction, but they also publish literary fiction.  Their books are widely available…

2 Places To Take Online Writing Classes

Sometimes writers need feedback. Sometimes even the most gifted writers will be stuck at a certain point in their novel, or even their writing career. Sometimes a writer has been writing for years but has not had any formal training. Writing classes often provide writers with the feedback, inspiration, and motivation that they need. Of…

The 6 Word Memoir Writing Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

Ten Literary Journals That Respond Within A Month

Updated February 16th, 2016 When I had first started submitting to literary journals, I found that by submitting to a number of journals that had quick response times I was able to remain motivated to continue submitting my work for publication. After all, if you submit to a journal and don’t hear anything for up…

Omnific Publishing: Accepting Book Synopsis

Updated January 2018: I would not advice submitting to them at this point. They are still publishing books on Amazon, with little to no promotion. They are not even updating their official website to reflect this fact. None of the books they have published in the last two years have more than one review, and…

Writing Prompt: Life Without Computers

What if there were no computers? Obviously you wouldn’t be reading this right now, but many other important things that factor into your daily life would be different. Your prompt today is to imagine, in a poem or a story, what life would be without computers. Remember, if there were no computers there would also…

Quote of the Week