Writing Prompt: Sonnet

There are many kinds of sonnets. Shakespeare’s sonnets are not the only option.  There are sonnets that stick to the Italian method. There are ones that are only concerned with iambic pentameter. One only contains the word watermelon over and over again for fourteen lines, and it is still technically a sonnet. Gerald Stern has…

The Six Word Memoir 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…

Quote of the Week

Dark Futures: Open To Submissions

Dark Futures is an established online journal that pays their writers a small token payment. They publish short stories and poetry.They are interested in work with post apocalyptic or cyber punk themes. They are also interested in science fiction and horror, or anything that would fit under the heading of Dark Futures. They are interested…

Announcing the Winners of the One Sentence Pitch Competition

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…

Quote Of The Week

How To Write A Good Pitch for Your Novel

“Pitch” was such a foreign term for me as a young author, that when the first agent asked for my novel’s pitch at a conference, I blinked and shrugged. I was seventeen at the time so I suppose my reaction was understandable. The agent then had to explain to me what a pitch was. How…

Stirring: Open to Submissions

Stirring is an online journal published by Sundress Publishing. Sundress is a mostly women run publishing collective that publishes a number of literary journals, anthologies, chapbooks, and books. They also run the prestigious Best of the Net competition and the Gone Dark Archives a place to preserve journals that are no longer active. It is…

Skyhorse Publishing: Open To Book Proposals

Updated October 8th, 2024. CNN reported that after requesting an interview with Melania Trump, related to her newly released book (published by Skyhorse), the publisher asked that CNN pay a licensing fee of 250,000 for the interview and excerpts from/photos of the book. Publishers Marketplace ran the full story here, if you have a membership,…

Writing Prompt: In The Dark

This is a prompt that is simple but effective. You can use new characters, ones you have previously created, or even ones other authors have created. Put them in a normal situation, or rather, what would be a normal situation for them. Do they work at an office building? Place them there. Do they go…

Writing Prompt: Wrongly Accused

In The Fugitive a doctor is accused of killing his wife. In Double Jeopardy a wife is accused of killing her husband. Both did not commit the crime they are accused of. They are both innocent. That has been a reoccurring theme in movies and literature for a very long time. It can be a…

Amira Press: Open To Manuscript Submissions

They Have Gone Out Of Business Amira Press started out as a small e-publisher of romance and erotica and has grown considerably over the years. They have sold a lot of e-books and now even have some print editions. Writers that have been published by Amira speak of then highly. They have good editors and…

Quote Of The Week

Writing Prompt: After Death

There is a book called Sum: Forty Tales of the After Life. It is a book of very short stories by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist and writer. Each of the short stories is a completely different interpretation of the afterlife. In one afterlife you know everyone else there, but just tangentially. You can never meet…

Annoucing the Winners of the Haiku 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…