Writing Prompt: Gender Swap

Are you working on a novel? Or do you have a favorite character from a novel by another writer? This is an exercise that requires an established character, one that you know really well, although it does not need to be one you created. Pick a character and then write down his or her name…

The Active Writer

Phillip Roth has often said that he walks a mile for every page he writes. He also writes those pages standing up. Hemingway was also known for standing while he wrote, and many modern writers from John Green to Susan Orleans have been known to use a treadmill desk. The famous Japanese Novelist Haruki Murkami…

Caboose: A Journal of Really Awful Poetry

Have you ever written a poem, read it over, and groaned? Was it a truly terrible poem that was overwrought, confusing, and mixed metaphors the way a blender does? I know I have written these poems, even if I didn’t know it when I wrote them. Months later I will stumble across them and flush…

Beorh Quarterly: Open To Submissions

Beorh Quarterly is an online literary journal that publishes four issues every year. They accept poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, they are also open to work from any genre, except they are not interested in erotica or romance.  Horror, science fiction, mystery, and most other genres are fine. They are only interested in work that…

Voluted Tales: Accepting Submissions

Voluted Tales Magazine publishes four monthly e-editions, roughly one each week of the month. All regular editions are edited and published by Mark Turner. These  weekly editions include a Voluted Tales General edition, a Voluted Tales Themed edition, a Voluted Tales Serials edition and a Voluted Tales Classics/Steampunk edition. They publish around 48 issues a…

Quote of the Week

The Benefits of Procrastination

It’s the weekend, the kids are out with your spouse and you have nothing to do but work on your manuscript – except the breakfast dishes aren’t going to clean themselves, even if all they need is a bit of help into the dishwasher.  Oh, and the dog needs to be walked, dinner should be…

Writing Prompt: Unusual Houses

When I was growing up I was obsessed with the Boxcar Children, not the later books when the children were wealthy and supported, but the first book when they were making a life for themselves in an abandoned boxcar. The books where homes were established in churches, barns, buses, boats, and trees all captured my…

Caketrain: Accepting Submissions

Update: In the Summer of 2015 Caketrain went on an Indefinite Hiatus.  Caketrain is a primarily print journal based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 2003 and their goal has stayed the same: To publish the best contemporary works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. They have become a respected modern journal and are…

The Routines of Successful Writers

I have always been fascinated by the routines and daily schedules of other writers and artists. Writing is not a job with hours or even deadlines, unless you count the self-imposed ones. There is so much self discipline involved in being a dedicated writer. Some of my friends write best in bars, others measure their…

Writing Prompt: The Happy Funeral

There are lots of words people use to describe funerals, although rarely do any of those words have positive connotations. Your challenge today is to write about a funeral. But you can’t use any of the following words: Sad, dour, mad, upset, crying, sobbing, grieving, angry, dark, black, rain, or tombstone. The tone of your…

The Five Best Literary Journals Re-Opening This Month

In February many journals are opening their doors to submissions. Some of these journals have only been closed for a month, others have been closed for over six months. February’s list of five journals includes two of my favorite literary journals. 1. A Cappella Zoo A Cappella Zoo is a journal of magic realism that…

Quote Of The Week

On Becoming an Author

1au·thor noun \ˈȯ-thər\ : a person who has written something; especially : a person who has written a book or who writes many books : a person who starts or creates something (such as a plan or idea) (From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary) I receive emails all the time asking me what it means to be…

Review of Danse Macabre

Most of the journals we have been reviewing lately accept very few creative works; most only accept around 1% or less of the work submitted to them. When you are first starting out, sometimes you just want to get your name out there and have your work published. Danse Macabre accepts almost 70% of the…