Writing Prompt: Alternative Biography

When my father was young, long before I was born, he was accepted into Stanford for math. He planned to attend Stanford, but instead stopped at Washington State University and decided to stay after touring the art department. He met my mother in a watercolor class. They have now been married for over 35 years….

10 Things I Wish I Knew As A Beginning Writer

I’ve been writing for nearly twenty years. The writing bug bit me in tenth grade when I was given an assignment to write a short story. It was a comedy piece about taking my driver’s test. The teacher read it aloud, the class laughed and I was hooked. Since then I’ve held a succession of…

Cutthroat: Open To Submissions

Cutthroat is an established journal that has print and online editions. They are currently reading for the print only issue. They are very picky and accept very few submissions so an acceptance from them is a serious compliment. They accept short fiction and poetry. Submit no more than one story (less then 5,000 words in…

Writing Prompt: Multiple Angles

This exercise involves several steps. The only material you need is a pen (or pencil), a piece of paper, and a timer. Once you have all your materials set up, picture a character in your head. After you have thought about the character for a minute or two, set a timer for five minutes. Write…

Inspirational Quote of the Week

Writing Prompt: Genre Twist

There are writers who always write horror, those who always write romance, and those that jump around a lot from sci-fi to literature and mystery all in the space of one week. But even for those flexible writers there are genres they avoid. I do not like to read or watch horror, so the idea…

Crannóg: Now Open To Submissions

Crannóg is a print literary journal based out of Galway, Ireland that publishes work from all over the world. They are established and respected and they just re-opened to submissions for a month. They are only open to submissions three months a year: July, November and March. They publish three aesthetically pleasing journals a year….

West Wind Review

West Wind Review is published annually at Southern Oregon University. They are a print publication that is established, experimental, and fun. It is always good to be published in a journal associated with a university. It tends to give the journal a more serious reputation. West Wind Review publishes short stories, flash fiction, and poems….

The Southeast Review

The Southeast Review is one of the most prestigious and established journals out there. Once your work is chosen by them for publication, other journals and publishers are likely to take you a lot more seriously. Because it is so prestigious and established The Southeast Review gets an opportunity to look at so much work…

Writing Prompt: A Few Words

When you write you often discover that you favor certain words. Maybe you really like the word red, or metronome, or poem, and those words crop up frequently. You might not notice it when writing fiction, but in poems where the language is more sparse it becomes obvious. This exercise is to write a poem,…

Inspirational Quote of the Week

  When you are a new writer, one of the hardest things is to be open to criticism. After all when I was still learning, I didn’t understand the concept of editing. I wanted everything to be good on the first try. This is rarely the case. The more you write the more you learn…

“Why I Chose Create Space to Publish My First Book”

My book, “Words to Thrive By: Powerful Stories of Courage and Hope” was published with Create Space. I had a great experience with all aspects of the Create Space process: writing, editing, audience demographic analysis, printing, shipping, online website support and the overall Create Space Community. The service is extremely personalized at Create Space I…

Inspirational Quote of the Week

  This Emily Dickinson quote is one of my favorites, because it does not focus on getting a book published, or writing the best poem possible, but on the fact that all those things and others are possible, with writing and with life. It is a quote about hope, as much as it is about…

The Red River Review: Closing to Submissions

The Red River Review is an online journal that publishes poetry. It was was founded in 1999 when online literary journals were a rarity. After a brief break from publishing in the late 2000’s The Red River Review is back. They publish several issues a year. They are currently reading for the August issue and…

Writing Prompt: No Description

I often create characters by picturing what they look like first. For example, I think of their hair, the color and length of it, or I think of how tall they might be. If I am worried the characters looks too much like me, I always make them short, because one of my most noticeable…