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SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calls for Submissions, Competitions, and other Information and News

“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.

‘So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you.”  Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

ABOUT PLACE JOURNAL, a literary journal of the Black Earth Institute dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, will open a call for submissions of poetry, essarys, creative nonfiction and artwork on January 1, 2019. Theme: Dignity as an Endangered Species: Maintain Respect, Honesty and Integrity in the 21st Century. Deadline: March 1, 2019. Details HERE.

CHERRY TREE, A national Literary Journal @ Washington College publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and literary shade and will reopen for submissions on August 1, 2019. Mark your calendar. Details HERE.

DANCEHALL POETRY has an open call through November 14 for submissions of work on dance halls. Details HERE.

THE EMMA PRESS has an open call for Gothic poems. Deadline: 9 November. Details HERE.

HEAD STUFF has an open call for poetry in several categories: poem of the week (continuous submission); new voices (emerging poets under thirty), unbound (a sequence of poems from one author); and, contributing articles. Deadlines vary among the categories. Details HERE.

THE MALAHAT REVIEW publishes poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction.  Paying market. Details HERE.

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS has an open call for prose poems for its 2020 The Australian Prose Poetry Anthology.  Deadline: 1 March 2019. Details HERE.

OPTIMUM POETRY ZINE publishes regularly. Submission guidelines HERE. 

TERRAPIN BOOKS has an open call for submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts from January 24 – February 28, 2019. Demographic restriction: U.S. only. Reading Fee: $12. Details HERE. 

THURSTON HOWL PUBLICATIONS is accepting submissions for an anthogy series on furry creatures. Theme: Bunnies. Deadline: January 1, 2019. Details HERE. Scroll down.

THURSTON HOWL PUBLICATIONS is accepting submissions for an anthology series on furry creatures. Theme: Even Furries Hate Nazis. Deadline: February 15, 2019. Details HERE. Scroll down.

THURSTON HOWL PUBLICATIONS is accepting submissions for an anthology series on furry ceatures. Theme: Bears. Deadline: June 30, 2019. Details HERE.  Scroll down.

WISHING UP PRESS has an open call for submissions for its Re-Creating Our Common Group, A Wishing Up Anthology and Listening Project, which will include stories, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Deadline: February 1, 2019. Details HERE.

THE WRITE LAUNCH is a monthly online publication offering short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, short novella, and novel chapters. Submission fee: $5. Details HERE.

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REMINDERS:

The Poet by Day

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

Response deadline is Monday, November 5, at 8 p.m. Pacific. Poems on theme are published on this site on Tuesday, the November 6. Details HERE.

The BeZine

Call for submissions for the December issue.

THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be. Submissions for the December issue – themed A Life of the Spirit – close on November 10 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific .

Please send text in the body of the email not as an attachment. Send photographs or illustrations as attachments. No google docs or Dropbox or other such. No rich text. Send submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com.

Publication is December 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration.

No demographic restrictions.

Please read at least one issue. We DO NOT publish anything that promotes hate, divisiveness or violence or that is scornful or in any way dismissive of “other” peoples. 

  • December 2018 issue, Deadline has been extended to November 30. Theme: A Life of the Spirit

The BeZine is an entirely volunteer effort, a mission. It is not a paying market but neither does it charge submission or subscription fees.

Previously published work may be submitted IF you hold the copyright. Submissions from beginning and emerging artists as well as pro are encouraged and we have a special interest in getting more submissions of short stores, feature articles, music videos and art for consideration. 

COMPETITIONS

Opportunity Knocks

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS 2021 Miller Williams Poetry Prize calls for entry of manuscripts between sixty and ninety pages. Judge: Billy Collins. Entry fee: $28. Deadline: September 30, 2019. Details HERE.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS 2020 CantoMundo Poetry Prize calls for entry of manuscripts between forty-eight and ninety pages. Judges: Deborah Paredez and Celese Mendoza. Entry fee: $28. Deadline: April 15, 2019. Details HERE.

OTHER INFORMATION AND NEWS

 

“Thank you poets of the world for your great spirit and commitment to justice!” 100TPC Cofounder, Michael Rothenberg, November 2, 2018

Accessible anytime from anywhere in the world:

The Poet by Day always available online with poems, poets and writers, news and information.

The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online every week (except for vacation) and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career or status. Poems related to the challenge of the week (always theme based not form based) will be published here on the following Tuesday.

The Poet by Day, Sunday Announcements. Every week (except for vacation) opportunity knocks for poets and writers. Due to other weekend commitments, this post will often go up late.

THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be – always online HERE.  

Beguine Again, daily inspiration and spiritual practice  – always online HERE.  Beguine Again is the sister site to The BeZine.

YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.

If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:

  • send PDF to jamiededes@gmail.com (Note: I have a backlog of six or seven months, so at this writing I suggest you wait until June 2018 to forward anything.Thank you!)
  • nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
  • nothing violent or encouraging of violence
  • English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
  • your book or other product  should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.

TO CONTACT ME WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION FOR THE POET BY DAY: thepoetbyday@gmail.com

TO CONTACT ME REGARDING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE BeZINE: bardogroup@gmail.com

PLEASE do not mix the communications between the two emails.

Often information is just that–information– and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications or other organizations featured in my regular Sunday Announcements or other announcements shared on this site. Awards and contests are often (generally) a means to generate income, publicity and marketing mailing lists for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I rarely attend events anymore. Caveat Emptor: Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.

ABOUT

Testimonials

Disclosure

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Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”

* The BeZine: Waging the Peace, An Interfaith Exploration featuring Fr. Daniel Sormani, Rev. Benjamin Meyers, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi among others

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton

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“Glimmer Train” – open for short-story submissions, but closing its doors in May 2019

“Unplug yourself from the hurly-burly of life on a regular basis so your subconscious has time to make some good compost.” Susan Burmeister-Brown, Interview with Susan Burmeister-Brown, Every Writer

Linda Swanson-Davies and Susan Burmeister-Brown, two sisters who co-founded and co-edit the well-regarded 28-year-old short story magazine, Glimmer Train, have announced on the site that they will read through May 2019 and publish a last issue in October 2019. Given the esteem this magazine holds in the minds and hearts of readers, writers, and the publishing industry, it seems proper to feature their final calls in a separate post from regular Sunday Announcements.

I’m sure we’re all sorry to see the end of Glimmer Train but we thank Susan and Linda for their years of service and wish them well.

Currently open in Glimmer-Train:

  • Sept/October 2018 Short Story Award for New Writers closes on November 10, 2018. Entry fee: $18.
  • Standard Submission closes on November 20, 2018.  Reading fee: $2.
  • Nov/Dec 2018 Family Matters contests closes on January 2, 2019. Entry fee: $18.

Details HERE.

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and the associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The River Journal, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman

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A Distant Sky, a poem and thoughts on writing poetry v. writing a fiction

I’m ankle-deep in the exercise of this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I always find it an interesting experience to write a poem on the same day that I work on a fiction, which is not to imply that they are not both truthful. However, the processes are different. As Umberto Eco pointed out – with a poem you go where the words take you and with a fiction you go where the story takes you. I’ve also had the experience of writing the poem and then no longer having the need to write the fiction.

A Distant Sky*

old woman speaks
of her great tests,
each word dropping
like a leaf in autumn,
bronzed and crisp
and coming to rest in
memory, waiting and
waiting for the day
and the pen and the
restoration of her life

* A Distant Sky is the working title of my NaNo exercise. The major protagonist is already real to me.

© 2018, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and the associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The River Journal, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman

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READY, SET, NA-NO-WRI-MO … Tips, Tricks and Writing Rules from P.L. Travers, Henry Miller, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac

ravers in the role of Titania in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, c. 1924
Travers in the role of Titania in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, c. 1924

200px-Poppinsfirst4

Some of us say we write from the heart, some from spirit. P. L. Travers, OBE (1899-1996, Australian national, British citizen),  actress, poet and the conjuror of Mary Poppins, wrote in a Parabola* article that

I sit down inside my abdomen and brood and brood until I figure out how I feel about it.”

 

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I noted the quotation above but I don’t remember the exact context of the piece. I think it was Tavers’ way of talking about the exploration of a painful childhood, one out of which she created a children’s classic. She once told a friend that the people and the objects of her early life were like a spindle around which she wove the threads of her imagination. That worked for her as a writer and for us as readers. In using her childhood to create characters and stories, she gave us a gift that ranks with those given to us by J.M. Barrie, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll.

Of course art-making isn’t therapy, but I often think artists don’t need to be quite so loath to admit some relationship between art-making and therapy.” Short-story writer, Deborah Eisenberg, Paris Review Interview #218, 2016

Travers’ why of writing was – at least in part – to heal and to imagine the childhood she would have liked.

Ultimately, we write for many reasons: to recover, to find closure or completion, to find meaning and understanding and to cherish the gifts of life. I relish life through writing. When I write a poem about an experience or observation, it’s often a way to savor it, prolong or relive the pleasure or heal the wound. It’s a way to live hugely. On the other hand, sometimes I use fiction to reframe experience. I think most people would agree that we also write to have our say and – in the spirit of Joseph Conrad – to help the reader see. That may sound to some like colossal chutzpah, but we all have something to say. We all have a perspective to share.

No matter where our writing comes from or why we write, we have to get the job done. For many of us the muse is a fairly consistent companion. For others it’s a struggle to connect. Either way, we develop habits, disciplines, and rituals to court the muse. It is often as though there is a sort of magical thinking or personal superstition in play. We must sit in this chair at this desk or at this cafe or we simply can’t write. Perhaps that’s why well-known and prolific writers are always being asked how, when and where they write, just another way of saying, “How do you court the muse?”  The answers writers give can reveal demons, superstitions, irritation with the question, or even a tongue firmly in cheek. The “tips” or “rules” can be wise, cool, pragmatic, quirky, absurd or disagreeable. You may end up feeling affirmed, acquiring a useful tool, or finding yourself entertained.

Henry Miller‘s policy was to work on one project at a time. Some will disagree with that. I do. I think many of us find one activity feeds another, that our multiple projects or different artistic outlets form a rich diet for the muse and make us more productive. I have a writer friend who says, “suum cuique” . . . to each his own  . . . though to the old Romans that phrase was about justice (may each get their due), not about writing rituals. But the point is made.

200px-Journal-of-a-novel_cover-smallJohn Steinbeck’s tips are pragmatic, born of a long, intense and consistent experience. In the fall of 1968, Steinbeck was actually too ill for a standard interview and one was pieced together from the East of Eden diaries (Journal of a Novel) and from some letters, which were later collected and published in one book. The tips have been widely published and were also included in Steinbeck’s Paris Review, The Art of Fiction** interview. [The Paris Review Interviews are required reading for writers and poets.]  Steinbeck’s second tip is “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.” This is consistent with the philosophy and structure of NaNoWriMo. You write, write, write all month and don’t do your rewrites, editing and proofing until after that.

Jack Kerouac’s famous thirty tips are … well, they’re Jack … quirky … but useful  … You can check them out HERE on the Gotham Writers’ Workshop site.

Jack Kerouac by Palumbo
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), American poet and novelist

The best tip I ever got was to “listen to and feel, see and smell the world around you.” Inspiration is everywhere: in the air and its scents, in the conversations you overhear, in your self-talk and memories, in the arguments with your spouse and the aroma of dinner cooking. It’s in the coo of the mourning dove, in the feel of your child’s hand in yours, in your own hopes and dreams and the life experiences and observations others share with you. Inspiration is in the news and in history. Be open to everything without exception. Nora Ephron constantly reminded those around her that everything “is copy.” We might say that everything holds the seed of a story, a character, or a scene.

Some of my most profitable lessons came from my high school English teacher, Sister Francis of Assisi, C.S.J. who encouraged my early writing. Sometimes I imagine her leaning over my desk and I hear her whispering  …

What is it you really want to say?
Is this word appropriate? It is accurate?
What is your theme?
Does this really have to rhyme? Be cautious of rhyming.
Is this artfully dramatic or is it bad melodrama?
Is that lyrical or flowery?”

Read and read some more:
What writers do you enjoy most? Why? What can you learn from reading their work?
What novels do you dislike? Why? What can you learn from your reaction?

Reorder and rename the everyday. In truth the ordinary is often extraordinary and it’s your job to recognise and illustrate this.

Practically speaking, the muse is probably most responsive to the simple act of gluing the seats of our pants to our chairs and staying there until the job is done. Perhaps the muse is not fickle. Perhaps to be constant she requires our constancy.

Tips, tricks and rules are helpful and can be inspiring, but take them under advisement. In the end, the best magic for courting the muse is the magic that works for you ….

Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand”. Henry Miller

* Parabola is a magazine of The Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition. P.L. Travers was one of the founders.
** The Paris Review, The Art of Fiction interviews from 1953 through 2016 are freely posted online.

© 2016, essay, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved; Photo credits ~ P.L. Travers via Wikipedia, uploaded there by Rossiter and in the Australian public domain. The book cover art likely belongs to the publisher or estate and is courtesy of Bookworm  (Mary Poppins) and Wikipedia (Journal of a Novel), Jack Kerouac by Palarmo licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

ABOUT

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and the associate editor of a regional employment publication. Currently I run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers.

My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The River Journal, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman