Resources
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Nothing Changes
By Gary Beck
I sit at my desk
with my iPad,
send an email
to a friend in France.
It gets there in seconds.
Across the street
at a construction site,
immigrant laborers
who can't speak English
put up a scaffold,
the same way they did
in ancient Egypt.
Down the block,
four large men
carry a heavy rug,
just the way they did
in ancient Persia.
At the corner,
two men load a truck
the exact same way
two men loaded a cart
in the Middle Ages.
The progress of civilization
has given us
powerful machines,
electronic devices,
yet everywhere I look
we still do things by hand.
Closure
By Alan Perry
for Kate Spade
I could never do that—
wear notions to be toted
and adorned in public
or name my own leather to rest
on someone else's shoulder.
No crossbody bags for me
or I'll lose my private place
in the express line, waiting
for debits to pile up.
Though I'm not immune
to the allure of rest.
Every day I weightlift
the quiet grief that stuffs
a briefcase I carry
from this place to the next—
not sharing its contents
with those who can't see
me drifting away.
And if I get lost
in that room with no light,
I might take blue from a scarf
and close the door—
like the snap of a purse
that can't be opened
from the inside.
Learning English Language Arts with the New York Times
This feature on the New York Times website collects archived content that can be used to teach writing skills such as dialogue, narrative, and criticism.
peculiar: a queer literary journal
peculiar is a bi-annual queer literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, essays, art, and photography. Co-editor Jack Garcia says, "Based in Provo, Utah, the title is a nod to the Mormon claim of being a 'peculiar people' because, let's face it, being queer is far more peculiar!" Read an interview with him at Trish Hopkinson's writing resources blog.
The Reader Teacher
Scott Evans a/k/a "Mr. E", an elementary school teacher in Wales, reviews and recommends children's books for parents and teachers on his site The Reader Teacher. His main focus is middle-grade fiction (ages 8-12).
Good Show Sir
This humorous blog based in the UK showcases examples of terrible book cover design for fantasy and sci-fi novels. Come for the laughs, stay for the ideas about what to avoid when designing your own indie book cover.
Character Naming Tips and Resources at the Kindlepreneur
Digital marketing blogger Dave Chesson a/k/a the Kindlepreneur shares links to his favorite character name generator websites, as well as advice on picking the right name for your character's age, time period, personality, and book genre.
Here Now
By David Kherdian
I would like to visit
every store and window
in this town,
the last station on the road,
as I would every stone
on this path,
every pebble along the way—
to where I am destined—
Hidden from me, allowing
the events in my Being
to prepare for the final door—
that will open only then
to more than chance,
the defining moment
before the next step
into another land.
Write Now! Coach
Book coach Rochelle Melander offers workshops, consultations, and critique groups through her website Write Now! Coach. Her published books include Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It), a 2011 ForeWord Book of the Year finalist.
Esther and Willow
By Laurel Blossom
This is the pool set halfway between the guesthouse and the main house, built by Mrs. Godfrey in 1941, the year Esther Williams started at MGM. I swim on the diagonal to make a length a little longer. The water's warm where the LA sun has touched it, cool where it floats in shade. I'm taking my first swim in Mrs. Godfrey's pool. My landlord Al says Mrs. Godfrey was one of Esther Williams's understudies. The guesthouse is white, the sky blue, the house at the corner of Esther and Willow. Al says this is a coincidence. I don't believe him. Coincidence is a myth.
Global City Press
An offshoot of Global City Review, this NYC-based press aims to be a "literary metropolis of the imagination". Their first title, publishing in early 2020, is The Escapist by David Puretz, which follows a young anti-hero on a quest for his missing father while grappling with his sexuality, substance addiction, and childhood traumas. Multicultural Review calls Global City "a rich treasury of contemporary social thought and artistic expressions, defending a humanistic view of the individual in a complex society."
Mannheim
By Erika Dreifus
I did not cry the first time I went to Mannheim,
when my father and I studied the nameplates
listing the residents of the building on Ifflenstrasse
where his mother had been born, and grown up.
The building she left one April day in 1938, just in time,
and had never re-entered.
I did not cry even when the current second-floor residents
invited us in, and I stood in the high-ceilinged rooms
where my great-grandparents had withstood the Kristallnacht.
In the photos my father snapped
to show my grandmother, back in Brooklyn,
I am smiling.
I did not cry the second time I went to Mannheim,
when my father and mother and sister and I toured the city,
armed with Grandma's handwritten maps,
and visited the shiny blue synagogue.
From the hotel we telephoned Brooklyn
before driving away on the Autobahn.
The third time, the train from Stuttgart stopped.
I descended to the platform.
And the signs read,
Mannheim.
This time my grandmother was gone.
Not just from Germany.
But back in New York her namesake had just arrived.
I blinked a few times. Bit my lip.
Stared at the sign, and swallowed.
Then I walked, fast, through sunbaked streets,
straight to the department store
where I bought the baby a sweater
and tiny socks
before I hurried back to the train station.
A Thousand Acres
By Jane Smiley. Winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this American tragedy recasts the story of King Lear on an Iowa farm in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. When a tyrannical but enfeebled patriarch divides his farm unequally among his three daughters, their prosperous, provincial world is torn apart by long-simmering rivalries and recovered memories of incest. Not only does Smiley nail the dynamics of a family in denial, she believably ties the personal drama to the American diseases of patriarchal entitlement and the rape of the land.
PhotoBloom
Fine art photographer Carol Bloom's landscapes, street scenes, still lifes, and abstract images are composed with the care of Old Masters paintings, as charged with dramatic tension as an Edward Hopper scene. These evocative works would be suitable for licensing for a poetry collection, literary fiction, or memoir book cover. Locations include New York City, Paris, and Israel.
Waxwing
Waxwing is a thrice-yearly online literary journal promoting the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices in translation. They seek to include American writers from all cultural identities alongside international voices published bilingually. Waxwing currently accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translations. Authors published in Waxwing include Cortney Lamar Charleston, Amy Dryansky, Jeannine Hall Gailey, and Oliver de la Paz.
Where to Find Free Short Stories Online
This 2019 list from the literary website BookRiot links to high-quality online sources for free short fiction, including prestigious journals such as Granta, Guernica, Virginia Quarterly Review, and American Short Fiction, as well as leading sci-fi and fantasy sites like Tor.com and Lightspeed Magazine.
Hometown Reads
Sponsored by the digital marketing firm Weaving Influence, Hometown Reads is an online community dedicated to matching local authors with bookstores and customers in their area. Authors in one of their featured cities can put up a page about their books for free. Other networking tools include a blog and city-specific Facebook groups. If you live in a Hometown not currently showcased on their site and are willing to help gather authors in your area, contact Hometown Reads to suggest adding your locale to their directory.
The Over-manipulation Problem
May Peterson is an editor, writing consultant, and author of the fantasy novel Lord of the Last Heartbeat (Carina Press, 2019). In this writing advice post from her blog, she cautions against the self-doubt that leads writers to revise too much. Rather than think of early drafts as problems to be fixed, learn to appreciate your strengths at every stage, while being aware that your work will change and grow. "We all need to strive, but we all need to accept, too, and it's the latter part writers often have trouble with...What I encourage writers to do is to cultivate trust in their writing. Not just their skills, or their voice, but what their writing is about for them. The things they like about their own writing, just as it is."
Belmont Story Review
Belmont Story Review, the literary journal of Belmont University in Nashville, TN, publishes emerging and established writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and narrative journalism in the areas of music, publishing, creativity and collaboration, and faith and culture. Payment for accepted work is $25 per poem or flash fiction, $50 per prose piece. (Note to international contributors: the journal can only pay with a check in US dollars.)
Hidden Memories
By Jesse James Doty
Boxes of family photos
Uneasy desire to see
how I used to be
before my transition
Have no regrets
and yet
something holds me back
from viewing my past
Wondering how I'll feel
How I'll react
Do I deny my history?
Resist the rising tide
Or is this a rebellious act?
Denying who I was
when I wasn't
how I felt inside
From my memories
do I need to hide?
So hard to decide
Hey, Kiddo
By Jarrett Krosoczka. This graphic narrative memoir intertwines the author's tumultuous relationship with his heroin-addicted mother and his discovery of his vocation as a professional cartoonist. The result is a lovingly detailed scrapbook of working-class family life in Worcester, MA, with sepia-tinted artwork supplemented by original documents and childhood drawings. Krosoczka was raised by his maternal grandparents, who come across as well-rounded and beloved characters, often gruff and no stranger to alcohol indulgence, but with steady devotion and an unglamorous and patient work ethic that he learns to emulate. Krosoczka's popular graphic novels for kids include the Lunch Lady and Star Wars: Jedi Academy series.
The Fisherman
By John Langan. Steeped in the history and geography of upstate New York, this literary novel of cosmic horror draws on influences from the Book of Job to Moby-Dick and H.P. Lovecraft. A widower who turns to fishing as solace is drawn into a centuries-old pattern of bereaved men tearing the veil between worlds to reunite with some simulacrum of what they have lost. More than a monster story, though full of satisfying scares, this tale-within-a-tale leaves us chilled by fears of the uncanny existence that may await us after death.
Gender Queer: A Memoir
By Maia Kobabe. Playful, emotionally vulnerable, and even cozy, this graphic narrative is a coming-of-age memoir centered on Kobabe's discovery of eir nonbinary and asexual identity. Gentle, accessible artwork with a sophisticated color palette gives the story an intimate feel, as if a friend or family member was sharing confidences with you. As well as being entertaining, this book is a good educational resource for teens and adult allies as well as queer folks looking to understand themselves.
Slingshot
By Cyrée Jarelle Johnson. The title of this ambitious debut collection by a black genderqueer poet-activist refers to the bikini costume they wore as a strip-club dancer, but also calls to mind the legendary weapon that young David employed against the giant Goliath. Like the Biblical youth, the narrator of these poems fights back, with brilliant style and ferocity, against seemingly insurmountable forces like racism, transphobic violence, familial abuse, and the floods that Hurricane Sandy unleashed on New York City. The propulsive force and fragmented and recombined syntax of these poems command so much attention that only at the end will you reflect, "Damn, was that a crown of sonnets?" and read it all over again.
Legal Shield
A good value for writers who can't afford traditional law firm fees, Legal Shield is a monthly subscription plan that allows you to call their attorneys for consultation on specific issues. You can ask for a lawyer with a particular area of expertise, e.g. intellectual property. Recommended by publishing industry expert Jane Friedman.
Terrain
Founded in 1997, Terrain is an online journal of creative writing and artwork with a sense of place and an ecological consciousness. They accept poetry, essays, fiction, articles, artwork, videos, and hybrid-genre work. Regular submissions are open from early September through April 30, and contest submissions from January 1 through Labor Day. Their ongoing series of "Unsprawl" case studies features locales that embody sustainable urban design. Contributors have included Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, Hannah Fries, Naila Moreira, and Pattiann Rogers.
The Raw Art Review
The Raw Art Review: A Journal of Storm and Urge publishes poetry, flash prose, and artwork that convey passion with strong original imagery. Launched in 2018, the journal publishes quarterly. There are periodic contests for online features, chapbook and full-length poetry manuscripts, and story collections.
The Hard Season
By Kathleen Lynch
Rain-glutted, the stream
splays to the base
of the retaining wall.
Good. Now you have reason
to pray. Of all the birds
watching from winter-stripped
trees, vultures
are kindest, killing nothing.
This is a true
measure of things.
Don't hold back now, have
chocolate, throw extra
kindling on, even though
skies urge cover & hoarding.
When mice pitter in
for crumbs, compliment
their small feet and fitting
ways. When your mouth
houses a curse, swallow,
think how you once
had no words at all
yet managed
your hungers. Everything
that comes, passes.
Everything that passes
rakes its fingers through
and passes.
MiblArt Book Cover Design
MiblArt offers affordable custom cover designs for self-published books in print and digital formats (e-book or audiobook). They will work in all genres, but their portfolio thus far is mainly commercial nonfiction and genre fiction, especially fantasy and thriller.
Two Haiku from Journey to the Clear Light
By Robert Paul Blumenstein
the owl grew many
all the fluffy chicks survived
squirrels not too well
tender purple cones
singing in pine bough cradle
tomorrow's giants
Spotify “Poetry: In Their Own Voices” Playlist
Created by the music streaming service Spotify for Women's History Month, this playlist features recordings of famous poets such as Marianne Moore, Rita Dove, Joy Harjo, Elizabeth Bishop, and Gwendolyn Brooks reading their own work. You will need a free or paid subscription to listen.
Moves in Contemporary Poetry
In this 2010 essay in the online journal HTMLgiant, Mike Young comes up with a list of 41 rhetorical and syntactical techniques that have become popular in 21st-century poetry. Examples are drawn from critically acclaimed authors such as Heather Christle, Alice Fulton, Jack Gilbert, D.A. Powell, and Dean Young. The list can help new writers think twice about stylistic choices that may have become academic clichés.
Furious Flower Poetry Center
The nation's first academic center for Black poetry, Furious Flower was established on the James Madison University campus to serve creative writers, literary and cultural scholars, and poetry lovers everywhere. They are committed to ensuring the visibility, inclusion and critical consideration of Black poets in American letters, as well as in the whole range of educational curricula. Named after an image in a Gwendolyn Brooks poem, the academic center originated in the acclaimed 1994 Furious Flower Poetry Conference, the first major conference on African American poetry since the 1970s. See their website for educational materials, conferences, classes, and poetry prizes.
Dark Art Movement
Founded by Alberto Sisí, the Dark Art Movement is an online gallery of macabre visual art in the tradition of Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, and H.R. Giger. Writers of horror fiction and poetry will find many intriguing images to use as writing prompts or to license for their book covers.
Homology Lit
Homology Lit is a Pacific Northwest-based online literary magazine for people of color, queer folks, and people with disabilities, founded by Savannah Slone in July 2018. Contributors have included Dagmawe Berhanu, Donte Collins, Kailah Figueroa, and Danielle Rose.
Queen Mob’s Tea House
Queen Mob's Tea House, affiliated with the respected cultural journal Berfrois, is an international online literary magazine for "weird, serious, gorgeous, cross genre, spell conjuring, rant inducing work." The many genres they accept include poetry, fiction, satire, sex columns, music journalism, queer translations and more.
Embassy of the Free Mind: Online Catalogue
The Ritman Library in Amsterdam, also known as the Embassy of the Free Mind, is the world's largest library of occult books, with some 25,000 texts on topics such as Hermetics, Rosicrucians, Theosophy, alchemy, mysticism, Gnosis and Western Esotericism, Sufism, Kabbalah, Anthroposophy, Catharism, Freemasonry, Manichaeism, Judaica, the Grail, Esotericism, and comparative religion. They are in the process of digitizing their collection, a free online archive that will eventually make the contents of the library accessible to all. Partially funded by author Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code), the archive is seeking more sponsors and volunteers to complete the project.
Book Brush
Book Brush offers templates to create professional-looking ads and social media images for your books. Create three free images per month with the free membership, or unlimited images with the paid plan, which also includes more design options.
The 1619 Project at the New York Times
In 1619, the first ship of African slaves arrived at a port in the British colony of Virginia. This series of feature articles from the New York Times Magazine surveys the far-reaching legacy of black people's enslavement. These pieces aim to show how America's unique economic and political dominance was built on the wealth extracted from slaves and the racism that underpins our social structures. The full text has been made available for free on the website of the Pulitzer Center.
Microcosm Publishing
Microcosm Press specializes in nonfiction DIY (Do-It-Yourself) goods that focus on the reader and teach self-empowerment. They publish books from people with both expertise and lived experience, on topics such as magic and herbalism, punk music and culture, queer erotica, travel, self-care, comics journalism, and "the bicycle revolution". Illustrated work is strongly encouraged. Browse sample titles on their website and send them a pitch that follows their detailed guidelines. Editors say, "We do not publish books that would primarily be described as poetry, fiction, travel stories, or memoirs, unless the work is more substantially about a nonfiction topic than the author's life and experiences. If your book contains more than 20% personal stories, we are not the right publisher for you."
A Story Most Queer
Launched in June 2019, A Story Most Queer is a weekly podcast from Mischief Media featuring narratives by queer authors, in which the main characters are also queer-identified. "There is no limit on genre or style: fiction, nonfiction—hey, even fanfic, you know we'll read us some fanfic—are welcome. Send us your fluff, your coffee shop AUs, your high school angst, your interstellar explorations and existential quandaries—we want it all! If it's queer and well-written then it's absolutely a contender. There is no rating limit." Stories should be approximately 2,000-4,000 words, to fit into a podcast of 15-30 minutes. Previously published work is eligible, as long as the piece will not published be in audio format anywhere else for six months following the release.
Publishers Marketplace
Publishers Marketplace is an industry news website that can help authors connect with agents and editors. Their newsfeed tracks publishing deals, agents, editors, submission calls and more. Full membership is $25/month. If this is out of your price range, there is also a free, shorter daily email newsletter called Publishers Lunch.
Children’s Diversity and Justice Library
Rooted in values of equity and compassion and hosted by the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Children's Diversity and Justice Library empowers young people to celebrate diversity and seek justice in their lives and communities. Browse their online catalog for book recommendations in 12 categories: African American, Bodies & Abilities, Cultures & Traditions, Diversity, Gender, Families, Hispanic/Latino/Spanish, Justice, LGBTQ+, Refugees & Immigrants, Religion, and Women & Girls.
Online Etymology Dictionary
Etymology is the study of word origins and how vocabulary has changed over the centuries. This free reference site gathers data from several accepted etymology guides to create a searchable database. Blog entries on the site cover topics such as the development of modern English spelling, principles of etymology, and how to spot fake word derivations.
Historical Restaurant Menus at the NYPL
The New York Public Library's website features this growing archive of 17,000+ restaurant menus from the 1850s through today. A good resource for historical fiction writers to discover notable restaurants from their book's era and what the characters might have eaten.
Objective Correlative
By David Holper
"The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an 'objective correlative'; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion." T.S. Eliot
Imagine a poem about the old Germany
the one in which you had to pass to through
Checkpoints A, B, C to travel
from West Germany to East Berlin:
it would by necessity be an act of faith,
dividing what we remember with what you feel obligated to tell:
it would require, too, a certain anxiety: the clock's hands frozen
just past midnight, a scene replete with klieglights, razor wire, guard towers,
armed Russian guards just barely old enough
to shave, or kill. Being young yourself, you would
remain stoic. Dignity is required in transit out of the known world
into the wintery ice fog. With your orders in hand,
you must enter the little green hut, just beyond
your car, slide the paperwork under the mirrored glass
and wait in the silence, with Joe and Vladimir
frowning at you.
No one will speak,
whether you say something in Russian or not,
whether, as you go out, you wish the guard a good evening
or offer to trade the open Playboy on the dash
for a belt buckle or a fur hat. Afterwards, you must drive directly
110 km from A to B: until you enter Berlin, you cannot leave your car,
whether you break down or run out of gas. At that point,
the poem must advance the alphabet in its proper order,
the landscape undoing all that you think of civilization
so that, if the poem does not confound us
with anything that challenges our faith in the world we know,
then and only then, the car will pass into the city—and beyond
Checkpoint Charlie, through the last barrier, and you will discover yourself
in East Berlin, the dirty fog drenching everything in doubt.
Once there, you'll find a troubling belief will manifest in the lines
of wet laundry strung outside the windows, the raw bullet holes
from decades before, the anxious gray faces. If you hear anything
resembling a scream, do your best to ignore it. Tell yourself it is only
your imagination. Maybe later you will stop at the Alexanderplatz for a souvenir,
(though aside from the vodka and the Cuban cigars, there will be nothing worth buying)
and watch the snow pile up in gray slush, effacing everything,
everyone. If you notice the man following you in the charcoal colored suit,
you must not make a scene. He will not bother you,
as long as you don't ask about what is torturing you. Keep moving, keep pretending
that the dead are not following you with every step. Only in this way
will we ever believe this nightmare to have been true.
Originally published in Third Wednesday, Spring 2012
Key Book Publishing Paths
Publishing expert Jane Friedman explains different tracks to book publication in this annually updated chart, which compares the key features of Big Five traditional publishing, small press, indie, hybrid, and self-publishing.
WordTips Guide to Grammar and Punctuation
WordTips features several free resources to help with writing skills, anagrams and word puzzles, and Scrabble vocabulary. This page gives an overview of grammar and punctuation rules, plus links to many other sites with more detail on these topics. Clear, simple presentation makes it a suitable resource for middle- and high-school students.
Memories of You
By Gregory Ashe
Sitting on the sand,
gazing at the full moon.
The sea lit with the dull reflection of moonlight.
A cool breeze.
The air heavy with ocean salt.
The soft roar of waves crashing on the shore.
I remember that night
long ago
when you and I first kissed on the beach.
We sat in an empty lifeguard stand.
The night still warm from the day's summer heat.
I ran my fingers through your golden-brown hair glowing
in the moonlight.
A magical night.
I remember another night,
much longer ago,
when a different you and I first kissed on the beach.
We walked along the boardwalk.
The winter air cold and clear,
and the moon cast a million diamonds
sparkling on the sea.
I ran my fingers through your jet-black hair shimmering
in the moonlight.
A magical night.
Now I stare at the sea and moonlight
alone,
but still I smile.
For I am not really alone,
because you,
and you
are here with me in my thoughts.
A magical night.
new heat
By Frank Prem
a river of aluminum flowed
beneath the hulk of our car
engine blocks are only alloy
these days
window frames on houses
swam away
and cement sheeting
turned to powder
heat
it's an old word
we need something new
to describe what ran through us
that day
