Weird Circular #16 January

The January Weird Circular

January 01, 2018

This month's Weird Circular is live with submission ideas, prompts, and more!

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Writers of the Weird:

Happy New Year!

This is a hard time of the year for me, every year, without fail. You've got awards season if you're a SFF writer, which can be a tricky thing to navigate for a new writer with not a lot of publications. The holidays are rough for writers too, it's hard to get those words on the page. There's a lot of pressure to think up goals for 2018, to write an awards eligibility post (

.) to reset yourself and do better, try harder. And that's all good stuff in the end. Goals are important and reflection is necessary as a writer. 

This New Year's, I encourage you to do what works for you, whatever that may mean. Maybe like me, you're not making specific goals this time around because your goals aren't time-specific. Maybe you just need a break. I'm here to say that if the only writing you get done in January is to dream, that's perfectly fine. Because weird writers don't follow the crowd, they follow their own inner compass.

This month's prompts come to you from the bots of Twitter. I wanted to give us something easy to write from that's not set in stone. 

and make them like you before the revolution comes. 

Thanks for being along on this weird journey. Here's to you in 2018, my fellow weirdos. 

- Holly 

Submission Calls

Or you know, digital trees. Same difference.

is open to micro fiction (>300 words) and poetry submissions with the theme "Shadow Work." Deadline Feb. 1. 

Other Upcoming Submission Windows: 

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets,

, Duotrope's

,

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

This month I'm doing something a little different with my prompts. Below are three tweets from Twitter bots. You can write a different piece inspired by each, or mix them together into one piece if you like. 

Editing tip of the month: One of the hardest parts of writing for me is titles. I don't like titles that pull directly from the story unless they are really relevant to the plot, and I hate one-word titles. Clarkesworld has a really fantastic run-down of the most commonly-submitted (and rejected) titles. Pick a piece where you need a better title. Let yourself brainstorm ONLY the title. Try using a place, a person, or an object. Try a random title generator on google. Play around till you have 5 solid titles. Now number them in order of awesomeness. It's important to have fun once in a while with your writing. 

Inspiration from the Ether

News From Your Corporeal Host

  • I wrote a blog post about my awards eligible writing for 2017. Read it here.

  • I'll be at Illogicon in January! Come say Hi. 

  • Look for my flash fiction, knick knack, knick knackin Fireside in early spring!

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