Weird Circular #27 December

The December Weird Circular

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

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Weird Writers,

How was your November? I hope it was full of words, NaNo-ing, and Turkey! For me, December is usually a time of revision. I catch up on the work I've done for the last year and revisit what I wrote during the year. I make new folders that say "2019" in my writing Dropbox. I create a list of things I've published in the last year. 

This month's circular is Margaret Atwood themed. Atwood is one of my favorite writers, but she's also got some great ideas about revision. She calls it "Re-VISION" i.e. the act of re-envisioning your work. I love her

too, my favorite being #3 - have something to write on. Sometimes getting back to the basics is the best way to change your view on writing. This month, I challenge you to re-vision your work: What are your 2019 goals? What have you achieved this year? What can you be proud of, however small? How can you refocus? 

Your corporeal host,

Holly 

Submission Calls

"Yes, your paranoias are all justified, and more – there IS an animated fuzzball coming to life in your closet – but try to keep them to yourself. Other folks have some of their own. Colliding paranoias cause thunderstorms. It’s the I-ams rubbing together that create the electrical charges. I learned that in Physics.     It’s tough out there in Bookworld. Tread carefully. Don’t speak so softly that you can’t be heard, nor so loudly that you’re deafening. Carry a medium-sized shtick."       --Margaret Atwood

Upcoming Submission Windows: 

  • Damaged Goods Press Chaplet Series, Deadline Dec. 15: Theme: technology and dis/ability (open for interpretation.) Single-author collections of poetry, only 6-8 pages, with about 25 short lines per page. Payment: Contributors Copies.. 

  • Cast of Wonders, Deadline Dec. 15: Flash Fiction (Under 1500 words), Fiction (1500-6k words). Young adult speculative stories. Pays .06/word.

  • Sub-Q, Deadline Dec. 15: Theme: Love. Interactive Fiction (Under 1000 words). Submit a proposal for an interactive story! Pays .09/word. 

  • Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter, Deadline usually 15th: Themed Flash Fiction (700-1000 words). Themes announced in each newsletter. Pays .06/word.

  • Moon Child Mag, Deadline Dec. 16: Art: (up to 5 pieces), Poetry (up to 5)  Translated Poetry, Flash fiction(up to 3 pieces under 500 words) Mixtape (up to 13 songs). Theme: Erasures, found poems, collages, and hybrids 

  • Long Leaf Review, Deadline Dec. 31: Flash Fiction, Short Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash CNF, and Poetry for Series 1. (No payment.) 

  • Monsters Out of the Closet, Deadlines rolling: Themed stories, songs, poems, screenplays for audio format from LGBTQ+ writers. 

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets,

, Duotrope's

,

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

Prompt #1: (Inspired by

The Heart Goes Last

) Write a piece about a place, people, or couple that are cut off from the rest of the world.  

Bonus Round: What happens when the outside world intervenes?

Prompt #2: (Inspired by

Alias Grace

) Pick a historical figure and write about them. Imagine what their day-to-day life was like. Write a scene featuring an important moment in their life.  

Bonus Round: Insert a not-true fact into your piece like an easter egg. It could be something speculative, or just something you're guessing at.  

Prompt #3: (Inspired by

The Penelopiad

) Create a piece based on a myth.

Bonus Round: Set your myth in modern times, in a different historical era, or with well-known figures in history as the characters.

Editing tip of the month: Try creating a mixtape for your work in progress. It could be historical music from the time period your piece is set in, or just evocative mood music. 

Inspiration from the Ether

♛ Weird Story of the Month: The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society ♛

♫ This month's writing music is from Sigur Rós ♫

News From Your Corporeal Host

  • I was interviewed at Riddled with Arrows literary journal on poetry. 

  • Nothing else to report! I'm taking a break in December. See you in the new year!

Join the conversation

or to participate.