Weird Circular #43 June

The June Weird Circular

June 01, 2020

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

Welcome to the Weird Circular

Dear Fellow Weird Writers,

Today I'm thinking about privilege. Specifically, the privilege to write. We who can spin words into stories are so very lucky to have the space and time to put our pens to paper. What we spend time on matters. We never know what tomorrow brings.

So why not write like it's that important? Today, I want you to think about why you write. Maybe it's about connection. Maybe it's about storytelling. Maybe it's about family, or love, or a love of words. You are lucky to be a writer, and each and every one of you matters. So write weird, write what you love. 

Your corporeal host,

Holly 

Submission Calls

Upcoming Submission Windows: 

  • Half Mystic Journal (deadline 6/18): Theme: Sforzando is a musical direction instructing a musician to play a note “suddenly, strongly accented”. Poetry, fiction, drama, creative nonfiction, and hybrid work (up to 3k words).

  • The Loft (deadline 6/22): Seeking instructors for online writing workshops. 

  • Cast of Wonders (deadline 6/30): Theme: Banned Books. Young Adult speculative short stories up to 6k words. Pays pro rates. 

  • Fairy Tale Review (deadline 6/30): Theme: Anne Sexton's Transformations (1971). Short stories and essays (up to 6k words), flash fiction (3 pieces up to 3k words total), poetry (up to 5 poems, max 10 pgs)

  • Fiyah (deadline 6/30): Theme: Joy. Speculative stories by and about Black people of the African Diaspora. Short fiction (2k-7k words), poetry (unspecified). 

Need more submission ideas? Check the

newest markets,

, Duotrope's

,

, or Literary Mama's

.

YOU SHOULD BE WRITING

Prompt #1:

Write a list of five things you are grateful for. Maybe they are abstract things, like the air you breath or the summer sun. Or maybe they are people in your life. 

Bonus Round:

Do the same for your character! Or, if you're a poet, write five poems that have titles using the things you are grateful for, i.e. "The Way the Moon Smiles" or "My Niece's Laughter." 

Prompt #2:

 Write about a protest, but use metaphor or abstraction to make it outside of our reality in some way. In short, make it weird. Maybe the protest involves strange objects or aliens. Write empathetically, but from your own experience.

Bonus Round:

This is also a great prompt for nonfiction essays. By abstracting the topic, you might be able to get readers to see it in a new way. 

Prompt #3:

 Practice meditational writing. Go to a quiet place away from people. Shut your door or sit in your car. Look at the water. Write for five minutes without stopping about whatever pops into your head.

Bonus Round:

 Look back at what you wrote. Circle the things that stand out to you. Take one phrase and make it the title of a story, poem, or essay.

Editing tip of the month: Summer is a great time for revision. Markets are closed and agents take vacations. Spend some time with your manuscript or past writing this month. Set aside dedicated time. Make some goals for the fall. Don't let the year slip away without you!

Inspiration from the Ether

News From Your Corporeal Host

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