Summer has been a whirlwind of activity at home and beyond, but in the mix of vacations, retreats, and cleaning out closets to get ready for fall, here is a cluster of literary links to pull you back into the field of reading, writing, & submitting.
#Read
There’s a new literary journal on scene that incorporates both print and audio, and not just for dual sensory enjoyment. The Deaf Poet’s Society, “an online journal of disability literature & art,” publishes poetry, prose, art and more by writers with disabilities and makes the work accessible for anyone and everyone.
…the word “disabled” can encompass a wide variety of experiences. . . . If we’re not writing our lives, then someone else controls our narrative,” [Deaf Poets Society poetry editor Cyree Jarelle Johnson] said.
The first issue is out with beautiful art and prose. Take a look (&/or listen); spread the word.
*Above artwork, “Untitled (hands with gold pigment),” by Stephen Lapthisophon, featured in Issue 1 of The Deaf Poet’s Society.
#Write
For the last several weeks, I’ve been working on a new studio space: painting, hanging art, setting the scene. At times I’ve felt self-indulgent and worried about the fact that I’d spent more hours cultivating the space than using it. But making space for your writing is an important psychological aspect in the journey to create, as Maria Popova says on Brain Pickings:
The room, time of day, or ritual selected for working may enable or even induce intense concentration or a favorable motivational or emotional state.
Set the mood, but don’t stop there:
…despite all these fruitful strategies for optimizing creative flow, the bigger truth — something I wholeheartedly believe — remains: There is no ideal rotation of the chair or perfect position of the desk clock that guarantees a Pulitzer. What counts, ultimately, is putting your backside in the chair….
#Submit
Speaking of putting your backside in the the chair and Johnson’s quote about “writing our lives,” the call for submissions for Hidden Timber Books’ Family Narratives Anthology is still open until September 1st! We’re looking for:
“creative nonfiction, found poetry and other poetry, and essays inspired by diaries and letters, genealogical records…the telling of historical family narratives for present and future generations, both for our own families and for other readers.”
Dig up those old letters from your best friend, dust off that high school journal, put every card you received from your mother in order and uncover the puzzle of your world as seen through her eyes. You have a story; we want to read it.
