This month’s Remington Roundup includes links to my new online book study (Julia Stoops’ Parts Per Million), Red Oak Writing’s Roundtable schedule, and submission opportunities for poetry, essays, & flash fiction.
Sharpen those pencils; warm up your laptops!
Online Book Study
You might remember a recent Q&A with Julia Stoops about her debut novel, Parts Per Million.
Parts Per Million (Forest Avenue Press, 2018), tells the story of three activists–Nelson, Jen, and Fetzer, as they work to make known one environmental injustice after another. But their small operation, Omnia Mundi, falls under the eye of bigger watchdog when they uncover a local university in quiet partnership with the government to create military technology.
What unfolds is a complex story of resistance and risk and the constant effort to find balance, an effort that means re-examining the core in order to build a stronger foundation. [Read the rest of her Q&A here.]
I originally read Julia’s book in order to write a review and run an author interview. But as I dove into the story, it became clear her novel could serve as an excellent study in fiction and the role of art in activism.
Curator, author, and speaker Sarah Lewis talks about this in “How Art Can Change Society” on Big Think (video below):
“I think of the arts as far more than just a respite from life, a kind of a luxury. I see it as a galvanic force really that undergirds some of our most impactful changes and movements in this country and the world.”
In this new 4-week Online Book Study, we will read Julia Stoops’ Parts Per Million and consider how or why art, in story or in images, may work to soften conflict or sway understanding. We’ll look at the novel through Structure, Relationships, Impact and Change and examine how the story’s ideas and themes might translate into our own experiences.
Each week will consist of assigned pages to read, a reflection on the reading that includes a question for discussion, and an optional writing prompt where you can explore more of the topic at hand. And we will learn in community with each other (because I don’t claim to know all the answers), digging deeper into a story and perhaps widening our perspective well beyond the pages. At the end of the course, we will meet with author Julia Stoops via Zoom for a reading and face-to-face Q&A.
This is a course for readers & writers alike who want to explore the idea of activism, take an insightful look at where they sit on that continuum of radical to conservative, and discuss the impact of change.
Online Book Study: Parts Per Million by Julia Stoops
August 5-31, 2018
Returning Students $90 | New Students $100
Sign up via PayPal below.
(This course is limited to 10 participants and registration closes August 2nd.)
#Writing Critique Groups
If you’re interested in study but searching more for a writing-based opportunity, I’ll point you to Red Oak Writing. Their July/August Roundtables are starting up soon, and registration is still open.
Writers meet in person (West Allis, WI) on Tuesday afternoons, Thursday mornings, & Thursday evenings. This is a great way to workshop your stories, essays, and novel. You can also sign up for their newsletter, so that you don’t miss out on the Fall/Winter schedule of Saturday workshops, Roundtable schedules, and an Online Roundtable.
Submission Ops: Local & Online
A PICTURE AND A THOUSAND WORDS, a local submission opportunity and reading event, is looking for writers to submit poetry, essays, and fiction up to 1000 words inspired by one of 10 photos.
A Picture and a Thousand Words is an annual event that links local writers and photographers in a blind collaboration. Ten photos will be selected. Writers will choose a photo and write 1000 words inspired by it- then ten writers will be selected to read at the event, while selected photo is projected behind them.
Photos have been posted! Deadline to submit is June 21st (read the guidelines & contact information HERE). The reading is scheduled for July 19th at The Sugar Maple in Milwaukee.
NECESSARY FICTION is looking to publish weekly flash fiction, 700 words or less, online all summer long.
We want flash fiction that surprises and engages us; that’s powerful and dynamic; that’s unexpected and humorous; and that dazzles us with language and emotional resonance.
Read more guidelines from Necessary Fiction on Submittable.
NYCMidnight FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE is a writing contest that works like a writing tournament. You’ll be given up to 4 challenges, where you will submit stories of 1000 words or less. And, there’s a bonus:
Not only does every writer receive feedback from the judges for every story that is submitted, but a special review forum is available for the participants to submit their stories for review from fellow writers throughout the competition.
Read more about the rules and registration deadlines HERE.It may be summer, but there’s plenty to keep you busy putting #PenToPaper!
On one hand, I see [prompts] as a critical component to the work. They serve as warm-ups in each of the classes I teach, as a way for participants to engage with the topic or lesson. Sometimes they work simply to get the ink in their pens flowing, to free the mind of anxiety before we dive into the real work. On the other hand, they can feel like torture. . . . But 9 times out of 10 prompts are working just as they should.
Second, you’ll find me in the studio this Sunday, June 3rd, from 3-5pm (CST) facilitating another session of 
Take a minute to read both Kephart’s essay and Chaon’s story. Think about how one image in your day tugs at your memory and another image rises to the surface, then another memory, and another. Join us for the