Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block is a deceptive perception with no obvious solution, this issue includes:
A sip…
The muse is impulsive, prone to impatience… and swears by Coastal Intuition.
A shout out…
If truth is stranger than fiction, literary icon (Arch) Colson (Chipp) Whitehead, masterfully requires readers to experience, contemplate, and reckon with the continued social implications of history on class, cultural norms, and race.
A Gen-Xer (circa 1969), self-described shut-in kid, and the first author to win the Pulitzer Prize for consecutive books, he incorporates elements of fantasy and suspense into explorations of contemporary African American/Black identity and questions of authenticity.
A native New Yorker, alumnus of Harvard University (1991), and one of four children parented by successful entrepreneurs, he has taught and been a Writer-in-Residence at several colleges and universities and is the recipient of fellowships with MacArthur (2002) and Guggenheim (2013), as well as a slate of other awards and honors too voluminous for this space.
The author of essays and more than ten book-length fiction and non-fiction works, he started writing his debut, The Intuitionist, while working as a reviewer of books, music and television for Village Voice, and can factually boast that his dedicated fanbase includes both former President Barack Obama and media tycoon, Oprah Winfrey.
A sentence…
Prompts gleaned from The Intuitionist:
“But who can resist the seductions of elevators these days, those stepping stones to Heaven, which make relentless verticality so alluring?”
“She is mistress to her own personality and well accustomed to reminding her more atavistic inclinations that the world is the world, and the off punch or eye-gouge will not make it any other way.”
“Her position is precarious everywhere she goes in this city, for that matter, but she's trained dread to keep invisible in its ubiquity, like fire hydrants and gum trod into black sidewalk spackle.”
“Only the real estate agents, who understand that meaning is elastic, know the borders of the neighborhood for sure, modulating their sales pitches to reassure their clients that they are not moving into the colored neighborhood, but into the farther reaches of the adjacent white neighborhood.”
“From the world's side of the tunnel the skyline is a row of broken teeth, an angry serration gnawing at the atmosphere, but there's a lot of other stuff going on, dirty water and more land beyond that dirty water, the humble metropolitan outpost just departed, a crop of weedy smokestacks, lots of stuff, 360 degrees to choose from and the generous illusion of choice.”
A few useful tips…
An anti-hero has:
Obvious flaws.
Behaviors requiring explanation.
Lack of remorse for actions normally deemed “bad.”
Defiance of standard morals, ethics, and philosophies.
An overall failure to adhere to conventional modes of being.
A pessimistic, cynical, nihilistic, or other negative/unpopular worldview.
An internal struggle that causes him/her to choose between his/her and societal morals.
A few contests/competitions…
Hudson Review Short Story Contest
The J. Anthony Lukus Prize Project
The J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction
ServiceScape Short Story Award
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry
The Upper New Review Global Essay Contest
U.S. Naval Institute – Information Warfare Essay Contest
Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest
A few grants/fellowships/retreats/scholarships…
Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund
New York Times Newsroom Fellowship Program
Pulitzer Center’s Connected Coastlines Grants
San José State University Steinbeck Fellows Program
Scripps School of Journalism – 2024 Kiplinger Fellowship
Speculative Literature Foundation’s Gulliver Travel Grant
Strike Relief Grant (WGA/SAG-AFTRA)
A few freelance opportunities…
Black Girl Times (BGX) is looking for thought-provoking stories and content for Black women, girls, and the people who love them.
Empire is looking for exciting, original pitches for its news section, First Word.
Faith & Leadership is seeking new writers and stories.
The Lighthouse is accepting pitches on the theme of nontraditional holiday ideas.
The Muslim Monthly is seeking writers for its inaugural issue.
Statement Africa is accepting pitches from freelance writers looking to write on African TV/film, music arts, etc.
A few submission opportunities…
The Christian Science Monitor is seeking first-person, nonfiction explorations of how you responded to a place, a person, a situation, an event, or happenings in everyday life.
Dismantle Magazine is seeking essays, prose, poetry, and art that examine how fashion and pop culture connect larger communities and power structures.
EastOver Press is accepting previously published short stories from BIPOC writers who live in or hail from US rural or semi-rural locales and whose short stories feature characters living and/or working in rural or semi-rural spaces.
Eternal Haunted Summer is seeking fiction nonfiction, poetry, and reviews on the theme of horror.
Full Bleed is seeking submissions from writers who identify as parents or grandparents on the ‘home’ theme.
High Times is seeking articles about marijuana cultivation, counterculture lifestyle, and marijuana legalization.
The Kalahari Review is seeking submissions of material exploring modern Africa and Africans in unique and avant-garde ways.
Killens Review is seeking original writing or art that explores the themes of legacy, memory, inheritance, and/or radical hope (or pessimism), with an orientation toward the future and future generations of Black people.
Mayday is seeking nonfiction pitches and drafts from Black writers, including those seeking first-time publication.
Midnight & Indigo is open to submissions from Black women writers of speculative fiction, character-driven fiction, and essays.
Moonstruck Books is seeking submissions of short stories, fairy tales, flash fiction, and novellas for its themed Nightmare Diaries anthology.
Raising Mothers is seeking submissions that celebrate and center the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Brown parents.
Transition is seeking submissions by and about Africa and the African diaspora, with an eye toward a global perspective.
Tyche Books is seeking fiction and poetry that delve into tales of the nocturnal and seize the night as a critical element.
Write Now! SF-Bay is seeking submissions for LIFE LINES and FOOD for THOUGHT, two separate series of mini publications exploring emotional well-being and self-care.
A few sessions & workshops…
November 13th
November 14th
November 15th
November 16th
November 18th
Ongoing
Hidden Histories of the Central Coast
Virtual Writing Sessions for Women of Color Poets
And a final thought…
This installment is a collaborative effort; the featured author and writing prompts were suggested by the very witty
, author of Letters from African America (and a lot of other stuff that you’ve probably seen, and I cannot thank him enough). It also contains an affiliate link; I earn a commission when you purchase books using that link, or you may please buy me a coffee.Thanks for reading,