Assured, Richly Layered, and Resolute
Firm determination
Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block isn’t a biologically compounded sweetener, this issue includes:
A sip…
Warm with perfect balance are descriptors reserved for both the muse and Brown Sugar Bourbon…
Have you noticed a slight chill in the morning air, paid Subscribers? Fall is slowly falling!
A shout out…
Adjectives describe and modify nouns. For example, conceivably favorable and respectful advocacy is performative, yet the act of being liberal is seen as ideologically artful, presumably because it involves critical thinking. Perhaps this is why novelist
and professor Bernice McFadden penned humorous erotica using the pen name Geneva Holliday.
The creator and legal assignee of the copyrighted word Angelcestor and critically acclaimed for her ability to weave the Black experience into themes of ancestral memory, she researches as she writes, and she writes to dredge up and resurrect the history that extends beyond slavery.
The author of fifteen novels, including her debut Sugar, a book-length expansion of an unfinished poem she created and submitted seventy-five times over ten years, along with other works of creative non-fiction, she has been featured on the Literary Liberation instagram interview series and Oldster Magazine substack, and has received more awards, honors, recognitions, and mentions than this space can list.
A substacker and literary powerhouse known for her unwillingness to leave success to chance, she is proof that tenacity is cultivated because strength is merely influential.
A chaser…
Writers on Writing presents Bernice McFadden:
A sentence…
Prompts inspired by Sugar:
“Baby, everybody got their own reasons for doing things they do in life.”
“There’s a little bit of hooker in every woman. A little bit of hooker and a little bit of God.”
“But grief let loose from a woman who lost a child—that was the worst type of grief of all.”
“Sugar ain’t spoiled, she just a little bruised, is all. Bruises can heal and fade away to nothing.”
“What kinda women you is? You gonna let a man lay up on another woman in your own house and not do nothing about it?”
“You see, no one ever told her to keep her legs closed and crossed at the ankles. No one ever said: “Save it for the one you love” or “Good girls say no.”
“Joe lulls the man into the afterlife, places his head gently on the ground, closes the lids over his empty eyes, retrieves his gun and continues to fight for a freedom he would never be fully entitled to.”
“When things were bad, time had a habit of taking its time to pass, making sure you experienced every painful moment. When things were good and contentment abundant, time moved like the wind, hurrying precious moments along and forcing things that normally require nurturing to grow and forge quickly.”
“Over the past week Pearl had taught Sugar how to bake, and Sugar showed Pearl, with the help of a large ripe cucumber, the technique of giving hand and giving head. Pearl wriggled her nose in disgust and shook her finger at her in reproach, but her eyes never left the cucumber. Sugar saw that Pearl had finally allowed curiosity and possibility to couple.”
A book list…
A few more titles with characters in need of a fresh start:
Zeal, by Morgan Jerkins
Brooklyn, by Tracy Brown
Perfect Peace, by Daniel Black
Grown Women, by Sarai Johnson
The Filling Station, by Vanessa Miller
God Don't Like Ugly, by Mary Monroe
The Darkest Child, by Delores Phillips
Blood in the Water, by Tiffany D. Jackson
Miss Pearly's Girls: A Captivating Tale of Family Healing, by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
A literary listicle…
Located in the rolling foothills of the Ouachita Mountains near areas with complex racial histories, Bigelow, AR, is the town featured in Sugar. Regional inspiration includes:
The nationally accredited world-class Mosaic Templars Cultural Center;
The epicenter of confrontation and catalyst for change, Little Rock Central High School;
The massive earthen fortification destroyed by Union troops in January 1863, the Arkansas Post National Memorial; and
The de facto command post for the school desegregation crisis, former home of the mentor to the Little Rock Nine, the Daisy Bates House National Historic Landmark.
A few useful tips…
On writing authentic characters:
Give them depth;
Don’t write with fear;
Redemption isn’t required;
Tell the truth about human behavior;
Your job isn’t to serve up moral role models;
Flaws, obsessions and desires are mandatory;
Readers need compelling, not agreeable characters;
If you recognize the behavior, it will resonate with readers;
Give each one a unique voice, emotional activation and conflict;
The goal is to create characters readers cannot look away from;
Know the difference between likeable versus authentic characters; and
Remember, readers do not want or need to root for the protagonist.
A few contests…
Creative Writing Ink Short Story Contest
Keepers of the Fire Prize for Fiction and Non-Fiction
A few creative resets…
September 9th
September 10th
Somatic Healing Workshop UNLEASH Part 1: Unleashing Your Creative Force
Ongoing
A few fee-based accountability/retreat/workshop opportunities…
Series
September 17th – October 22nd
Novelizing the Self: Turning Autobiography Into Fiction ($450 - $465)
September 15th – October 22nd
September 21st – October 26th
September 29th – October 27th
Joan Didion: The Art of Storytelling ($215.26)
A fellowship/grant/scholarship opportunity…
A few retreat/residency opportunities…
Dorland Mountain Arts Residency
A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck Humorist-in-Residence Program
A few freelance opportunities…
Asian Dispatch invites pitches from journalists across Asia on stories related to Asian societies, culture, politics, technology, and climate.
Design Observer seeks pitches from design practitioners and journalists on The Design of Horror | The Horror of Design.
Kill Your Darlings is open to non-fiction pitches.
The Motley Fool seeks a freelance Writer/Stock Analyst to contribute at least 20 articles a month.
This Magazine is open to features, columns, back-page letters, and news pieces pitches.
A few submission opportunities…
The Bombay Literary Magazine seeks fiction, graphic fiction, translated fiction, poetry, translated poetry, and essays focused on writing and literature.
Book XI: A Journal of Literary Philosophy seeks personal essays, memoirs, fiction, science fiction, humor, and poetry with philosophical themes.
Westerly seeks fiction, poetry, creative as well as scholarly non-fiction, comics, and art.
A few sessions & workshops…
September 11th
October 9th
Poetry Workshop: Chewing on the Alphabet & Stealing from the Best with Lynne Thompson
Multi-Date Options
Ceremonies: Writing Workshop Inspired by the Words of Essex Hemphill
First, We Write Morning Co-Writing Workspace
Friday Evening Shut Up & Write! Session
Snack, Scribe, Scribble Mid-Day/Mid-Week Shut Up & Write!
Sunday Morning Shut Up & Write!
A few virtual artist/author/creative events…
September 9th
September 10th
A Literary Editor’s View—On Submissions, Publications, and the Importance of Building Community
Poetry after Auschwitz: Ben Barkow in Conversation with Zoe Waxman
September 11th
September 12th
September 13th
September 14th
Emilie Lygren and Naomi Shihab Nye, A Conversation & Reading
September 15th
City Lights and Grove Press celebrate the publication of The Broken King – by Michael Thomas
A few virtual book/script clubs and discussions…
2 BrownGirls Conversate & Listen to Books: "The Delectable Negro"
Black Women Read Between The Wines Book Club
Graphic Novel Discussion Group: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Slow Readers' Book Club - Fahrenheit 451
And a final thought…
Hi there,
The nights are getting cooler, I am getting restless, and while I would love to believe it’s simply a matter of anticipating the change in the season, it’s really a fact tied to impatiently expecting change within me.
What are you hoping will fall away with the leaves? I would love to know.
As usual, this posting is filled with embedded links, and I earn a commission on each book purchase if you are inclined to make one.
Take it easy,
