Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block is cheaper than having a baby but does not pay equivalent dividends, this issue includes:
A sip…
If the muse were human it would not take offense to being called a Suffering Bastard.
A shout out…
If analysis of identity expression resulting in the material and substantial disruption of presumed normal activities were an Olympic sport, activist, author, editor, essayist, journalist, and teacher, Ta-Nehisi Coates, would hold several gold medals.
A proud feminist, self-described atheist, and the product of a blended family with a focus on respect for elders and contributing to the community, his trajectory gained significant momentum after he openly criticized Bill Cosby’s conservatism.
Best known because of his once hugely influential blog with The Atlantic, he began his journalist career after leaving Howard University without completing his degree and credits his mother’s requirement to write essays in response to bad behavior with instilling an interest in literature at an early age.
His non-fiction title, Between the World and Me, addresses themes, symbolisms, and the realities of institutional slavery, and is ranked amongst the top ten on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best books of the 21st Century.
With an unmatched ability to engage audiences, limited fear of presumed repercussions associated with addressing the societal structures that promote white supremacy, and an uncanny ability to force contemporary Americans to explore trends that work against efforts to espouse and improve race relations, he is an example of a man of letters.
A sentence…
Prompts gleaned from Between the World and Me:
“The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions.”
“Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered.”
“And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies.”
“You have been cast into a race in which the wind is always at your face and the hounds are always at your heels. And to varying degrees, this is true of all life. The difference is that you do not have the privilege of living in ignorance of this essential fact.”
All my life I’d heard people tell their black boys and black girls to “be twice as good,” which is to say “accept half as much.” These words would be spoken with a veneer of religious nobility, as though they evidenced some unspoken quality, some undetected courage, when in fact all they evidenced was the gun to our head and the hand in our pocket. This is how we lose our softness. This is how they steal our right to smile.”
A few useful tips…
Your first paragraph should:
Give the reader a visual impression of the scene.
Make the reader curious about what will happen next.
Make the reader wonder why the situation is so bizarre.
Make the reader want to know what the characters are doing and why.
A few contests/competitions…
Kinsman Quarterly: Iridescence Award
The Lyric Magazine: College Poetry Contest
Meridians: The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award
Quantum Shorts Flash Fiction Contest
Write Track Competition for Historical Romance
A few grants/fellowships/retreats/scholarships…
International Women’s Media Foundation: Kim Wall Memorial Fund
Miss Sarah Fellowship for Black Women Writers
A few freelance opportunities…
Chicago Reader is looking for pitches from food & drink writers.
A few residency opportunities…
Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts Juried Residencies
A few submission opportunities…
The Caribbean Writer is open to submissions on the theme of Legacies: Reckoning and Resolve.
Fictive Dream is seeking submissions of short fiction.
New York Times: Modern Love is seeking true stories on finding love, losing love, and trying to keep love alive.
Ploughshares is accepting submissions for the Look2 essay series and the theme of underappreciated or overlooked writers.
Writers Resist is seeking poetry, fiction, narrative nonfiction, and digital images from writers and artists living in non-U.S. regions impacted by war, genocide, and political oppression.
A few sessions & workshops…
December 11th
December 12th
December 13th
December 14th
December 16th
Ongoing
And a final thought…
This installment is collaborative, the Sentence prompts were suggested by
- host of Raising Myles - subscribe here: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,
Your post are always dripping with fruit. Thank you for all the labor that goes into this. I love Between the World and me, both grounding and uplifting. This one skewered me: "Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered.” Thanks for the read!