Incredibly Adaptive, Expressive, and Versatile
Aging influencer
Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block isn’t an impressive supposition, this issue includes:
A sip…
If allowed to suppose, the muse would infer that Living Reflection is more than tentative conjecture….
“Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment.” ― Pearl Cleage
A shout out…
To toot one’s own horn implies excessive self-promotion and is often viewed as immodest, especially when highlighting success. And to suggest that A Sip, A Shout
Out & A Sentence is possible without avid readers like you is more than attention-seeking… It’s indulgent arrogance.
This journey is shared, one that affords endless opportunities to discover little-known facts about well-known authors, while connecting with and expanding the community. More importantly, it’s not possible without you.
I am grateful for your readership and look forward to sharing more inspiration with you. I am taking a short break to celebrate my Diamond Jubilee/60th birthday and to regroup.
As promised, I have paused your subscription payments until January 1st. If you are an annual subscriber, I am not sure whether you will receive a refund as a result, but I will investigate and get back to you
Thanks for rockin’ with me, and for being a part of my community. May the spirit of the Season bring you peace, new adventures, endless discoveries, and most of all, prosperity!
A sentence…
Prompts inspired by becoming a sexagenarian/60-year-old:
“Life is just beginning.”
“What is the best that can happen?”
“Looking like new money, and aging well.”
“You don’t get to run my business better than me.”
“It’s not who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me.”
“Nah… don’t just bring it. I am done with being the strong one.”
“I will not spend the next year doing the same shit I did this year.”
“The second biggest lie ever told: respect yourself and people will respect you, too.”
“That old identity… the proscribed one… the one you inherited without awareness… yeah, well, fuck it and the bequeather… do what you want.”
A book list…
A few titles featuring protagonists shaped by life-changing truths:
Hell of a Book, by Jason Mott
The Names, by Florence Knapp
My Friends, by Fredrik Backman
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
Good Dirt, by Charmaine Wilkerson
All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker
The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
The River We Remember, by William Kent Krueger
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, by Anna Johnston
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, by Kirsten Miller
A few useful tips…
On writing through milestone birthdays:
Act with urgency;
Address illogical plot twists;
Fictionalized the dark secrets;
Be your own antagonist or protagonist;
Be and remain understandably complex;
Write as if life is the required core conflict;
Make the consequences even more significant;
Amp up the intrigue by including unanswered questions;
Revisit the danger that others forced you to believe existed;
End each chapter on a high note or with an unanswered question;
Remember, life is simply one difficult ethical question with limited options; and
It’s okay to write through feelings of disconnection from what was once enjoyable -it’s called growth.
A few contests…
The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award
Boulevard Literary Magazine Short Fiction Contest
Defenestration.net Lengthy Poem Contest
Eggtooth Editions Chapbook Contest
The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts
Intrepid Times Travel Writing Competition
Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction
Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest
The Lyric Magazine College Poetry Contest
Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition
Poetry Society of America The Four Quartets Prize
Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction
Diana Woods Award in Creative Nonfiction
Your Paper Quest Writing Competition
A creative reset…
December 12th
A fee-based accountability/retreat/workshop opportunity…
Self-Paced and On-Demand
Single Session
December 10th
Writing Towards the Unsayable in Poetry with Saul Hernandez ($59 - $119)
January 8th
Advisor Studio: Writing a Great Screenplay and Building a Career with John August ($10)
Series
January 6th – February 24th
Close Encounters: Writing Intimacy and Connection with Danielle Lazarin ($545)
January 7th – February 11th
Everyday Hauntings: Writing Contemporary Gothic Fiction with JD Scott ($445)
January 7th – March 11th
Writing Short Fiction: Where to Begin with Amy Silverberg ($645)
January 12th – February 16th
January 21st – March 25th
A few fellowship/grant/scholarship opportunities…
Anarchists United Writers Discovery Fellowship for Scripts
Fine Arts Work Center Fellowships
The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship
The Leon Levy Centre for Biography: Biography Fellowships
Pittsburgh Area Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Grant Program
San José State University: Center for Steinbeck Studies – The Steinbeck Fellows Program
The Joan Shorenstein Fellowship
A retreat & residency opportunity…
The Notre Dame Kylemore Residency
A few freelance opportunities…
The BREAK—DOWN is seeking pitches of argumentative essays, memoirs, original translations, photojournalism, reportage, and dispatches from around the world.
Eleven seeks a freelance editor.
MIT Technology Review is looking for pitches on the theme of nature.
RUNHER seeks ambitious pitches about women’s running.
Silicon Prairie News seeks NE-based freelance writers to tell stories about entrepreneurship and innovation across the state.
A few submission opportunities…
Baffling Magazine seeks speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent.
Belmont Story Review seeks fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Bourbon Penn is looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd.
Chestnut Review seeks submissions of flash prose.
The Deadlands seeks fiction and speculative poetry.
Electric Literature seeks submissions of personal essays.
The Ex-Puritan seeks fiction, non-fiction, experimental/hybrid work, interviews, reviews, poetry, and poetry in translation.
Extra Teeth is open for fiction and creative non-fiction.
Fourteen Poems seeks work from queer poets about queerness and nature.
Hyden’s Ferry Review has extended its submissions window.
Intrepid Times is on a mission to publish at least one travel story from every country on the planet.
The New York Times Modern Love seeks honest personal essays about contemporary relationships.
Nightfall Poetry Anthology seeks poems that explore what nighttime means to you.
Ninth Letter seeks prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work.
Plott Hound seeks submissions of stories with anthropomorphized animals as viewpoint characters and protagonists.
Salt Hill Journal seeks submissions of new poetry, fiction, essays, and art.
SmokeLong Quarterly seeks flash narratives – including fiction, non-fiction, and hybrid works.
Unidentified Funny Objects Anthology is open for submissions of speculative stories with a strong humor element.
Virginia Fantastic invites you to weave strange and wondrous speculative fiction that reimagines the Commonwealth of Virginia as a land of mystery, magic, and the unexpected.
A few sessions & workshops…
December 9th
Poetry for Your Soul Virtual Open Write: Let’s Ignite Your Words
December 10th
Art Night In: Bullet Journaling for Joy and Productivity
A Journaling Workshop for Caregivers
December 11th
December 12th
December 13th
December 14th
December 16th
December 17th
December 18th
December 21st
Naturals by Nisha: Sip & Script, 2025 Mind Dump Virtual Journaling Meetup
December 23rd
Multi-Date Options
Clicking the Pen: Writing Your Lunch Hour
Coping Through Creative Writing
Friday Evening Shut Up & Write! Session
Food for Thought: A Poetry Café
Hope Lives Here – Writing Towards Relief
Pen Therapy Online Wellbeing Journaling Sessions
Shaded Writers x Hackney Libraries Online Writing Group for QTIBiPoC
ShanaiSpace Creative Workshop Series
Slam Workshop: Foundations & Frameworks
An open critique/open mic opportunity...
December 14th
December 17th
December 20th
A few virtual artist/author/book launch/publisher events…
December 9th
Cozy Holiday Book Chat with Lisa Hepner – The Christmas Checklist
December 11th
BookWoman 2nd Thursday Poetry featuring Leslie Ullman and Eileen Lawrence
Humanities at Play: Poetry Readings with Jesse James Ziegler and Elisa Garcia
December 13th
December 17th
December 18th
December 20th
Stories and Sips with Snatched to Perfection by Trell Taylor
A few virtual book/script clubs and discussions…
The Book Sanctuary - A Wellness Book Club
Khoj Book Club: Slow Read Series
The Library for the Performing Arts Play Club
Lit & Lovely, a Book Club for Women
Mystery Book Club: The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White
Reel Reads Collective, Book & Movie Club for Storytellers & Book Lovers
Spiritual Soul Sister Book Club
Virtual Graphic Novel Book Club
Virtual Romance Book Club: The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
A volunteer reader opportunity…
The Common is accepting applications to join its Reading Staff.
And a final thought…
Hi there,
As usual, this one has embedded links, and if you purchase a book through one of them, I will earn a small commission that won’t make a dent in my student loan payments, but a woman can always dream.
I shall be drinking lots of wine over the next several days -if your ear itches, it’s because I raised a glass to you!
I hope your Season is merry, bright, and filled with enough family and friends for you to have something to write about.
Take it easy, and thanks for rockin’ with me,
