October 2014 archive

Peggy Poet’s New Poems: Sciences of Silence

POET PEGGY MILLER, A TRUE FRIEND AND TRUE HEART, ANNOUNCED the upcoming publication of her fourth collection of poems, Sciences of Silence, by FootHills Publishing. Because she’s my real, true friend, I hear her real, true voice speaking every line of the poem Foothills shared from the collection. I hope you can, too.

The Good Stuff

Brother Loman Joseph came by with
a handful of dry limas and broke one
open with his little folding knife to
show the 2 cotyledons inside. Dicot,

he said. Once he took an old softball
from his pocket on which he wrote
N period Y period with a blue ballpoint
pen and Xs for the north pole and

the south pole. He lit the bare light bulb
of the porch lamp and tilted the softball
for winter in New York, and he walked
it around the little sun until it was

summertime and sunny. On a winter
night he pointed out the Pleiades,
a modest clutch of stars south
of the biggest star in Auriga’s pentagon.

Seven Sisters, like you girls, he said,
always teaching the good stuff.
Sometimes he brought a pillowcase
full of grapes or corn. The tassels

at the apex of corn stalks were male
flowers puffing pollen. Pollen traveled
the silk strands of female flowers,
ripening the kernels of corn. Monocot,

like the grasses. Of grapes I remember
only the bitter pits. He showed me
how to grow a sweet potato held
up by three toothpicks in a jelly

glass, and once he asked me where
I ‘d have to be if I had a square house
with a window on each side and no
matter which window I looked out

I’d be looking south. And I got
the answer right—He planted a tall
maple sapling beyond the barberry
bush. Maybe it’s still there.

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Kindly, Peggy said this about our work together on a recent book of poems: With sharp focus and thoughtful, constructive comments, Jamie gives—most generously—guidance which reflects her depth of experience.Peggy Miller, editor of THE COMSTOCK REVIEW, author of WHAT THE BLOOD KNOWS; STONE BEING

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Catch & Release: Columbia’s 2015 Writing Competition

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S PRESTIGIOUS COLUMBIA: A JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND ART is accepting original work for their 2015 Writing Competition. Categories include Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction. Entry fee is $15, and one winner from each genre will receive a $500 cash prize along with publication in their Issue 53.

Familiarize yourself with previous issues to get see what they publish. This year’s guest judges will be:

Fiction: Dewitt Henry
Nonfiction: Emily Bestler
Poetry: Beth Ann Fennelly

Fiction and poetry entries should not exceed 7500 words. Poetry entries may be up to 5 pages. Previously published work is not eligible. Deadline is December 1, 2014.

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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A Writer’s Race Against Time!

JIM SHIPLEY, WRITING AS DIRK STIMSON, IS PUBLISHED! HIS first story for Cobblestone Press, “A Race Against Time,” is available on Kindle. Jim learned romance is the #1 selling genre, according to Writer’s Digest. He researched romance subgenres and publishers—including Harlequin and Avon—wrote a couple of stories to test the waters, then submitted to all-digital Cobblestone.

Jim says, I wrote advertising copy for years, then started a political column, now syndicated on a monthly basis. I found Jamie Morris, and she taught me structure, plot, setting, and a few other things one should know before attempting to write a story.

And now Jim Shipley is published!

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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Top Writing Coach Tip #16: Holidaze vs. Words on the Page

THE HOLIDAYS ARE ALMOST UPON US! SOON, IT WILL BE impossible to make plans to do anything less holiday-esque than create papier mache T’day decorations or go Hanukkah shopping. And before we know it, our writing practices will have drowned in just a few feet of seasonal, social obligations.

Top Writing Coach Tip

To avoid a mid-January, got-no-writing-to-show-for-it hangover, we might commit to a practice that doesn’t require much time, but does offer the immense satisfaction of Having Written Something when all that tinsel and tissue paper has been tossed away.

The 99u article How I Kept a 373-Day Productivity Streak Unbroken, by Jamie Todd Rubin, sci-fi writer and columnist for THE DAILY BEAST, gives great advice on exactly how to do it!

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Writing coach

Need help with your book? I’m available for book coaching and manuscript review!
Click to read Should I Hire a Writing Coach in THE WRITER magazine.

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