Kate's Miscellany ~ For Valley Writers

Dearest Writers, Readers and Friends:

It is lovely to return to my blog after an unplanned summer hiatus. Thank you for sticking around! I hope these intervening weeks have been full of discovery, creativity and fun for you and yours!

I am so pleased today to share with you a new writing resource in Sacramento: the Meetup.com group Shut Up & Write! Sacramento. You will find it at www.meetup.com/shutupandwritesacto/.

This group hosts free writing meetings (yeah, you read that right–FREE–except for the coffee you buy to help support the venue where the Meetup is happening) in which the focus is drafting new work. No sharing, no manuscripts to bring in or review in advance. No critique. No prompt, even. You bring with you your materials and whatever it is you wish to write about for one solid, quiet hour. What do you get? The accountability and energy-sharing that comes from writing with others…others who will see if you get up to answer your phone or if you are fiddling with your iPod instead of doing the work you long to do–write! Others who, even if you do get distracted, won’t say a word about it and won’t judge you, and whose own focused presence will help you to focus and get it done.

I attended my first meeting of this group this past Wednesday evening at Old Soul at Forty Acres in Sacramento. About a dozen of us made it. I arrived at 5:50 pm and half of the folks were seated at a picnic-style table in the cafe, snacking, chatting and getting their laptops and journals situated. Things I noticed right away: the relaxed, open vibe; a really even mix of diverse guys and gals of all ages; and best of all? I had met before only ONE person there (besides the event host, Janna Maron of ThinkHouse Collective)–which makes me so happy! I love meeting new writers and seeing our literary community grow.

At 6:10, we briefly introduced ourselves by giving our names and saying something about our current project/what we planned to write during our “shut up and write” time that evening. People in the group were writing short stories, novels, fiction for young adults, screenplays, and essays. I know from following the group in Meetup’s online home (which currently numbers around 160 writers total)  that there are folks in the group writing dissertations, stage plays, poetry…whatever! If it’s made of words, if you can “shut up and write” it, you’re in.

Next, Janna set the timer for 60 minutes and–bam!–we all got quiet and got to it.

I spent the first half hour finalizing lesson preparation for my upcoming workshop, Crafting Character (Part II). The second half hour I spent progressing a story draft I started last Monday when I was overnighting in Berkeley for my day job. At the Meetup, I wrote five pages in my journal (which, for this long-time poet, is still a lot of words!).

Before I knew it, the timer went off. Our sixty minutes of writing time was already done! Some folks continued writing. Some slipped quietly out into their next phase for the evening. About half stayed to chat and we shared knowledge about writing software, editing services, reading series and other useful community information. I left the meeting having had personal conversations with five new people–conversation deep enough that I will not forget their names.

I highly recommend checking out a Shut Up & Write! Sacramento meetup soon. The group is also offering special events, like Saturday writing mini-marathons and–on September 21–a first special event workshop opportunity. I am honored to have been asked to lead this first workshop, and spots are going fast! I provide the details below.

Though my calendar makes it challenging, I hope to attend another Meetup soon. I hope I’ll see you there, quietly “writing your art out” as you make new friends!

Yours, as ever, in writing,

Kate

**

Shut Up and Write! Sacramento presents 

a Saturday Writing Workshop led by Kate Asche

September 21, 2013 ~ 9:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. ~ sponsored by ThinkHouse Collective 

The Rough Red Door Beside the Spruces: Juxtaposition and the Senses

Evocative description is an essential component of memorable writing in any genre. If you write fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir and/or poetry (or in any other mode!), join this generative workshop to spend a morning thinking about and practicing description using juxtaposition and the five senses. Kate Asche will lead focused discussion and will then facilitate a writing and sharing session in the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method. We’ll read a short selection on craft before we meet (from Mark Doty’s The Art of Description), as well as a brief overview of the AWA method (readings will be posted in advance to registered participants via the Files section on our home page).

On the day of, arrive at 9:45 am to get settled. We’ll start promptly at 10:00 am with self-introductions, followed by discussion of the pre-reading to tease out craft take-aways. Then, we’ll “shut up and write” to a prompt that will invite you to play with description. Lastly, if you wish, you may share your just-written draft with the group and receive brief supportive feedback in the AWA way.

Workshop Leader: Since 2005, Kate Asche, M.A., has taught creative writing workshops across genres in a variety of community and academic settings. She publishes poetry and creative nonfiction and also writes short stories. Learn more about her at www.kateasche.com.

Cost: $20. Fee includes snacks and tea; proceeds will be distributed to AWA Sacramento, TrueStory, Sacramento Poetry Center and Stories on Stage Sacramento. Please make your check out to Kate Asche. Payments can be given to Cinamon and Janna to secure your spot.

How to Register: Registration limited to 20 participants. Advance registration with payment required. Registrations accepted through the Shut Up and Write! Sacramento Meetup Group (online) only. Not yet a member? It’s easy to join! Just click on the “Join this Group” button at the top of the page at the group’s website here. Both registration through the Meetup Group and payment are required to hold your space. Spaces are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Regarding Meetup RSVPs: Your spot is not secured until payment is received.

All registrations and payments are final and non-refundable, and your submission of payment indicates you have read and understand this policy.

For complete details and to ask any questions, head to the website and join the group!

Friends, if you have not yet had a chance to check out this quarterly *creative nonfiction* reading series, tomorrow is the night!

The reading begins at 7:00 pm at Bows & Arrows in Sacramento (at 19th and S Streets). $5 at the door gets you four great readings and an open mic! More info at www.tellatruestory.com and below!

See you there?

Kate

**

Anara Guard is a fiction writer and poet. She spent the first half of her life in the Midwest, the second half in New England, and looks forward to the third half in Sacramento. Trained as a librarian, her day job involves speaking and consulting on effective strategies to prevent injuries. She has published a small book of short stories (The Sound of One Body) and has recently had poems included in Convergence and Late Peaches, an anthology of Sacramento poets. Anara is slowly working on a novel when she isn’t distracted by “Mad Men” or reading Mary Renault.

 

Cliff Brackett has been a general contractor for nearly 20 years. He is also a public speaker and workshop leader. A few years ago, he began to pursue his real love – the many languages of the arts. Since then he has shown his cityscapes photographs in a number of art shows. He also loves writing poetry and short stores and is currently engaged in putting his years growing up into a serious of vignette memoirs. In his youth, Cliff trained in various forms of dance and one day hopes to choreograph dances. He is also working on a play and looks forward to returning to his first love: the theater.

 

 

A freelance artist of many talents, Alicia Sowisdral finds herself, depending on the opportunity, a writer, editor, performer, radio DJ, cultural commentator and educator, particularly on pop culture and the media. She is also a facilitator of original programs that engage young women in thinking critically about the media. She blogs about these things at Pop!goesAlicia.com. A Jersey girl who spent the last 10 years in North Carolina, Alicia currently resides in Chicago, IL.

 

Valerie Fioravanti is the author of the linked story collection Garbage Night at the Opera. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in many literary journals, including North American Review, Cimarron Review, Silk Road, and Jelly Bucket. In her spare time, she runs the Stories on Stage reading series.

Dearest Writers and Friends,

As some of you know, I have the pleasure of writing with the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA )-method writing groups that Jan Haag hosts here in Sacramento. Jan is an amazing facilitator, and we produce really amazing first draft work in these groups.

I have to say, when I first met Jan and learned about the method, back when I ran the arts programs at UC Davis Extension, I was pretty skeptical about it. I thought it was just a mutual admiration approach to critique, combined with a little airing of dirty laundry. Boy, was I wrong. The AWA method is an approach to creating a safe, welcoming and non-hierarchical space for writers of all ages, genders, classes, education levels, etc. to come together around one table and give voice to the beautiful, surprising, terrifying, moving stories and poems inside us. All work is approached as fictional, that is, as a created thing separate from the person who wrote it. What is so radical about the approach, perhaps especially to folks who have formal education in writing, is that it focuses on what each writer is already doing well–giving the writer a place of confidence in her work from which to experiment, to stretch, and to teach herself and others (through her own risk-taking) to write better.

Tonight, at 7:00 PM at SPC, the group will give a reading from our ‘zine, the purpose of which is to showcase pieces substantially unchanged from the form in which they emerged in writing group.

If you are already familiar with the AWA approach or local AWA community and want to reconnect, tonight is a great opportunity. Or, if you are curious about what this whole AWA thing is, tonight is a great way to explore whether this might be a way you can enrich your own writing life.

I hope to see you there!

Yours in writing,

Kate

 

Hello Wonderful Writers and Lovers of Wonderful Writing:

Tix are still available for tonight’s event. Don’t miss out! If there are tix left at the start time this evening, they will be sold at the door. I have attended all the previous Squaw readings at the Crocker, and they are lovely, intimate, truly delightful events that immediately support poets in our local–and the larger–community. Be there!

xoxo Kate

Friends and Writers,

I am happy to share with you that RHINO Poetry has posted online a recording of my poem, “Small Animals,” which the editors so kindly published in their 2012 anthology. Have a listen here.

I became interested in making audio versions of my poems after I was a finalist in The Missouri Review’s 2011 Audio Competition. You can hear that piece, a poem for two voices called “Know/Don’t Know,” here.

In the last year or so, I have made a number of recordings of my work, and some of these are here on my website (click “Home”). Some of these I cannot release yet, as the recorded poems are forthcoming in  print forms in magazines like Bellingham Review and Quiddity–and Quiddity has its own public radio program, in which selected pieces from the journal are presented in audio format.

In my community workshops, I have referenced audio literature at StoryCorps, Soundzine, Drunken Boat, and From the Fishouse among other outlets of quality audio literature.

I find that much of the available audio content is in the genre of poetry. This got me to thinking…why? Why should we record our poems? For that matter, why should we record anything we write? I would encourage you to consider making some recordings of your work, so you can discover your own answers to these questions. Here are some of mine.

I find I have responses on two fronts. First, what does an audio format provide the audience that print text (whether on paper or on a screen) does not? As we know, reading and listening–though deeply connected–are not identical cognitive processes. Some of your audience may be better able to enjoy your work in an auditory format, or in an environment where both audio and visual formats are presented at once. Audio literature is very often delivered today via the internet, and much of the content is free, making you work accessible to anyone with a connection.

In addition to accessibility, audio recordings also provide readers anywhere with an intimate connection to your work through experiencing it presented and interpreted in your one-of-a-kind-in-the-whole-wide-world physical voice–and it is my belief that the physical voice of our body connects deeply with the writing voice(s) we create. Every time I facilitate one of my workshops, in which we generate and verbally share new work (using the Amherst Writers and Artists [AWA] Method), I learn anew the gift and the magic of hearing a piece of writing in its creator’s voice. Nuances of pacing, rhythm and image surface and coalesce in ways that may never be able to be captured on the page–just as written music, for instance, does not contain a notation for every single physical gesture the musician must undertake in order to bring the piece to life. I am talking not only about accents here, or dialect, or age or any of those factors that influence an individual’s lexicon, pronunciation, articulation, etc.–these are certainly part of the body’s voice. But I am talking also about timbre, pitch and texture, breathing patterns and volume: all the ways the voice is a thing of the physical body, an instrument of the body’s own music. What a gift to the world, to have a record of your voice, singing its poems and memories and stories!

The second part of my response is to consider what the process of audio recording offers to the writer. Here I can speak only for myself, and my experience is that every time I record a poem, I am in a very particular way rewriting it. What I mean is, I come to understand that two words (for instance), though separate on the page, may be connected to form one word when I perform the piece aloud–and this means something: my imagination has been working quietly, here, and has left this tiny gem for me to find in my own bodily time. This is because the poem is a different poem if two words become one word.

For instance, recently, I made a recording of a poem that contained the phrase “mud swallows swirl / a chattering above.” “Mud swallows”  refers to several species in the swallow family of birds. When I perform my poetry, my habit is to articulate very clearly and very strictly interpret stressed versus unstressed syllables. The friend who was helping me to record said, “What do you mean, ‘Mud swallows swirl?’ What is the ‘swirl’ and how does mud swallow it?” While I chose to change my articulation (from MUD SWAllows SWIRL to MUDswallows SWIRL), my friend brought to my attention a layer of understanding beneath the one I was intentionally crafting–indeed, this is a poem about our dead and about our dying, and also about the wild un-repeatable swirl that living is.

In addition to offering a fresh experience of the “sense” of a poem, I also find that recording my work helps me to really get to know it as a physical thing. Because I record multiple takes of almost every poem, I find by the end of the recording session that I settle into a visceral understanding of the piece as a fabric of sound. I can read it then, truly, as music that I have practiced and practiced, and my body knows where to breathe, where to pause and where to move forward gently. It knows when to speed up and to slow down, where to linger on repetitions of pitch or rhythmic figures, and where to let my breath carry the piece quietly into the silence from which it came and will come, someday, again.

Dear Valley Creative Writers,

You’re invited this Wednesday evening, May 29, to a social and info night for creative writers!

If you plan to attend, RSVP to me at asche (dot) kate (at) gmail (dot) com by 5:00 pm tomorrow, Tuesday evening–just so I make sure to have enough snacks!

Okay, the details:

I hope you’ll come out to say hi as we relax and mingle casually starting at 6:00 p.m. at ThinkHouse Collective (1617 18th Street in Sacramento). I will have a few light snacks and beverages on hand, and additional very modest contributions will be much appreciated–if you’re feeling pot-lucky! No pressure on that front, though–if the thought of having to bring something edible makes you less inclined to come, just forget about that and bring your most excellent self–and other writer friends, if you wish!

At 7:00 p.m., I will facilitate a discussion and Q&A  for anyone who wishes to learn more about options for writers who want to go deeper with their craft and/or broaden their writing relationships. I have received multiple questions lately about master degrees in creative writing (usually Master of Fine Arts, or MFA degrees), so we’ll start by looking at what kinds of MFA programs exist (and how to find that info) and why one might consider enrolling in one (and, if needed, the basic components of how–letters of rec, etc.). We’ll then expand the conversation to include rigorous non-degree program options, looking at both academic and community sources. We’ll further broaden our view by talking about writers’ conferences, group and manuscript coaching, and other options for honing skills and making friends.

We’ll wrap up by 8:00 p.m.

Can’t make it to this event, but have questions about these topics? Or just plain need more writing in your week? SummerWords kicks off at American River College this Thursday night–it’s a four-day writing conference that may be able to help you get some of this info. Plus you’ll get to learn and write with all kinds of fellow artists as you take advantage of American River College’s excellent creative writing faculty and the conference special guest speakers! Register here!

See you there!

Yours in writing,

Kate

It’s mid-May, and this coming Wednesday marks the final session of my spring creative writing workshop. I called this one “More World: Art and Attention.” We have been considering the nature of attention and of attending, of that which Mark Doty calls “A faith that if we look and look we will be surprised and rewarded” (Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, page 48). In class, we have looked and looked: at actual oysters and lemons; at objects from unnoticed corners of our individual lives; at the street outside our classroom; at rocks; even at language itself, this past week—who among us cannot be surprised by the strange and lovely “plenilune” or “floccinaucinihilipilification,” whose dictionary meanings I may or may not know?

And what have been our rewards? An understanding that material objects bear histories, bear other peoples’ stories, and at the same time bear our own, the one(s) we create in, and by, the nature and duration of our looking: “the eye suffuses what it sees with I” (Still Life 50). A new interest in “the rigorous discipline of […] seeing what there is to see and not what we expect or mean to find,” as Donald Revell puts it in The Art of Attention. A sense that transformation is ever present and ever possible: “these tulips and snails, grapes and cheeses are, at last, human bodies, if bodies could flower out” (Still Life 56)—or, as Revell says, “I do not translate. I am translated” (83).

*

To support my work in teaching this class, I have been reading The Pen and the Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World by Brenda Miller and Holly J. Hughes. When she inscribed it to me at the AWP conference earlier this year, Brenda could not have known how much I would need this book, how much I would need to “sit down and wake up” (the first chapter’s theme) this year. She could not have known, as I did not know, that even as we greeted each other in the crowded exhibition hall, the bones in my jaw joints had already begun their slow dissolve, the muscles around them contracting. My teeth, sensing strange new directional forces, have begun to back away from one another. After years of stressed-out clenching, my whole mouth will give itself up, will let go.

*

Early April of this year. A dream: All I can see is my clarinet. It looks huge, the length of a ladder. I lean over it, to look more closely at this instrument I love. An enormous spider, size of my face, lurks in a tone hole, its legs held close: fingers folding into a hand. I see the web it has spun, now, bright and cold as the silver keys.

*

And if I am to save something of my floundering mouth, I will let go. The dentist, the doctor, the periodontist, the radiologist, the therapist, my supervisor at work, my mother and father, my husband all tell me: There is nothing you can do. This disease is here. Revell: “What do we do having nothing to do? Be present. Commend presence.[…] Incline the ear toward those masterworks—the noise becoming music, the rain becoming glaze—always already underway”(35). The glaze here refers to William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow,” about which Revell has earlier written: “Spare as he seems, Williams sounds a principle of inclusiveness…how else to explain those ultimate chickens?”(30). Or, as Brenda Miller writes in The Pen and the Bell, “If we train ourselves to be alert, we, too, will experience an abundance that spurs us to ‘respond with reverence’”(15).

*

I’m sitting on our back patio this afternoon. It’s seventy-five degrees and the leaves of the still-growing Russian Giant sunflowers lift in the breeze. My husband is not gardening this year, yet we have a garden: volunteers of summer and winter squashes and lemon cucumber and green pole beans.

I’m listening to a song I love, by the Wailin’ Jennys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb3GE2K7PiM) , and feeling like they wrote it to me:

Hey when are you gonna stand

and stop looking over your shoulder

See there’s a sun in the sky

and a moon that will take us ’til morning

When are you gonna stand

just stop and begin this moment

Hey let go (will we be the ones to understand)

let go (will we be the ones to understand)

let go

Above the fence, in the yard behind ours, I can see our neighbor staple-gunning powdery gray shingles to the unfinished roof of a small shed. He wears his hair in a thin ponytail that hangs below his hat and above his wide derrière, which he rests against the heels of surprisingly white cross trainers as he leans into the slope, to make something new.

*

And here I am, beginning this moment, writing through things and writing to you (my students/fellow writers/teachers) who “dwell”—with me—“in the world of collapse and delight”(Doty 24).

~Kate Asche, 16 May 2013

 

Note: The title phrase is found on page 18 of The Art of Attention.

For your reading pleasure:

Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, Mark Doty (Beacon, ISBN 978-0-8070-6609-6)

The Art of Attention, Donald Revell (Graywolf, ISBN 978-1-55597-474-9)

The Pen and the Bell, Brenda Miller and Holly J. Hughes (Skinner House, ISBN 978-1-55896-653-6)

Dear Writers,

I invite you to join me this summer for an exciting exploration of character creation!

**FYI: This class is filling very quickly! Register today! See full details at www.kateasche.com/workshops.**

Crafting Character

(All Genres)

8 Meetings ~ Wednesday evenings

 June 19 – August 7, 2013

In writing workshops, we are often taught ways of coming to “know” our characters as completely as we can, in the hope of rendering them more authentically on the page. We will take a different approach in this workshop, considering aspects of character creation in fiction, narrative nonfiction/memoir, and narrative poetry that lead us to in-scene moments in which our characters truly surprise us, captivating us—and our readers, too. We will experiment with different techniques for discovering new characters and developing those that already exist in our imaginations. We’ll talk about fears and desires. We’ll examine published writing and our own drafts to learn how, with a few evocative gestures on the page, we can create characters with whom we and our readers genuinely connect. Join Kate Asche in an Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) generative writing workshop for all genres. Generate new work weekly, and (if you like) receive gentle critique on one short selection of writing. Talk casually with other writers as you connect more deeply in our writing community. Snacks and tea provided. **One meeting of this class includes a field trip to Time Tested Books on July 3, to enjoy a short fiction reading by Jodi Angel, one of our local experts on creating compelling characters.**

Textbook(s): We will read two books in this class: The Art of Character by David Corbett (ISBN 978-0-14-312157-2) *and* The Best American Short Stories of the Century, ed. John Updike (Expanded Edition: ISBN 978-0-395-84367-3)

Class Size is Limited: This private workshop is limited to 9 participants, plus the facilitator. Writers in all genres and at all levels are invited to participate.

How Do I Reserve a Space? Email asche (dot) kate (at) gmail (dot) com. I will send you a brief registration form. To complete registration (and reserve your place), please mail your completed registration form to me with payment. Registrations are accepted in the order received.

Workshop Cost and Payment Due Date:The cost of this workshop is $255 for returning students (if postmarked by 5/29/13) or $270 if postmarked 5/30/13 or later.The cost is $270 for new students (if postmarked by 5/29/13) or $299 if postmarked 5/30/13 or later. (Referred by a friend? Ask about my referral program—you may both be eligible for discounts! Discounts cannot be combined or applied retroactively.) Payment is due at time of registration. **For your convenience, PayPal is now a payment option; please note there is a small processing fee. Email Kate for details.

Details: Each meeting, we’ll enjoy discussion of that week’s reading selection, which we will have read in advance. Next, we’ll spend time writing new drafts and sharing them (if we wish), as we respond to a prompt related to that week’s discussion topic. The final two meetings will include supportive workshop critique of participant manuscripts.This class will be facilitated in the AWA method, in which all shared writing is treated with respect and honor. The focus is on the writing itself, and the writer will learn what is strong, what is memorable, and what people admire in his/her first-draft work, as well as receive supportive feedback and strategies for continued work on the submitted manuscript. No one is required to submit a manuscript. Manuscripts will be distributed and read the night of their discussion; manuscripts limited to one piece per person (up to five double-spaced pages, size 12 font) per course.

Time and Location: We will write together at the ThinkHouse Collective (1617 18th Street in Sacramento) on Wednesday evenings. Our social time begins at 5:45 p.m., with class beginning promptly at 6:00 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. (If the class fills completely, we may run a bit longer.) If you wish to participate but cannot arrive before 6:00 p.m., please discuss with Instructor. Permission for late arrival may be granted at Instructor’s discretion, but no discount or make-up instruction will be given for time missed.

Dear Writers,

If you haven’t yet had a chance to take a look at it, you’ll find Part I of this post here.

In that post, I failed to include the following–and I am sure there are many other opportunities in the Nor Cal, etc., area in the coming months, as well. Please let me know of any I have missed (for which applications/registrations are still being accepted).

Enjoy!

~Kate

**

California Institute of Integral Studies presents

Writing and the Inner Life

FEATURING…Jean Shinoda Bolen, Charlie Varon, Susan Griffin, Polly Campbell, & Amy Rennert

June  7 – 9, 2013

From the website:

I created the program Writing and the Inner Life for myself and others like me. As a writer, I have, at times, been in ‘flow state’ and the words and images are sure and strong. At other times, I’ve been ‘stuck,’ and writing is difficult -something that tugs at my sleeve and I ignore. When my writing bogs down, it’s often because I’ve lost touch with myself and my passions. What do I believe? Love? Fear? Need to explore? When the impasse lifts, and I find that channel again, I feel, hear, know what story clamors to be told. Most writers experience arid patches, when the well runs dry. Those are the times we need to go inside, find, and reconnect with what truly engages us. The aim of this workshop is to support that process.

Lynne Kaufman, M.A. is a nationally award winning playwright. Her fifteen full-length plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC, among other cities. She has also published three novels and dozens of short stories. She teaches writing at OLLI UC Berkeley and OLLI Dominican, This year she had two plays produced in San Francisco: ACID TEST:THE MANY INCARNATIONS OF RAM DASS at The Marsh Theatre and THE COUCH at The Tides Theatre.

More details on the website.

**

 

Hello to you, writers, on this breezy spring Saturday!

 

In this installment of miscellany, I want to encourage you to submit (if you are the submitting kind) to one or more of our local literary journals. There are a number of local publication options, and in this post, I focus on the three with which I am most familiar: Tule Review (poetry), Farallon Review (short fiction)  and Under the Gum Tree (creative nonfiction). Is there another local mag you love, that you don’t see here? Let me know! Email me at asche(dot)kate(at)gmail(dot)com. As you have seen, I often post additional installments on topics of interest.

 

I hope you find the below one-stop shop for local submissions of use. And good luck!

 

~Kate

 

 

Tule Review – poetry only – deadline April 30

 

Tule Review, the poetry journal of Sacramento Poetry Center, is up first. Full disclosure: I am one of the associate editors for this journal.  Frank Graham is my co-associate editor, and Linda Jackson Collins is our fearless editor in chief.

 

The journal showcases new writers to national award winners from the region and across the nation. Begun in 1993, the journal started in a newsprint format and was distributed locally. Over the years, Tule has grown and changed, moving to a staple-bound format and, a few years ago, to a heftier, beautifully designed perfect-bound format.

 

Tule Review welcomes all styles of strong, well-crafted poems, as well as submissions of artwork and/or photos for consideration as Tule Review cover art.

 

Submissions are accepted only through Submittable and, at this time, there is no cost to submit.

 

For more information, visit: http://www.sacramentopoetrycenter.com/publications/the-tule-review/

 

To submit right now, visit: https://spcsacramentopoetrycenter.submittable.com/submit

 

**

 

The Farallon Review – short fiction only – deadline April 30

 

The Farallon Review is a literary review featuring contemporary, engaging, and literary prose fiction with a modern view, a classic sensibility, and a west-coast flavor. The submission guidelines are detailed and clear, and can be found at http://farallonreview.com/submissions.html.

 

The editors note that: “We are looking for narrative prose fiction, i.e., short stories. No poetry. No memoir. No non-fiction. The story should be self-contained and not be part of a longer work. The story should have forward momentum and a structure. Lead us somewhere interesting. Show us a small, beautiful gem. We are not adverse to experimental fiction but if we are not touching the ground at least let us be able to see it. We want original work, not previously published.”

 

**

 

Under the Gum Tree – creative nonfiction only – no deadline

 

Under the Gum Tree, founded by Janna Marlies Maron, is an all-around aesthetic experience. The magazine is visually stunning and contains many kinds of creative nonfiction (not just memoir). Full disclosure: I have had the pleasure of seeing a piece of mine printed in UTGT Issue 4 (July 2012).

 

In submissions, the editors share on the website that they are looking for personal essays, memoir and creative nonfiction stories that:

 

-reveal authentic vulnerability. These are stories that you’re embarrassed or afraid to share because you’re more worried about how people you know will react than what you learned and how it changed you. Those are the most powerful stories because you’re risking something for the sake of helping someone else.

 

-provoke conversation. The stories that are the hardest to tell inevitably make at least one person say, “Wow. Me too. And I thought I was the only one.” The stories that are the hardest to tell give others permission to tell their hard stories, and it perpetuates a cycle of storytelling.

 

-examine a universal truth. Most people keep the hard stories to themselves out of fear — fear of how others will react or judge them — but once a story gets shared, we finally realize how common the human experience really is. Sure, everyone’s individual experience is unique. (Isn’t that what makes a good story?)  But we can always relate to things like love, forgiveness, perseverance — you know, the stuff that everyone encounters no matter their circumstances.

 

To check out the different departments that comprise the magazine, and for full submission instructions, visit http://underthegumtree.com/submit/.