Submission Resource: Creative Nonfiction

New Writing Submission!

While perusing the ‘net this morning, I found a pretty cool, nonfiction, outlet for submissions! So, naturally, I wanted to share it with you-all. (I’m just nice like that.)  🙂

Creative Nonfiction accepts pieces of various sizes and topics, but it must be nonfiction. Your piece will undergo an in-depth fact-checking process before it is published, so make sure you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but….

You can check out the various calls for submission, submit online or find out how to submit via snail mail on their website:

Creative Nonfiction Website

Happy Writing!

~ Eileen 🙂

Today’s OneWord: Collection

Carrie fished around in her purse for something that would help her with the collection of the sample. Finding a package of pocket tissues, Carrie emptied the tissues from the package into the bottom of her purse. Setting her purse on the floor behind her, she crouched down with a tissue in one hand and the plastic package in the other.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

Submission time is NOW

Hello readers! I just discovered this cool publication avenue. If you’re looking for something to add to your tear sheet, these just may be your dudes (or dudettes)! The people over at The Artificial Selection Project are now accepting submissions for their next ePublication from creators of fiction, non-fiction and artwork. You can check out the details at the link below:

Submission time is NOW.

Today’s OneWord: Creative

Carrie stared down at the carpet in front of her. The spot was definitely red. Not orange or brown, but red. A deep red. One she recognized from years of looking at red stains on carpets, as being blood. Not having her evidence kit with her, she knew she’d have to get creative to not contaminate the sample.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

WordPress Daily Prompt!

Hello fellow writers and readers!

Some of you may not be aware that WordPress actually posts a daily writing prompt. The prompt is usually about personal writing, as WordPress is first and foremost a personal blogging arena. However, the prompts could be used in many various ways. For example, the prompt from yesterday was:

070313 Prompt
So, while this prompt may be intended to inspire you into writing about your secret love of Glee! or your hidden passion for pineapple shaped plastic canvas tissue box covers, it can also be used as a fiction exercise as part of a story or for character development.

As an example, I have written two short pieces below.

Example # 1: Personal Writing

Some people don’t know that I have a love and fascination of the paranormal. This fascination goes so far as to compel me to want to speak with and interview those who have the ‘gift’ and find out how it works. What do they feel when they are being ‘psychic’? Are they psychic all the time? Can they turn it off? and many more questions. I have actually interviewed several psychics over the phone and plan to meet with them in person to interview them further on the topic, eventually crafting a book out of the interviews on psychic abilities.

Example # 2: Fiction Writing – Part of a Story

“Tell me something that even those closest to you don’t know about, Kyra.”

Kyra looked at her psychiatrist and didn’t say a word. Blinking slowly, she processed the question.

“Kyra?” The woman peered at her over her half-glasses, her milky gray eyes blinking. “Did you hear the question, Kyra?”

Making a decision quickly, Kyra grinned a lop-sided grin.

“Yes, Dr. Martinson, I heard the question.” Commiting to her decision, Kyra leaned back on the white leather sofa and crossed her legs. Joining her hands on her slim knees, she bounced her leg so her anklet jingled gently. “The real question, Doctor, is whether you want the answer or not.”

“Kyra.” Dr. Joy Martinson laid her pad and pen aside and looked her patient in the eyes. “We don’t play games here. You know that. Answer the question please.”

Kyra watched her doctor’s face and smiled, her red lips curving gracefully.

“Alright, Doctor.” Her grin widened and her index finger tapped slowly on her leg. Kyra brushed her straight dark hair from her shoulder. “When I was five, my cat went missing.”

“Yes, you told me. Fluffy, right?”

“Yes. Fluffy was the first.”

“First?”

“Yes, when the fifth cat disappeared, my parents finally suspected where they were really going.”

Silence stretched in the room. Without breaking eye contact, Dr. Martinson picked up her pad and pen from the table and adjusted her glasses.

“What happened to all the cats, Kyra?”

Without skipping a beat, Kyra leaned forward.

“I skinned them, Dr.”

The good doctor blinked. “You skinned them?”

“Yes.” Kyra said calmly. “I skinned them.”

Dr. Martinson had heard this from young people before. Kyra was trying to shock her. The doctor knew how to solve this one.

“Ok, Kyra. Tell me about skinning the cats. What did you use to skin them? Did you kill them first or skin them alive?”

The doctor, satisfied with herself, sat back in her chair and waited for Kyra to back down from her challenge.

Kyra’s smile didn’t even come close to reaching her emerald green eyes. Dr. Martinson felt a chill run down her spine and shivered despite the warmth of the room.

“The first cat was already dead and I filleted it with my Father’s fishing knife. The second cat I smashed over the head with a rock before I skinned it with the same fishing knife. For the third cat, I had purchased my own fillet knife off the internet. I skinned it halfway while it was still alive and then it died. I finished skinning it after it died. The fourth cat, I disemboweled  and gutted while it was still alive but I was disappointed that it died before I got to skin it. I skinned it anyway. By the time I got the fifth cat, I knew what I had to do. I sliced it open slowly, pushing my bare hands inside her belly. I loved the feeling of her warm insides all over my hand. I wiggled my fingers, finding her heart and massaged it to keep her alive. I skinned her slowly, keeping her open so I could massage her heart while I finished skinning her. When I was done, she was fully skinned and her guts were intact, but exposed to the air. It was a success.”

Kyra sat perfectly still, enjoying the terror that slowly filled her doctor’s eyes. She let a few seconds pass before she whispered, “Well, Dr? Am I making it up?”

The session timer chimed and without another word, Kyra took her purse and left the room.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

For your daily dose of inspiration, visit:

The Daily WordPress Prompt Posts

 

I hope you enjoyed my samples! Happy Writing!! 🙂

Today’s OneWord: Manifest

As Carrie watched in silent terror, the fog began to change around her. Swirling and climbing up over her head, a shape began to manifest. Her feet froze her in place as her skin became clammy. ‘No!’ Her mind yelled out, ‘It’s not possible!’ And as the heavy mist completed its transformation, Carrie’s eyesight went black.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

Today’s OneWord: Sleeved

I was sitting on the stool so I could see the door out of the corner of my eye. It opened and the little bell above the door jingled merrily. Sipping my red wine, I pretended not to care who had just come in. In the mirror behind the bar I saw him and nearly spit my drink out on the bartender. There he was, but he wasn’t the man I remembered.

The dweeb I had dated in high school was now sleeved, muscled and hot! I wiped the wine from my lips on a napkin and wondered if I could hide before he saw me. Too late, our eyes met and he frowned.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

Today’s OneWord: Pixels

Wind whistled around the corner of my building, raising to a howl as it rounded the corner and rushed past the balcony. Suddenly, it began to pour. I glanced out my 17th floor window and saw a flash of lightening. Grimacing, I turned my attention back to my computer screen. In the seconds when I had looked away, my screen had now become a mess of pixels.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

Today’s OneWord: Celestial

The celestial body was at its apex and Moriah knew it was time. Turning from the water, she placed her sacrifice on the ground and began to chant. The moon shone on the water behind her and as Moriah recited the ancient words, a figure rose from the depths.

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/

Today’s OneWord: Withered

Poetry this time:

A heart, withered and scorched
Beats failing and weak
Floundering for air it lurches
And bumps
Along this fated journey
This dusty path
To a shore that no longer
Houses the traveler

******************************************

To learn more about OneWord, visit OneWord.com

http://oneword.com/members/eileenmaki/