Call for Creative Writing Submissions: Sunsets and Silencers

Call for Submissions for innovative short fiction, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, essays, paintings, photography, and comic strip:

Sunsets and Silencers," an online magazine, is now accepting submissions for our new issue.

"Sunsets and Silencers" is open to a wide variety of styles and wants to publish only the most innovative and creative work. We are careful about the work we publish, and we read and consider every submission, carefully. S&S publishes short fiction, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, essays, paintings, photography, and comic strips as a platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their work. On promising work, we may offer feedback, even if the piece didn't work for us. Please, keep in mind, however, that we do not respond to every piece, mostly because of the volume of submissions received. We want to provide exposure to artists and writers who create
out of a restless fever, and who are fearless in their choice to submit. So, send what you have, but please pay attention to our submission guidelines.

More detailed submission guidelines can be found at: http://sunsetsandsilencers.com/home/archives

The current issue of Sunsets and Silencers can be found at: http://sunsetsandsilencers.com

What Makes LA Fabulous? The Library!

A friend who moved to Los Angeles from back east once told me that, "Los Angeles is a great town to be broke in." I have to agree. Yes, rents are high. Yes, owning real estate is out of practical reach for most people who live here. Yes, gas is expensive and owning a car cleans out your bank account. However, free and low-cost entertainment and fun awaits in nearly every LA neighborhood. Free movie screenings and interviews with industry folks are available on practically any day of the week. We have parks, hiking, lectures, roller blading along beaches, snow-filled mountains that a mere couple hours drive away, museums, piers, live music, movie screenings in cemeteries, all things that are absurdly cheap and/or free.

As great as these options are, none of them are as awesome as the Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL). Housing nearly 7.5 million volumes, our library system stands as the single greatest free resource in our city. As of July 2010, it became the 4th largest Public Library in the United States in terms of volumes, and the largest public library system in the Western United States. The LAPL system alone makes living in Los Angeles worth all the high rents and the time sitting in traffic. This should-be-legendary library system offers a comprehensive collection with branches in nearly every neighborhood, free internet access, free movie rentals, free book borrowing,

and free delivery of anything in their catalog for easy pick-up at to your local library.

Central Library is the LAPL headquarters stands sphinx-like on West 5th between Flower and Grand and is both is parking friendly and public-transit friendly - just two short blocks from the 7th Street Metro station. This easily-accessible library houses art exhibits, free lectures, a video-lending library, an awe-inspiring multi-storied atrium, seemingly endless rows shelves - 90 linear miles of shelves to be exact, and nearly 7.5 million volumes. It is apropos that it sits on a street between Flower and Grand, because it is just that, beautiful and grand. This enormous block-long building feels both historic and new all at the same time. Inside, murals depicting California history, mosaic wall-art, and modern art sculpture chandeliers all proudly nod to one another, artistic reminders that we can all live together in harmony. After the 1986 fire, architects Pfeiffer Partners redesigned and restored the library. They also designed the Boston Public Central Library and their website contains gorgeous photos of Los Angeles Central Library's interior and exterior. If you've never been to the downtown Central Library, take a day trip and go see it. You may never leave.

The LAPL online catalog will take your breath away, not only because of its comprehensive vastness but because it is digitally connected. The behemoth catalog integrates with social networking - you can tweet or create a Facebook post about nearly any item in their online catalog. Many items display links to amateur reviews on Goodreads.com and to professional reviews from publications like Publisher's Weekly and the Library Journal. Options to view a book's table of contents comes in handy when perusing anthologies. Many books even outline the characters in the book and have handy excerpts. The catalog lists how many available copies are available and at which branches you can find them.

Now, our fabulous library system has stepped even further into the digital age with downloadable digital content: E-books, electronically rentable movies, downloadable music, and audiobooks. With a library card number, renting online to an iPhone, iPad, Android device, Mac, or PC (just to name a few), can be a few clicks away once you've invested the inevitable learning time that necessarily accompanies new uses of new technologies. There are no late fees because when your time is up the download disappears like a self-destructing message right out of a Get Smart episode gone digital.

It takes a bit of time to master the whole digital borrrowing system, but the culprits are not the libraries - although it would be nice to be able to search by digital format - nor is it the fault of the companies that provide the digital content to the libraries, but the frustration comes from the digital e-reading devices, such as Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android devices, etc., because certain types of content isn't available on certain devices.As far as what content is available on what device, the short answer is: If you have a Kindle, you can't (yet?) borrow an e-book. If you have anything else, you probably can borrow an e-book. The long answer is that E-books (for reading, not listening as you would with audiobooks) are generally available in two formats: EPUB format or PDF format, so you need to have a device (Mac, PC, iPad, Kindle, Nook, iPhone, Android phone) that can read at least one of these two formats. Sadly, neither EPUB nor PDF is currently supported by one of the most popular e-book readers, Kindle, so you can't rent e-books from LAPL if the only device you own is a Kindle.

Whether you groove on that irreplaceable smell and feel of a book in your hands at home, prefer sitting in a gorgeous library for hours, or you geek-out on the ability carry 150 e-books at all times, the Los Angeles Public Library awaits, ready to accommodate your every bibliophilic, artistic, or researchable whim.

Our List of Writing and Literary Agent Blogs

We've compiled a list of writing and literary agent blogs on our website.  It's a long list compiled over the last few years, so please check it out and let us know what you think!  There is also a form there to add a site if you know of any that should be on our list.  Enjoy and happy reading.

http://www.lawritersgroup.com/list-of-writing-and-agent-blogs.html

Friday Round-Up: Tweets you may have missed

Just in case you missed them - or you have yet to join the Twitter craze - here's a rundown of the posts from our LAwritersgroup.com Twitter account from the past couple weeks.

Key:
RT = Re-tweet, which means someone else tweeted something and we re-tweeted it.
@(name) = This is a user name on Twitter. If you click on it, you should be able to visit that person's twitter site and follow them if you so chose.

• The Poetry Market Ezine Call for Poetry Review Submissions: http://ow.ly/1s0CEx
  
  
• Miracle Monocle Call for Poetry, Fiction and Microfiction Submissions: http://ow.ly/1s0CTt
  
  
• Diverse Verses Quarterly Call for Poetry, Short Story, Personal Essay and Creative Nonfiction Submissions: http://ow.ly/1s0CTE
  
  
• Mythium Literary Journal Call for Poetry, Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Submissions: http://ow.ly/1s0CU5
  
  
• Writer Beware™ Blogs!: Alert for Poets: Oprah Wants You (But You May Not Want Oprah) http://ow.ly/1s12QJ
  
  
• The Redheaded Stepchild Call for Previously Rejected Poetry Submissions: http://ow.ly/3UlFC
  
  
• Why join a writer's group or a writing workshop? http://ow.ly/3UHmD

Call for Submissions: The Redheaded Stepchild

The Redheaded Stepchild is a magazine that only accepts poems that have already been rejected by other magazines. We publish biannually and only accept submissions in the months of August and February. We do not accept previously published work. We do, however, accept simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. We are open to a wide variety of poetry and hold no allegiance to any particular style or school. If your poem is currently displayed online on your blog or website (or wherever), please do not send it to us before taking it down, at least temporarily.

You may submit 3-5 poems that have been rejected elsewhere with the names of the magazines that rejected the poems. We do not want multiple submissions, so please wait for a response to your first submission before you submit again. As is standard after publication, rights revert back to the author, but we request that you credit Redheaded Stepchild in subsequent republications.

We do not accept email attachments; therefore, in the body of your email, please include the following:

• A brief bio
• 3-5 poems
• The publication(s) that rejected the poems

Send your submissions to redheadedstepchildmag[at]gmail.com

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.redheadedmag.com/poetry/

Why join a writer's group or a writing workshop?

Nicole forwarded me this email from LAwritersgroup.com workshop moderator Kat Smith, and it felt relevant to post a piece of her message for our blog readers. If you're still on the fence about joining or participating in a writing workshop of any kind, perhaps her words will sway you:

Young musicians practice daily. A singer doesn't begin with an aria. She starts by warming up her vocal cords. A pianist practices his scales every day from a young age. An athlete doesn't begin with a triathlon. He spends hours lifting weights, stretching, building the muscle mass and flexibility that will support the feats he intends to achieve.

Writing is no different. We become writers with daily practice. Getting in touch with our unique voices. Writing fast, writing free. Progress may be so incremental as to be unnoticeable, just as a pianist doesn't go from chopsticks to Chopin. Some days you'll hate what you write. But one day, something astonishing will come pouring out of you and you'll wonder where the hell it came from.

It came from the 1,183 writing exercises that preceded it. Exercises where you trained your mind to focus, where you learned to trust your voice, to step out of your way, to let it flow. Practice writing like practicing scales, may not seem very glamorous. Bring your passion to it anyway. That's the work of an artist.

Kat also included the following video in her message. It features Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Boys, giving his take on consistent writing:

It seems as though a constant flow of writing is the best way to find your best work. Even small exercises on a consistent basis can help keep you in good practice. I myself participate in LAwritersgroup.com's writer's groups, and I completely agree with what Kat and Ray have said. Writer's groups and writing workshops provide their members the opportunity to practice their skill in an open forum with other writers just as dedicated to their craft. So I ask you this: do you practice your writing on a consistent basis? Do you think that this "fine tuning" and practicing approach can be effective?

Call for Submissions: Mythium Literary Journal

Mythium Literary Journal is now taking fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction submissions.

Mythium is the brainchild of award-winning author Crystal E. Wilkinson and visual artist/poet Ronald Davis. It's goal is to spotlight colored writers of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds in the aforementioned fields.

Submissions are accepted year-round. Fiction and creative nonfiction pieces must be limited to 5,000 words. Novel and memoir excerpts are acceptable. You may submit up to 5 poems at one time, but they must not exceed 20 pages total. Entrants may only submit one submission per category until you have been notified of acceptance or non-acceptance of submitted material. Payment is in one copy of the issue in which the author's work appears.

For full submission guidelines, please visit our website: http://mythiumlitmag.com/submissions.html