Trigger Warning: Because grief is a private affair presenting strange discomfort that we have to learn to become more comfortable with, note that this collaborative installment may force you to embrace, digest, sit with, or otherwise confront the depth that grief has hollowed out of your heart.
Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block is never run-of-the-mill when compounded by angst, this issue includes:
A sip…
It is confirmed, the muse and the Black Angel stand in good stead, not out of despondency…
A shout out…
If authenticating the most universal and universally avoided emotions is inherent to nobility, there is small wonder that author, essayist, and poet, Chimamanda Nogzi Adichie, is the first woman to be honored with the chieftaincy title, Odeluwa of Abba, Anambra State, Nigeria.
Active since 1997 and considered “the most prominent” primarily because of having been awarded sixteen honorary doctorate degrees, a Radcliffe Fellowship (2011/2012), a MacArthur Genius Grant (2008), and a host of other prestigious awards, including the BBC World Short Story Award (2002), the Commonwealth Writer Prize for Best First Book (2005), the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (2007), the Orange Prize for Fiction (2007), the PEN Pinter Prize (2018), and the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2020).
A graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University (BA, 2001), John Hopkins University (MA, 2003), and Yale University (MA, 2008), and a dual citizen with critical acclaim extending beyond Anglophone Africa, her bibliography includes essays, short stories, novels, and non-fiction, including the critically acclaimed memoir, Notes on Grief.
The second youngest of six children, she has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014), self-identifies both as very feminist and culturally Catholic, teaches writing workshops and cites Chinua Achebe as her original and initial inspiration.
A sentence…
Prompts inspired by Notes on Grief:
“Part of grief’s tyranny is that it robs you of remembering the things that matter.”
“My wariness of superlatives is forever stripped away: 10 June 2020 was the worst day of my life. There is such a thing as the worst day of a life, and please, dear universe, I do not want anything ever to top it.”
“I back away from condolences. People are kind, people mean well, but knowing this does not make their words rankle less. “He was eighty-eight” so deeply riles because age is irrelevant in grief; at issue is not how old he was but how loved.”
“Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language.”
“Another revelation: how much laughter is a part of grief. Laughter is tightly braided into our family argot, and now we laugh remembering my father, but somewhere in the background there is a haze of disbelief. The laughter trails off. The laughter becomes tears and becomes sadness and becomes rage. I am unprepared for my wretched, roaring rage. In the face of this inferno that is sorrow, I am callow and unformed.”
A few useful tips…
A grieving character will:
Live in denial.
Cry inconveniently.
Act as if a death has not occurred.
Have erratic or repetitive thought patterns.
Be awkward and inconsistent in social settings.
Assume the outward characteristics of the deceased.
Assume an irrational fear or obsession unrelated to the deceased.
Exhibit signs of stress including drinking, smoking, and lacking sleep.
Experience dramatic changes in physical appearance and/or sensations.
A few contests/competitions…
A few grants/fellowships/retreats/scholarships…
A residency/retreat opportunity…
A Studio in the Woods Residencies
A few freelance opportunities…
Briarpatch is seeking pitches of artwork and writing on topics related to Indigenous struggles, international solidarity, and other issues of political importance.
Men’s Journal is looking for op-eds and spicy essays about whisk(e)y.
PTO Today is seeking writers.
A few submission opportunities…
Ad is seeking fiction submissions about the past, present, and future of disobedience to orthodoxies of all kinds.
Apparition Lit is open to submissions on the Mercurial theme.
The British Science Fiction Association is open to submissions for its fourth anthology of science fiction stories.
Chicken Soup for the Soul has two submission calls along the themes of (a) Miracles, messages from heaven, angels; and (b) The power of thinking positive.
Corvid Queen is open to submissions based on or related to fairy tales, folklore, myths, legends, and pop culture.
NewMyths is open to unthemed speculative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for its ‘The Janus Gates’ themed anthology.
The poll results…
The poll results…
Seventy-three percent of responders would like to collaborate. If that includes you, click here.
A few sessions & workshops…
February 20th
February 21st
February 22nd
February 23rd
February 24th
February 25th
Ongoing
And a final thought…
This installment is a collaborative effort; the featured author and writing prompts intersect at home and healing because they were suggested by
-host of Four in the Morning, subscribe here:It also contains an affiliate link; I earn commissions when you purchase books using that link, or you may please buy me a coffee.
Thanks for reading,