"Write a Piece, Prose or Poem, in Which You Praise Something in a Very Unexpected Way."

December 15, End of Day: That's the submission deadline for the premier issue of ContingousLyt: A Cooperative Literary Project, an innovative journal that presents a published piece by a writer and then asks us to write in response to it, but not a matchy match sort of response. Instead, for this issue, "Write a piece, prose or poem, in which you praise something in a very unexpected way."

So the first featured writer is me. And the story is “The Happiest Place on Earth,” published by Uncharted Magazine. And the place is Disney World and the story praises not the amusement park, but the centuries of the dead, animal and human, that lie beneath it. Oh, and there are aliens.

And here’s the mastadon skeleton at the Natural History Museum near my house. It was found at the bottom of the Aucilla River not far from me, so how could I not include it in a story?

This giant sloth skeleton, discovered in the dirt of the county where I live, inspired a whole chapter of my novel The River’s Memory.

And I’m thinking the Titanis Walleri (terror bird) would be an excellent character in a future story. For me, the Florida Museum of Natural History has always worked on my writing.

Anyway, my understanding is that the ContinguousLyt editors welcome pieces that diverge from the writing prompt in creatively wild ways. And speaking of editors, the managing editor is Jude Keef and the founding editor is Sarah Einstein. Sarah and I first met (and then became dear friends) when she was the managing editor of Brevity and accepted an essay of mine. There are editors that take such good care with your writing, and Sarah Einstein is one of them. Payment is not offered, but if my experience holds, your piece will be praised and publicized thoroughly and then submitted for all the eligible prizes at which time it will be praised and publicized yet again.

And here's the genius and generosity of ContiguousLyt's mission “that is as much about fostering newer writers as it is about discovering them.” When the issue is complete, it becomes the total teaching tool. There will be the original story by an accomplished author, an extensive interview with that author focused on the creation of the piece and their writing journey in general, and then a constellation of pieces, each of which, I imagine, will become their own creative spark for other writers. So cool.

Submit your fiction, nonfiction, or poetry here: contiguouslyt+submissions@gmail.com

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