Did you know that many of our books are available on Apple Books? You an open them right on your phone!
One new book to check out there is DREAMS OF THE RETURN.
See it on Apple Books today, or go to the DREAMS OF THE RETURN page for more places to see, buy, and hear the book!
This is a really luscious book. Perfect for anyone who loves poetry, Italy, Italian poetry, photography, or all of those things!
Every January, writers everywhere crack open a fresh notebook or a blank document filled with hope, ambition, and—if we’re honest—a little pressure. This will be the year you finally finish the novel, submit your work, or build a consistent writing habit. And yet, by February, many resolutions quietly fade away.
The problem isn’t that writers lack discipline or passion. It’s that traditional New Year’s resolutions often don’t work well for creative people. Writing is unpredictable, emotional, and deeply human. So instead of pipe dreams or unrealistic word counts, this year’s resolutions should support your creativity rather than fight it.
Here are some resolutions that focus on progress, not perfection.
Instead of committing to “write every day for two hours,” try setting a goal you can realistically maintain. Consistency matters more than intensity.
That might look like:
A sustainable habit builds confidence—and confidence builds momentum.
One of the fastest ways to stall your progress is to edit while you write. This year, resolve to let your first drafts be messy.
Give yourself permission to:
First drafts exist to be written, not judged. Editing is a separate skill—and it deserves its own time and attention.
Publishing deals, social media metrics, and comparison culture can distort what “success” looks like. This year, decide what success means to you.
Maybe success is:
When you define your own benchmarks, your goals become motivating instead of discouraging.
Good writers are attentive readers. Reading widely and intentionally feeds your craft in ways nothing else can.
Resolve to:
Reading isn’t procrastination—it’s professional development (so let that TBR pile grow!).
Writers often believe that only finished books or published pieces count. In reality, small steps add up to big breakthroughs.
Celebrate:
Progress is cumulative, even when it feels invisible.
Writing doesn’t have to be lonely. This year, resolve to connect—even modestly—with other writers.
That might mean:
Creative work thrives in environments of encouragement and accountability.
Perhaps the most important resolution of all: release the guilt around how, when, or how much you write.
Life changes. Energy fluctuates. Some seasons are quieter than others—and that’s okay. Writing is not a moral obligation; it’s a practice you return to again and again.
Resolve to meet yourself where you are.
The best writing resolutions aren’t about transformation overnight; they’re about creating conditions where your voice can show up more often.
So be gentle. Be realistic. And above all, keep writing.
Ready to kickstart your path to success? Here are some publishers who are currently accepting submissions:
January 5: Daikaijuzine is open to speculative content in fiction and poetry.
January 7: Only Poems is open to poems about about beginnings.
January 15: Georgia Review‘s Prose Prize accepts short stories and essays.
January 31: Rappahannock Review is open for multiple genres.
January 31: The Paris Review is accepting poetry submissions.
Opening soon: Months to Years will open on January 15 for previously unpublished nonfiction (including essay, memoir, and creative nonfiction) of up to 2,500 words that explore mortality, death, and dying-related topics.
Holidays can famously bring out the best and worst in human behavior, and that is exactly why they are a fertile time for writers.
We witness Aunt Marge refuse her annual holiday dinner invitation because of a disagreement she had with your mom in 1986. We watch as 40-year-old cousin Clayton once again retreats to the basement to play video games. We laugh more than we have the entire year at the family Christmas song karaoke contest. It’s all there.
For writer’s, this isn’t a problem. It’s material.
Every gathering becomes a small stage where coping mechanisms perform. Pay attention to who fills silence, who polices tradition, who disappears into dishes or drinks or distraction. These aren’t flaws—they’re strategies. And strategies are where character lives.
Notice the body before the story: clenched jaws, doorway hovering, over-loud laughter, tears. You don’t need to interpret, just collect details. Meaning comes later.
As the year turns, resist the urge to overanalyze what the holidays reveal. Instead, write from them.
A New Year Writing Invitation:
Choose one uncomfortable, or wildly sentimental, holiday moment. Describe it in plain language, then rewrite it from another point of view—or place it in another time.
May the new year bring closer observations by staying close to what’s real. That’s where the writing lives.
Ellis Elliott, Writer, Member of Old Scratch Press Collective, Author of Break in the Field and A Witch Awakens: A Fire Circle Mystery
In moments of upheaval or change, poets often become the ones who name what others feel but are unable to articulate. Poetry has long been one of our most potent tools for reflection, resistance, and social awakening.
The following information comes from the blog posts of poet Trish Hopkinson:
Her blogs frequently include submission opportunities and her website is filled with useful information for writers.
Ten Places to Submit about Current Events:
CONSEQUENCE FORUM
DISSIDENT VOICE
https://dissidentvoice.org/submissions/
GUERNICA
LACUNA
MOBIUS MAGAZINE
https://mobiusmagazine.com/submit.html
ONLY POEMS/POETS HOWL
https://www.onlypoems.net/submit
NEW VERSE NEWS
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/
RAT’S ASS REVIEW
WRITERS RESIST
THE RUMPUS
https://therumpus.submittable.com/submit
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Submitting
Ellis Elliott, Author, Poetry Collection: “Break in the Field”, Cozy Mystery Fiction: “A Witch Awakens: A Fire Circle Mystery”.
It’s one of those catch phrases you hear in literary circles. I really like the voice in this piece. You write with a confident voice. This is written in a voice that reminds me of J. K. Rowling. So, what does it mean, really, to have a writer’s voice, and what if you don’t have one or you can’t find yours. Writing for as long as I have, what follows is my personal take on the complicated and mysterious concept of writer’s voice.
At first, you won’t know what your voice is, but you do have a voice. We all do. No one is like you. No one has lived your life experiences. No one aligns exactly with your values, world view, or beliefs. Every reader know what it feels like to read someone who is confident in their own writing. A writer who is genuinely themselves in every paragraph. This is voice. Think Rowling. Think Stephen King. Think Tracy Chevalier. We all begin as readers in life, but then most successful writers go further and begin taking classes and workshops where they study how others have done this thing called writing. At first, when we write, we may be copying what others have done already to some extent, but that is okay. It’s only how this process starts. We learn by those who have come before us, as they did when they started writing.
So how do you find and hone your own voice as a writer, once you have learned some practical elements and lessons about the craft of writing. First of all, this is a lifelong process. A writer’s voice changes some over the years as we age and life adds new experiences, but a writer’s basic voice never changes. The only way to find your voice is to write. To practice. Only by writing a lot can you learn who you are.
The critical part where you will begin to uncover your voice is during the first rough draft, because a writer’s voice is not created, it is unearthed. The trick with fresh writing is to let the voice take over. Don’t overthink while you write. Try not to look back or think ahead. Let each word come one at a time. Trust your gut and your heart, not your head. When it feels right, it is right. Don’t smother your own creativity by evaluating the flow of words during the first draft.
Another element of finding and flying with your own voice is what you choose to write about, and I see this as two separate issues. First, write what you know as a general rule. I don’t mean that you can’t invent things or make up characters or whole worlds, but in all great writing the writer still writes from what they know and understand about life and living. The second element is equally important. Write what you want to write about, even if it seems silly or too out there or too boring or too anything. Don’t ever write what you think you should write about or what you think will get published.
Early on in my writing career I attended a workshop where I submitted a story written in a child’s point of view. The instructor basically said that no one should ever write short stories in a child’s point of view, because no one will want to read them. I was devastated and confused. I liked the story. I believed in it. I kept that story and years later, when I had become more confident as a writer, I went back to it, fixed it up, send it out, and it was published in journal within a few months. While we should take advice and critique seriously, we shouldn’t take it if our heart and gut don’t agree. This sometimes takes courage, but if I can do it, you can too.
Another example of being yourself involves not chasing trends. Some years back it was popular to end short stories with everything up in the air. The idea was for the reader to figure out what they thought the ending was. That never set well with me, but I got caught up in the trend and wrote some stories that way. They didn’t succeed, because I wasn’t being true and honest with voice. I was shoving down my voice, my gut and heart, doing something because I thought I should. I learned my lesson.
When you start writing you should be patient with yourself and give yourself time to find your own unique voice as a writer. I promise it is inside of you waiting to be found. Once you are more confident about your voice it is important to take yourself out of your comfort zone from time to time. I did this by changing what I wrote. First, I settled into nonfiction. As I learned more about myself, I added poetry and then fiction. In recent years, I have expanded to some science fiction and short stories with fantasy elements. So, keep reading always and write and write and write and write and above all, at the end of the day, trust yourself first above all others when it comes to what your voice is as a writer. Happy writing!
Virginia Watts is the author of poetry and stories found in The MacGuffin, Epiphany, CRAFT, The Florida Review, Reed Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Eclectica Magazine among others. She has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House was short listed for 2024 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, selected as one of the Best Indie Books of 2023 by Kirkus Book Reviews, and won third place in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards. Please visit her.
Virginia’s new book is now available from Old Scratch Press:
Her prior poetry chapbooks Shot Full of Holes and The Werewolves of Elk Creek
are available from Moonstone Press. And her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House is not to be missed!
In October OSP will present a live reading with Virginia, Anthony Doyle, and Alan Bern. Find more information here.
By R. David Fulcher, Old Scratch Press Founding Member
I love all things pumpkin, including pumpkin spice. However, I understand even fans of this seasonal gourd have their limits on just how much pumpkin spice is too much pumpkin spice.
Readers are the same way.
Even fans of scary stories have their own personal limits in terms of exactly how scary, how gory, or how unsettling a story they can bear.
Therefore, I’ve taken three of my pumpkin-related stories and rated them in spiciness, from the most mild to the most extreme.
Mild Spice: “Pumpkin Night at the Pinkstons”
In “Pumpkin Night at the Pinkstons”, from my book The Movies that Make You Scream!, a teenager discovers the secret behind his homecoming date. Full of gooey teenage love, this is the mildest of my pumpkin-themed stories, something like one of the Goosebumps tales by R.L. Stine.
I’ll call this the Pumpkin Spice Latte Level of story.
Here is an excerpt from “Pumpkin Night at the Pinkstons”:
I don’t know exactly how much time passed before realizing that something was very, very wrong. The texture of her kisses changed, becoming clumsy and pulpy in taste. Her smooth gums became loose and stringy, and when I tried to pull away, I realized she was attached to me like a barnacle adhered to the side of a boat’s hull. Long, pointed fingers now clenched my nose shut and I began to get dizzy as that sickening, fruity-vegetable stench began to overwhelm me.
But more horrible were the physical changes taking place to the body I embraced, a grotesque squishyness of the torso and organs like the skin of a rotting tomato.
Medium Spice: “Pumpkin Seed Spit”
In “Pumpkin Seed Spit”, from the Devil’s Party Press anthology Halloween Party 2019, three friends go trick-or-treating and make a horrible deal with an ancient spirit to ensure their survival. Although the protagonists are also teenagers in this story, the stakes are higher, and the final implications for humanity much darker.
I’ll call this the Pumpkin Muffin Level of story.
Here is an excerpt from “Pumpkin Seed Spit”:
Upon reaching the first house near a dead end, they knocked and said in unison, “Trick-or-Treat!” As fifty-year-old Henry Armitage opened the front door, Brian unearthed his bag. The middle-aged man frowned at the kids before starting to mutter something about the lateness of the hour. Armitage gazed into Brian’s bag of seeds and was immediately mesmerized. An orange energy tendril spiraled upward, carrying a single seed into Armitage’s mouth.
Brian, Matt, and Ria wanted to scream, but found it impossible. While their souls were wrenched into knots by the horror they witnessed, outwardly they stood emotionless, even tranquil, as layers of skin and flesh melted away until all that remained of Henry Armitage was a living skeleton.
When the transformation was complete, they advanced to the next house. Ria shared the seeds, and Asenath Waite, a young mother of two, was hideously transformed into a witch with boils, green teeth, and a trail of lesions across her forehead.
Matt was next to present The Pumpkin Tree’s offering to the world. Three seeds were received by a couple and their young baby. Within moments they became a trio of giant pale, eyeless larvae that oozed and squiggled out of their clothes.
Extra Spicy: “The Pumpkin King”
In “The Pumpkin King”, from my book The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Terror, a man ignores the rules of Halloween to his own detriment. The protagonist is an adult, and this tale has the most shock value of the three.
I’ll call this the Pumpkin Imperial Pale Ale Level of story
Here is an excerpt from “The Pumpkin King”:
I spun around and made for the door, half convinced I was hallucinating if not dreaming. I unlatched the deadbolt, but it clicked back into place as soon as I started to turn the latch. I turned back to the jack-o’-lantern.
“An easy trick, but effective,” the jack-o’-lantern said, its orange light flashing in time to the latch on the deadbolt as it clicked back and forth at will.
“What do you want?” I begged.
“I want you to think on this. There is but one expectation of you this time of year. One simple obligation: To carve pumpkins. To pay homage to the king.”
“What king?”
“Samhain, the King of the Dead.” Its demeanor began to change. Its voice deepened and the reddish-orange glow rose like an enraged fire.
“This is ridiculous!” Now I was beginning to lose my fear and was feeling pissed. This thing, whatever it was, was in my house. I turned to climb the stairs and grab a baseball bat so that I could smash the talkative piece of vegetation into a hundred juicy bits. I was an educated man, and I knew of the myth of Samhain, the Lord of the Dead who arrived every fall to put nature in balance with the deadly strokes of his sickle. I also knew it was pure bunk.
I had only reached the first step when I heard a sound far worse than the maddening click-clacking of the door latch: the metallic whisper of a kitchen knife being drawn from the butcher block.
I turned back to the pumpkin. “Okay. You’ve got my attention. What do you want?”
“I want to carve you,” it replied simply.
So whatever your personal threshold is for pumpkin spice, pay homage to the spirits of All Hallows Eve, and savor the spice before it’s gone!
Happy Writing!
R.David Fulcher, Founding Member of Old Scratch Press
In a world overflowing with information, it can feel almost impossible to hear the quiet murmur of our own inner voice. From the moment we wake, we are bombarded: endless news updates, social media scrolls, texts, and the constant hum of opinions vying for our attention. All of it fills the space where intuition—the whispering language of the subconscious—once thrived.
Yet, as writers, intuition is one of our greatest tools. It’s what allows us to leap into a story we don’t fully understand yet, to follow a surprising character down an unplanned path, or to trust an image or phrase that arrives out of nowhere. Without it, we risk writing only what we already know, instead of what wants to reveal itself.
Fall: The Season of Listening
October, with its crisp air and longer nights, brings a natural invitation to slow down and listen. Folklore tells us that in autumn, as the veil thins between the seen and unseen, intuition becomes easier to access. Shadows stretch differently, the wind carries voices, and we sense the tug of what lies just beyond.
This is the perfect time of year to tune in. The season itself seems to whisper: pay attention, the unseen is speaking.
Why We Lose Touch with Intuition
Intuition is quiet, subtle, and often inconvenient. It rarely announces itself in bold type. Instead, it flickers in images, hunches, gut feelings, or sudden questions that surface in stillness. When we drown our senses in constant input, we crowd out those fleeting signals. It’s like trying to hear an owl’s call on a windy night—you know it’s there, but the noise drowns it out.
Our culture rewards speed, productivity, and certainty. Intuition asks for slowness, stillness, and trust. It feels risky to follow because it rarely comes with a guarantee, but instead with a nudge: “this way, try this, pay attention.”
Reclaiming the Lost Art
The good news is intuition can be reawakened. Like any art, it thrives with practice:
One of my favorite ways to access this hidden reservoir is through freewriting. When we put pen to paper without censoring, judging, or editing, we bypass the noisy critic in our head. Freewriting allows the subconscious to slip through, offering images, insights, and connections that often surprise us. It is a way of honoring the intuition that we so often ignore. In the flow of words that tumble out, we begin to recognize patterns, truths, and directions that were there all along, waiting to be heard.
Tuning in to our intuition is not about achieving perfection or following rules. It is about reclaiming an ancient art: the art of listening inwardly. As the veil thins, perhaps it is time to sit with the page, quiet the outside world, and let your own inner compass
Intuition as a Writer’s Compass
The deepest writing often doesn’t come from logic or planning alone—it comes from the subterranean river of memory, dream, and imagination. Intuition is the compass that guides us into that underground place. When we let it lead, we discover connections we couldn’t have forced, truths we didn’t know we were carrying, and stories that surprise even us.
This October, let the season itself be your reminder. As the veil thins and the shadows lengthen, practice listening for what arises in the quiet. Intuition is not a luxury—it is the thread that ties us to the mystery of creativity itself. To follow it is to reclaim a lost art, both in writing and in life.
(And if you are interested in learning about intuitively understanding your surroundings check out the books by writer Tristan Gooley, like The Nature Instinct or The Natural Navigator.)
Thank you for reading this post and visiting the Old Scratch Press Blog. Next Saturday October 25th at 5:00 p.m., three members of the Old Scratch Press Team are participating in a special online reading from their newly published books. FREE. Read more about it here. And follow us on Facebook.
Ellis Elliott, Founding Member, Old Scratch Press Collective, Author: Break in the Field and A Witch Awakens: A Fire Circle Mystery available on Amazon. Bewilderness Writing : http://bewildernesswriting.com/
Writing may often feel like a solitary pursuit, but in today’s publishing world, no author truly succeeds alone. Networking—whether with fellow writers, industry professionals, or readers—is one of the most powerful tools an author can use to grow, learn, and thrive.
One great resource for authors are local bookstores! Many independently-owned bookstores have a shelf dedicated to local authors. They are usually happy to stock books by local authors and I’ve been asked to sign copies for my local bookstores as well!
There are a few bookstores near me that go above and beyond stocking local authors. One has a monthly series of workshops they hold for local authors to help them hone their craft and also to teach authors how to market themselves to readers. They also hold local book fairs and festivals and encourage authors to come and sell their book themselves! These book festivals are a great place to meet other local authors and to talk shop with them about local marketing opportunities. They are also a great place to meet new readers!
This local author group also has its own podcast! They interview local authors to help them promote their work to the reading community. I recently sat down with the host, Amy Watkins, for an interview with the Rock, Paper, Write podcast. You can listen to that episode here. Amy also invited me to the Wheaton Arts Parade to sell my books with some other Kensington Row Bookshop authors. The Kensington Row Bookshop also organizes the annual Kensington Day of the Book Festival. It’s such a supportive bookstore.
For authors, networking isn’t about self-promotion alone—it’s about building authentic relationships that provide growth, support, and opportunity. The more you engage with your writing community, the stronger your career foundation becomes. So, go out and make some new friends and sell some books!
There’s a certain stereotype about writers: distracted, dreamy, maybe a little moody, often lost in their own heads. Then there are those of us whose third-grade teacher writes on her report card, “Ellis is very sensitive. She says she doesn’t feel good when she doesn’t want to participate and sometimes puts her hands over her ears.”
What we don’t always name is that many of us identify with something more specific—ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD, autism, bipolar disorder. In other words, neurodivergence.
Far from being a barrier, these brain patterns often come hand-in-hand with creativity. Our ability to notice connections others overlook, to hyper-focus on a project for hours, or to sense language at a heightened level can all be part of what makes us writers. (Doesn’t everyone have a list of words they hate simply because the way the word feels in their mouth?)
The Double-Edged Sword
Of course, the same brain that gifts us with creative leaps can also work against us. ADHD can make finishing projects feel like climbing Everest. Anxiety can whisper that nothing we write is ever good enough. Depression can steal the life-force necessary to even begin. The very sensitivity that makes us attuned to metaphor and meaning can leave us overwhelmed by the noise of the world.
Reframing the Narrative
Instead of treating neurodivergence as something to battle, what if we reframed it as part of the writer’s toolkit?
The key is learning how to manage the edges—finding rest, support, and strategies so that the gift doesn’t become a burden.
Practical Ways to Support Your Creative Brain
Why It Matters
When we share openly about the link between writing and neurodivergence, we create permission for others. Permission to stop beating themselves up for struggling with deadlines. Permission to see their “quirks” as part of their artistry. Permission to make choices others might not understand. Permission to write anyway.
Do you identify as a neurodivergent writer? How does it show up in your creative process—both the gifts and the challenges?
Ellis Elliott
Founding member Old Scratch Press Poetry Collective
Author of Break in the Field poetry collection and A Witch Awakens: A Fire Circle Mystery.
Alan Bern is more than just the author of DREAMS OF THE RETURN—he’s also one of the founding voices of Old Scratch Press, a collective born from a group of terrific writers with a deep love of traditional and hybrid poetry, prose, and art. As a retired children’s librarian and cofounder (with Robert Woods) of the fine-press publisher Lines & Faces, Alan has long pursued the merging of word, image, and place.
In DREAMS OF THE RETURN, he turns his lens to Italy—in particular the South—bringing to life landscapes both storied and luminous through his own photographs and through classic Italian poetry, delivered both in its original form and in his own translations. The journey is lyrical, immersive: it’s not merely a travel guide, but a portrait of longing, place, memory, and beauty.
And that’s something Alan does beautifully—his artistry weaves together what he’s done throughout his life: poetry, prose, photography, memoir, all fueled by a love for Italy. Within the OSP community, he is known for “photo-poems,” a daily practice in which images and language overlap, inviting the reader to travel with him across geographies and inward, into self.
In addition to poems and photographs, DREAMS OF THE RETURN also includes intimate personal essays that layer history, memory, and lived experience. In “The Good One,” for example, Alan recounts a walk through Naples’ Quartieri Spagnoli with his friend Marco. What begins as a conversation about Jewish philosopher Don Isaac Abravanel and the sacred geography of southern Italy turns into a heartbreaking encounter with a community altar for “o’ Bono”—a young man accidentally killed during a New Year’s Eve celebration. Through this story, Alan reveals how place, tragedy, resilience, and human connection are intertwined in ways both profound and ordinary.
A true perfectionist, Alan (pictured left) worked closely with his good friend, Peter Truskier, to ensure that the photos selected would sparkle in the book just like the locations did in real life.
DREAMS OF THE RETURN is, in effect, another way Alan invites us to travel: through light and verse, through time and place. It’s a book to savor—start with a wind-soft sun, ruins, olive trees and history; consume it slowly with pizza margherita and red wine; linger into the evening with the sweetness of roccoco napoletani and an espresso kissed with Sambuca. You can order a copy of your own here:
OLD SCRATCH PRESS 