Writing prompt – OLD SCRATCH PRESS

Embracing Nature’s Beauty: A Morning Reflection

Published on April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Nadja Maril1 Comment

by Nadja Maril, a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective

What a sight on a damp misty morning, a robin perched on a street sign preening its feathers. The orange red of its breast feathers contrasting sharply with the bright green and white lettered sign.

My cell phone was in my back pocket, but I didn’t snap a photo. I watched the bird fly away and listened to the other birds around me. The neighborhood was just beginning to awake. Down the road I spied a few dog-walkers taking advantage of the early hour temperatures.

A plump brown bunny nibbled on clover. I decided to take his photograph, but he didn’t pose for long and took refuge in a flower bed. My gaze shifted to the colors of all those flowers: purple, pink, yellow, blue and red.

The current “tropical rain forest” weather hovering over our region has been a boon to gardeners. Blossoms are lush. It’s been a boon to weeds too, but it’s too early in the morning for me to think about that.

It’s the first day of April and the start of National Poetry Month. I get inspired by nature: birds, new buds, bunny sightings. Other writers are inspired by the hum of machines or the echo of human voices. Whatever gets your mind engaged in the world around you, write it down.

Focusing on the Moment

I’m focusing on the present moment, a difficult task. My mind tends to jump forwards and backwards. I worry about what I need to do and replay what I might have done wrong. I recall happy memories and then remind myself the past is over and if I stay there too long, I’ll miss what is happening in the present.

This balance between present, past, and future is an interesting dilemma. Particularly because all is open to interpretation. What we remember as the past, is most likely different from our neighbor’s recollection. What we prioritize for the future is usually different too.

Politically, socially, environmentally our planet is at a crossroads. Some of us are just struggling to survive. Others of us want to change things for the better, but it can be a challenge to figure out how.

I read and listen to media reports, and hear different versions of the same event. I’ve heard the term “fake news” repeatedly bandied about. I hear leaders speaking outright lies. I hear people being described in ways designed to incite violence and hatred.

Overwhelmed by all the negativity I tune out.

Change happens slowly, in small incremental ways, I remind myself. Small acts of courage. Small acts of kindness. The arts, the federal funding of which is currently under attack, is a way to share beauty and foster connection. Arts in education provides paths for children to develop alternative learning styles that can deepen comprehension. Whether you volunteer your time, donate money, or support the arts by buying a ticket to a museum or a play; you’re doing something positive.

Writers are witnesses. Documenting the good and the beauty you observe is an important job alongside the documentation of injustice and cruelty. Writing a short fable can be one way to start. Remember Aesop’s Fables?

Aesop is thought to have been a storyteller, and possibly a slave, who lived in Greece between 620 and 564 B.C. Translated from Greek and Latin, and available in versions for adults and children online and in print, I share below one of my favorites.

The Bundle of Sticks

A certain Father had a family of Sons, who were forever quarreling among themselves. No words he could say did the least good, so he cast about in his mind for some very striking example that should make them see that discord would lead them to misfortune.

One day when the quarreling had been much more violent than usual and each of the Sons was moping in a surly manner, he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his Sons in turn he told them to try to break it. But although each one tried his best, none was able to do so.

The Father then untied the bundle and gave the sticks to his Sons to break one by one. This they did very easily.

“My Sons,” said the Father, “do you not see how certain it is that if you agree with each other and help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure you? But if you are divided among yourselves, you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle.”

In unity is strength.

WRITING PROMPT: Can you write your own modern-day fable? Whether you use animals, plants, or people, think of something simple you observed that taught you a lesson. Brief and to the point, maybe your fable is a piece of flash fiction. Set it aside and read it again out loud two days from now. If you think it is good, share it. Maybe sharing means posting it online yourself, printing it out and sending it to friends by “snail mail,” or perhaps sending it to a literary magazine. Check out Instant Noodles Literary Review. Our current theme for submissions is Al Dente. For more information click here.

Thank you for reading.

Writers and Readers, don’t forget to forget to follow us on Facebook to get the latest news and learn about submission opportunities.

Nadja Maril is an award winning writer and poet who has been published in dozens of online and print literary journals and anthologies including: Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Journal, Invisible City Literary Review, Instant Noodles and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, published by Old Scratch Press (September 2024), a Midwest Review California Book Watch Reviewer’s Choice. An Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She has an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast at USM.

Check out Nadja’s chapbook below and here.

The Zine Scene

Published on March 18, 2026March 20, 2026 by Beatriz F.2 Comments

If you haven’t delved into the Zine scene lately, you may be missing out! A zine, pronounced “zeen,” short for “fanzine” or “magazine” is a personal hand-crafted publication that can contain anything the creator’s imagination can supply and often devoted to unconventional subject matter!

Zines are made to share, trade, explore, discover and celebrate all modes of self-expression that can be printed: writing, art, photography. All you need to create a basic one is pen and paper. (A photocopier helps if you want to produce more quantity!)

My latest close encounter with zines happened when a professor at the university where I work asked to display her students’ zines in the library where others could read them or even take one with them if they wanted. She was teaching a class called Zine Writing and her students produced a variety of zines on fascinating topics ranging from their personal struggles with cultural assimilation to social justice issues affecting them and their families. I was really captivated by their insightful observations and the accompanying artwork, which included collages, flags, maps, masks, pictures of food, drawings and even a playlist!

These zines were tiny pamphlets cleverly folded from a single 8.5 X 11 piece of paper, but zines come in all shapes and sizes.

How-to Zine

A quick YouTube search will yield many zine-making tutorials:

This guide shows how to make a zine from a single piece of paper such as the students did—no staples required!

Find a Zine Event Near You!

If you want to fire up your imagination, you can view original zines or learn how to craft one at a Zine fair or Zine fest! Zine events take place worldwide; you can easily search for your city or region and zine fair/ zine fest / zine event and the current year to find a zine-making workshop at your local library or a zine festival that includes many publishers:

Printed Matter lists both national and international zine events organized by state or country.

Book and zine fairs – Printed Matter

Nicezines also lists worldwide zine events and other zine resources such as how to make them, price them and share them:

Zine events in 2026 – Nicezines

I found out the Miami Zine Fair is coming up in April:

Miami Zine Fair 2026

“Founded in 2015 by EXILE Projects as part of O, Miami Poetry Month, the Fair is a free, public celebration of self-publishing and independent print culture. Each year, it brings together over 150 artists, writers, illustrators, activists, and poets from Miami and beyond.

Visitors can explore hundreds of zines—handmade and expertly crafted—alongside workshops, performances, and multimedia projects.
Open to all ages and backgrounds, the Miami Zine Fair invites the public to browse, touch, and engage with the vibrant world of independent publishing.”

Zine New Wave

Some see the Zine resurgence as a response to an increasingly digital world:

The New Wave of Zine Culture: Why Print Isn’t Dead in 2025 – Mole Empire

One reason writers and poets are attracted to the zine medium:

”Zines offer an intimate platform for sharing personal stories, poetry, and experimental writing that might not fit into traditional publishing models.”

The above article offers advice on how to delve deeper into the zine culture:

“Zine Fairs and Festivals: Keep an eye out for local and online zine fairs. These events are fantastic opportunities to discover new zines, meet creators, and connect with the community.

Independent Bookstores and Art Spaces: Many independent bookstores and art galleries are now stocking zines, recognizing their cultural significance.

Online Communities: Platforms like Instagram and Tumblr host thriving zine communities. Search hashtags like #zine, #zinester, #diyzine, and #[yourcountry]zines to discover creators and connect with others.

Directly from Creators: Many zine makers sell their work directly through their own websites or social media. Support independent artists by buying directly!”

From LitMag News:

Inside Zine Festivals (and Why Zines Matter)

Ironically, as zines are ephemeral print matter by nature, libraries have been digitizing them for preservation purposes.

Zine Collections in Libraries, Books on Zines

Many libraries have Zine collections (aka Zine libraries)

Barnard College’s site lists Zine libraries by region

Zine Libraries | Barnard Zine Library

And guides to zine history, books on zines, zine collections:

What is a Zine? – Zines – LibGuides at University of Texas at Austin

Search Worldcat.org for books on zines held in worldwide libraries:

www.worldcat.org

Zine Culture

Even the Smithsonian has gotten involved as zines have grown in importance to our cultural development:

How Zines Brought Power to Those on the Margins of Culture

Specific subcultures have used zines to promote their ideas:

Riot grrrl – Wikipedia

“The movement quickly spread well beyond its musical roots to influence the vibrant zine- and Internet-based nature of fourth-wave feminism’

Zine Classes

Apart from the DIY classes offered by your local library or zine fair, school systems have zine programs added to their curriculums:

Zines for Progress | The Wolfsonian | Florida International University | FIU

“Zines for Progress (Z4P) is a Miami-Dade County public high school outreach program centered on addressing topical issues through zine-making.”

At my university I found yet another class focused on Feminist Zine Writing.

Zine Writing Virtual Gallery – FIU Digital Writing Studio

“Social critiques, personal diary rants and impassioned protests are just some of the topics commonly discussed within feminist zines. Zines are able to bypass traditional gate-keeping mechanisms that silence non-dominant voices and perspectives. As a result, zines offer a platform upon which feminists of all genders are using words, images and other non-violent discursive practices to advocate for equity, mobilize activist efforts and build and sustain community.”

You can see how zines have become a much-valued venue for self-expression!

Dip a toe in the zine pool and you might wake up a tsunami of creativity!

Thank you for reading and please follow us here and on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/OLDSCRATCHPRESS/

Beatriz F. Fernandez is a Miami area poet and University Reference librarian. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks, the most recent of which is Simultaneous States (2025) by Bainbridge Island Press. In 2025, she became a member of the Old Scratch Press writing collective.

(Pictures are of FIU students’ handcrafted zines and used with permission of the professor.)

Join us for a fun online mixer. March 28, 2 to 4 Pacific Time. Door Prizes, Activities, Free to Attend, Register today at currentwords.com/events.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7eRgLvBPSkuyhpUtgLlkdw#/registration

Exploring E.E. Cummings: Poems That Can Dance

Published on March 1, 2026February 28, 2026 by Nadja Maril2 Comments

by Nadja Maril,a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective

Many decades ago, I choreographed a dance to accompany a poem. I selected a poem by E.E. Cummings, “In Just—” Which in my mind I titled, “In Just Spring.”

I picked that particular poem for its exuberance. I could imagine myself interpreting the verse with movements that were both fast and slow, languorous and springy. The challenge was to select movements that I could execute while reciting the words.

Photo by Jimmy Elizarraras on Pexels.com

[in Just-]

By E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)

in Just-
spring          when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far          and             wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles
far
and
wee

This poem was written in 1923, over one hundred years ago.

Cummings was an experimenter who developed his own personal style. Although classically trained, with multiple degrees from Harvard University, he used punctuation as it suited him. Spaces on the page were seen as opportunities to spread out the pacing or to combine several words into one breath. Conjunctions were sometimes nouns and selected words might take on additional assigned meanings.

Hailed as one of the most influential and important poets of the 20^th century, Cummings embraced the concept of Visual Poetry. Words were placed on the page to create shapes and images that serve to reinforce the mood of the verse.

You can read more about E.E. Cummings in this article published on the Poetry Foundation website. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings

It was easy for me to dance the role of the goat-footed balloon man, after seeing the words establishing his presence “skip” across the page.

The line “whistles far and wee” is spread out, which enabled me to say the individual words with enough time to run from one side of the stage to the other side.

In writing poetry, thought is often devoted to line breaks and capitalization. Traditional or avant garde, the last word in a line typically takes on greater importance. By choosing not to capitalize the first word of a line, emphasis is softened.

Try changing the line breaks on a poem you are working on. How do your changes impact the poem? Try adding extra spaces between words or merging them together. Once again, how do these changes reshape a poem’s texture and meaning?

In contrast, when you write a prose poem using sentences, it is the order and sound of the words that must create the poetry. No one approach is better than another. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

In a few more weeks it will officially be Spring, here in the Northeast USA where I live. I look for birds returning from the winter vacation in the south and I hear “in-Just” recited inside my head. Crocuses begin pushing up through the muddy soil. Bicycles are pulled out of storage and pastel chalk pictures are drawn on the sidewalk. No balloon man, but it is the start of outdoor birthday parties.

The idea of adding movement to your recitation of a poem, may inspire you to choose different words when writing verse.

WRITING PROMPT: Try writing a poem about a season, place, or time. Maybe your piece is about a mood such as anger or maybe it is about a feeling such as being satiated. Often a poem focuses on the visual, but instead think about movement. Use active verbs. In Cummings short poem the wind and the balloon man whistle. The children run and dance.

What did you create? Maybe you’re on to something you like. Keep playing with the concepts and see where they lead you. Part of the enjoyment of writing, is discovering what works and what doesn’t work.

Read the work of other poets, and as March is Women’s History month, I am going to suggest three women poets:

Rae Armantrou ( B. 1947).

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rae-armantrout

Mina Loy (1882-1966)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148476/love-songs-5bec636568b82

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gertrude-stein

Writers and Readers, don’t forget to forget to follow us on Facebook to get the latest news and learn about submission opportunities.

Check out Nadja’s chapbook below and here.

An Ode to your Code—How to write a ZipOde

Published on February 18, 2026February 17, 2026 by Beatriz F.Leave a comment

33185
Murky waters stir
Toothy snout surfaces
crocodile
These are very rare, our Everglades guide exclaims
Mostly we get gators here
Beatriz Fernandez
ZipOde 33185

The ZipOde, aka Zip Ode, is a fun, five-line poetry form invented by the O,Miami Poetry Festival in collaboration with WLRN Public Radio and Television.

The ZipOde celebrates the local life, the daily struggle, the beauty and ugliness, the minor and major frustrations and joys of living in a specific place.

Zip Odes – O, Miami

Here is how you can write an ode to your own zip code!

Write the numbers of your zip code on five separate lines.
Each number will determine how many words that line will have.
(Similar to haikus but substitute words for syllables.)
If you have a zero in your zip code, then you can either leave it blank, insert an emoji or image or consider it a wildcard line of 1-9 words!

WLRN celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the invention of the ZipOde in 2025 and as it turns out, I was the very first person to submit a ZipOde in O, Miami’s first call for submissions back in 2015. Always on the lookout for inspiration in unexpected places, I liked the idea of writing a place-centered short poem that celebrated my neighborhood.

You can read some stories about the 10^th anniversary celebration and read some ZipOdes here.

ZipOdes | WLRN

O, Miami has produced a colorful, beautifully illustrated 10^th anniversary commemorative book as well:

You can see some sample pages here:

Literally Everyone's Invited ZipOdes Book – OMiami

Cover of the book Literally everyone's invited: an Ode to South Florida 2015 to 2024. O, Miami. Poems and photos by over 450 South Floridians. Edited by Gesi Schilling and Sarah Trudgeon.

ZipOdes everywhere!

Although the ZipOde form originated in South Florida, it has been celebrated in several other cities; O, Miami and WLRN offer it as a resource to anyone who wants to try it, as long as they attribute its creation to the O, Miami Poetry Festival and WLRN.

Tips for writing a ZipOde:

Use impactful words
Work those contractions!
Limit your scope but remain expansive
Anchor it geographically

If you have a 1 in your Zip Code (as I do), use it to maximum effect by making it a memorable, impactful word. Don’t waste the limited real estate in a ZipOde by using it for a connecting word like “and,” not that there haven’t been some excellent ZipOdes that do just that!

When you’re dealing with a limited word count—make contractions your friend! Why say “we have” when “we’ve” will work?

My favorite ZipOdes by other writers are the funny, pithy ones, but for my own, my preference is to look around me and celebrate the beauty and mystery of the nature that surrounds us—the trees, the birds, the animals, the wide-open skies.

ZipOde Examples

33185

Panthers’ eyes gleam
deep in the
Everglades
blinking under that kite of stars, the Pleiades.
What they’ve seen, we’ve forgotten.

33185

Hidden between hurricanes,
this city’s soul
quivers
like the flight of the Miami blue butterfly
killed by the slightest frost

It’s best to focus on one image, given the brevity of the poem, but the form lends itself to much experimentation and infinite variety.

I like to try to add a word that anchors the ZipOde to a place, since that is the whole point of the form! Images work, but also consider evocative scents, tastes, colors.

If you read some examples online, you will see that other poets celebrate their families, homes, neighborhoods in every way possible. The unique qualities of South Florida life are highlighted in trenchant, wryly fond-toned odes.

ZipOdes as Memoir

You can have fun commemorating all the different places you have lived and worked by writing ZipOdes! My workplace has two 9s in its zip code—riches! But even if yours has 1s and 0s, consider it a challenge—similar to when composing a haiku—to express yourself so succinctly.

33199

Driving to campus,
coffee in cupholder
steaming,
the morning sun Stonehenged between skyscrapers in the east–
in my rearview mirror, a flock of ibises rises..

ZipOdes can be dedicated love notes to your birthplace (or your child’s) or your favorite vacation spot or the place you met your significant other. As a collection, they can tell the story of your life—in code!

Thank you for reading and please follow us here and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OLDSCRATCHPRESS/

(ZipOde photo provided to the poet by WLRN.org. Numbers photo credit to Tara Winstead.)

Explore Themed Writing Calls: Get Published!

Published on February 1, 2026January 30, 2026 by Nadja MarilLeave a comment

by Nadja Maril, a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective

You’re looking for something to read and you go online and start googling. You enter words that describe what you find entertaining.

This is what editors and publishers do when they solicit submissions by selecting a theme. They try to narrow the number and types of submissions to zero in on what they’re seeking, based on what they think their readers will enjoy.

They choose a word, WATER, for example, and they announce their next issue theme will be WATER. Or maybe they choose a more specific description such as CHILDHOOD MEMORIES ABOUT BASEBALL. They request that writers submit pieces specifically related to the theme. If you send something outside the theme, it will be automatically rejected

Seize the Opportunity

The call out can be very specific. For example, this month Screams and Wails Anthology( deadline 2/28/2026) Screams and Wails Anthology is looking for “Horror stories with music or music culture as a predominant theme.”

A part of you may be thinking, I love the music scene but I don’t write horror stories. Or maybe you write horror stories but you have very little inside information on music culture. Are you going to give up that easily? A call out for a specific theme narrows the competition, if you are willing to do the homework. Plus, you may learn something new and have fun.

Here’s another theme call-out. Tokyo Poetry Journal https://www.topojo.com/

is looking for submissions for Volume 18 for their “Gather ‘Round Children—a special issue celebrating oral-tradition poetry and the timeless power of stories carried by the human voice. Specifically they ask for poems that “feel as if they could be shared around a fire: lyrical, narrative, rooted in memory or myth, and crafted to live strongly on the page.”

Maybe you do not consider yourself a poet but you love to sing to your children. Perhaps this call-out might inspire you to try writing a poem that you imagine as a song.

The quarterly online journal Way Words https://www.writersworkout.net/waywords

Is looking for stories, essays and poems that associate with the theme Habits. The Editor’s tip: Habits are things you do the same way every time, usually with the hope of a positive outcome.

We all have habits. Some we do to make us healthier, for example, I take a walk each morning. What is a habit you’d enjoy writing about? As a bonus you could write about someone else’s habit that you admire and your poem or could be a special gift to them, even if it doesn’t get published.

Taking a walk each morning is a habit you might want to write about.

Dragon Soul Press https://dragonsoulpress.com/shortstorycalls

is putting together an anthology of short stories and the theme is
Splash. The word splash provides a good deal of latitude. I can think of stories related to swimming, waterfalls, and jumping into puddles as well as the use of the word as a term for making an impressive and immediate impact. If you enjoy word puzzles, the challenge of all the different ways the word Splash can be used should yield impressive results.

Instant Noodles Literary Magazine https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/instant-noodles-O0jFm

has a theme call out: Planes, Boats, Cars, Trains. The request is for poems, short essays, memoir and fiction (under 500 words). The pieces are for publication online in Issue One of Volume 6 (Deadline 3/15/2026). The ideas one could conceive of that one could submit are fairly wide ranging. So if you are a writer, how are you going to make you piece of writing stand out from the crowd?

As one of the editors on the project, I thought I’d share what attracted me to this particular theme.

Most humans live a fairly frenetic life, often on the move. In the famous ancient Greek stories surrounding Oedipus, he is asked a riddle by the sphinx in exchange for safe passage and his life, “Who walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three feet in the evening? The answer “Man” has humans crawling as babies in the morning, walking on two legs as adults and needing a cane ( the 3^rd leg) in the evening. Mankind is always on the go. If not walking, we’re in the car, on a train, plane, or boat. (Feel free to include buses, helicopters, and subways).

Many of the best stories and poems involve getting from point A to point B via a car, train, boat, or plane. Are you up to the challenge? LET’S START WRITING….

WRITING PROMPT

Planes, Boats, Cars, Trains

Looking out the window, inside at the passengers or thinking about something? What happens when you’re on the move?

Interesting things can happen when you’re on the move and in a confined space. Plenty of murder mysteries take place on a boat or a train. The number of passengers are limited and there are places to hide.

The passenger looks out a window and see images that may bring joy or dread. They may be stuck sitting next to a stranger they find fascinating or an acquaintance they’d prefer to avoid. Create a scene, write down a memory, convey your feelings about a brief journey.

Then think: What if? What happens if the protagonist has lost their ticket or the car breaks down? Maybe it happened, Maybe you’re imagining it happening.

Here’s the hard part. Make it short. Every word should count. Read what you’ve written out loud. Each phrase/ and/or sentence should provide something essential. Whatever you can eliminate, start crossing stuff out.

Read it again. Let it sit for a week. Do another revision and make certain whatever and whenever you submit to Instant Noodles Literary Magazine or any other publication, you have carefully reviewed your work and it is ready for publication. Check over carefully for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Thank you for reading and please follow us here and on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/OLDSCRATCHPRESS/

Nadja Maril is an award winning writer and poet who has been published in dozens of online and print literary journals and anthologies including: Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Journal, Invisible City Literary Review, Instant Noodles and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, published by Old Scratch Press (September 2024), a Midwest Review California Book Watch Reviewer’s Choice. An Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She has an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast at USM.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/recipes-from-my-garden-nadja-maril/1145598579

Writing About Food and Announcing the Latest Issue of Instant Noodles Literary Magazine!

Published on December 1, 2025December 1, 2025 by Nadja Maril1 Comment

by Nadja Maril,a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective

Food. We spend a substantial part each day preparing, serving, and eating. The tastes, aromas and textures bring back memories. And over the winter holidays, the sensations become magnified as we taste the turkey roasting in the oven, the creamy mashed potatoes, the fragrant puddings, the sweet and savory carrots, onion topped green beans, latkes and apple sauce, cheese blintzes, and buttery chocolate chip cookies.

This is why I enjoy writing about food. It’s easy. All I have to do is close my eyes, remember and think of words to describe memorable dishes, new tastes I discovered, and meals I’ve shared. Try it. Think of a favorite meal, why it stands out in your mind and the emotions you associate with that time. Write down you uncensored thoughts. Read over what you’ve written. Maybe cross out a few sentences and rewrite others. You’ve begun to write memoir, the start of what is called Creative Nonfiction and it wasn’t hard at all.

You can take those food thoughts and memories and turn them into fiction as well. There’s no shortage of food in fairy tales: the witch in Hansel and Gretal with the house made of gingerbread and candy, the red apple in Snow White, the porridge eaten by Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Wonderful poems have been written about food ingredients. One of the most important items I use in savory dishes is onion. Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) wrote a wonderful poem about the onion I’d like to share.

ODE TO THE ONION
by Pablo Neruda

Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.

You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone

and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.

If you need more inspiration, start reading the latest issue of Instant Noodles Literary Magazine .All the stories and poems are inspired by GRAVY.

One of my favorites in this issue is “Thanksgiving Leftovers” by Arielle Arbushites which begins “Gravy gravy everywhere/and not a drop to drink” Hear her read the poem by clicking this link.

Forty-two creative expressions inspired by GRAVY! Who would have thought we’d get so many fine submissions on this topic. Read them and enjoy the writer’s different takes on the subject. Maybe it is a holiday dinner that goes wrong or a humble food offering that needs a splash of pzazz but all the stories have something to do with gravy.

My creative nonfiction includes a nod to my great-grandmother’s Limoges covered gravy dish and a recipe. You can access it here or if you don’t want to read, you can listen here

Writers and Readers, don’t forget to forget to follow us on Facebook to get the latest news and learn about submission opportunities.

Check out Nadja’s chapbook below and here.

Words with Dual Meanings: A Writer’s Playground

Published on November 1, 2025 by Nadja MarilLeave a comment

by Nadja Maril

Words. They fascinate me, the way some words like dust can have two very different meanings. You dust the house, removing small particles of dirt and cobwebs. You dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar making it sweet.

The word weather has two opposite meanings as a verb. The new wood shingles on the house will look better when they weather and turn a soft natural gray. Or used differently you could write, When the next hurricane arrives, I’m not sure if we can weather the storm. As a noun, the meaning of weather is constant. The noun describes meteorological conditions. Nice fall weather we’re having.

Applying Word Meanings to Getting Published

Every Monday when I read the updated lists of publishing opportunities in literary magazines, I read theme call-outs that generally consist of one word. Write to the theme, they ask, but sometimes that word can be open to wide interpretation. However, that’s the job of a creative writer; to put our own perspective into our poems and stories.

I read the word dirt and I might picture a pile of soil or imagine filth within a house or think instead of scandalous information about a crooked politician. Playing in the dirt making mudpies can be a joyful experience for a child whereas cleaning away mounds of accumulated filth a tedious chore. The diverse interpretations of how we interpret words can be what makes a collection of writing interesting.

The diverse interpretations of how we interpret words can be what makes a collection of writing interesting.

So, I was surprised when a friend told me their spouse had purchased my new book (Recipes From My Garden; herb and memoir short prose and poetry) and with the cold weather coming, they were planning on trying out some of my recipes.

i’d written a book of prose poems and memoir and my friend thought I’d just published a cookbook!

How Word Choice for Your Title Affects Marketing

Recipes. Yes, the word can mean instructions on food preparation, ie try my recipe for chicken soup, but it can also mean a way or approach to doing things. You might say I’ve got the recipe for a successful children’s birthday party, one adult for every child. Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, you might hear about a class trip to the amusement park with no parent chaperones and say, That’s a recipe for disaster.

I thought I was being clever when I chose the title to my little chapbook. I imagined that readers seeing the words memoir, prose, and poetry would understand the book’s double meaning. It does contain a few actual recipes and many references to food and kitchen gardens, but primarily I was thinking of the word recipe as a way or approach of doing things. As memoir, the usage becomes personal. As a poet, I’m sharing how I see the world, starting specifically with what is accessible to me: the sunflowers, tomatoes, a walk on the beach.

The good news for me is if there is any doubt, the silver lining is people do talk about what they read and like. But if you are new to thie site and you are just reading about my chapbook for the very first time, I also have a book trailer. My talented publishers were able to use some of the video my husband took of our giant sunflowers along with old family photographs and more recent ones to create a wonderful book trailer. You can watch by clicking on the link: https://youtu.be/HxmwOx3-_QY

And going with the theme of the multiple meanings of words, here is a word WRITING PROMPT

To get you started I have chosen a few ambiguous words: long, cleave, bar, and duck. Select a word, choose a meaning, and start writing a scene. Take the word and use it with an alternate meaning. How many different ways can you use the same word and shade the meaning in different ways? Try using the word in a poem and play with the multiple meanings. Have fun.

Thank You for reading! To read more of my work sign up for FREE to follow me on WordPress, Substack or Medium and visit my website at www.Nadjamaril.com.

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Published by Nadja Maril

Nadja Maril’s prose and poetry has been published in literary magazines that include Change Seven, Lunch Ticket, Thin Air, and The Compressed Journal of Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, a chapbook published by Old Scratch Press that includes both poetry and creative nonfiction prose. Author of two children’s books illustrated with paintings by her father Herman Maril, as well as Who IS Santa? for which she did her own illustrations, Nadja is also the author of two reference books on antique American Lighting, published by Schiffer. A former journalist and magazine editor, Nadja has an MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine. To read more of her work and follow her weekly blog posts, visit Nadjamaril.com https://nadjamaril.com/ View more posts

The Art of Borrowing Characters: A Literary Debate

Published on October 1, 2025October 1, 2025 by Nadja MarilLeave a comment

by Nadja Maril, a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective

A few months ago, I read a book purely for escapism, a cozy mystery populated by Jane Austen Characters entitled The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. I didn’t have to think too hard as I’d already met: Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, Marianne and Colonel Brandon, Anne and Frederick Wentworth, and Fanny and Edmund Bertram. Already familiar with the English country homes so well described in my favorite Jane Austen Novels: Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, I merely had to get to know the two new characters Jonathan Darcy (son of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth) and Juliet Tilney ( daughter of Northanger Abbey’s Catherine and Henry) who team up together to solve the murder.

Combine characters created by other authors with AI (artificial intelligence) and we stand on shaky territory.

What is it that makes human writing truly unique ?

The novel started me thinking about where writers find inspiration, because certainly this particular set-up would theoretically be the perfect candidate for an AI (artificial intelligence) generated book. A good portion of the plot of The Murder of Mr. Wickham relies on tropes and scenes frequently present in other Jane Austen books.

As to be anticipated, in this cross between an Agatha Christie whodonit and a Jane Austen novel, we have a series of misunderstandings between couples, friends and romantic prospects as well as a grand ball, a visit by the gentry to the village where they are shunned, a church scene with more snubbing, and conflicts that center on income and social class. While I was curious to find out the identity of the murderer, with so many characters possessing motive, I found myself more interested in the potential for a romance to develop between Jonathan and Juliet.

Is picking up ready-made characters cheating? Certainly, the use of characters who have already proven themselves to be favorites among readers, give a writer an advantage when looking to find a publisher. What is the difference from taking a character or storyline from the Bible or a popular fairytale vs. taking a fictional character such as Sherlock Holmes or Sir Lancelot casting them in the starring role of your next short story or novel.

Folktales and Myths provide plenty of ideas for new versions of old stories. Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

One thing I’ve noticed is the different ways a popular character can be used. Minor characters in a well-known fairy tale, perhaps one of the step-sisters in Cinderella may have a very different take on why Cinderella was not allowed to go to the ball. The Genie locked inside a bottle could probably tell a series of funny stories about badly chosen wishes. In the Broadway hit musical “Wicked,” partially adapted from the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda is not the spotless white witch she purports herself to be when one hears the tale from Elphaba’s prospective.

Anything that spurs new ideas is fair game, as long as borrowing a character or a plot is not plagiarism. The plot or the characters must have evolved and changed. The characters themselves must be unique (not duplicates of another author) and not protected by copyright rules.

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

Thus, favorite characters such as the Harry Potter gang, are relegated to fan fiction only, meaning the work is “unauthorized” and cannot be used for monetary return.

Taking inspiration from classics can be a creative endeavor if not taken up by computers. It can make a great writing prompt.

You can use this prompt to write short stories and poetry, material that would be appropriate for a chapbook as well as specialized literary magazines.

**Maybe Goldilocks** **brings three bowls of Creme Brulee to the bears as a peace offering.** Photo by Gerardo Manzano on Pexels.com

WRITING PROMPT

Think of a favorite folk/fairy tale such as The Three Bears. What if Goldilocks had the opportunity to apologize for her rude intrusion into the Bear’s Cottage. Imagine and write down what might happen. If the men who pretended to sell invisible cloth to the emperor were to tell the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes, would they tell it differently than the traditional fairy tale? Try different approaches. Have fun.

Thank you for reading. Please sign up to follow Old Scratch Press here on WordPress and on Facebook.

Nadja Maril is an award winning writer and poet who has been published in dozens of online and print literary journals and anthologies including: Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Journal, Invisible City Literary Review, Instant Noodles and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, published by Old Scratch Press (September 2024), a Midwest Review California Book Watch Reviewer's Choice. An Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She has an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast at USM.

Check out Nadja's chapbook of flash memoir and poetry below.

https://rb.gy/olqjwe.

The Art of Storytelling: New Perspectives on Old Fairy Tales

Published on September 1, 2025September 1, 2025 by Nadja MarilLeave a comment

By Nadja Maril

Perhaps it was the illustrations that captivated me when I’d pour through the fairytale books, the dragons and the princesses with long gowns and tresses, but of all the picture books in my room when I was a young child, I liked the fairytales the best.

I can still remember many of those books, the way they looked with their ornate borders and their detailed portraits of the handsome Puss N’ Boots or the angry face of Rumpelstiltskin as he stamps hard enough to crash through a floor and into oblivion. Styles evolve and change, and the animated images of the Walt Disney studios who’ve popularized many fairy tales by converting them into cartoon movies, don’t have the same depth of detail as those old illustrations. I love the old woodcut and color plate illustrations, but many contemporary artists add new magic and perspective to an old story. When you read a fairytale or any story for that matter, the possibilities for elaboration are endless.

“Happily Ever After” isn’t always the case in some of the Hans Christian Anderson Tales, such as “The Red Shoes” and “The Little Mermaid.” But as fairy tales have been told and retold so many times, multiple versions circulate. Children today probably have no idea that the original “Little Mermaid” is a tragic story of desire and loss. The little mermaid was unable to permanently become a human. Her attempts at transformation cause her to lose her life as a mermaid. What remains, is her hope that one day she’ll become part of the eternal universe.

In the hands of the Disney writing team, however, “The Little Mermaid,” became a story about family conflict, friendship, love, and fulfillment. The result is a story with a happy ending.

But that’s okay, because fairy tales are part of our oral tradition and why not use the familiar tropes from our childhood as building blocks to create new stories or retell old ones. I think it is important to remember and learn from what went before. However, the stories of our lives keep evolving. So, what story would you like to tell?

To get you started, I’m sharing the work of several writers who were and still are inspired by fairy tales.

Many poetry enthusiasts will probably be familiar with the poem “Goblin Market “by Victorian era British poet Christina Rossetti(1830-1894). It utilizes the folklore of goblins to set the scene with lines like these:

"Pricking up her golden head:
"We must not look at goblin men
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”
“Come buy,” call the goblins
Hobbling down the glen."

To read the entire poem and learn more about Christina Rossetti, click here.

Another writer, Anne Sexton (1928-1974) took fairy tales as a launching point to reimagine social norms.

American poet Anne Sexton is considered a pivotal figure in the confessional poetry movement that emerged in the mid-20th century. Her work holds nothing back as it shares her personal struggles. Themes she explores include: mental illness, sexuality, and the complexities of womanhood. Her poetry collection Transformations contains seventeen poems inspired by Grimm Fairy Tales, that include Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and CInderella, that challenged the prevailing norms of her times. I highly recommend adding this volume of poetry, the contents of which are unavailable online, to your library.

“The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly” by Theodora Goss is a different take on the Cinderella fairytale, told in poetry. Hungarian American author Theodora Goss (1968–) is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, and more of her work can be accessed at this link.

And finally I share a short story by American writer Michael Cunningham, famous for his novel The Hours, this little story, Wild Swan is inspired by the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale “The Wild Swans.” Brilliantly he takes the premise of the original story and creates an alternate re-telling set in modern times that focuses on one of the enchanted princes.

Need a writing prompt? Just read a favorite fairytale and think about how you’d like to retell it differently or take just one character or element and spin it into a poem or story.

Thank you for reading. Please sign up to follow Old Scratch Press here on WordPress and on Facebook.

Nadja Maril is an award winning writer and poet who has been published in dozens of online and print literary journals and anthologies including: Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Journal, Invisible City Literary Review, Instant Noodles and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, published by Old Scratch Press (September 2024), a Midwest Review California Book Watch Reviewer's Choice. An Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She has an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast at USM.

Creative Writing Prompt Inspired by Ann Patchett’s novel Tom Lake

Published on July 1, 2025July 1, 2025 by Nadja MarilLeave a comment

By Nadja Maril, a founding member of the Old Scratch Short Form and Poetry Collective.

Summer and reading go hand in hand. You go on vacation and take along a stack of all those books you’ve been meaning to read.

Sometimes, for me I have to confess I’m actually listening instead of turning pages.( Did you know that most of the books published by Old Scratch Press are available as audio books as well as ebooks?) Half of the books I enjoy these days are recorded books because I can listen and do various chores at the same time.

I can also eat lunch and be entertained by a book without smearing avocado or salad dressing on its pages.

And then if I really love the book, or just want to see it laid out on the page, I get a physical copy from the library and enjoy it again.

I try really hard not to read books by the same authors, so I can introduce myself to new voices. However, I couldn’t resist downloading Ann Patchett’s latest novel, Tom Lake, because I was curious about what it had to do with cherry orchards. The audio version is narrated by Meryl Streep. What a treat.

I’m a Meryl Streep fan and the narrator and protagonist of Tom Lake, the novel is a former actress. True, she is a different kind of actress, “a natural”, as she reveals in her story telling, unlike Streep who has portrayed a wide range of characters, but the protagonist has performed on stage and screen nevertheless. Streep does an impeccable job

What I truly want to recommend about the novel is its construction. So, writers, and aspiring writers pay attention. Not only does Patchett incorporate unpredictable twists and turns into the storyline, but she skillfully interweaves past and present.

The present setting is a farm near Traverse City Michigan during the Covid Pandemic. The past setting, that jumps back and forth into the storyline, is a summer stock theater also in Northern Michigan called Tom Lake. Part of the fun of this story is the gradual reveal of how present and past fit together.

I highly dislike predictable plotlines. Thus, I shout the praises for a novel that continued to surprise me to the very last page.

If you are a writer, continuing. on the journey of further refining your craft, you may be interested in the upcoming opportunity to join the Old Scratch Press Writing Collective or the opportunity to become published in Instant Noodles Literary Review. The Collective applications are available here and the deadline is closing soon.

The next theme subject for the Holiday/Winter Issue of Instant Noodles is Gravy. Write a true story, a poem or a piece of fiction related to Gravy. Keep it short. We prefer prose that is less than 500 words in length.

Back to my thoughts on the novel Tom Lake and not wanting to give any spoilers, I’m going to provide a WRITING PROMPT instead:

IMAGINE your very first boyfriend or girlfriend, remember what they were like to be with and then write about what attracted you to them, what you admired. Now, write about their flaws.

Take a break. Maybe wait an hour or a day. Then imagine yourself with that person and what your life would be like. The third part to this writing assignment is to first think about what you would tell that person, if you had the opportunity, write them something—a letter, an essay, a poem—whatever genre form you choose. Do you have things you’d like to apologize about, or explain, or share?

Maybe this exercise will give you an idea for a story. Maybe not, but I guarantee you’ll learn something about yourself.

THANK YOU for reading. If you haven’t already signed up (it’s free!), please follow me on WordPress. Medium or Substack and visit my website Nadjamaril.com to read more of my work.