Are you a flash fiction, poetry, or short memoir writer with a finished manuscript—or one nearly ready to go? Old Scratch Press, a collaborative collective supported by Current Words Publishing, is now accepting applications for two new members to join us in 2026.
We’re a tight-knit, skill-sharing group that publishes each other’s books, runs the lit mag Instant Noodles, and supports each other with editing, design, marketing, and community.
We are hosting meet and greets on August 6th and August 13. To be invited you have to send a small sample. There are no fees to submit, and there are no fees to join, and there are no fees to publish your collection. There are no fees. Who else you gonna find to collaborate with who dedicates an entire issue of a literary magazine to that most magical of elixirs… gravy? If you’re eager to grow as a writer and be part of something creative and weird and wonderful, we’d love to meet you.
We’re looking to add members to Old Scratch Press! Here’s the deets: Old Scratch Press (OSP), a poetry and short-form collective sponsored by Current Words Publishing, is seeking two new members to join us starting at the end of 2025. Your book would be slated for publication in 2026–2027, pending a successful trial period.
OSP is a collaborative, grassroots press focused on uplifting fresh, bold voices in poetry, flash fiction, and creative non-fiction. We publish three books per year, along with Instant Noodles Lit Mag (3 issues/year), which is curated and edited by our members. To learn more about our work, we invite you to explore past editions of Instant Noodleshttps://instantnoodleslitmag.com/ and OSP-published books https://oldscratchpress.com/catalog/.
As a member of OSP, you will:
Receive a free publication of your manuscript (poetry, short prose, hybrid, or a mix of writing and art).
Get 10 free copies of your book and keep 100% of your royalties.
Participate in monthly OSP meetings (except December and August).
Proofread and support fellow members’ books and contribute to blog and promo efforts.
Be invited to monthly marketing meetings hosted by Current Words Publishing.
Join a supportive community of working writers committed to mutual aid, creativity, and literary growth.
We’re looking for:
Members who are kind, reliable, and team-oriented.
Writers with a completed or nearly completed manuscript ready for publication in 2026–2027.
People who can commit to at least two years of active participation.
Writers who reflect diversity in identity, perspective, or experience—including (but not limited to) people of color, LGBTQ+ writers, disabled writers, and others underrepresented in publishing.
Applicants who are not full-time creative writing faculty. We aim to support writers who do not already have institutional resources or access.
Writers who have a track record of publication (a few poems, flash pieces, essays, etc.), and a clear desire to communicate something meaningful through their work—someone we can respect as a fellow writer and collaborator.
A note about our trial period:
New members will begin with a six-month trial period before we formally commit to publishing your book. This ensures a good fit and gives everyone time to build rapport, share work, and participate in OSP activities.
To apply:
Please send the following:
A brief cover letter introducing yourself, why you’re interested in joining OSP, and how you’d contribute to the group.
A short author bio (3–5 sentences).
A brief personal essay (500–750 words) about your writing journey. Feel free to include publication history (with links or footnotes) and anything you’d like to share about the manuscript you hope to publish.
A sample of your manuscript-in-progress (up to 10 pages).
Applications will be reviewed collectively by current OSP members. Finalists will be invited for a short conversation via Zoom.
If this sounds like your kind of creative home, we’d love to hear from you!
Causey Mansion in Milford Delaware is a beautiful spot to meet and greet poet/artist Morgan Golladay, author of the Song of North Mountain. Learn more about the historic mansion here. The event will be held in the gardens from 1-3 p.m.. Purchase your copies in advance online or purchase one at the event. Either way, Morgan will be there to autograph! The location is 2 Causey Avenue, Milford Delaware 19463
Editorial praise is just beginning. Here are a few samples:
“Sometimes stark, but always beautiful, these free verse celebrations of North Mountain introduce a seasonal sense of environmental transitions to the observer and reader’s eye, with time’s passage changing everything and nothing…Aside from a personal visit to North Mountain, there is no better way of appreciating its beauty, impact, and presence over the eons than through The Song of North Mountain.” MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
This book is a praise-song of poetry and art for Golladay’s beloved mountains. With an eye for detail and ease of language, her poems revere and embrace the elements and seasons of nature. Accompanying her poetry, her art further conjures the scenes we are taken to. From Vincents Wood to the Devils Throne, the writer takes us along, like all good poetry, until we feel as if we, too, have been there. I think I’d do well to heed what the writer says: Look too soon and you miss the mystery
Morgan Golladay’s The Song of North Mountain is a wonderful love song to where she grew up, “to the hills, rivers, and ridges of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.” And Golladay is the perfect guide for this voyage, perceptive, kind, and empathic. I urge you to purchase her fine book that also contains her own fine original artwork: sit back in a comfortable chair and travel with her to this most beautiful part of our country. As Golladay invites the reader to accompany her and writes in “Back in the Woods” (p. 69),
I experienced the magic and awe of a creation larger than I could imagine.
“Rest with us,” whispered the granite. “Breathe with us,” crooned the breeze. “Stay with us,” encouraged the trees.
Learn more about Morgan and her poetry here. And don’t forget to follow Old Scratch Press on Facebook. Thank you for reading.
As writers, we often draw from our own lives for inspiration, tapping into our memories and emotions. However, delving into difficult experiences or memories can be challenging. It’s important to use techniques, or “lifelines”, to navigate this process. For example, author Gillian Flynn separates herself from the intense emotions of her writing by enjoying her favorite Broadway show tunes for a few minutes after she finishes writing. Poet Ada Limón ensures she has a way out of the emotional intensity by reminding herself that writing is the outlet for her feelings.
“Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The interior is therefore rather dim and poetic.”
-Tennessee Williams
What does the “ladder out” look like? For me, the five techniques below are the rungs I use and find most helpful when the “going gets hard”:
Method to Shift from Interior to Exterior- when I feel myself spiraling, I will tell myself to notice: 5 things I can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste, OR NOTICE 3 things in the shape of a square, 3 things in the shape of a circle, and 3 things in the shape of a rectangle.(I thank my therapist for that one!)
Breath Work-Breath connects directly to the nervous system, hence, when our breath quickens with excitement/fear we can consciously slow it down to bring calm. There are a lot of different kinds of breath-work, but the method I use (because I can remember it) when on the high-dive is called “box breathing”. You simply inhale 4 counts, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4. More info here: https://www.calm.com/blog/breathing-exercises-for-anxiety
Form Constraints-Choose a form, any form. Maybe it’s a sonnet, or as simple as making a list. Maybe it’s a haiku, or in the form of dialogue. Having a form helps switch the brain away from emotionally charged subject matter, and over to the more linear, logical side. Like swim-lane ropes, it helps give our work specific direction when it feels like we’re dog-paddling to nowhere.
Movement and/or Music-Take a walk. Sit in your chair, reach your arms out and upward as you breathe in, bring them down as you exhale. Roll your shoulders. Try some chair yoga. Turn on the music. Take a dance break. The mind/body connection is a strong and proven one. Get out of your head and into your body. Discharge that pent-up emotional energy with movement. Your writing, and your body, will thank you.
Decline the Invitation-“Going there” in your writing is up to you. Trust the wisdom of your body. If something comes up you don’t want to address, you can absolutely say, “no, thank you”, and shut the door behind it.
Maybe think of the above as the hard-hat and knee-pads for certain aspects of the hard work of writing. Find comfort in knowing that many are sharing the journey with you. If you’re lucky enough to have writer friends, talk about it. Many of us circle and circle around our truths, but never get there. Suit up and see where it can take your writing.
Check out the wonderful writing and art: curated by Old Scratch Press! Lot’s of poetry for National Poetry Month plus other literary delights await you!
Just like a great lunch you can get it in an instant!
Old Scratch Press is pleased to announce the upcoming release of The Song of North Mountain, by Morgan Golladay. Slated for May release, the book includes original artwork by the author to accompany her poems. The collection is now available for pre-order.
Founded in 2023, Old Scratch Press is a cooperative of poets and short-form authors who have come together to promote the publication and appreciation of poetry and short-form writing. The Song of North Mountain will be the third chapbook, published by the small independent press.
Break in the Field by Ellis Elliot was their first book, nominated for the National Book Award, followed by avante-garde wordsmith and artist Robert Fleming’s poetry collection, White Noir.
The Song of North Mountain, says Morgan, “is about my relationship with this Earth, focusing on one small mountain in one small chain, in one small part of this vast world.
This book is about a connection – my personal experience sitting in stillness on this mountain, as well as many other mountains. North Mountain is, for me, a symbol of my relationship with this Earth. The permanence of the land, regardless of how it changes; the cycles of life, the quiet continuation of change. It has been a long time since I personally was able to sit quietly and listen to the tree branches and leaves speak to each other. I cannot scale the trails as I once did. But the magic of place is still in my memory, whether it’s the rocks in the rivers, the trails on the mountain tops, or the joy of sharing ripe wild berries.
“…my personal experience sitting in stillness on this mountain, as well as many other mountains. North Mountain is, for me, a symbol of my relationship with this Earth.”
Morgan Golladay
The cover design, an original painting, and the 10 black and white interior illustrations were created specifically for the book. Pre-order availability on Amazon and on the Old Scratch catalogue page will be coming soon.
To keep up with the latest news, please follow our blog here for free and also follow us on Facebook. Later this year look for more chapbooks penned by Gabby Gilliam, Alan Bern, and Nadja Maril. Thank you for reading. Special note: the deadline for Instant Noodles LIterary Magazine submissions has been extended to the end of the month.
“Bam!”, “Crrraack!”, “Klunk!” are just a few on the list of words used in the 1960’s TV show Batman, usually held within a colorful cartoon bubble. We immediately conjure what is trying to be conveyed, and part of that understanding is because of the sounds of these particular words. In any writing, the sounds of words can produce not only feelings, but physical effects on the body. In poetry specifically, sounds become even more important because words must be carefully chosen in order to “say the most with the least”. We must pay attention to the vowels, consonants, stresses, etc. in the words we choose dependent on the idea or tone we are trying to convey.
Take a look at the information about vowel and consonant sounds pictured above, courtesy of Cathy Smith Bowers, Queens University., (excuse my notes and shadow!)Then, look at these two examples below. Read them aloud and ask yourself if it feels like flow and glide, or stop and start? Is there an emotion or physical reaction you can sense as you read?
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his
riding.
-from The Windhover,by Gerard Manley Hopkins
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight.
–from We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
That was pretty easy, huh? Now, go to one of your favorite poems and see if you can see how the word choices the poet made regarding sound serve the tone, subject matter, and larger themes of the poem. Then, look at one of your own.
Sound is just one of the many devices poets use, and it is a powerful one. A poem that uses short lines with high-frequency vowel sounds will sound very different than one with long lines using low-frequency sounds. And remember, the importance comes from not just the reaction to the words in your ears, but also the subsequent emotion or felt reaction in the body, and there is music to be found in all of them.
Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to sign up to follow our blog as well as follow us on facebook.
Ellis is author of the National Book Award nominee poetry collection Break in the Field published by Old Scratch Press.
Writing poetry is a personal, introspective experience, a way to communicate our innermost feelings as art.
Enter politics. Around the United States, around the globe humans are in conflict. It doesn’t matter which side you agree with, we all have our opinions, even if our opinion is to try and ignore the chatter.
Poetry, for centuries, has been a way for artists to convey their opinions. Attend a political rally and you’ll hear speeches, chants, songs. A number of poems have become beloved “classics” and they just might inspire you to write a few of your own.
Claude McKay
If We Must Die
By Claude McKay
Claude McKay, 1889-1948 was born in Jamaica who later moved to the U.S. and lived abroad for a number of years., was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His published work included poetry, essays, a short story collection and several novels.
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
*
Beat! Beat! Drums!
By Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman,1819-1892, is regarded as one of America’s important 19th century poets. During the Civil War, while working as a desk clerk in Washington D.C., he visited wounded soldiers in his spare time.
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
Into the school where the scholar is studying,
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.
*
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds,
No bargainers’ bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.
*
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,
Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,
Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,
Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,
So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.
London
By William Blake
William Blake, 1792-1827, was an English visionary painter, engraver and poet of modest means who lived in London. In June 1780, Blake found himself in the midst of a riot calling for an end to the war on the American colonies. Often in his work, he questioned the status quo of the traditional order of society.
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
*
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear
*
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
*
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
If one of your resolutions for 2024 was to write more poetry, there’s never a better time than now.
Maybe wake up a little earlier, take a mid-day break, any time of the day will do, but just write a first draft without censoring your thoughts. For tips on revisions and the submission process, click here.
And to get you a little more hyped, here are a few places that are open for submissions this month, January 2024.
Bewilderness Writing is the brainchild of Old Scratch member Ellis Elliot. Ellis offers so many things for writers on her website. I look forward to the newsletter too, for all its tips and tricks. Check out her site. You’re going to love it!
Sharing your work by submitting it for publication can be a daunting task in many ways, not only because it causes a vulnerability hangover, but also because it can be overwhelming and hard to figure out where to start. I’m hardly an expert, but I have submitted dozens of poems to literary journals and contests, and found a good bit of success, and this is what I’ve learned.
First, begin by stalking online and print literary journals. Find some you like and respect. Consider the type of writing you want to submit. You would not submit your Southern Gothic short story to a literary journal for Christian Sci-Fi (yes, that’s a thing). Find the right kind of “fit”, as far as genre and theme, for your work. See if the journal resonates with you. And while it is never wrong to “shoot for the stars” and submit to the New Yorker or another of that ilk, it also makes sense to spread your net wide, over a variety of journals, big and small.
How do you even find these journals in the first place? Maybe your school has one, or you can broadly search online for ones in your genre, and then read some. Read to get a sense of specific journals, and what all is out there.
Also, there are numerous free and paid websites that have lists of journals, and some can even narrow it down for you based on your preferences. A few I use are: Submittable, Duotrope, Poets and Writers magazine, Writer’s Digest, and Authors Publish. (See links below) These provide lists of publications, along with dates and details. Always check if there are fees involved, and choose wisely. I’m the first to admit, it is a lot of work to wade through the sea of lit journals in order to filter down to the ones you want, but once you find them, your list has begun, and from there you can only add to it. Plus, once those algorithms get in your computer, you’ll be getting all sorts of lit-related stuff, like it or not.
Once you’ve narrowed it down to the journals you want to send your work to, be sure to read the guidelines carefully. You don’t want your work tossed because you sent five poems when they asked for one, or sent a 500-word bio when they asked for 50.
Be prepared with a good cover letter, short biography, and a photo. Your cover letter should be addressed to the editor of your genre in that publication. It should be brief and can include references to the journal you’re submitting to, like how you enjoyed their recent issue on butterfly migration, but don’t overdo. They are there to read your writing, not your cover letter. Be sure to thank them for their time and effort, because it does require a lot of both.
The bio should also be matter-of-fact, including salient facts, like where you live, what job you have, or family and pets. Include any writing-related experience you’ve had, whether it’s school, workshops, or clubs. If you’ve been previously published, be sure to include those titles.
You can always throw in a little personality and add things like, “in my spare time I like to taxidermy butterflies and run on the beach.”
Finally, the photo. I recently paid for a headshot, but that was only after years of using shots I made my husband take of me immediately after I got home from the hair salon. Just be sure you have something ready to go.
Once you’ve sent your best work in the best way you can, you wait. Most lit journals get a boat-load of submissions and turn-over time can take months. When you get an inevitable rejection, know that the process is entirely subjective. If it is your best, then it is art, and no two people necessarily will see your art in the same way. If you get accepted, let that feeling cover you like syrup, do a happy dance, then get to work withdrawing from all the journals you sent that piece to. Most journals allow “simultaneous submissions” with the caveat that you alert them if it is accepted elsewhere. It’s a good problem, but necessary to maintain good
I write all of the above only after having made every conceivable mistake and had innumerable rejections. But, I have learned a lot along the way. Like anything, submitting is work, and a job unto itself. It is also well worth it when you have the satisfaction of seeing your work in print.
Ellis is one of our founding collective members. Her poetry collection, Break in the Field, is available for purchase here.
Below are some links to get you started on sending out your work.
OLD SCRATCH PRESS 