Tag: Old Scratch Press

An Ode to your Code—How to write a ZipOde 

Published on 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 10th 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 10th anniversary celebration and read some ZipOdes here.

ZipOdes | WLRN

O, Miami has produced a colorful, beautifully illustrated 10th 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/

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 Old Scratch Press.

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

What Do You Think of That “Poet Voice?” You Know the One.

Published on by diannePLeave a comment

If you’ve ever been to a poetry reading, you’ve probably heard it. The slow cadence. The dramatic pauses. The slightly mystical tone. The voice that signals: I am now doing Poetry.

In fact, when I think about that sentence read in “poetry voice” it would be read like this:

The voice
that signals
I am now
doing
poetry

And each line would end with an up tone, as if the performer was asking a question.

The recent New York Times article digs into this phenomenon, often called the “poet voice,” and asks why many poets fall into the same stylized way of reading their work aloud.

For some listeners, the article says, that way of reading feels comforting and familiar. For others, awkward, distancing, or makes the poem feel like a performance ritual rather than a piece of language meant to connect.

The article points out something important: this isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about how poetry exists in two worlds at once. On the page, poetry is quiet, private, intimate. Out loud, it becomes physical, embodied, communal. Voice, breath, pacing, silence, and tone all reshape meaning. The same poem can feel completely different depending on how it’s read.

And yet, many readings sound strangely similar.

Why?

There’s also a bigger tension here. Poetry has deep roots in oral tradition. Long before books, poetry lived in voices, memory, and storytelling. But modern literary culture often treats performance and “serious writing” as separate worlds. Spoken word, slam, and performance poetry are seen as different categories entirely, even though they’re doing what poetry has always done: using voice to create meaning. They also might sound different, as performance, when compared to how people read on the performance evenings in your MFA program.

I remember, from the first time I saw poets read aloud, at a bar in Philadelphia in the 1990s, thinking that it was weird that many of them read their work in the same way, and wondering why they did.  When I was in my MFA program, and we would read our work at student readings, us poets, fellow students, often read that way. I remember it as mainly the other white women, and that the students and teachers/established visiting poets, could be people who did it. Not that all of them did it, you understand, but that it happened at times among student readers, teacher readers, and visiting poet readers, and it was, in the main, done by my fellow white women. I don’t remember the guys reading that way. I also remember that the teachers (minus a few) and the students in the poetry track were incredibly serious about the writing and performing of poetry. I don’t know that I ever got quite that serious, which is probably a character flaw. You know I’ve got me some of those.

On Threads people are losing their minds about the article (slow news day?) so, let’s talk about it:

• When you hear poetry read aloud, does it deepen your connection to the work or pull you out of it?
• Do you think “poet voice” is a real thing, or just a stereotype we’ve internalized?
• When you hear poetry read aloud, does it deepen your connection to the work or pull you out of it?
• Have you heard “poet voice?”
• How do you read your own work aloud? Casually, dramatically, flat, musical, conversational?
• Should poetry readings sound like performance, conversation, or something else entirely?
• Is hearing the poet’s voice an added layer of meaning, or an intrusion on the reader’s imagination?

Could you….
drop your thoughts….
in the comments?

Explore Themed Writing Calls: Get Published!

Published on by Nadja MarilLeave a comment


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

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

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 3rd 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

Collaboration with Who?

Published on by wyn001100Leave a comment

by ROBERT FLEMING, Founding member of OLD SCRATCH PRESS – a poetry/short-form collective | estd. 2023

In January, 2024 I wrote a blog on Hybrid Poetry which is an integration of two or more art forms, where one form is text.

If you create a hybrid work, who should you collaborate with? If you choose another person you will have to coordinate with them and all their peculiarities. Such a Drag! Why not collaborate with yourself? Only have to deal with when you are in a good or bad mood.

My hybrid blog showed my first visual poem, at age 11, I integrated poetry and visual drawing with crayons.

Figure 1.

Do you have two or more skills that can be integrated? Pick them from this list.

  • writing poetry
  • writing prose
  • creating visual art
  • music: playing an instrument
  • singing

When you join two skills, it might have been given a name:

  • prose poetry = writing prose and writing poetry
  • visual poetry = writing poetry and creating visual art
  • performance poetry = (playing an instrument or singing) and writing poetry

If you have integrated two skills before:

  • How did it go?
  • Would you do it again?
  • Consider not just the quality of your work but did you enjoy it?

In deciding whether to collaborate with yourself:

  • Comparatively at what skill level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) are your two skills? Are they at the same skill level or different? My two skills of writing poetry and creating visual art are at the same level.
    • If your skills levels are not at the same level (e.g. intermediate in writing poetry, beginner in playing an instrument), can you accept that your work produced is likely to be at the lower skill level?
    • What will you do with your work: celebrate it and share it with others, share it with yourself, or trash it?
Mem So CA / Hole in Head Cover – seesaw 2
  • Cycling between genres: At the current time, what is your inspiration for creating different types of work? I cycle through different time periods where I am motivated to spend a different percent of time on each genre (25% poetry, 50% visual art, 25% visual poetry). In 2022, when I was producing my visual poetry book, White Noir, 75% of my time was in visual poetry.

What’s it going to be?

Collaborate with yourself?

  • No: stick to one genre
  • Yes: try it as an experiment

Collaborate with others? Read Robert’s upcoming blog.

Robert Fleming, a contributing editor of Old Scratch Press

OLD SCRATCH PRESS – a poetry/short-form collective | estd. 2023

who published an Amazon best seller visual poetry book: White Noir

an editor of the digital magazine Instant Noodles

About – INSTANT NOODLES

Recent Robert Fleming publications and art

visual poetry

visual art

text poetry

Follow Robert on Facebook

Thank you for reading. Please sign up to follow us on Facebook and to follow us here on WordPress to expand your knowledge about poetry and short form writing as well as to receive the latest news about publication opportunities.

Pop Star Poets

Published on by virginiawattsLeave a comment


Bob Dylan famously called himself a poet first, then a musician. It’s often been said that every poem is a song. Many famous musicians also published poetry including Patti Smith, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed. More recent examples are Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Drake, Halsey, Tupac Shakur, Kelsea Ballerini, Alicia Keys.

Jewel published her first book of poems in 1998 A Night without Armor. She sold over 2 million copies, and her book remains one of American’s best-selling poetry collections of all time. The poems were inspired by the journals Jewel kept throughout her life. She has talked about writing poems since childhood, that it’s not music she needs, but “poetry.” That poetry reflects who she really is and unlike pop music, it allows people to get her. There are poems in the collection about human life, family, her Alaskan childhood, heartbreak, healing, divorce. It’s one of those collections that feels brave as an open heart. Here is Jewel talking about her poetry and her process with Charlie Rose.

I focus on Jewel here because when I first heard her music, I immediately thought of it more as words on a page. The words led for me, and the tune came after. The images were so clear and inspiring. Poets should listen to music, because music can teach us about cadence and rhythm. Music helps with pacing. Sound is important in poems. Music also has structures that help with poetic structures such as refrain and verse. Also, listening to songs can be inspire us. Music evokes emotion. Boosts mood and creativity. Music takes our minds from where we are into another space and that often leads to words on a page. Here is a song by Jewel that demonstrates why songs are poems and poems are songs and why poets need music. We wouldn’t be at our best without it. We were meant for each other. 

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!

Hurray for Dr. King~

Published on by diannePLeave a comment

Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joy Harjo, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, Elizabeth Acevedo, Terrance Hayes, Frank O’Hara, Audre Lorde, Allen Ginsburg, all poets who have enhanced the canon of American writing with their writing and their diversity. Have you read any of them? Which ones have you tried? Which diverse poet is your favorite? What poem do you like that you can share with us?

Did you know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed deeply in the power of voices, especially voices that had been ignored, dismissed, or pushed aside? That belief matters just as much in literature as it does anywhere else.

The literary canon is not a fixed monument. It is a living body of work that grows stronger, more truthful, and more beautiful when it includes diverse authors and perspectives. American literature is incomplete without the poets and writers who reflect the full range of American experience. Reading these voices does not diminish the canon. It expands it, strengthens it, and makes it more honest.

It may seem as if diverse authors exist on the margins of literature, but they don’t. They are central to it. They shape language, challenge assumptions, and help us see both history and the present more clearly. I have enjoyed so many authors who are so different from me, especially when we count the wealth of male writers we read in school. They are all wonderful writers, and I am also glad school now includes more writers who look like me, as well as writers who look like my daughter and my friends.

So today, as we celebrate Dr. King, let’s also celebrate the voices that widen our understanding of who we are. Pick up a book. Read a poem. Listen closely to someone, anyone, different from you, or simply listen to someone in need. How can you share your light?

On a slightly off-topic note, I was visiting my sister this weekend, and we each chose a stand up special to watch that is a pretty new special. I chose Mohaned Elshieky’s special No Need to Address Me, and my sister chose Marcello Hernandez’s special American Boy. Both were incredibly funny. Comedy benefits from diversity too.

I am happy for this day. Hurray for Dr. King and his marvelous legacy. Hurray for all poets. And hurray for a literary world that makes room for all of us.

~Dianne

Dianne Pearce is the chief editor and bottle washer at Current Words Publishing, and the half-cocked imaginer behind Old Scratch Press and Instant Noodles. Pearce loves helping writers realize the dream of having their work published. I mean she is really crazy about doing that for some reason. To that end, to join in the fray, to look at the thing from the other side, to stand in another’s shoes, and all of those things, she is fully expecting and promising to publish her first collection of poetry, In the Cancer Cafeteria, spring of 2026. Please don’t hold your breath. For very long. Happy 2026!

“Pink Dress” from the Forthcoming ~ In the Cancer Cafeteria~

Published on by diannePLeave a comment


Happy Saturday everyone.

I’m working on bringing out my poetry collection this year, and I thought I’d share one of my poems with you.
For the past year I’ve been traveling with my little sister to her cancer appointments. Luckily I do not have cancer, but I am cancer-adjacent, and that has its own challenges. When I want to say worrying things, when I read case studies, which I do, when I am by myself as she naps through a treatment and I wait, when I drive in and out of West Hollywood alone, sometimes in the threes and fours in the morning depending on treatment time, and I ruminate, I try to put it on paper, rather than on my sister. I’m also a clothes lover and a people watcher from back in junior high with my then boyfriend and bestie Joe Perna. We called ourselves the fashion police in 7th grade, like we were such good dressers. Joe and I observed details, and made guesses based on what we saw. In general the thing I am most curious about is the lives of other people. I think I am (possibly) overly empathetic, and I imagine stories for strangers all day long. I also tend to notice the small things happening around me. As I sit and wait for my sister, or drive alone, or struggle to make small talk (as I do without cancer! I have never been good at it), my brain is humming away wondering about people, and making stories to go with them, and wondering if their cancer is curable and how it will all play out. Most people I see only once, even though we go the same time and day quite often. It is my curse to want to know everything, and to never be able to know, purely because I am a nosy so-and-so. When cancer comes to town your ability to be quiet in the never-knowing is mightily tested.

I also don’t want this to be a totally maudlin book about being upset about my sister. I don’t want it to be a book about my sister. Though I love her dearly, her story is hers, and I don’t want to steal it, which would add, in my view, insult to injury. It’s important when you write about real-live people who are not famous people that you be considerate and kind. I am not able to do that when talking if a joke comes to mind. If I think of something funny about something you’ve said or how you look, etc., it’s coming out unfiltered, that second, and I’m going to laugh. Yeah. Kind of a shitty trait, but what do they say, “At least all the trauma made me hysterical.” Yup. But when I write about anyone who I will see again, it is important to me to serve my needs while not disregarding theirs. There are compromises. My sister may not want me announcing she has cancer, for example, but she has told the people in her life, and I need to be able to discuss it too, so she loses that bit of control, just another thing cancer steals, privacy. For that she has to allow me the book as a coping mechanism. Sorry sis.

Another thing to note, as I assume most people who read this blog are authors: you have to be careful where you put your work before you publish your book. I am publishing my book through OSP, so I can put this poem here, and OSP will not disallow it from the book. If another publisher was publishing my book, they might not be happy for me to stick a poem out in public on a blog. They may or may not be happy for me to publish a poem somewhere in advance, because that anthology or lit mag where the poem is published may hold rights that conflict with the publishing company then using the poem when publishing my book. So there’s that. You have to be careful. You can always post a question here, and one of us will try to answer it. In fact, I’ll run a monthly post that offers a chance for you to ask questions, and reminds you that you can do it.

This book has a theme that runs through the whole book. Some collections do have a theme, but often the theme is that all the poems are written by the same person. The theme in my book is cancer, but, more drilled down, my reactions to cancer, my observations on the cancer experience, which I am holding together in the idea of the cafeteria at the clinic. People who are going through cancer as patients or support are often in the cafeteria as a place to stop being wrapped up in the cancer events and procedures. It’s the downtime place, and, because of that, people drop their masks a bit there. I am not telling anyone’s secrets as much as I am interpreting what I see, which changes the observation from what it is, to what I see. There is much intrusion from observers, so don’t worry that I am revealing anyone’s truths besides my own.

I have trouble tapping a poem with my scepter and declaring it complete. I expect many poets are the same. Sometimes a poem comes out almost fully-formed, but most still have growing and shrinking to do.

I write longer poems. I write narrative poems. I tend to write personal poems. Sometimes my poems are true, and sometimes they are true in the sense that they are true, for me. That doesn’t mean they would qualify as legally true. If the person was a brunette, and brunette doesn’t work, guess what, red hair is what I am going to write.

This poem, “Pink Dress,” is pretty much done. I will say it is an uncorrected proof here, as I may change it a bit before it hits the book galley. But it feels good to me as it is, and I was able to read it aloud to myself without having major anxiety, so I feel like it is okay.

The OSP group has become my friends as well as my colleagues, and, based on schedules and etc., we often ask each other to look at each other’s work. That’s part of the deal with this collective. So far I have shared some of my writing for this book with Robert, Anthony, Gabby, and Ginny. I cannot express how much I have appreciated them and their taking the time to give me really helpful, kind, and actionable feedback.

Here, without further ado, is one of the poems destined to be released later this year in the collection, In the Cancer Cafeteria.

Pink Dress

Her pink dress is too tight too short
the old sneakers don’t go
hair twisted up and split
two rolls of mussed-up teddy ears.

He is all belly 
under his big and tall polo 
up top tangled hair needs 
a brush run through
but beard is spun silk. 
He is the one who gets up
moves around
paces because he’s in the cancer cafeteria and who doesn’t pace?

She doesn’t.
She smiles at the screen in her hands.

Whenever he gets up 
he runs his finger down her bicep. 
Her chubby thighs
twitch back at him against the tight pink hem.
The dress is a mini
I can see her cotton crotch and I don’t tell her
because each time he slides his finger down her arm 
her smile goes wicked at the corners 
for a second
as her thighs twitch
call and response
and it’s not my song to sing.

I shut up I pretend I don’t see.

When he manages to sit 
his chair is up against instead of across from
his long tangled curls try to nestle under her neck
wheedle around her earlobes. 
I can’t tell for certain who is victim
who is victim support.
Some secrets are not for me to know.

He needs to move again 
gets up abrupt 
clumsy all the other chairs 
tables reach for his legs
stepping around best he can into the hall
gazing in confusion at the baby grand 
sitting there
playing “Wichita Lineman” by itself
from 1968 
a year him and his girl know only as a number, and not real.

He stares at the piano
rocks on his heels in his shoes as he has rocked since he was five years old 
knees bend out to the sides 
a boy just learning how legs work
walking through a day’s same endless agenda
treatment, wait, consultation, wait, scan, wait. 

Head nodding at Jimmy Webb’s F major D major
he tries to find his way to the tune
gives up, moves back to her
comes in for a landing 
finger trails down and up
bare meaty skin. 
She ripples in response. 
Appearing now on all her bare places
languishing goose pimples 
long only to be released 
to go home 
so two may unzip the tight pink dress together. 

Dianne Pearce is the chief editor and bottle washer at Current Words Publishing, and the half-cocked imaginer behind Old Scratch Press and Instant Noodles. Pearce loves helping writers realize the dream of having their work published. I mean she is really crazy about doing that for some reason. To that end, to join in the fray, to look at the thing from the other side, to stand in another’s shoes, and all of those things, she is fully expecting and promising to publish her first collection of poetry, In the Cancer Cafeteria, spring of 2026. Please don’t hold your breath. For very long. Happy 2026!

New Year’s Resolutions for Writers: Setting Goals That Actually Stick

Published on by gilliampoetLeave a comment

Make resolutions that are realistic

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.

1. Resolve to Write Consistently, Not Constantly

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:

  • Writing 300 words, three times a week
  • Sitting down for 20 minutes, no pressure to produce “good” work
  • Keeping a regular writing window, even if some days nothing flows

A sustainable habit builds confidence—and confidence builds momentum.

2. Separate Writing from Editing

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:

  • Write clunky sentences
  • Leave gaps to fill in later
  • Finish drafts that aren’t “ready”

First drafts exist to be written, not judged. Editing is a separate skill—and it deserves its own time and attention.

3. Define Success on Your Own Terms

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:

  • Finishing a personal essay you’ve been avoiding
  • Submitting your work for the first time
  • Rediscovering joy in writing again

When you define your own benchmarks, your goals become motivating instead of discouraging.

4. Make Reading Part of Your Writing Life

Good writers are attentive readers. Reading widely and intentionally feeds your craft in ways nothing else can.

Resolve to:

  • Read outside your usual genre
  • Revisit books you love as a writer, not just a reader
  • Pay attention to sentence structure, pacing, and voice

Reading isn’t procrastination—it’s professional development (so let that TBR pile grow!).

5. Embrace Small, Unfinished Wins

Writers often believe that only finished books or published pieces count. In reality, small steps add up to big breakthroughs.

Celebrate:

  • Outlining a chapter
  • Revising a paragraph or poem until it finally clicks
  • Showing up to write, even on hard days

Progress is cumulative, even when it feels invisible.

6. Build a Support System (Even a Small One)

Writing doesn’t have to be lonely. This year, resolve to connect—even modestly—with other writers.

That might mean:

  • Joining a writing group or online community
  • Sharing drafts with one trusted reader
  • Talking openly about writing struggles instead of hiding them

Creative work thrives in environments of encouragement and accountability.

7. Let Go of Guilt

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.

A Final Thought

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.

Get Published: Submit to Instant Noodles Literary Magazine 2026

Published on by Nadja MarilLeave a comment


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

Happy New Year to readers and writers around the world. May your New Year 2026 be happy, safe, and productive. If one of your New Year’s Resolutions is “get more writing done” you’ve come to the right place. In our Old Scratch Press blog we will continue to discuss different kinds of short form writing, provide instruction and prompts, and share publishing opportunities.

First up is to tell you about our own publication Instant Noodles Literary Magazine. A member of CLMP (Community of Literary Magazines and Presses), we nominate for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

Planes, Boats, Cars, Trains is our theme for the Spring Issue 2026 of Instant Noodles Literary Magazine.  

Maybe you love to travel or maybe you like to stay at home, but when you venture out— what kind of transportation takes you on your journey? Are you invigorated by the open water, frantic following road signs, anonymous on a plane, or comforted by the train station whistle?  In the process of getting to your destination, how did the vehicle you’re traveling in affect the outcome?

We’re looking for flash prose (up to 500 words) fiction and nonfiction, as well as poetry, drama, visual art, and multi-media submissions. Deadline: March 15th.

When you send in your submission, as you should with any submission, the piece should be polished and complete with no grammar mistakes and no misspellings.

Also included should be a brief cover letter. The remainder of this blog I’m going to talk about what I think is the appropriate cover letter for a Literary Magazine. (Each magazine is slightly different so always read their guidelines).

Photo by Oscar Ruiz on Pexels.com

Editors at Literary Magazines generally use the cover letter that contains a very brief biography ( 50 to 75 words) as the same biography they use in the publication, if you are lucky enough to have your story or poem accepted. Thus, even if writing is a new found love or second career, you want to keep it “professional.” 

Rather than listing everywhere you’ve been published, pick no more than three places. (ex. They’ve been published in Dawn Magazine, Sunshine Press, Dark Days and many other publications.) If you have never been published, that’s okay. Magazines are always looking for NEW TALENT.

In your cover letter, DO NOT SUMMARIZE the work you are submitting. Editors want to read it without preconceived notions. If it needs to be “explained” this is a red flag. DO NOT excessively brag about what a wonderful writer you are or exaggerate your accomplishments.

IF you have one interesting personal fact ( ex. They’re a champion parachutist.) you’d like to include, it can enhance a cover letter, but to tell the story of your life is not recommended. Too long a cover letter can be a turn off.

Links to a book you’ve published and/or your website or blog is always a good idea. If a reader wants to read more of your work it is helpful.

Always be polite and kind in your dealings with other writers and editors. Everyone is working hard and many are volunteering their time because they love the art of writing.

Never give up, if you think you’ve written something good. Often pieces, particularly in a theme call, are rejected because they are not a good fit for a particular issue. Always work to improve unpublished work by revisiting it and revising it, when appropriate. Read and submit to multiple magazines.

HAVE A GREAT WRITING YEAR and keep perfecting your craft. LEARNING is part of the journey.

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, Invisible City Literary Review, 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://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/recipes-from-my-garden-nadja-maril/1145598579

Is Opportunity Knocking?

Published on by diannePLeave a comment

Have you ever considered a writing retreat? Most of them are (I think) outrageously expensive. How about a free one instead?
Consider applying to Yaddo.

Yaddo is one of the most respected artist residencies in the world, offering writers something increasingly rare: uninterrupted time and space to focus deeply on creative work. Founded in 1900, Yaddo was created with a singular purpose, to support artists by removing everyday distractions so they can fully engage with their craft. Located on a wooded estate in Saratoga Springs, New York, Yaddo has quietly supported generations of writers whose work has gone on to shape contemporary literature.

What makes Yaddo especially appealing to authors is its emphasis on creative freedom. There are no required workshops, classes, or public obligations. Writers are given room, board, and a private workspace, allowing them to set their own rhythm and priorities. Residencies typically range from two weeks to two months, offering enough time to make real progress on a project or to rediscover momentum that may have been lost to teaching, work, or daily responsibilities.

Selection is based on the strength of the work itself. There is no expectation that writers arrive with a polished or market ready manuscript, and no requirement to produce a finished piece by the end of the residency. This makes Yaddo an ideal space for experimentation, risk taking, and deep revision. Many writers find that the absence of pressure allows them to work more honestly and adventurously than they can elsewhere.

While solitude is central to the Yaddo experience, a quiet sense of community is also part of daily life. Communal meals and shared spaces offer opportunities for informal conversation with artists working across disciplines, including music, visual art, film, and theater. These interactions are optional but often enriching, providing fresh perspectives without overwhelming the creative focus.

For authors navigating a literary world that increasingly demands constant productivity and self promotion, Yaddo offers a rare and valuable gift. Time to write. Time to think. Time to reconnect with the work itself. For writers serious about their craft, applying to Yaddo is not just an opportunity. It is an investment in the long life of their creative practice.

DEADLINE:

Dianne Pearce is the chief editor and bottle washer at Current Words Publishing, and the half-cocked imaginer behind Old Scratch Press and Instant Noodles. Pearce loves helping writers realize the dream of having their work published. I mean she is really crazy about doing that for some reason. To that end, to join in the fray, to look at the thing from the other side, to stand in another’s shoes, and all of those things, she is fully expecting and promising to publish her first collection of poetry, In the Cancer Cafeteria, spring of 2026. Please don’t hold your breath. For very long. Happy Holidays!