Lit Up: It’s Complicated
Writing Contest, News, and Highlights
Lovely Lit Up family,
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
February is almost gone and though we have delayed our newsletter of January’s best writing, we hope to make it up to you with wonderful news, announcements, and highlights.
As we do every month, we have selected some of the most brilliant tales published in January, where else? In the Land of Little Tales of course. We are truly grateful and we will always be for all those beautiful and inspiring words you trust us with. But before we get to the list, let’s see some of our news, announcements, and a tiny request:
1. New writing contest in collaboration with the amazing Writing Cooperative:
The wonderful folks at The Writing Cooperative have proposed a collaboration for a writing contest and we couldn’t be more excited!
This is a great opportunity to bring two amazing communities together, all in the name of creativity! How awesome is that?!
TWC (Stella J. McKenna, Jessica Jungton, Sand Farnia and Justin Cox 🍩) and Lit Up (A Maguire, Pat Link, Tom Conley, and I, DiAmaya Dawn) will host a flash fiction and poetry contest for the month of March.
Prizes:
Winning entries will be featured in both publications and our social media
Our winner will get a prize pack of exclusive Writing Cooperative swag. (A gift card may be issued if physical prizes cannot be shipped.)
An additional winner for poetry will get to choose the theme for an upcoming poetry prompt on Lit Up
An additional winner for flash fiction will get to choose the theme for an upcoming flash fiction prompt on Lit Up
Published entries will be featured in Lit Up’s contest newsletter
Here’s what you should know:
Theme: “It’s Complicated”
Love. It’s all about love, isn’t it?
This month we have decided to continue the Valentine’s mood with more and more love stories. This is not something we do often on Lit Up so we are very excited to read what your heart holds!
Give us your stories where love is unlikely, or improbable, or difficult, or tangled, or “it’s a hard to explain kind of love”. We want to read the unusual, the special, the “would you understand if I told you?” love tales!
General guidelines:
*Please use the forms to submit your entries*
— Make sure you send us drafts. Published tales will not be considered.
— Each writer is allowed 3 entries if they’re willing to submit one entry for each category. Available categories are: Prose (Flash fiction up to 1000 words), and Poetry: in form and free verse. Maximum one entry for each (that therefore would be: one prose entry, one poem in form, and one free verse per writer maximum).
— Opening Submissions: Today, but we will begin publishing entries on March 1st
— Closing Submissions: March 25th
— Don’t forget to add your tags and to provide a source for the images you use
— Don’t forget to format your story following standard publishing guidelines.
— Please proofread your work to make sure you present your most professional self. We want to promote you, we really do. :)
Flash Fiction Guidelines:
— Word count: Tales up to 1000 words.
— Make sure your tale is actually a tale. We are, and always will be the Land of Little Tales.
— Subtitle your drafts: “It’s Complicated: Lit Up & The Writing Cooperative Contest”
Ready? Submit your tale here:
Submit
*Please use the forms to submit your entries*
Poetry Guidelines:
— Word count: No word count limit for poetry but we will not accept one line poems for this challenge.
— Subtitle your drafts: “<name of the form> — It’s Complicated: Lit Up & The Writing Cooperative Contest”
— We do love abstract thoughts and artistic expression. Really. But make sure your poem makes sense :)
Ready? Submit your tale here:
Submit
*Please use the forms to submit your entries*
2. Updates on new writer requests
We know that Lit Up has been closed to new writer requests for sometime now. This happened due to some personal problems of our editorial team. Lit Up will reopen to new requests as soon as our March’s contest is over. Bear with us :)
(If, however, you’re not a writer for Lit Up but want to submit for our contest, we will add you from the contest’s submission form)
3. General submissions for March
As we have limited the submissions until the end of next month, there are going to be delays in reviewing and publishing general submissions. We will focus primarily on the current contest so if you decide to send a general submission our way, please grace us with your patience and understanding as well :)
4. A tiny request
“Crossroads”
Most of you know that Lit Up published an anthology of short stories in January. Many of you have bought and the read the collection and we truly are grateful for that.
Our team will start marketing campaigns next month in order to promote the featured writers. It would be a great help if those of you who bought and read the anthology could leave a review on Amazon even if it’s only something as simple as “I liked it” (given, of course, that you actually enjoyed the reads). The number of reviews makes a great difference.
Please help our writers be heard, and our publication’s efforts to keep publishing, featuring, and promoting unique voices and splendid reads.
❤
Missed this? Get your copy here
Highlights
Now, it’s finally time for our January’s tale selection. Some of the best reads Lit Up had to offer:
Short Tales
Brian Kerg — Where the Despair Lives
Alexandro Chen — Table for You
JP Fosterson — The Plunge Pool
Mark Starlin — The Plumber And The Librarian
Daphne K Moore — The Wood Wife
John Tuttle — Fighting the Inhuman Monsters
Dale E. Lehman — Little Gray Lies
Elle Fredine — My Dad’s Superman
Adrien Carver — The Good Guy
C. L. Craven — Blood
Flash Tales
Pat Link — A Siesta in a Hammock
Bob — The Big Brother
E.D. Martin — Watcher in the Night
Valerie Hilal — Blink
J M Jackson — The Pigeon
M J Christie — On The Beach
Stephen Leatherdale — Out of the Darkness, Into the Darkness
Austin Lack — A Window and a World
Trivikram Prasad — A Story For You
Benjamin Davis — The Art of a Hug
Creative Nonfiction
Edd Jennings — Hairline Cracks
Daphne K Moore — Teen vs Snow
Daphne K Moore — Clearing the Air
Poetry
Jef Littlejohn — A Night For Golden Eyes
DiAmaya Dawn — But a Poet in Autumn
Jef Littlejohn — Glad Rags and Sisterhood of Unintentional Lolitas
V. Plut — Why the Moon Needs Poets
Georgia Lewitt — My love for you
Zev — Beauty as a self-defense mechanism: hair done down
Ecem Yucel — Pebble
Rex Charger — A Vow
Violet James — My Solemn Vow
Bridget Webber — Does the Black Dog Sit with You?
Edward Punales — Maybe You’ll Always be Miserable
V. Plut — Wisconsin Lake
Kylin Vandermeer — Interrupt the echo
Elle Rogers — World I Was
T.S. Narkissa Luna — Hidden Sight — Forest Exchange
Mason Sigmon — Screaming Silent
Unni Nambiar — This Life Today: A Sonnet
Bee — Til Death Reunites Us
Gosia Rokicka — stay
Andrew Thornebrooke — Tar
That’s all for today.
Until next time, don’t forget to live, love, and create.
Much love to all of you,
DiAmaya Dawn
❤
