The Weekly Atticus (06/16/2018)

Weekend Plan: Enter Our Flash CNF Contest | The Weekly Atticus

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

Dear ,

There is a running debate among writers, especially those who work in longer forms: When writing, should we plan ahead or should we wing it? It’s an emotional topic. Planners versus Wingers. Lines have been drawn on the page. Literary gauntlets thrown. Which approach is truly best?  It’s hard to say.  Fortunately, I have both a Winger and a Planner knocking around inside my head. I’m calling them both to the mat to get some answers once and for all. ME: Why should I plan what I write, Planner?  PLANNER: You need that feeling of safety that comes with a map, a larger vision, a spine to follow, which offers you both something to write toward and a place to backtrack to if (or when, knowing you) you get lost. Also, thinking ahead offers the opportunity to organize complex ideas and themes that require juggling. And of course there’s time management – it's simply more efficient. Less time wasted chasing ideas that don't work. ME: Your thoughts on this, Winger? WINGER: That’s just you playing it safe and killing the risk by following a map instead of digging into your creative energies and going for it. You lose the opportunity to discover what you mean because you think you already know what you mean. You end up procrastinating, fixating on the outline and coming up with no fresh ways to get you where you already think you’re supposed to go.  ME: Okay, Winger.  Why wing it instead? WINGER: Creative freedom! The rush of going with the flow, feeling the inspirational energy instead of stifling it with big picture issues. It’s the exhilaration of seeing something progress without really knowing where it’s going to end up – mystery, surprise, danger…juggling knives! Discovering what you mean in the process. ME: Your thoughts on that Planner? PLANNER:  Do you actually enjoy the stalling chains of ego-terror that come with sitting down only to find yourself uninspired? Failing to see the forest for the trees? The doom-gloom of being at the table for hours only to have the writing go nowhere? To use the knife-juggling analogy… how about when one lands point downward in your palm and you discovered that you actually have no idea what you mean (at least not this time around)? ME: Did either of you ever consider that we may actually do both at once? I mean I've definitely felt the thrill of winging it as I wrote my way up to this very sentence. But I also came up with the overall idea and the pro/con, Q&A approach before I wrote anything at all. An outline of sorts. From there I blasted ahead, going with the creative flow.  And then I arrived at this conclusion. I didn’t start with it.  So maybe everything that comes before this concluding paragraph is just the outline of the thinking that led me to the conclusion itself. The knives in the air are the outline. PLANNER: I think he’s confused. WINGER: I know I am. ME:  Forget which is better. Both of you are right. The real focus should be on taking care and not getting bogged down with right and wrong. Find your own way to your own endings however best you can. If you're looking to test out this approach, write a piece of nonfiction today (or finish something up) and SUBMIT IT TO OUR FLASH CNF CONTEST! (The deadline is tomorrow!!)Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Matt MullinsMixed Media Editor 

ATTICUS NEWS

HOLY CRAP THIS IS YOUR LAST WEEKEND!!Submissions for our first Annual Flash CNF Contest, judged by Sarah Gerard close at MIDNIGHT SUNDAY, JUNE 17th. Send us your best CNF under 1000 words. First prize is $275, a copy of our Print Annual, and publication in Atticus Review. SUBMIT NOW

LITERARY MAGAZINES ARE PART OF A GIFT ECONOMY (AND THAT’S OKAY): ON CONTEST ENTRY FEESDavid Olimpio, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Atticus Review, on the economy of literary magazines, writing contests, and sustainability."In discussing writing contests and writing contest entry fees, I feel as though I am entering some sort of literary “fray.” I typically do not enter frays. My therapist says I am fray-avoidant. I don’t even like the word “fray.” Still, despite my hesitancy, I do feel like it would be a good idea to explain Atticus Review’s philosophy regarding our writing contests and the entry fees we charge for them."READ ON

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: HOLDING ON AND LETTING GOA review of UNEARTHINGS by Wendy ChenReview by Alice Lu"a great balancing act between sorrow and wonder, between haunting and rebirth"READ ON

FICTION: BIBLESby Hugh Behm-Steinberg"The lawyer says, 'When somebody testifies, they put their hand on the Bible and swear. But there is no such thing as a bible for rabbits, so the bunny can get away with saying whatever he wants.'”READ ON

CNF: DESTROY AND REBUILDby Christopher Baumer"My brain has folded upon itself. It knows how to kill, it knows how to make my body perform the movements necessary to chamber a round."READ ON

POETRY: SUNDAY YOGAby Hannah Craig"...I try not to thinkof the position we'd call corpse in the river, washed-out,or grieving. A sluice-band of gurgling plays deepAppalachian blues from the pipes overhead. We goto sleep like children, limp and dragged...."READ ON

FILM REVIEW: BOXED-IN TOYS AND FIRECRACKERSA Review of Ari Aster's HEREDITARY.Review by Brad Avery"We watch already unraveling people stretched beyond their limits and destroyed by a supernatural metaphor for their own disgust with each other."READ ON

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