Well, you have written your novel, collection of stories, or a sheath of poems. Now what? Do you want to keep saying to friends and anyone that you are “writing a book?” Is it starting to annoy you as well as them? Now that you have decided you’re done, do you print a copy for all your relatives and call it quits? Do you publish? If you want to go through the rigors of publishing, have a concrete plan. Pie in the sky is just that. What is your objective – cover publishing costs, make money, impress your partner or[...]

“Not since Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek have I felt so involved as a reader….This is a beautifully written, un-put-downable book about language, love, and being alive…” – Gillian Clarke, former National Poet of Wales       Written by Pam Petro, learn more about her here.       "Oblivion is a deeply intelligent and strikingly honest exploration of what ultimately drives a writer to write, and the cold loneliness of the journey, and how literary success in one’s lifetime is, at best, a fickle proposition. I will tell every writer I know, struggling or successful, to read this book."[...]

As a writer who benefits from essays published by literary magazines, I appreciate their sacrifice to support my nonsense and others. One in particular caught my fancy a decade ago—The New Territory. New Territory began its long-form print magazine in 2016, hellbent on publishing narrative writing, creative writing, photography, and art that creates a sense of place for Lower Midwesterners, i.e., Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The magazine's creator, Tina Casagrand, also throws in a sprinkling of Iowa dirt, which I appreciate as a Sioux City, Iowa boy at heart. How did my love affair with New Territory (NT) begin,[...]