WRITERS’ NEWS
http://www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2019^87Literate and entertaining dog focused articles and stories are
wanted for The Bark, a magazine of modern dog culture.
Based in Berkeley, California the magazine has a slogan of
Dog is My Co-Pilot and is an award winning quarterly print
and web publication whose readers are said to be serious
dog enthusiasts, ‘very sophisticated in matters pertaining to
dogs’. It is advised you familiarise yourself with the voice
and scope of the magazine before submitting work and
aim to avoid subjects and themes that have been previously
covered by the magazine. Content can be read online.
Articles should take a journalistic approach and memoirs
are strongly discouraged. Primary sources must be supplied
for fact checking. You should aim for universal themes and
articles not centred on a particular breed of dog. At the
time of writing essays and fiction were being considered
but check with the website for any changes. Poetry will be
considered but as there is little space for this, shorter poems
will have a better chance of acceptance.
Short pieces of less than 600 words on general tips,
how-to and other topics will be considered as will articles
of a maximum 300 words written from a dog’s point of
view. Articles for web only should be no more than 600
words long.
When submitting include a word count at the top of the
first page and your name, address and contact details on
every page. Mention if this is a simultaneous submission
and if it has been previously published give the name and
date of the publication.
Payment rates depend on the complexity and length of
article and are negotiated individually.
As submissions are only reviewed between production of
the magazine this may take up to a year. If submitting by
post your work will only be returned if a SAE is included.
Send print magazine submissions to: [email protected]
Send web submissions with your surname and ‘Web Originals Submission to:
editor@thebark
Website: https://thebark.comFor doggy tales
GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET
Jenny RocheMARCH 2019 87Several writing friends have reported that
they haven’t written in ages. ‘It’s been almost
twelve months since I wrote anything,’
admitted one. Another reckoned he was
blocked. It reminded me of some comforting
words novelist, Eileen Ramsay, said years ago.
‘You think you’re suffering from a block.
Don’t panic. Consider it part of the writing
process. The fields outside my house look
very bare and barren at the moment. You’d
think nothing was going on but don’t believe
it. An unbelievable amount of activity is
going on underground. It will take several
months but, oh boy, come and look out of
the window in March. That’s what writing is
like. Accept the fallow moments. Do other
things. Your fingers may not be working but
your head and heart are.’
I learned to accept these barren times
a long time ago. They always come to an
end and I return to writing with renewed
energy and enthusiasm. Just like any athlete,
recovery time is as important and as the time
when a full effort is required.
Read Eileen’s words again. Digest them.
Print them out as a reminder not to worry.
There is no point in sitting in front of a
screen or clutching a notebook and pen if
you have nothing to say. It’ll only make you
feel worse. Accept your fallow fields time
and try something else. Be creative in other
ways. Paint, make bread, go for walks. It’s
often when we forget our worries about not
writing and are concentrating on something
completely different that ideas arrive.
Sign up for a course or go to a day class
for something you would never normally do.
Visit new places. Meet new people. You’ll get
fresh ideas and only one idea is needed to
become the seed that will grow and get you
working again.Novel
Ideas
Worried about writer’s
block? Give your writing
time to grow, advises
Lynne HacklesFallow fi elds
Tell Tales
Madness Heart Press calls itself a
new kind of digital horror publisher,
welcoming great horror fiction, from
chapbooks to novels, and poetry.
Extreme horror writers note, they
welcome things that might put off other publishers.
Violence, sex, and gore, racism, sexism, and bigotry
must be ‘pertinent and interesting to the story... Anything
too gratuitous will be rejected’. Submit a synopsis first as a
query and wait for permission to then submit a well edited
and correctly formatted work in doc/rtf/mobi format.
Madness Heart Press also publish anthologies. See the
website for current guidelines. Calls are out for: Corners
of the World: Judaism, a Jewish Horror Anthology, with a
deadline of 30 October; Ghastly Gastronomy, for food-based
horror stories, all of which must feature a recipe readers
can recreate, by 31 December; an annual, Trigger Warning,
closing on 28 February 2020; and Devouring Earth, closing
30 April 2020 for stories of massive monsters.
Submit stories over 1,500 words, online, in doc/rtf format. Payment
for novels is ‘50% net retail royalties’. Payment for anthology stories is $5.
Website: https://madnessheart.press
, for food-based