The Write Place at the Write Time

***IMPORTANT UPDATE: DECADE MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED 9/22

Our very first issue, featuring interviews with Janet Fitch (White Oleander) and Nancy Slonim Aronie (Writing from the Heart), debuted on July 3rd, 2008. Over the course of this past decade, we’ve published 34 issues, featured over 370 contributing writers, over 50 interviews, and over 44 fine artists and photographers. To mark our milestone anniversary, put simply, we thought to go big or go home. It's no surprise that we want to go big and in that vein, with all our extensive plans, we've decided to have one mega-issue to celebrate in lieu of a spring-summer and an autumn-winter. The current target date for the release of the anniversary issue is 9/22. Please check our Home page (here) as well as our Facebook page for any updates. On Facebook we will be featuring information on giveaways, reminders, and links to interim content.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Write-Place-at-the-Write-Time-literary-journal-345104540254/

When contemplating what to write for this section and this season, hints were revealed on a drive toward Narragansett Bay. Thoughts concerning an intended feature about the power of art, thoughts of summer, thoughts of freedom were reawakened as much as the body and spirit with the warmth of the year's first truly perfect day in New England. Coming to a stop in afternoon traffic, the words on a bumper sticker of a car in front jumped out: "Art is freedom." Exactly.

Seemingly disparate strains of thinking had found their connecting strands in the web that would generate the message of this space. There is no particular order in tracing those strands or the multitudes of directions they can go in, so we'll explain the various connections in segments.

To begin, we can't talk about summer without thinking of our July 3rd anniversary and we can't talk about our magazine's anniversary without thinking of freedom (beyond the immense creative freedoms it has afforded all of us in this literary community, it is USA-based and began the day before the Fourth of July). Finally, having arrived at this decade milestone anniversary, we can't talk about freedom without thinking of the power of art. What has art done? What have we as creators and receivers of art been able to do? How have we embraced the freedom to be ourselves and express, share, recognize the very things in the cores of our souls? How many countries, cultures, age groups, have been contributors, readers in what we call a family more than a publication? And we can't talk about the power of art without expanding it far beyond our humble publication and looking at art’s ability over time out there in the world to heal, to unite, to effect change, to inspire, to comfort, to give voice, to provide essential perspectives perhaps otherwise unseen.

What we would like to do with this milestone anniversary is celebrate not only this magazine's story, its memories, and the many great individuals (readers, writers, artists, interviewees...) involved, but to also pay homage to the power and freedom in art. This is a time when it is most vital to remember what these things mean and how, as human beings, we have inherent responsibilities relating to them. It is how we reach each other, it is how we know who we are. Those who read, those who view artwork, those who write, those who create artwork, all serve as mirrors. In forming universal understandings, we allow one another to be seen. We recognize ourselves. We are able to glimpse what the world looks like through someone else's frame and what we often find is that objects (or things we once perceived objectively) are closer than they appear.

May we use our freedoms in creating and receiving art with grace, strength, and reverent compassion. May we use the great positive power of art to keep reaching out, to keep forging a global sphere where every living being, every living thing is appreciated. Art is also life—nature, animals, people—all around us and it is both a freedom and responsibility to honor it.

So as this summer presents its traditional, seasonal sense of what it is to freely create a daily art of living, to chase dreams, and to collect hopes by the shore, make certain to pause and celebrate who you are as a creator, receiver, and embodiment of art. Celebrate your connection to all others and be mindful of their stories. Lastly, on the more intimate scale of a magazine that has made its decade mark, celebrate your role in this family. As a family of creative, empathetic, kindred spirits, we all have much to say and much work to do. See you soon in the autumn, dear ones.

The winter-spring issue which garnered deep emotional responses, will be left live until autumn. We encourage you, especially as it is our anniversary, to peruse the archives and hunt for gems that will nourish, sustain, and encourage you. With diverse content from hundreds of writers, imagery from 40+ fine artists and photographers, and over fifty interviews with fine, famed minds, you are sure to discover or rediscover something essential, something you needed to find in the write place at the write time.

The submissions deadline will be 8/31. Although pieces do not have to be specific to the following themes, we are looking for works that focus on hope, as well as constructive, cathartic power and freedom granted by art forms. More details on submission themes will be provided on our Facebook page.

The Winter–Spring Issue

This is the first issue of the year that marks a decade of our being in existence, and yet in it, we are newly born. We're looking back down the road at the many miles we've traversed, and yet we're standing at a beginning. For all we thought we knew, it wasn't until the final touches that we could grasp the mysteries of this issue. Its assembly was like that of no other before it. We've discussed how the magazine thinks and feels and speaks for itself, but even though we would yield to its directions or imparted messages, we thought (foolishly) we somehow had it down, finally worked out after all these years. Well. As an incontrovertible force, it can tender a hard sort of humility—but never without heart.

We thought we had its "magic" more or less figured, though we were continually awed by it. Then, in its milestone year, it suddenly proved elusive—at worst, with many things out of alignment, we feared it absent. Was it what was happening in our worlds, in those of the contributors and readers we cherish most, in the world at large, that was inhibiting the reception or sight of that unearthly, unnamed guiding quality that had always been present? Where was the serendipitous sorting that would take place each time, as certain and dependable as a sunrise? It was time to go on stage, the curtain was rising, and it seemed that in this crucial hour of a momentous year, the lead, the star, the essence had somehow gone missing. Although there was indeed a bit of theater and perhaps more dramatic moments than we might have chosen to write in, the ultimate performance did not disappoint.

Our accumulated knowledge and experience, our beliefs, our understandings, our demands, were not going to deliver this issue. Wiped clean of all that, our faith would be tried, our certainties reshaped—the issue was, in fact, delivering us. We were enlightened about our approach to it, to life, to creating. One constant through these months was our loving dedication to the publication and to all of you. Holding fast to that dedication, we could let this issue move along through us instead of being moved along by us. It not only paved the way for great things to come later in the year, but it turned out to be one of if not the most, unified issues. We don't need an overview addressing its different pages and components because there is incredible synergy.

In speaking of survival, there are three l's that weave their way through the fiction, poetry, and non-fiction—coping with loss, transforming loneliness, and both the strain and salvation of love. Another shared theme? The mention and use of birds as messengers. How fitting when our logo is the dove. The entire magazine grew from the seed of that painting featured on our Home page. So we go back to the beginning this spring. We came to realize that the essence and "magic" of the magazine never departed for a moment. Hidden, it was there working stronger. It was simply taking us from veterans to novices to teach us, forcing us to trudge forward through uncertainty and obstacles with blind faith, harnessing only our dedication, and then, to rebuild and start fresh. Isn't much of that survival?

We're reminded of a photo we'd taken years ago of an iris coming up through the snow and ice. Survival is often talked about as a precursor or a baseline, but what this issue articulates is that survival can be a complete, dynamic, and beautiful thing unto itself.

Welcome to the winter-spring issue.

Highlights:

We will soon be preparing for our decade anniversary this summer and with this very special milestone that carries not only the significance of what's transpired here but all the stories and bonds beyond the pages that we've shared with you, we intend to celebrate in the same way we started—together. We'd love to hear your words about what you've enjoyed about the publication, what you feel makes it unique, what has affected you, and what anecdotes or memories you'd like to share about WPWT. Updates regarding our publication schedule will appear both here and on social media (see below). Community reminders and information will be sent out accordingly.

We have a Writers' Craft Box which is a section dedicated to giving writers tools, essays, features, and contests to enter. Think of it as an arts and crafts box full of colors and inspiration, or an old toy chest discovered in the attic on a rainy day... In this edition of Writers' Craft Box, we have the results of the autumn-winter Writers' Challenge with winner, Adrienne Corey and her poem. The prize was a donation from us in the winner's name to hurricane relief efforts.

We have an Archives page where readers and writers can trace our artistic journey from the beginning and re-read the philosophies of past interview subjects, including Janet Fitch, Alice Hoffman, Erica Bauermeister, Tracy Chevalier, Dennis Lehane, Joanne Harris, Frances Mayes, Arthur Golden, Jodi Picoult, Mona Simpson, and many, many more!

We also have the Scrapbook page which celebrates the magazine community with commentary from our contributors for each year and also has a list of countries we've reached. *Read reflections on last year's anniversary!

Please send in new announcements to appear in the next issue by June 1st for the Announcements page. Please send your announcements separately from submission content and indicate the intention to have your news included on the Announcements page in the subject line. We encourage all contributing writers and artists to tell us of their news. We love to support our WPWT veterans as they accomplish great things on their creative paths. We wish to showcase the amazing diversity of activity that takes place amongst the members of our magazine realm, and we also like to give news of our publication to our readership. Announcements can be sent to our submissions e-address.

We have a presence on Facebook via our fan page which offers insights, quotes, tools, resources and updates. Visit Facebook.com and stop by The-Write-Place-at-the-Write-Time-literary-journal page. Follow our Twitter account through @WriteplcWritetm. ***You can also join our e-mail list by providing your e-mail address along with the words "ADD ME" through our feedback form on the Feedback and Questions page.

Inscribing Industry is our associated blog, featuring exercises, articles, book giveaways, special features, reviews, and interviews. *We have recent special features and will be putting up further content in the coming weeks and months so be sure to stay tuned! Click on the Inscribing Industry tab to go there directly or visit:
http://inscribingindustry.blogspot.com and become a follower!

We are a triannual publication (published three times a year), established in July of 2008. We are listed on the Poets & Writers site (www.pw.org) under literary magazines. Clicking on our listing describes our publication, past issues, and our editorial focus. We are also listed on Newpages.com, EWR, Duotrope Digest, Agentquery.com, P&E and The Review Review. To read more about our philosophies and approach, you can read the interview of our Editor-in-Chief in The Review Review:
http://www.thereviewreview.net/interviews/there-blending-culturesgenerations-and-countries

Our next issue will be our decade anniversary issue. Check here for updates. If you have any questions, please write to: questions (at) thewriteplaceatthewritetime (dot) org.