The Cupboard, an online and in-print literary pamphlet, is currently seeking submissions for our upcoming Love Letter volume. This special,double volume will consist entirely of literary missives, and we are seeking high-quality and creative interpretations of less than 400 words.

We define ‘Love Letter’ broadly, and are open to reading real or fictional letters to a beloved person, thing, or idea. To see what The Cupboard is about, please see the latest volume here. Deadline June 1st

The Cupboard is based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and seeks to publish innovative prose in a format that is broadly distributed by its editors, writers, and readers. All work published in The Cupboard is done so anonymously, but we can tell you that previous contributors have published work in Fence, Ninth Letter, Mid-American Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, Indiana Review, Jubilat, LIT, Cutbank, Cream City Review, and many, many others.

Last night’s meeting was a hoot. We played a game called Jabber Jot, “the hilarious word game where you create all kinds of wild tales!” In each round, we had five minutes to write a story using three pictures and a word. Then we switched the stories, read them aloud, and picked the winner. We each ended up with five or six starts to stories, plus it was an exercise in forcing ourselves to write without over-thinking. We all liked it and will do it again. I hope some of us will finish at least one of the stories we started.

By the way, I just realized that Word Pirates had its one year anniversary last month. On March 22, 2006, Marcia and I sent out the initial e-mail about the group calling for members. It has been a productive year with several members (Marcia, Steve) getting published and of course, our infamous Word Pirates reading at the Phoenix. Happy belated birthday Word Pirates!

Our next meeting is May 3, so I hope to see you there. Be prepared to share your long-term goals as a writer with the group.
~ Joy

Hi everybody,

Last week’s meeting was a good one. There were snacks, good drink and good stories (Morgan’s was a chapter from a graphic novel). The prompt, for those of you who missed out, is to write about someone minor (fictional or real) associated with a historical figure or character in literature. For instance, a story from the point of view of a Theodore Roosevelt’s maid. The example we read was a story by Jonathan Safran Foer about the cravings the mothers of well-known figures had when they were pregnant.

We also talked about having Word Pirates contribute to the blog, rather than starting a full-blown lit journal. If you would like a log-on to add to the blog, let Joy know.

Our next meeting is 4/19. See you then.

-Marcia