A Newsletter With A View of One’s Own-14 Hello June! How are you? A lot has happened in lit world since the last newsletter, and I hope I'm able to take you through as many of them as possible. Let's get started! good news stories The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has launched the RSL…

New publication! Thank you to the editors, @thewoolfofficial.bsky.social

What’s new, fabulous and green all over? Issue 10, featuring @hughbehmsteinberg.bsky.social @kerstenak.bsky.social @chriscottom.bsky.social @judydarley.bsky.social @kdawn999.bsky.social @katherine-glee.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social ...and @megpokrass.bsky.social Enjoy! thewoolfx.com

Judges 22, 23 & 24: @tinaehsanipour.bsky.social is an Iranian-born California-raised writer, HS teacher & librarian. @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social is a writer & editor whose writing spans 380+ pubs. Matt Yost is a teacher, parent & writer, who lives in the south of the southern most continent.

Judges 22, 23, & 24: @tinaehsanipour.bsky.social is an Iranian-born California-raised writer, high school teacher & librarian. @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social is a writer & editor whose work spans 380+ pubs. Matt Yost is a teacher & writer who lives in the south of the southern most continent.

Judges @zeykaren.bsky.socizl (Broken), @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social (Praise Rain), and Michelle La Vone (Songs, Sounds, and Voices) want your micros!

Absolutely thrilled to have work forthcoming in these awesome publications! 😭#Dream

Haven't sold a book all week. Fuck. Anyway, the Buy 2, Get 1 free deal is still on, for 2 more days. Find your next favorite book or poetry, short story collection, novella, novel +/or lit mag issue on the site and use code 2EQUALS3 to get anything free when you pay for any pair.

… If you’re curious, just ordered- A Question of Family by @fbereaud.bsky.social Love You, Miss You, Goodbye Forever by @tcboudreau.bsky.social Where We Set Our Easel by @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social

A Newsletter With A View of One’s Own-13 In this month's newsletter, a Pulitzer Prize winner waiting tables, a Moroccan city becomes the World Book Capital, some editors uploading unpublished manuscripts into tools like ChatGPT, why every major Indian writer lives abroad, Ruby Lit and at least two…

"Since the Great Reorder, it’s been kind of weird to talk to each other. We live alone, in compartmentalized tiny apartments...never allowed to make conversation." New fiction, "The Crocodile Married, and Then It Was Over" by Mandira Pattnaik, is out today! adimagazine.com/articles/the...

New story! "Since the Great Reorder, it’s been kind of weird to talk to each other. We live alone, in compartmentalized tiny apartments...never allowed to make conversation." New fiction, "The Crocodile Married, and Then It Was Over" in @adimagazine.bsky.social adimagazine.com/articles/the...

Had the pleasure of talking with Mandira Pattnaik @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social about the lyrical novella-in-flash GLASS/FIRE. Out now from @querenciapress.bsky.social. Head over to @xraylitmag.bsky.social! xraylitmag.com/yielding-as-...

Fresh, vivid and inventive flash by @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social #fictivedream #flashfictionfebruary

"The first time she went off, I found her at the straw house, braiding her golden hair, like some painting from antiquity" Rich, evocative writing from @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social

Thank you for reading and sharing, Matt. Very much appreciated @mattkendrick.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social #flashfiction #flashfictionfebruary

I think I've made some pretty book covers, but I don't believe any back cover is better than what I did for @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social's Where We Set Our Easel (from the more *innocent* pre-Blue Sky days of spring 2023)

"Pretty is a word for damsels. In distress. Eyes aren’t pretty. They are, at best, calm, or solemn, or gentle" Wonderful piece from @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social - a backwards story told through imperatives - such creative use of form: milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/05/08/h...

Yay everyone! Especially my writing bestie @lisaalletson.bsky.social! Big shouts! @didiwood.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social @willmusgrove.bsky.social @marioaliberto3.bsky.social @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social @crobertswriter.bsky.social @emilyrinkema.bsky.social @jamesmontgomery.bsky.social

Huge congrats to all the writers in the #NFFR family whose stories were selected for the WIGLEAF TOP 50! @kazbarwrites.bsky.social @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social @jamesmontgomery.bsky.social @pamelapainter.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social @crobertswriter.bsky.social wigleaf.com

"it still means so-little and so-much at the same time, just to stare at you, in this early evening, homebound birds dissolving in the sky" Wonderful wistful writing from @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social in @tinymolecules.bsky.social www.tinymolecules.com/issues/twent...

Includes writing contest hints and tips...

@shortstorytoday.bsky.social I’ll miss you! 💔 But there are lots of episodes to go back to until you return. I mentioned some of my faves in a previous post, here are some more [email protected] @melostrom.bsky.social @norami.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social @emirengoff.bsky.social

"…and each time there was a story in the end..." Thus begins @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social's perfectly honed "Been on a Train Five Times," a dream-like series of train happenings written with such precision. Pattnaik is such an incredible writer and we are so stoked to feature this wonder! Peep it!

"…and each time there was a story in the end..." What an utter delight, to have the phenom @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social featured on @hexliterary.bsky.social this week, with a series of dreamy train happenings. Poetic and inspiring and strange and so perfectly written! Don't miss this wonder!

"Outside the dirty glass, darkness closed in. Like black wrapper on gift nobody wanted to receive. Train locked me in, hardly any passengers..." Each twist of this great piece by @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social surprised me. New on hex today!

Afternooners! @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social has some fresh for you and we are lucky as hell to have it for hex! Go check out the sharp and strange "Been on a Train Five Times" now!

"I do understand the way my loving husband labels the bell jars, even though I can see through the glass what they are filled-with—salt, sugar, biscuits, and flour." Charming story about togetherness in grief and hope by @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social in Issue 40. newflashfiction.com/about-the-lo...

"About the Longevity of Labelling Bell Jars" Wonderful title and wonderful piece from @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social in @nffr.bsky.social. So many emotions bubbling away in this, so much realness at its heart. newflashfiction.com/about-the-lo...

Happy International Women's Day to awesome writers, @alexwoodroe.com @lorekeating.bsky.social @kojiadae.bsky.social @mandirapattnaik.bsky.social @rascalhartley.bsky.social @renbolger.bsky.social @coffinesque.bsky.social @sammileighm.bsky.social @lyndseycroal.bsky.social @jolietoomajan.bsky.social

Delighted to relay the news that one of our contributing editors, Mandira Pattnaik, snagged runner-up in Quarterly West's latest prose contest: www.quarterlywest.com/issue-116-pa...

A Newsletter With A View of One’s Own-12 Dear Readers, We completed a full circle of our Sun and we're here at edition 12 of my monthly newsletter! YAY! I'm doubly thankful for y'all sticking by me and for your wonderful response to the March edition. As always, I'll jump straight to what's…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-11 Hi everyone, how are you? It's March already! We've clocked two months of 2026, and where are we? Let's take heart that there are writers (and we aren't one of them!) who pay utility bills with spider drawings --yes this happened-- and fun fact: February 23…

How My Lego-block-style Essay Got Accepted: A Heartfelt Email Story The writer shares a personal experience of receiving an acceptance email for an essay titled "I Owe You an Explanation, Son," which discusses the urgent climate crisis and the generational responsibility to care for the planet.…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-10 Dear writers, February is upon us. February is Spring in our part of the world. Also Valentine's Day. Most schools here have their annual examinations. So it is a strange mix of feelings, this month--work and fun, enjoying the breeze until Summer. Have you…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-09 Dear Subscribers, Wish you a very Happy New Year! Know what? I am always so confused if H. N. P. (in happy new year) should be capitalized or not? Just like I'm not sure if the phrase is 'Look forward to it', or is it 'Looking forward to it'? Just two of…

2025’s TOP 10 Best Flash Fiction: And why I love them Flash fiction is evolving as writers experiment with new forms and subjects that align with today’s realities. In our fast-paced digital world, social media and online magazines encourage stories that are shorter, bolder, and more interactive,…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-08 Good morning, friends! We are officially into the last month of 2025--how utterly unbelievable is that! We're also at the eighth edition of this newsletter--and 8 is an auspicious number in my culture, so I'm rather happy we've come this far. Let's get…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-07 Hello readers — welcome to the November 2025 edition of A Newsletter With a View of One's Own. How are you? I hope you're absorbing the changes around you and collecting memories. Writing spontaneously about perceptions and experiences, is extremely…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-06 Hi friends! I woke up today to unseasonal rains and there's an unmistakable nip in the air. Autumn might be sooner than usual, and winter, colder. Have you noticed the season changing where you are? Let me know in the comments! It is interesting how a small…

Innovative Storytelling Through Letters and Emails Formats of handwritten mails (and emails) provide excellent jackets to write fiction that needs to be direct and personal. That is why — epistolary fiction. Read on to find OUT more including helpful examples. Hi friends! A warm welcome to…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-05 Hello subscribers and readers! September is the month when a lot of journals and magazines open to submissions. I hope you've been submitting to as many as you'd like to. Most will, sadly, close before you know it because magazines these days cap…

6 PROMPTS FOR A LONG WEEKEND For this blogpost, I’ve combed through my notebooks to come up with a list of six new PROMPTS you may try during the upcoming long weekend: Take an abstract noun--here's a brief list below--and form an idea around it. Work on the idea to form a plot. Make it reflective…

If Your Are A Writer, Don’t Read! Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com If you are a writer, don’t read. That is the advice of leading writers, thinkers and eminent personalities, including Albert Einstein, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy and William Woodard. Sounds like literary sacrilege,…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-04 August 01, 2025 Allow me to begin this month's A Newsletter With a View of One's Own-04 with shout out to some of our subscribers who have had a great June and July. Subscriber and guest contributor Sudeepa Nair released her book The Lakeview Mystery,…

Reclaiming Writing Life By Staying Off Social Media–is it doable? Past two months, I wrote and received acceptances for six pieces after making a conscious decision: I spent less time on social media. Even though engaging through my platforms have emerged to become an indispensable part of my…

Four Years of Words, Wonder, and Growth Dear Friends, Today marks four years since I launched this little corner of the internet—my author website! It is a space I carved out to share my writing, connect with readers, and give voice to others wanting to share theirs. I run my author site as a…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-03 July 02, 2025 Hey friends! How about starting this month's newsletter by sharing some submission calls I'm really excited about and believe you will be too. Hudson Review is open all month to a no-fee #poetrycontest 1st prize: $1000 + publication, 2nd &…

Unlocking Creativity: Writing to Themes Tips and Techniques CRAFT ESSAY BY MANDIRA PATTNAIK Earlier this week, I was looking at the themes that literary magazines are currently open for. Some of them are "Science" (inScribe), "Memories in Shape" (The Literary Times), "Fairytale, Myths, Legends"…

A Newsletter With a View of One’s Own-02 June 01, 2025 Hey friends! Welcome back! First up. Mysterious are the ways of the heart. My heart is full as both Glass/Fire and Where We Set Our Easel turned-in anniversaries--six months/4.25 Goodreads rating and two years/4.9 Goodreads rating…