Ephemera Newsletter Iss. June.3
(Creativity and Motivation Weekly)
June 16,
Welcome to the Ephemera Newsletter, abokai! (Hausa for “friends”)
Process and craft…if we hit a hiccup, we go back to focusing on producing solid, well-conceived lines, strong and pretty prose; we focus on impactful detail and revisit our more effective habits. We like to reread our best work, the work of others who’ve inspired us, revisit music or an artist that made us think, notes too: a quote, a memory, a maneuver—these are enveloped by what we mean by process: the practice of being able to make art as well as the procedure. Sitting down in our favorite spot. Favorite drink (espresso? tea? lemon water? Fancy coffee mixed drink?). Favorite line we’ve written or read. Reactivation (specially in a pugilistic heat) is key, finding a solid core from which we can innovate, punch back against entropy and inertia. So we take a swing on your behalf; voilà, an ambient, process-focused musician and artist (Slow Attack Ensemble and Irene Chung) with obsessive technique deployed to serve a highly unique characterizing patina. Our practice of 3s: select zines, job ops, awards, and literary fal-lal. We appreciate your feedback and focus!
Fundamentals of craft are the architecture of receivable innovation, consumable chanciness, palatable piquancy. Too much verve and we’re lost. Too much risk without proof of our mastery of form and technique and we might not be taken seriously. Affecting patinas attach internally, and strike from in to out (lightning in slo-mo) blinding our senses with beauty but without the tethering craftwork of expertise undergirding the sensation, it’s fleeting, lost, or anti-epiphanic. The drudgery of practice and process is beauty fully unpacked, a bolt struck true. Did our letter electrify your intrigue? We aim to illume and invigorate in right proportion. And hope you’ll share our humble light with writers, creatives, and friends. Ode to work and grumble, the humbling toil of the live-long day.
We brighten with your support: Tea or Books!
Godiya! (Gratitude)
~We’re so happy you’re here!~
Featured Music: Slow Attack Ensemble
Slow Attack Ensemble is something random and beautiful we found. Truth be, this group (or we think it’s a solo artist) is pretty mum regarding their purpose and presence, and we don’t have bio or newsy tidbits with which to characterize them. Evidently, they like synth, experimentation, guitar, atmosphere, shimmering symphonic sampling, and vinyl. (Side note: we love the odd friction of processed and digital-delay-produced sounds purring from fleshy PVC records ripped through by diamond tipped styli). Thinking of this week’s artist, we connect the two in their clear obsession with process canopied—en fine—by sultry & oozing commitment to stylization. A simplicity of subject yields a complexity of emotion. SAE reminds us, again, that tight craft allowed to range and wander can yield something harmonious and breakthrough upon the overlay of a keen, style-focused editorial eye. Pure, well-hewn technique can brace the weight of our most ardent voice.
Writers Submit: Three Magazines
A tiny lit mag with big ideas in under 50 words. The online magazine is simple, and highly styled. They publish all genres, and also small theatrical plays. So, dust off that small piece of writing you’ve thought about expanding and send it to them!
All genres and pieces that “...explore place, environment, and the relationship between humans and the natural world.” Submission options range from free to fee-based to a poetry chapbook contest. Deadline August 31.
A quarterly fiction only journal w/ flash-fiction, or fiction in under 50 words. The magazine calls themselves the gold-standard for microfiction and was founded in 2009. Free to submit! Deadline July 15.
Interlude: #Friend of Ephemera
*Ideas* - Pitch Ploughshares
While it’s difficult to get creative work picked up, sometimes pitching pieces can earn us publication credits. Try pitching Ploughshares in the categories listed below. There are different guidelines for each. Also, Ploughshares pays upon acceptance.
critical essays
personal essays
blended long form essays
interviews
book reviews
Weekly Artist: Irene Kung
Irene Kung, trained as a painter, now employs photography like a brush, focusing her lens on city and landscapes, architectural monuments, and exotic plants. While she has a keen eye, it’s her dark room development process yields non-traditional results, photographs that feel like paintings, photos that emerge layered, whether by color saturation or by chiaroscuro techniques reminiscent of some of her Renaissance influences such as Carvaggio, Piero della Francesca, and Titian; she really digs frescoes. Very recently she’s become widely exhibited…
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