Whispering wheat.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger      1 comments      link this post     


A few years back, the writer's group I'm a part of (Lake Region Writer's Group) put out an anthology. We invited writers from across the state to submit up to three pieces on the topic of winter. Another woman and I were the ones who came up with the idea and sort of did all the work on the book. The end product didn't reveal the process, which is to say the book looks very fine and the process was not. When you put out a call for up to three pieces of writing from North Dakota writers on the topic of "winter", you're going to get bombarded with:

• Four or more pieces, sans explanation, with the obvious intent being that either all make it in and we'll be forgiving of the rules, or that we'll just pick the best three out of the last ten year's worth of work instead of the writer being his or her own editor.
• Writing that has little or nothing to do with winter except a casual insertion of something like "hell freezes over", as if that would qualify it.
• Some really bad writing.
• Instructions on how and where to send the check to pay the writer for their submission.
• And so on.

It was a very frustrating experience. Some of the submissions were not so good, including my own. That is why I said I would not be involved in heading up such a project again.

It is nice, then, that another writing group is working on an anthology, though they are not opening it up to the entire state. However, not being involved in the inner workings of the project sounds lovely, and so I found myself, at the meeting this past Saturday, contemplating possible things to write.

Let's see. The title of the book is going to be 'Whisperings from the Wheat' or something like that, I thought. "So...we can write anything, basically, that has to do with this title?" I asked the group aloud. I'd missed a few meetings and hadn't been in on all of the discussion of this project.

"Yes, pretty much anything on harvest, in a broad context. Except porn, of course," was the reply.

Could porn and harvest really be a viable mix? Then I remembered some of the stories we got for the winter anthology, bizarre ones on older people in the "winter" of their life and how to have more vibrant...uh...lives. I suppose it could feasibly be a problem.

"If I wrote a story called 'Wheat Porn', would they accept it?" I asked. I always want to cause some trouble whenever I can. I was envisioning lascivious descriptions of "busty kernels" and "long, shapely stems" and "flexible wheat grass."

I also considered humorous poems or stories with the following titles: The Deaf Farmer; The Drunken Farmer; Wheat Weaving; With or Without Beards; The Prices Are in the Toilet Again; and John Deere Sucks.

The deadline is approaching. I don't know if I'll ever get anything submitted. If, however, you hear of Wheat Porn floating about on the internet, you probably know who wrote it.

Labels: writer's group, writing

Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger      10/07/2007 10:58:00 PM      (1) comments      Links to this post    

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