Archive by Author

Photo Haiku Wednesday

January 20, 2010 in Staff Posts, Writing and Publishing with 8 Comments

Photo Haiku Wednesday is back and there’s good news! The good people over at Quo Vadis have generously donated some prizes!!

The  weekly winner will receive a Quo Vadis Habana Journal and a bottle of J. Herbin ink!!

Every week Relief will choose a random winner! So play along and tell your friends. See the information below for extra chances to win.

Photo courtesy of Michelle Pendergrass.

Directions:


1. Enjoy

2. Write a haiku inspired by what you see

3. Post the haiku in the comments for chance to enter

For extra chances to win:

4. Follow @reliefjournal on Twitter

5. Follow Quo Vadis on Twitter

6. Twitter @reliefjournal with your  haiku and #PHW (Photo Haiku Wednesday)

* * *

Winner will be announce via Twitter Thursday afternoons.

We can only ship to U.S. addresses right now.

You may only win once every three months, but you may play along every single week for Twitter Super Bonus Points!

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

January 18, 2010 in Relief News, Staff Posts, Writing and Publishing with 5 Comments

Michelle Pendergrass

I’d be a terrible poser if I acted like U2 was one of my favorite bands. (Sorry Heather) However, as I sat down to write this post, that song did come to mind and I did pull it up and listen to it.

Because right now, it’s truth as far as The Midnight Diner goes.  So I’m going to lay it all out there and hope that you will rise to the occasion and make it so.

Submissions were extended to January 15 and maybe I should have addressed the issues then, but I didn’t think about it.  Live and learn, right?  So the 15th came and went and I looked at the state of submissions and noticed a huge discrepancy in categories.  Some categories are overflowing but most are gaunt and starving.

We have plenty of horror, paranormal, and hard-boiled stories. They are abundant.  Everything else? Not so much.  Like almost nothing. A drought.

We need you to submit in these categories:

Jesus vs. Cthulhu

Monster

Shatner on a Plane

Archetypical Exploration

The One That Happens in a Diner

Weird Western

Conspiracy/Intrigue

Adventure

Aliens/UFO

Weird War

I am committed to producing a quality publication and right now, I feel that the scales are stacked and there isn’t much variety.  Take a look at the list and get going!

As for the new deadline, I wanted to give you until the end of March, but then I looked at my April calendar and I’ll be traveling three-quarters of the month and I know I will not be able to read the last minute submissions, not to mention start trying to produce this issue, so to save my sanity, I’m going to go out on a limb here and set the new submission deadline for May 15, 2010.

I realize that means we’ve kept submissions open for two months shy of a year and I understand we’ve not made decisions on stories submitted over the past six months, but I’d rather publish a quality, diversified issue  than try to make it work with mostly three categories.  In the end, this is better for you, author, because you want your story in a publication that cares.

* * *

Michelle Pendergrass is Editor-in-Chief of The Midnight Diner and hopes you consider submitting a story in one of the desolate categories above.

Making Crosses Review

October 29, 2009 in Faith and Culture, Relief Recommends, Staff Posts with 0 Comments

Making crosses by Ellen Morris Prewitt is part of the Active Prayer Series by Paraclete Press, which I happen to love so far.

From the Introduction of Making Crosses:

The building blocks of cross making are quite simple:

1. Take what the world doesn’t value and make it into a work of God.

2. Reject the materialism of this world, in your own small way, by reusing discarded materials and giving them new, godly life.

3. Engage in an activity that takes you directly into communion with God.

Making Crosses teaches us to take broken and discarded objects and make them new. As an offering, a prayer.  What an amazing way to experience redemption and grace.

Anyone can do this.  I have a group of friends preparing for a monthly cross making as I type this. Chapter 18 gives some wonderful ideas for what to do with your crosses such as condolence gifts to grieving friends, family, loved ones, baptism gifts at your church, housewarming gifts and so many others.  Some of my own ideas for the crosses your and your group make are new baby gifts, new mom gifts, and youth groups can visit nursing homes or the homebound of your church with the crosses they’ve made and prayed while making.  Honestly, the possibilities are endless.


Here are some resources thanks to Paraclete Press.

Preview: Chapter 8 – The Holy Spirit at Work

Chapter – 14 The Story Told by Your Cross

Chapter 15 – Sharing Your Story:  The Communality of the Cross

Making Crosses Facebook Group

Making Crosses Online Community

Making Crosses is a quick, easy read, full of inspiration and ideas. There are activities listed and room for your own notes.

Making crosses will not only affect the maker but also the receiver of the gift, if you choose to give your crosses away.

Other books in the Active Prayer Series:  Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth (See all of Michelle’s Visual Prayers that stemmed from reading this book.)

Praying with your Body by Roy DeLeon

* * *

Michelle Pendergrass prays visually and wants to make crosses soon. She’ll post pictures at her blog.

Page 7 of 7« First...«34567