...And we're back!

Yup, just like that... the site is ready to go. Like the minor updates to the look? I do. AND, I've made some changes to submissions because, well, the other submissions page was just plain crazy. Too many rules for a simple e-zine in my opinion. Not to repeat everything on the submissions page, but here is an idea of what has changed:

• Soft Whispers will be doing feature weeks (biweekly) instead of posting things everyday. Feature weeks will be one or two authors sharing five pieces of work throughout the week. Poetry. Art. Short stories. Pictures.

• Pic 1 k will be bimonthly with submissions being posted right to the Soft Whispers site.

• A Line at a Time will be monthly instead of biweekly.

Please be sure to read the submissions page before submitting. And as always, if you have questions... bother me. I love it. Oh, that reminds me too - there's a new email address - SoftWhispersStuff@gmail.com AND we are starting our mailing list again. Sign up! First and foremost, the Pic 1 k will start today and end September 30, 2010. We're starting where we left off of last month since there were already two entries, you'll get an idea of what we're looking for. For the first feature week, it will be September 6 - 10 featuring myself and my dear friend from Italy, Laura Mercurio Ebohon. We are going to write poetry about the words LIFE, DEATH, and RESSURECTION. (You don't want to miss it!) With that said, submissions are open... flood the inbox! J

Stay tuned...

First and foremost, I deeply apologize for the delay and lack of activity here in the past week or two. Life has been a tad bit busy, Blogger's new features are driving me crazy, and to top it all off, something happened with the Soft Whispers gmail account.

I am also in the process of restructuring the site a little bit with different projects, submissions, etc. I'm trying to find a way to make it exciting and actually use Blogger's new features... which means I have to *gulp* read instructions.

I just wanted to let everyone know that #sw isn't going anywhere. Stay tuned and stay put. And for those who had submitted stuff in the past three weeks, please resubmit to our new email address at SoftWhispersStuff@gmail.com.

I'm going to change things such as having the A Line at a Time project be a full month thing instead of bi-weekly. The Pic 1 k will be changed a little bit too. Also, I'm going to propose and look for "feature weeks" featuring one or two people with just their work all week long. Trust me, the changes will be sweet.

Thanks for hanging in there and like I said, stay put. It'll be worth it.

J

A very good reason...

Yes, the site is backed up just a little. BUT, there's a good reason... on Sunday at 10:29am, my wife and I welcomed our second son, Chase Adler Wisneski, into the world.

Things will be back to normal around Soft Whispers within the next week... I promise... but until then... meet Chase (with Daddy)!

Just something. . .

by Jim Wisneski I just checked the Soft Whispers calendar and there is nothing scheduled today! Oh no! No worries, it was all planned. I wanted to take the time to make a few announcements about some changes for Soft Whispers. It’s nothing big nor bad, but just little thing to hopefully help everyone enjoy the site more. I’ve realized that through my travels as Jim the writer, Jim the musician, and Jim “whatever I am that day” that I have met some great people and spoke with most of them. . . those who know me know how I am, know what I want, and know how I do thing. But those of you who don’t know me may not understand Soft Whispers and the projects I have here. And that is shame. . . but I’m going to fix it. Right now. For Soft Whispers, we have poetry, art, pictures, poetic fiction, A Line at a Time, Pic 1 k, and anthologies. Why so much? So everyone has something to submit to! Poetry is poetry. Write it. Send it. Art is art. Draw it. Send it. Pictures. . . just send them! Poetic fiction is fiction less than 100 words and doesn’t have names. Just a quick tidbit of a life. A Line at a Time – I post a picture and you think of a line and email it to me. Nobody see’s anyone else’s line(s) until the poem is released on the site. Pic 1 k – I post another picture and you write a 1,000 word or less story about the picture. Antho’s. . . are antho’s. Okay. That’s the quick run down. Now for the changes. . . or reminders. For Pic 1 k. I am going to expand this as of RIGHT NOW. I will accept poetry based on the picture posted. I want you to see the picture and then write something. ANYTHING. One line. One page. One thousand words. Also. . . ALL submissions will be put on the Soft Whispers site and most will be in the monthly issue. So have fun and experiment! Submissions open the 1st of every month and close on the 20th. Click here to go to April's Pic 1 k! I’ve been getting some emails asking about what I am looking for. This is my answer: ANYTHING! The purpose of Soft Whispers is to share our work with each and the world. I don’t care what it is. . . poetry, pictures, art, quick stories. JUST SEND IT! If by some chance it doesn’t fit or work, I’ll tell you. I’m always open for something new and different. And for the biggest news and/or reminder. . . YOU RETAIN ALL RIGHTS. I’m not sure if I cleared this up in the submissions part of the site or not (and if I didn’t I apologize) but you NEVER EVER lose your rights, not for one second. If you send me a poem and I put it on the site and then you send it off to someone else and they say it can’t be published elsewhere, tell me and I will remove your poem. If you have your poetry (or anything else) published elsewhere and you have the rights and want to share it on Soft Whispers, send it! I’m not greedy, I promise! I don’t want anyone to hesitate to send something and share it. I will not steal your rights. I will not force you to mention Soft Whispers if your work gets published elsewhere. And I will NEVER hold your work hostage! It’s your work and I just want to help you share it. That’s it. So, with that said, I want everyone to start sending away! Ready? GO! Oh, and before I sign out here. . . I want everyone to know that my Inbox is always open for comments and suggestions. See something you like? Tell me. See something you don’t like? Tell me. Want to just say hello and how cool I am? Tell me! :) Have a great weekend everyone! And keep writing! Jim

Comment tracking 2/22/2010-2/28/2010

2/22/2010 - I Wait For You by Rebecca Besser - 2 2/23/2010 - Blizzard by Jim Wisneski - 0 2/24/2010 - Compassion's Duality by Anne Tyler Lord - 10 2/25/2010 - The Wilted by Michelle Dennis Evans - 7 2/26/2010 - Sunset Steeple by Samantha Wisneski - 0

Comment tracking week of Feb 15-21

Feel free to join any of these great conversations!

2/15/2010 - A Womans Rite's by Cari Main - 4

2/16/2010 - This by Carrie Clevenger - 8

2/17/2010 - The Tempest by Maria Kelly - 5

2/18/2010 - Time Fly by Jim Wisneski - 1

2/19/2010 - Love's Note by Anne Tyler Lord - 4

Comment tracking week of Feb 8-14

One of our loyal readers made a suggestion about suscribing to comments here with the site. I know some blog sites let you suscribe to a particular post where here I have it set so someone can suscribe to all the comments left. I should have done more research on my part before choosing a site to use for Soft Whispers, so I apologize to everyone for that. Now I know that if you have a Gmail address you can suscribe but anyone else can't. I personall think that's silly, but hey, the site is free so I better hush up! :) So here's my solution. Every Sunday night, my wonderful wife is going to build a report of the posts of the week before along with the number of comments left. Then I'm going to post it on Monday. This way you all can see what has been posted AND how many comments were left. Yes, I know this won't help with comments posted after the week's up or new comments, etc. . . but this is what I have figured for right now until I can get something else worked out! Also, if anyone knows a way to have ANYONE suscribe to certain post or has any suggestions to this, PLEASE let me know! I think it's great how many people comment on the work posted here and I would hate to see someone get a response and not know about it. With that said, here are the stats for last week: Listed as DATE, WORK PUBLISHED, NUMBER OF COMMENTS 2/8/2010 - Tears by Michelle Dennis Evans - 9 2/8/2010 - Track Us With our Calendar - 3 2/9/2010 - To Her Beauty by Mike Berger - 4 2/10/2010 - There Is by BD Hudison - 3 2/11/2010 - In Lie by Jack Roth - 3 2/12/2010 - It Snowed by Jim Wisneski - 3 2/12/2010 - My First Drawing by Derian Wisneski - 4 2/13/2010 - Deadly Love, Be Mine Anthology available - 12 2/14/2010 - ALAAT 12 Results - 1

Track us with our calendar!

To help keep everyone in the loop with our postings, submission periods, and publications, we are going to use Google's wonderful calendar feature to keep everything organized AND we are making it public! You will be able to see what's getting posted when, what submissions open and close, and what publications are upcoming. Check it out and feel free to comment here if you have any suggestions! Thanks again for all the support. Soft Whispers Calendar

Want to see creativity at its best?

I posted a picture yesterday and left the comments open for thoughts, ideas, or poetry. Maria Kelly and Cindy Schuerr took me up on my offer and each wrote beautiful poetry based on the picture.

This is the EXACT purpose I wanted to start Soft Whispers - to share writing, poetry, and art AND get everyone involved. So a big thank you to everyone so far that has visited the site and an even bigger thank you to Maria and Cindy! And please, anyone out there in the world, please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and poetry. . . it may just get published here! :)

Exposed by Cynthia Schuerr

Forever by Maria Kelly

Hey there world!

I know this isn't super extravagant Soft Whispers you may have thought it would be. . . but it’s what we have right now! I am working on a web site but as for now, it’s taking more time than I hoped and frankly, I don’t want to waste anymore time waiting for you great writers (and artists) to submit your work. It’s the start of a new year and this is the year 2k10 which is the year of FUN! For those who didn’t read my post on Wiz World about my thoughts on 2009 and 2010, check it out here: Wiz World I have the submissions post up and the welcome post up so take some time and look around for a minute or two and let me know what you think. The history of Soft Whispers: it started as a cool name and then grew into a publication. I wanted to provide an outlet for writers. I also wanted it to be published monthly and in print. The project never took off the way I hoped for various reasons but mostly revolving around money. Its costs too much to print and it started to take too much time away from my writing which is where I cut the cord. What’s the difference now? First, we have very limited fiction – a program that has 100 word count and one that had 1,000 word count. Mostly because as an ezine, I prefer to read short stories. I tried the longer stories with the original concept and they were too much to work with electronically. Second, I want this to be about the writing. So there’s no money involved. No costs to submit, no costs to see the issues, but also no payments for contributors. I’m looking to share poetry, art, super short fiction, and creativity. Anyone who has participated in A Line at a Time so far knows what I’m talking about. Third, there’s going to be tons of action here. My goal is something new everyday. Maybe not right off the bat, but in time. New poetry, new pictures, new, new, new. And then of course, the monthly issue which as I said will be free. There is also going to be a chance for contributors to win interviews on the blog to promote their own projects and sites. Finally, it’s going to be fun! The original concept was killer on me. I hated working with it. I hated checking my email and trying to check issues and costs. . . and I hated getting nasty emails from authors that I didn’t answer in the first five seconds of submitting or if I decided not to use their 10,000 word story that was so incoherent by the time I got to the end of it, I had no idea what happened! I know, you’re asking – how is it going to be any different with the hate mail? I’m sure I’ll get hate mail. . . but I hope not. BUT – I’ve found my comfort zone as far as what I can reply to and when and I’ve clearly posted it in the submissions page! Okay then, with that said. . . the first issue of the NEW Soft Whispers will be available February 5, 2010! So, get thinking, get writing, and get submitting!

Want a fun, non paying job?

I’m looking for regulars to write poetry for the blog. My goal is to get about ten dedicated people who can write at least one poem every two weeks. I want to have something posted on this blog everyday – something new. I am also willing to have people contribute art and short, 100 word stories to be posted on the blog too. (Yes, I’d still consider the work for the monthly issue!) The keyword here is dedicated. Does that mean you have to sign a contract in blood or anything? Of course not. But what I’m asking for honesty. If you jot down some verses on a daily basis or once a week and they are just lying around, why not share them? That’s all I’m looking to do. I have lots of poetry that I’d love to share with the world and I know there are others like me who have some pages sitting around collecting dust. As I said, a poem every two weeks works for me but by all means, the more the better. And the poetry could be anything. It could be a single line. It could be fifty lines. Hell, it could be a single word – if accompanied by a picture that captures the art of it. Anyway, if you feel you can at least contribute something – anything – at least once every two weeks, please email me personally at Jim@JimWisneski.com and let me know what you are interested in submitting. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible and hopefully we can get the ball rolling! Thanks – Jim

Welcome to the NEW Soft Whispers!

The purpose of Soft Whispers is the provide poetry, art, and a few stories. It’s to be a community with other writers out there and provide support and outlets. Yes, the site looks different. Yes, there are new submissions, new contests, a new blog, and more people, but trust us, that’s a great thing!

What are we looking for? That’s easy – we want heart.

As our blog and site and publication get up and running, we are going to provide something new everyday with a “Best of” monthly publication that will be FREE to the world to view. Our writers are dedicated poets – some are artists, some are fiction writers, some are published authors, poets, and artists. The great news is that we are ALWAYS looking for new poets and artists to step up and submit, so don’t be afraid to do so!

Artists – we have not forgotten about you! There are too many good pictures out there that aren’t being shared. . . so we are doing something about it! Do you draw? Do you sketch? Do you paint? Do you photos that are worthy of being shared? Yes to any of these, PLEASE submit! So what’s changed????

The new stuff:

Poetry. Lots of it. We are hoping to post at least four to five poems a week for your to enjoy. In our busy world, we know it’s hard to stop and read and breath sometimes BUT take five minutes a day and enjoy a good poem and it can do great!

Art. Yes, art. We want it all – drawings, painting, sketches, photography. . . we want it! There are two contests being held in conjunction with this section of the magazine. First, there is a new program called “Pic 1 K” – remember how people say a picture is worth a thousand words? Prove it! For our fiction writers, we are going to post a picture on the 1st of the month and submissions will close on the 20th of the month.

Fiction. The only fiction will be for the new program called “Pic 1 K”. This will be a monthly contest where a picture is posted on the 1st of the month on our blog. Your job is to write a story about the picture in 1,000 words or less. Two winners will be published in the Soft Whispers issue and one grand prize winner will be interviewed on the blog along with their story.

ALAAT. A Line at a Time. A fun program where we post a picture on Monday and submissions close on Friday. Your job is to write one line and send it to Jim privately. The poems will be posted on the Soft Whispers blog and then published in the issue. Check out the past ALAAT here: A Line at a Time (#alaat)

Visit our submissions page for more details. . . and let the fun begin!