The Magnolia Review

18% Funded! 7 Days to Go!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

We are 18% Funded with 7 Days to Go! Thank you to all 31 backers. I appreciate your support.

I approved the final proof from the printer for Volume 4, Issue 1. They are getting ready to print, and I will have them before the end of November.

There is still time to donate, and please keep spreading the word. We only have 7 days to meet our funding goal.

Thank you!

Suzanna

Check out the Kickstarter project page here (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoliareview/the-magnolia-review-volume-4?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20magnolia%20review).

 

18% Funded! 9 Days to Go!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Thank you to our 28 backers! We are 18% funded with 9 Days to Go! Thank you for every dollar of $1,123. Keep the pledges coming and keep spreading the word. Let’s make this dream happen.

Check out the Kickstarter project page here (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoliareview/the-magnolia-review-volume-4?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20magnolia%20review).

Phoenix Rising 12 X 12 Clayboard jpeg

Aloura Hattendorf–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

My creative space can be pretty much anywhere. I sometimes have random flashes of inspiration where I have to drop everything and write. It could be at the store, walking my dog, out with friends. For my brain, it doesn’t matter. I do prefer working alone in the quiet because it lets me think over what I’m trying to say. And when I need to read it back aloud to myself I don’t look like a lunatic.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

My preferred tools are simple: a (specifically) blue ball point pen, lined paper, and hours of alone time. I’m not entirely sure why I like blue ball point pens. The only thing I can think of that makes me really like them is how smooth they move, I guess. I like using loose paper because it allows me to easily look back on what I just wrote.

What is your routine for writing?

I have a structured system. I write what I have, expand on that, check tenses, then I add onto what I have until finally I type it.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing.

I’ve been writing on and off for years but it wasn’t until about a year ago when I really started taking it seriously. I’ve been writing since I was little but I really got into it in high school and have been trying to incorporate it into my life ever since.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

I’ve never really thought about an audience. I want to write to those who need to express their emotions but just can’t. By that, I mean they’re almost stuck. One thing I’ve learned is that, personally, I can’t get anywhere without sorting out my feelings first. I know what it’s like to be stuck in a constant state for days, and days. It can drive the best people insane.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

My inspiration comes from my day to day life, even in stories. I try to take the highs and the lows of a day and turn them into something everyone can enjoy. I can make it rhyme, I can incorporate it into a fantasy story, it all depends on my mood. If I have a block I go and do something. It could be anything, it’s to jumpstart my engine and remember what my end goal is.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I like to draw and paint. I find it very soothing and at times, cathartic. It’s very nice to bring the people, things, or worlds that have been floating around in my head in both words and pictures. It helps organize my thoughts.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My favorite part is when it all falls together. It’s so rewarding. It feels like finding the missing piece to a puzzle you’ve been dying to solve and you finally did it, and it’s the most beautiful thing ever. It feels like a new kind of euphoria.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Use lots of emotion and this can apply to stories and poems. It’s emotion that drives us to become better. There’s never a moment when you’re not feeling, so it’s important to use that.

 

Check out Aloura’s work in Volume 4, Issue 2.

We made it to $1,000!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Thank you to our 28 backers! We are 18% funded with 15 Days to Go! We’ve reached a THOUSAND DOLLARS! Five thousand more and we’ll reach our $6,000 goal to print two volumes of The Magnolia Review, Volume 4, Issue 1, and Volume 4, Issue 2. Thank you for every dollar of $1,108. Keep the pledges coming and keep spreading the word. Let’s make this dream happen.

Check out the Kickstarter project page here (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoliareview/the-magnolia-review-volume-4?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20magnolia%20review).

12% Funded! Printer Updates!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

We’ve pledged $763 of the $6,000 goal with 23 backers! Thank you for your support. With 20 days to go, let’s make physical copies of The Magnolia Review Volume 4 a reality. (Check out the Kickstarter here)

I have proofs from the printer for Volume 4, Issue 1.

Proof from printer of Volume 4, Issue 1
Proof from printer of Volume 4, Issue 1

 

Proof of cover from printer of Volume 4, Issue 1
Proof of cover from printer of Volume 4, Issue 1

Postcards have arrived for Volume 4, Issue 1, featuring Sandy Coomer’s Phoenix Rising.

Postcards of Sandy Coomer's Phoenix Rising, from Volume 4, Issue 1
Postcards of Sandy Coomer’s Phoenix Rising, from Volume 4, Issue 1

Please spread the word and keep pledging!

Thank you!

Suzanna

11% Funded! 28 Days To Go!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

We are 11% funded with 28 days to go! Keep it up! Thank you to our backers. And thank you to William L. Spencer for posting about the Kickstarter project on Scribophile, with more rewards if you donate and are a member of Scribophile.

Check out the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magnoliareview/the-magnolia-review-volume-4?ref=project_build#

Mishigamaa by Robert Krantz

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Krantz submitted to the first issue of The Magnolia Review. His poems are magnetic and show poetic mastery. His language builds strong and lasting images. His chosen language sounds a melodious music to read aloud, a rhythm that you have to play to completion.

In “Pearl,” the speaker begins with, “I remember the wheat fields / of Iowa and the photograph / of you I took with me, / and how neither ever really ended.” The speaker continues, “We ate and loved / much in that decade, / collided with stars, / authored myths / and stuffed our age-spotted hands / into denim pockets.” The image and sound carries through the lines, building to the final image of “The half shells we find on beaches / were once a thing joined together, / breathing, and grinding / new pearls into place.” The poem builds like a pearl, with the images stringing together into a cohesive piece.

Laundry can be boring. The speaker reflects on his fellow laundry-doers in “Load,” where “The bachelors in the laundromat / spill their words / like bleach / on black clothes, / speak of condos / and alimonies— / thick humidities turning.” The clothes transform into more, they are “damp thoughts” as they wash, and they “…breathe[s] / restless poems / into my blues and grays. / Soon this summer rain / will end, volume of water / striking pavement / will knob itself silent.” Krantz ends the poem with a moment that draws the reader back to the reality of the laundromat, “The cash machine, / against the flecked wall, / reminds me to change.”

The collection ends with “Pathfinder,” about a hatchet and its story. It shares the story of two boys cutting down a tree and of a sibling wrestling game gone awry.

Overall, Krantz’s poems are musical and full of images that inspire looking at mundane events in a new and interesting way. I look forward to reading more of Krantz’s work.

Check out Robert‘s work in Volume 1, Issue 1, and a review of Gargoyles in Volume 2, Issue 2.

Scarlett Peterson–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

Both, actually. I work everywhere in that I keep a journal with me at all times. I don’t set aside a certain hour a day, and I don’t find any one place more productive than the next.

What kind of materials do you use? Do you write by hand or type? What is your favorite writing utensil?

I try to hand-write first because I find blank word documents intimidating. Seeing my own handwriting is not as jarring, and I find that typing it all up helps me to revise quickly and efficiently anyway.

What is your routine for writing?

I keep a daily poetry journal. My first year of grad school I took a workshop with Cecilia Woloch, and she assigned the daily poetry journal as a means to get us writing more often, and it stuck with me. Since I began sort of forcing myself to write something every day I’ve become more accustomed to looking at everything through a poetic lens.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

I began writing in high school, very casually. Oddly enough, I tried to write every day back then too, but it was more of a hybrid of fiction and nonfiction then. I followed a twitter called Write One Leaf, which may still be around, and wrote whatever came to mind. I didn’t begin to see writing as a career until I was nearly out of college. I’d planned to study abroad the summer before graduation when I ran out of money and wound up staying and taking summer classes instead; I wound up in my first poetry workshop then, and I applied for my MFA in the Fall of 2015. I’m currently half-way done with the three year MFA at Georgia College, and I’m so glad that my life didn’t go quite as planned that Summer.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

I write for people who have experienced trauma, and I write for myself. Ideally my audience is anyone who feels something when they read my writing.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

I find inspiration everywhere, it’s just channeling it into good writing that’s difficult. When I’m stuck, I free write until I find what I need to say. I teach my comp students to do the same thing, and I think it works for any type of writing.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I love to cook and bake, and I love makeup. I freelance a little, but mostly I just do photoshoots and weddings for friends.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My favorite part of the creative process is probably the final round of revision, which is odd, because you can’t always tell that you’re in the final round until you’re finished. I love having a finished product.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Don’t let rejection stop you. Keep writing, and above all else keep reading. One of the first things I heard in grad school was to read every book that was mentioned by a professor, and I think that’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten.

 

Check out Scarlett‘s work in Volume 4, Issue 1.