Tag Archives: fiction

Popular Writing

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Popular Writing: Eastlit. Guardian Image by Graham LawrenceThe last time I did a piece on top reads, it seemed to generate quite a bit of interest. I wasn’t really sure if popular writing would go down well, but by popular request it is back.

So here we are again with an update on popular writing in Eastlit. As with the previous one, I have listed the top five most popular writing pieces of the last five and thirty days. I have also done the top ten reads of all time. There has been some movement in this list!

Again I have only looked at the most popular writing by contributors. I haven’t included site pages, editorials, covers or news items etc. As before, I haven’t included a direct link to each piece, but I have listed the issue each piece is in. Links to back issues can be found in the Eastlit Archive. Recent issues can be found in the menu at the top of the page. Maybe take a look at some of the lesser read pieces too. Of course being popular may not mean best 😉

Anyway here is the popular writing:

Popular Writing: Last Seven Days:

  1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
  2. Shadows in Rooms by Anita Gill (August).
  3. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April).
  4. Four Poems by Anna Yin (March).
  5. Art of Evil by Andrew J. West (August).

Popular Writing: Last Thirty Days:

  1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
  2. Art of Evil by Andrew J. West (August).
  3. The Sarawak Club by Colin W. Campbell (September).
  4. The Pilgrim by Simon Rowe (September).
  5. Colonial Arch by Rembrandt Ramilo (September).

Popular Writing: Top Ten All Time:

  1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
  2. The Mansion by Andrew J. West (June).
  3. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April).
  4. Going Home by Steve Rosse (February).
  5. Five Poems by Rose Lu (April).
  6. La Perla by MFL Bulandus (December).
  7. Three Poems by Rose Lu (July).
  8. Monkey Business by Ashwin Mudigonda (December).
  9. The Battle of Mianzi by Nichole Reber (May).
  10. Struck by T-net Quiring (July).

Other News:

I have been quite busy with personal and family business recently, so apologies if things are getting delayed.

We are taking submissions for the next 6 issues now, so please keep them coming to the submissions e-mail. Please take a look at the submissions guidelines first.

Why not also take a look at our Eastlit Live channel? Or better still send us some live material to publish! If you want to chat about this please contact us.

I would also like to mention a new online journal, The Font which is a literary journal aimed at language teachers. The Font has just launched ts first issue. They are not connected to Eastlit formally, but we have had a nice dialogue as they have set up. Xenia Taiga and Nichole Reber who have both written for Eastlit feature in their first issue.

Cheers.

Graham.

Top Reads

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I have not done a top reads or statistics posts before. To be honest I do not look at the statistics that much. However, for the few that do ask, I have listed the top five for the last week and month below. I have also included the ten top reads for all time to date. It is nice to see the all time list being a mix of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Looking at it now, it is nice to also see a number of local writers making the all time top ten.

This only looks at contributors work and not at site pages, news items, editorials, covers etc. I haven’t put direct links to each story, but I have listed each issue, so you can find them there. Each monthly issue is in the archive or the links at he top of the page. Maybe you will find a lesser read piece that you like too. Anyway here are the top reads:

Top Five Last Seven Days:

  1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
  2. The Mansion by Andrew J. West (June).
  3. The Battle of Mianzi by Nichole Reber (May).
  4. Blame it on the Farmer by Stefanie Field (May).
  5. Box by Kalpana Negi (January).

Top Five Last 30 Days:

  1. The Mansion by Andrew J. West (June).
  2. Reliving World War II in the Philippines by Carol Colborne (June).
  3. Three Poems by Zara Adcock (June).
  4. Three Poems by Károly Sándor Pallai (June).
  5. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).

Top Ten All Time:

  1. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yei Wei (April).
  2. La Perla by MFL Bulandus (December).
  3. Going Home by Steve Rosse (February).
  4. The Mansion by Andrew J. West (June).
  5. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
  6. Monkey Business by Ashwin Mudigonda (December).
  7. The Battle of Mianzi by Nichole Reber (May).
  8. At the Lake by Tom Sheehan (May).
  9. Four Poems by Anna Yin (March).
  10. Five Poems by Rose Lu (April).

Other News:

The July issue will be out on June 30, or that is the plan!

Cheers.

Graham

News

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There are a number of news items as we approach the end of March. I have set them out under headings so you can find what is relevant to you.

News

The April issue will be out on April 1, 2013. It will be an issue of eight or nine pieces including fiction, poetry and a couple of non-fiction pieces. This is continuing in line with our smaller issues policy from the start of this year.

Writers will be hearing in the next few days if their work is in or out.

Writing Process and Editing

We hope to be making an announcement on something new to help new and aspiring writers very soon. As soon as we have things confirmed, we will make it public. This fits with our aim of trying to help new writers and non-native writers. We remain fully committed to encouraging and supporting non-native writers.

Writers’ Group

The International Writers Group, which will be independent of Eastlit, has been set up. It is on Facebook as a Facebook page. Google stopped supporting Google Communities. Please take a look if interested. It is open to anyone writing in English. It is also open to those interested in writing and readers. Using Facebook means that writers can take advantage of easy ways to share, edit, co-write or seek opinions. This can also be done in a private way with only chosen people or publicly. That is up to the writer. Using Facebook does though mean you will need a Facebook account. But who doesn’t have one these days!

Right now the group is very new and small. We are actively seeking new members, so if you have friends who may be interested please let them know. The aim is to make this a group for the members and not have it dominated by a few.

Most of all we would love to hear your ideas. You can contact us in the community, through the usual channels here or via our g mail account.

Future Eastlit Issues

We are now taking submissions for our May and June issues. We are accepting fiction, poetry, non-fiction, relevant essays, novel extracts and photographs. If you have not submitted before, please take a look at our submission guidelines before sending work in.

We actively encourage non-native writers to send work in. See our commitment to supporting new writers.

Finally

If you do support our aims or even just enjoy the work, please do like or share us from the links at the bottom.

Cheers.

Graham.

Writer’s Group

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A bit of a conversation has started on the Google+ Eastlit account. This has been about the writers’ group we have mentioned a few times. The aim of this group is not to be an Eastlit writer’s group, but an independent online international group based on democratic principles rather than having a leader. The writers’ group would also be based on members being as much or little involved as they want, and bringing to the group what they wanted.

The group would be there for writers and others to support each other, offer advice on work, read and maybe edit. However, away from that it could also be a place to discuss literature, books, poems and even become a place for like minded people to discuss what they wanted. From my perspective, I would also love it to be a place that warmly welcomes non-native writers, and provides the support and assistance to help them write or say what they want.

At the moment it is early days, but there is discussion of what platform to use. At the moment using Google+ seems favourite. This is because Google documents is an excellent platform for sharing and commenting. The only downside, is that members need a g-mail account. Other possible options are a WordPress.com or similar blog platform. Yahoo and Facebook seem to not be popular as they offer less.

I guess at this stage, though, it would be great to hear from you our readers and writers. I think it should be open to both readers and writers. Are you interested? If so, please let us know. What would you like to see in a group? What would you like to bring to bring to a group if anything?

Please contact us if interested, so we can get an idea of initial numbers. You can also find us on Facebook or Google+ (no more!) and leave messages on these. And if you have any questions, please ask!

Cheers.

Graham.

March

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The complete list of contents for the Eastlit March Issue is below. Please click on a link to go to the page. Eastlit Cover. The picture is Lifetime by Sinlaratn Soontornviset. The cover design is by Graham Lawrence. Editorial by Bryn Tennant. Mirage by Xenia Taiga Four Poems by Anna Yin. The poems are: My Father's Family Tree, The Bodhi Tree, Raspberries and Root Carving. South East Asia: Patterns and Paradoxes by Quimar Yazima The Colors of the Wings by Richard Lutman. This is the second chapter of the novella The Iron Butterfly. The first chapter was published in Eastlit's January issue. Four Poems by Afzal Moolla. The poems are: Port of Call, The Whispering Leaf, Warning: Soppy Love Scribble! and The Swaying of the Grass. The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project by James Austin Farrell. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas Oil by Donald R. Vogel. An extract from a novel tentatively titled Father John. Five Poems by Dawnell Harrison. The poems are: Loneliness, The Sunrise Burned, The Mirage, Icy Waves and The Great Taproot. Viva La Difference by Alex Pithie The Pearl Necklace by Tom Sheehan Contributors. An alphabetical list of all the contributors to the March issue of Eastlit complete with biographies of all the writers and poets. Note on Work. Please note that we publish work as received. We do not edit work for minor errors. We regard these as decisions made by the author. The one exception is that we may work with second language writers to help them say what they want to say. Please note all work whether writing or pictures remains the copyrighted work of its authors. Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest on upcoming issues, competitions, incentives, contributors and news in general.Well as the temperature rises here in Thailand, the flow of submissions seem to be increasing. It is great to get so much original work to read and to be able to publish what we can. It is also humbling that not only do we see so much submitted but also the number of readers from around the world is on the increase. It sometimes surprises me the places that we get interest from.

The March issue also seems to have gone down well, so thanks to all of the contributors to that. We really appreciate your work and support of Eastlit. It is also wonderful to see an increase in submissions from locals.

Photographs

I know I keep mentioning this, but photos for the cover are the one area we are short of supply. Please if anyone can help out, send them in. If you have a friend who can, please ask them. You do retain full rights as with your stories, You will also be credited and given an entry in our contributors section.

Submissions

We are now taking submissions for our April, May and June issues. So send them in. We usually get back to you very quickly to acknowledge receipt. We then contact you in the week before our issue goes out to let you know if you are in or out. Please remember to read our submission guidelines before sending things in.

Archives and Older Issues

Now we have published four issues, we are creating an archive of older issues. Sometimes when pieces go into an archive, they get “lost” over time. We will try to mention and highlight our older published pieces form time to time in this latest section and other releases.

Editing

Let us know if you would like your work looked at and suggestions for edits made. We cannot offer an exhaustive service for this, but want to increase what we do offer. We do expect submissions to be at least close to finished pieces.

Other March News

There is little news from us this March. However, it would be nice to hear from you of anything you would like to see in Eastlit. What do you think of the colour and slight tagline change? What is your favourite piece of poetry or prose? Do you like the longer pieces? All this helps us to know how to best balance things and keep Eastlit interesting for you the reader. You can contact us by e-mail here or on our contact form.

Oh, remember you can also get all this news from our newsletter. Sign up now to have the news sent to you.

Cheers

Graham

News

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News

The March issue will be out on March 1st. This one includes a variety of non-fiction. There are also the usual poetry and fiction. Plus in the March issue the second chapter of the Iron Butterfly will be run. The first chapter was in the January Eastlit.

Writers should hear about now whether we will be including their work. And thank you to all those who did submit what was a very varied selection this time.

Nice

It is nice to see more work coming in from Filipino writers. We have always wanted to have a strong representation from local as well as expat writers. Let’s hope this trend continues to some other countries. Please remember that are here to help non-native writers too. If you need some advice or editing help, please contact us.

New

Eastlit is looking at copy-editing what it publishes now to better help our writers.

We have also made a colour change to the background and a few words in the Eastlit tag-line. Please let us know if you have any comments on this either positive or negative!

Now we are moving into our fourth issue, we have made an archive section. Issues older than the current three will be moved to here. The December issue is the first moved.

Future Eastlit Issues.

We are still sticking with smaller issues for now. However, we hope within this to continue to bring variety. The coming issue will see more non-fiction.

We are taking submissions for our April and May issues now. Please feel free to send your work in.

Other News

We could still do with pictures for future issues if anyone is interested. Just contact us or send them in. Remember you retain copyright.

And that must be it for now, but

Finally, I’d like to thank Bryn for the extra work he has put in this month.

And on that note it is…

Cheers

Graham

 

February

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The complete list of contents for the Eastlit February Issue is below. Please click on a link to go to the page. Eastlit Cover. Picture by Graham Lawrence. Design by Graham Lawrence. The cover shows buildings from Vientiene and provides the backdrop for the February 2013 issue of Eastlit. Editorial by Graham with a poem by Afzal Moolla. Hitoshi and the Orange Peel Mystery by Iain Maloney: This is an an extract from the novel Dog Mountain. Santubong Haiku by Colin W. Campbell. Going Home by Steve Rosse. Five Poems by Kislay Chuahan. The poems are: Afternoon Desert, An Old Age, Seashore Witness, Face of the Nature and Heart of Wood. Gip by Julien Headley. Two Poems by Terry Scott Niebeling. The poems are:Tender Thought and We See but We Don't (Easter Love). Flashing Police Lights Missing by Kersie Khambutta. Three Poems by Linda Woolven. The poems are: November Storm, Night Time Lovers and Laundry Day. Finding a Vein by Steve Tait. Contributors. An alphabetical list of all the contributors to the February issue of Eastlit complete with biographies of all the writers and poets. Note on Work. Please note that we publish work as received. We do not edit work for minor errors. We regard these as decisions made by the author. The one exception is that we may work with second language writers to help them say what they want to say. Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest on upcoming issues, competitions, incentives, contributors and news in general.

In spite of being a smaller issue, the Eastlit February issue is getting a lot of views. The number of readers is increasing every month right now. Thank you to our readers. Thank you also to the contributors for the poetry and prose that is attracting people.

After three issues, it feels like things are settling down a little. The crazy rushed feeling of November through January has now gone. It is now a time when we can consider new developments. While we do this, we will stick to the current format. Hopefully we can keep a nice mix of poetry and prose and writers new and experienced while adding something new as we go.

March and April Issues.

These will continue in the slimmer format for now. We are taking submissions for both of these issues now, so send them in! Please read the submission guidelines before submitting. We encourage non-native writers to submit work and will give assistance where needed.

Photographs

If you have photos, pictures or artwork from or connected to the region, we are very interested in using it on our front covers. As usual you retain all rights, and just grant us a license to publish it by submitting to us. We would also consider publishing artwork or pictures linked to a story if authors want this.

Previously Published Writers

If you had work published by Eastlit in the December or January issue, you are clear to submit more for the March issue. Writers and poets published in the February issue can submit work for the April issue. You can send it in at any time as we mark it for the next issue you can appear in, so don’t delay!

Chinese New Year

We at Eastlit would like to wish everyone who celebrates it, a Great Chinese New Year, and a wonderful year of the snake.

Other February 2013 News

We are still working on getting more involvement from the few places that are yet to feature in Eastlit. Indonesia remains top of that list, and we may have a development for one of the next issues. Fingers crossed.

There are a few things we at Eastlit will now put more energy into. The first is the writers’ group. The others are the Eastlit app and the possible greater involvement of some of our more regular contributors. More news on these as they arise. If anyone wants to volunteer for anything from writers’ groups to editing assistance, let us know.

You can also get all this news from our newsletter. Sign up now to have the news sent to you.

Finally

I would like to say a personal thank you to all of you who have had contact. After three or four months and looking back, it has been a great experience from my perpsective.

Cheers.

Graham.

 

New Year

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We at Eastlit would like to wish all our contributors  readers and partners a very happy holiday season and a happy New Year. We wish everyone the best in 2013. In 2013 we hope that Eastlit will continue to bring readers an interesting variety of East and South East Asian based writing. We also hope we will be able to give an opportunity to new writers to establish a published foothold. Let’s hope 2013 is a good one for us all. Peace.

Eastlit New Year (January) Issue

The January or New Year issue will be out on 3rd January. We are very excited by this one. It includes more pieces from within the region. It also covers more countries and cultures. This issue will include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and at least one novel extract. We hope it will be as well received by our readership as the first issue of Eastlit. We also hope you enjoy the pieces as much as we did.

Writers Based Outside the Region

Eastlit will always consider writing from anyone based outside the region. We do, however, ask these writers to tell us how their work connects with the region. Please do this if submitting from outside East or South East Asia. As from 2013, we will not read or reply to  submissions not doing this. Eastlit is a monthly publication with few staff. Time to read, discuss, reply and decide is limited, so please help us in this case.

Photographs

Any photographers out there? We are accepting photograph submissions. These photos will be considered for our journal front cover. Copyright will remain with the photographer. You will just be granting us a non-exclusive licence to publish your photo when you submit it. Full credit will be given.

February Issue

We are now taking submissions for Eastlit’s February issue.  Please send them in over the New Year or after. We may though take a little longer to reply over the New year period.  Eastlit is also now looking for book reviews for this and later issues.

Remember

We now have an Eastlit newsletter. If you want news sent direct to you, Sign up for our free newsletter!

Finally

I would like to thank everyone again for the support they have given Eastlit. Have a great 2013

Cheers.

Graham.

 

Eastlit Issue One

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Eastlit Issue one is now out. Take a look. You can go the front cover. Then click the cover for the contents. You can also go to current issue at the top of each page.

We have eleven contributors for this issue. There are 9 poems and 8 pieces of prose.

We appreciate your feedback. Let us know what you think of it. You can go to the contact page or e-mail us.

Other News.

We are now listed on the writers resource site Duotrope. We also are in the poetry listing of Andromeda Rutgers. Plus we are on Litlist. It is nice to see referrals from these sites. It is nice to be listed.

We get asked if Australia is in our region. Technically it is not. But the connection between Australia and the region is strong. It is growing too. We welcome Australian based writers to send work in and if there is connection, we will consider it.

Don’t forget submissions for issue two are open. Visit our submissions page to send work in. Issue two is out in January 2013.

Anyway, today is not about news. Issue one is out. It is out one day early too! We hope you find something interesting. We did. You can find it here.

Cheers.

Graham.

New Writers

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We get asked about new writers a lot. The main question is will new writers be considered? Of course they will. We intend to include some work by new writers in every issue.

However, we cannot publish everything. We have an editorial policy. We cannot publish work by everyone. But there will always be space for the best work by new writers. We also cannot have every piece on the same topic in an issue. We must keep things varied for our readership. This is what we must think about. Our aim is to help new writers, though. This policy will not change.

Everything submitted will be read by several people. If we find it interesting, we will try to publish it. If we think it will interest our readers, we will try to publish it. Sometimes we will take risks.

So new writers please keep sending the work to submissions.

If you do not get published first time, do not give up. It happens to most. It can be difficult for new writers. Like everything writing is hard work. Getting it right is, too. Keep writing. You only get better.

Get accepted first time. Don’t stop working. Nobody is the perfect writer.

We are enjoying all the reading. We look forward to even more to read!

Thanks for your support.

Please remember to bookmark or follow us. Check here for news. The first issue is out December 1. Check the site for this.

Cheers.

Graham.