CNF: When a Jack Fails
by Shirley Harshenin
[Editor’s Note: Click on the story below to view it at full size.]
Shirley Harshenin writes from her home in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. She believes in angels, caffeine, and the human spirit’s extraordinary resilience. Her work has been published in Canadian Writer’s Journal, Room Magazine, Contrary Magazine, was longlisted in Room Magazine’s 2018 Short Forms Contest.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “When a Jack Fails”? While taking Nicole Breit’s “Spark Your Visual Story” course last fall, I was immediately drawn to the quilt essay for its striking visual appeal as well as the endless variety of sizes and shapes and arrangements of “squares”. Each block offering a tidy container for a story fragmented by trauma and time. I scribbled my notes on a piece of paper and scrolled through dozens of patterns until one popped out. It was perfect, allowing me to divide the content into three sections—core event, impact of core event, central theme. I scrunched content to bare bones, then printed and cut the text into fragments equal to the number of blocks I had to work with. Like a puzzle, I tried each piece in different positions until everything fit. A thrilling and satisfying endeavor.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again March 15, 2023. Submit here.
Upcoming
05/13 • Paul Beckman
05/20 • Nancy Lord
05/27 • Claudio Perinot
06/03 • Amanda Chiado
06/10 • John Davies
06/17 • Lynne Jensen Lampe
06/24 • Valeria Valdez
07/01 • Carly Katz
07/08 • Meg Eden
07/15 • TBD
07/22 • TBD
07/29 • TBD
08/05 • TBD
08/12 • TBD
08/19 • TBD
08/26 • TBD
09/02 • TBD
09/09 • TBD
09/16 • TBD
09/23 • TBD
09/30 • TBD