“You’ve really captured the raw anger that exists alongside the sadness when mourning such a devastating loss.” This is one of the comments that was made by my editor when she edited my latest poetry book, Last Writes. And what’s interesting is that I wrote that very poem when I was going through that very experience. I was sad that my brother died, but I was also angry. These two emotions coexisting had such a strong impact on me during that time that I had to write it down in verse. The poem that resulted, “Sadness and Anger,” is just one of the poems that I ended up including in my book. Thinking about it now, over a year later, I don’t think I would have been able to write that poem with the same kind of grasp that I had on that sort of situation if I were to write it now. Sometimes it’s better to write about our personal and unique experiences as they are happening.
Of course, not every writer is going to write about a personal experience as a poem. However, it can be written about in a personal journal or a blog post. I have many friends who have written about their personal experiences in a Facebook post just to capture that experience while it is still fresh in their minds.
But whatever way a person chooses to record their personal experiences or some kind of emotional trauma they are going through, the very act of putting everything into words is what can help the writer write more realistically about these things in their work.
It usually isn’t easy for someone to write about the trauma or loss they are experiencing. Most people feel that writing about missing a loved one or the sheer sadness over losing someone can make them feel worse. However, what it actually does is provide us with an outlet to release our pain, process our emotions, and work through our thought processes. In most cases, with the act of writing about a traumatic experience privately, it provides the person with a private place to air all of their grievances, give voice to their negative feelings and act as a sounding board for all of the things that they want to say but feel that they can’t say. This, too, can work to the writer’s benefit, because it allows them access to the raw emotions overpowering them in the moment which could be sourced later on in their work of fiction or poetry.
So the next time you experience something that really tugs at your heart and shatters your soul, write about it as soon as you are able to. Write all of the good things as well as all of the bad things. You will feel better for releasing all of these emotions and thoughts raging inside of you, and grateful later on that you can use it in your writing.
My article “Show Your Work: 7 Tips for Describing Monsters in Fiction” was published on the Burial Books Blog. Read it here.
My article “7 Paying Markets for Young Writers” was published at WritersWeekly. Read it here.
NEW RELEASE!
(Cover design by Jennifer Horgan)
Last Writes by Dawn Colclasure is a new collection of poetry on death, dying, and grief. It allows readers to explore the many facets of death and bereavement, as well as offer comforting verse in times of sadness when we say our final goodbyes.
While the subject of death may be morbid to some, it is a transition which we all must one day make. Some cultures honor and celebrate the memories of those who have passed on, while many people reserve a unique interpretation and fascination of death and dying. The poems in the first part of this book reflect these various differences.
The sadness we experience when losing a loved one may leave us unable to find the right words to say, and this is where the second part of the book, The Mourning After, can be helpful. Here readers will find poems capturing the many stages of grief, meditations on loss, and gentle passages to share during our final moments with those we love. Mourning the loss of a loved one can be one of the most difficult experiences, and the poems in this book offer a gentle reminder that no one need proceed on this journey alone.
For more details about this book, go here.
I recently reviewed the kids book Weaver: The First Year by DD Sterner at Reader Views
I recently reviewed the fantasy novel The Quest for Freedom by Matthew Devitt at Reader Views
Thanks for reading Dawn’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Check out my interview with author Kim Catanzarite, which was published in the June 2026 issue of the SPARREW Newsletter.
Read it here.
Twisted Dreams Press is now accepting submissions for a new anthology series! It is seven books with ten stories in each book.
The first anthology will be published in June. The others will follow in the subsequent months. Submissions of stories for all anthologies opens the beginning of April.
Open until each anthology has ten stories. We will announce when an anthology is no longer accepting submissions.
Series Name: A Week of Terrors!
Here are the themes:
Monster Monday: Creature Horror Stories
Terrifying Tuesday: Evil Clowns
Werewolf Wednesday
Thriller Thursday: Zombies
Frightening Friday: Mix of horror subgenres: psychological horror, eco-horror, cyberpunk horror, erotic horror, etc.
Slasher Saturday: Slasher horror
Spooky Sunday: Ghost stories
Payment: One print and digital copy.
Submit your stories today!
Length: 3K-10K words
Reprints welcome! Simultaneous submissions welcome but please let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Email your stories as a Word .doc or .docx file. Google Docs are okay as long as you grant Dawn permission for access.
No PDF submissions, please.
Stories written with AI will NOT be accepted!
When you submit your story, please put the following in the subject line:
Submission: WOT Anthology, (Title), (Day of the week your story is for)
Please include in your email if the story is a reprint as well as your bio.
Please send your stories to Dawn at submissions@twisteddreamspress.com
We look forward to reading your story!
If you missed out on the anthology call for the Friday the 13th Summer Camp Horror anthology, you’re in luck!
This anthology is reopening to submissions!
Learn more about that on the Twisted Dreams Press blog here.
Twisted Dreams Press is thrilled to announce a brand-new call for submissions for THREE anthologies. These anthologies will be published in 2027. Learn more about them here.
Twisted Dreams Press is accepting submissions for three anthologies slated for publication in 2027! Read about them here.
Dreamweaver Press, a division of Twisted Dreams Press, is also accepting submissions for anthologies! Get the details here.
“We like a variety of stories but will only publish a few styles. Please read closely as these are the rules and they will not be broken.
First and foremost, we are interested in urban fantasy which we define as fantasy adventure fiction which takes place in modern settings. These places can be real or imaginary (although we prefer the former), but the story must have some combination of those typical elements: magic, other sentient races, enchanted objects, and mythical backgrounds. These all may be underground and hidden, but they must play a part in the story.
Next, we want sword and sorcery which we define as fantasy adventure fiction taking place in an ancient or alternative world where the protagonists must use their wits and weapons to survive. We contrast this with high fantasy (which we are not interested in) where quests taken on behalf of the rulers are world shaking. We are much more interested in the street level like the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales of Fritz Leiber and the Conan/Bran Mak Morn tales of Robert E. Howard.
Finally, we will consider gothic and supernatural horror. We won’t define this directly, but this is a market to submit vampire, werewolf, ghost, and cryptid fiction. Be warned, it would be best to use these creatures in one of the previously mentioned genres as that would be a quicker path to publication.”
Only one story per author for each reading period allowed. Simultaneous submissions accepted. “As of now, we are not interested in reprints. Translations, however, are accepted.”
Length: 2K-12,500 words
Payment: “We pay a single-story rate of $50 which is halfway to SFWA Associate membership qualification and fully HWA Associate eligible.”
Deadline: Until they reach 350 submissions. “We will only be accepting 350 submissions. A counter on the home page will keep track.” It is currently at 155.
Diabolical Plots
“Bring out your dead, your undead, your mostly dead, and maybe your mushrooms! Diabolical Plots is pleased to announce our next themed issue, Diabolical Rot.
We’ll be accepting submissions for this special issue from October 18 – 25, 2026, with stories publishing in fall of 2027. In addition to being centered around rot and rotting, submissions must have a speculative element.
So, what does ‘rot’ mean for this call? Think the undead, especially the less well-preserved ones, from rotting skeletons in the literal closet to zombies and vampires or other undead creatures. Also fungi and mycelium, because why not! They grow from rotting things. (Fair warning: mentioning mushrooms without a speculative element or a focus on the rotting aspect won’t be sufficient, and cordyceps zombie stories will be a hard sell unless you have a new take. And while ‘rot’ is the theme, description of gore will be best received when it contributes to, but is not the point of, the story.)
While this theme might lean toward horror, and horror is most definitely welcome, so are “gentler” stories.”
Original work only. Welcomes simultaneous submissions. No multiple submissions. No AI.
Length: 3500 words max
Payment: 10 cents per word
Deadline: July 27, 2026
The Whumpy Printing Press
“The theme of this anthology is basically the effects of whump. So this could be escape, recovery, caretaking. But it could also be flashbacks, recapture, or even a whumpee becoming so conditioned that whumper doesn’t bother hurting them any more.
Your story should clearly fall into the whump genre. Half of our submissions don’t feature whump, so if you’re new here, we created a guide to see if your story is a good fit for us.
Whump is a subgenre that focuses on subjecting a character to severe physical, emotional, or psychological trauma. But it’s not just gore; whump allows a character to test their limits and/or explore their strength and resilience. Some mainstream examples of whump include Criminal Minds, Supernatural, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones. Most characters in these stories go through severe trauma that ultimately strengthens their character arcs. Traumatic events should play a prominent part in your story. We typically auto-reject submissions that don’t feature whump by the 25% mark. We love scenes that give us a massive adrenaline rush, affectionately known as the whumperflies! We’re looking for strong stories with a balance between whump and plot. Whump can be any genre, so while we are especially fond of sci-fi/fantasy settings, any story that fits our criteria and gives us whumperflies will be considered!”
Reprints welcome. Simultaneous submissions accepted. “Each author can submit one story per category. So for example, you can submit a short story and a micro fiction but you can’t submit two micro fictions.” Writers must be 18 or older to submit.
Length: “Micro-fiction: 250 words or less, Flash fiction: 251-1,000 words, Short Story: 1,001-7,499 words, Novelette: 7,500-17,500 words”
Payment: “ebook contributor’s copy, one free paperback OR $10 USD, and discounts on additional paperbacks”
Deadline: July 31, 2026
A Midnight Kind of Place
This publisher is accepting submissions for four anthologies: Best of Scottish Horror, Rats, Wasps, and Spiders. Guidelines for each anthology are on the website.
Reprints welcome. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Multiple submissions accepted. “A note on AI: This is a human market. No AI allowed. Anyone caught sending me AI-produced submissions will be blackballed.”
Length: 1K-10K words
Payment: “Original fiction will receive £30 (GBP), reprints will receive £10 (GBP).”
Deadline: July 31, 2026
Storm Dragon Publishing
“We are excited to announce the submissions period for the annual anthology from Storm Dragon Publishing! The title of the series is Muses of Mythology (MoMa for short). Each yearly anthology has a specific theme. This year we have TWO anthologies coming out. This year’s second title is Santa Sagas. Yes, we’re looking for Santa stories, but we’re also looking for myriad other Christmas mythological creatures like Krampus or Gryla. The collection will include short stories and poetry.”
Reprints accepted. All work must be in the fantasy genre; no horror. However, they will read submissions in the dark fantasy genre. No multiple submissions of short fiction.
Length:
Short stories: 1K-5K words
Poetry: Up to 5 poems
Payment: $10
Deadline: July 31, 2026
This week, I promoted my new poetry book, Last Writes.
I was thrilled to discover that this is my 30th poetry book!
This poetry book already had some of the poems written by the time I decided to start putting it together. I was writing so many poems while grieving the loss of my brother last summer that I realized that I could put them into a book that is one part poetry on the subject of death (as I already had many such poems written), and one part on the subject of grief, loss, and bereavement. I didn’t have a title at that time but it came to me after I wrote the title poem. It seemed fitting!
However, the title for the second part of the book didn’t gel with my first readers. It was originally titled “The Shadow of Grief.” It was suggested that I give it a title that was a similar play on words like the first part of the book. It was my amazing, talented, and intelligent editor, Jennifer Horgan, who came up with the title “The Mourning After” for the second part of the book. It’s perfect! (Thanks, Jen!)
Here is the book’s blurb:
“Death is an inevitable part of life, but for many, death holds a fascination, a mystery, and a portal to the unknown. The first part of this book focuses on the many perceptions, celebrations of and our continued bargaining with death. With poems pondering what death may be as well as poems reminding us of how death can come in the blink of an eye, Last Writes offers a lasting meditation of how we view death and in what ways it is honored.
The second part of this book, The Mourning After, is a collection of poems on grief, loss and bereavement. A majority of these poems were written at the time the author was personally experiencing these three things after the loss of a loved one. These poems offer a raw and unfiltered portrayal of the ravages of grief, the different ways in which we grieve, saying goodbye to those who have passed away, as well as adjusting to life without a loved one.
Altogether, the poems in Last Writes are meant to serve as a shoulder to lean on for comfort as well as a portrayal of how we view death and grief in our culture. These poems may also help the bereaved to find the words to say in such a devastating situation when words cannot so easily be spoken. The poems also provide the bereaved with passages to read from when bidding our loved ones a final farewell, and to offer a promise of one day being together again in the afterlife.”
And here is an excerpt!
Excerpt from
Last Writes
Copyright © 2026 by Dawn Colclasure
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published
It’s the “Going On” That’s Hard
They say that after someone we love passes away,
That we must go on.
I have no idea how I can do that
Now that you are gone.
I know that I must continue to live my life
And keep up my guard.
But I can’t really go on without you.
It’s the “going on” that’s hard.
My heart is broken and I feel so tormented.
The pain makes it difficult for me to continue.
It’s not easy facing each new day
When I must face it without you.
I know that I must continue to live my life
And keep up my guard.
But I can’t really go on without you
Because it’s the “going on” that’s hard.Thanks for reading! See you next weekend.
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