Won’t You Please Come to Chicago?
Category: Writing and Poetry

Members from The Guild of Outsider Writers will be reading in Chicago, at Quimby's Bookstore on Saturday evening, August 23'rd and at The Green Mill on Sunday, August 24'th.

Justin Hyde, the winner of OW's recent book contest, will be reading as well as OW members Cicily Janus and David Blaine

Quimby's is at 1854 W. North Ave. The Green Mill is at 4802 N. Broadway
Events begin at 7:00 PM each night.

Would love to see you there. Quimby's is for all ages. The Green Mill is over 21only.

1000’th Monkey
Category: Writing and Poetry

Today The Guild of Outsider Writers delves into a new format with the publication of our new zeen, 1000'th Monkey.

While not truly a print publication, yet, the zeen is available as a pdf download and can be read off line, printed out or archived.

And of course, it's all free. Just visit our website, www(dot)outsiderwriters(dot)org

What is in the first issue? Book reviews, interviews and some very witty satire.

Check out, "How To Be An Underground Lit Legend," by Tim Hall

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Don’t Miss Your Chance!
Category: Writing and Poetry

The deadline is coming up for submissions to the Outsider Writers summer writing contest.

I can't tell you just how many entries we've received so far, but
you'd have a better chance at winning this contest than most you've entered.

Never entered a contest before? Well here's three reasons to do it now.

There is no entry fee.

There is no reading fee.

You don't have to buy anything.

And it's from Outsider Writers!

OK, I was never a math whiz. Sue me.

www(dot)outsiderwriters(dot)org

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Summer Reading List
Category: Writing and Poetry

Hi all, friends, readers and writers,

Hope you'll stop by The Guild of Outsider Writers this week (www.outsiderwriters . com)
and check out our new content:

Reviews

Short Fiction

Calls for Submissions

Featured Poets

Check out our new comment system, recently installed and spam resistant!

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Summer Writing Contest
Category: Writing and Poetry

Here's your chance to become famous!

The Guild of Outsider Writers is holding a summer writing contest. Each contestant will submit a poem, an essay, and a piece of fiction, all revolving around a theme of the contestant's choice.

Submissions are open. Check the full details at The Guild of Outsider Writers

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Send us your Naked Opinion!

Part of the mission of the Guild of Outsider Writers is to promote dialogue between independent authors, readers and editors.  The Naked Opinion section of our website contains nonfiction pieces in a variety of styles about a wide range of literary topics.  Some pieces are more like essays and others are rants.  And everything in between.  We like it all.

If you have a rant, blog post, essay or diatribe related in any way to independent literature or the broader literary scene that you would like to see featured on our site, please send them to this myspace address.  We're very interested in hearing what you have to say, even if we don't agree with it.  Pieces are judged on the quality of the writing, not the point of view.

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Unit the Write! by Pat King
Category: Writing and Poetry

Unite the Write!  The OW rallying cry. 

It's a good motto and I like it.  But it can be a bit misleading.  We're obviously not trying to unite everyone.  Just Outsiders. 

There is, of course, a long definition of an Outsider.  Colin Wilson wrote an entire book of definition, analysis and examples on the subject.  The short of it, however, is that an Outsider is a misfit, outlaw, vision-seeker, slacker, etc.  An Outsider isn't a conservative or a religious fundamentalist of any sort.  For the most part, saying "fuck you" to the establishment, the power elite, is the only thing all Outsiders have in common.  Not a hell of a lot to build a network or a movement on but it's something.  It's a start.

Unite the write is a damn hard thing to accomplish.  Especially considering that we're dealing with artists.  And we know that, as a whole, artists are a fragile lot.  But it has to be done.

It has to be done because there's no hope in the traditional bourgeois Western culture.  We can't repair it.  It doesn't want to be fixed anyway.  War and disease and fat piggy children.  Such is the West.

But the Outsider represents new thought and new art.  The most vibrant and interesting artistic works.  A nearly undiscovered wealth of psychic material.  If we're gonna find a new way, it's gotta be Outsider.

It's enough to give me hope.  And if it's enough to give me hope, maybe it gives other people hope.  Or maybe I've lost my mind or I'm chasing my tail.  It's hard to tell, sometimes.  But I need something, anything, really to ease these sweat-soaked nightmares I have nearly every night.

If unite the write is to occur, if it even should occur, it's going to be a goddamn hard thing to accomplish.  But do we even need to come together?  I think we do.  I think that numbers are hard to deny.  I think that we need a great and mighty mob.

Unite the write.  Tread carefully or the whole thing goes to shit.  But, above all, unite the fuckin' write.

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The Jack Micheline Memorial, a contest for a book length collection of poems.

The Guild Of Outsider Writers  is sponsoring The Jack Micheline Memorial, a contest for a book length collection of poems.

This contest is free and open to anyone who wishes to submit 35 to 65 pages of poetry.

Previously published poems may be included if the author has retained rights and gives proper credit to the original publisher.

Manuscripts may be submitted as a single document attached to an e-mail.
Please confine name and contact info (snail and e-mail please) to the uppermost portion of the manuscript. All entries will be judged blind.

Send submissions to michelinememorial@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it no later than October 1'st. The winner will be announced by November 1'st.

The final judge of manuscripts will be Todd Moore.
The winning submission will be published by Tainted Coffee Press in conjunction with The Guild of Outsider Writers.

A forward to the book will be written by S.A. Griffin

The Jack Micheline Foundation has given their permission for the contest to be conducted in Jack's name and, if the winner wishes, will work with them to use Jack's art for the cover.

Submissions are open now. Direct inquiries to

michelinememorial@gmail.com

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Send Us Your Stuff!
Category: Writing and Poetry

To all the creative writers looking at this:

Send us yer stuff! Outsider Writers publishes short stories, novel excerpts, poetry, essays, interviews, rants, book reviews and calls for submissions!

Go to: www.outsiderwriters.org

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Our Launch

JD Finch, Pat King, Leopold McGinnis, Marissa Ranello and Victor Schwartzman proudly announce the launch of Outsider Writers. Check us out at http://www.outsiderwriters.org.

OW lives to promote/unite underground/independent authors. OW will push writing which wants to change the world: edgy, provocative, independent! The site will establish a wide network connecting strong independent projects. OW is here to promote writing and to make our lives as writers easier. This is an organization by underground/independent writers, for underground/independent writers. And it is also for underground and independent publishers: they share our goals.

We will not cut ourselves off from any section of the lit world, as long as it does not interfere with our stated purpose. To change the world, we all have to work together. We want friends, not enemies. We are not a bunch of whiners, we are doers. Let's create audiences and markets OUTSIDE of the mainstream tightly-controlled funnels. They have their world, we have THE world.

Visit the OW site and you will see: news…calls for submissions from other organizations…reviews of the best in alternative writing, starting with about 65 posts imported from the existing OW book review site…crazy rants…new fiction and poetry…an OW store, eventually featuring books, chapbooks, but probably not coffee cups or tee shirts….

And so much more! Well not a lot more, but isn't that enough?

Visit the site! Read us! Contact us! Play with us! Write with us! Change the world with us!

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