So, let’s get this ball … erm, newsletter … rolling!

Milestones

Last year, 2011, saw a couple of big things for this little publication, namely we received our 1500th submission and published our 100th piece of work!  I am so impressed and proud of each and every person who made those figures happen and, quantity aside, I constantly get praise for the quality of work that appears on With Painted Words which, obviously, isn’t anything to do with me … that is ALL down to you guys and girls who keep on submitting such interesting and creative work.  So, please, keep on doing so throughout 2012 and beyond!

Behind the scenes

Whilst I realise that all of you will have obviously seen the With Painted Words website, and used the submission engine to submit your work, you probably don’t realise (why would you?) that this whole thing is completely bespoke to us.  With Painted Words isn’t based on a wordpress engine, or using an off the shelf submission engine, to function (not that there is anything wrong with either!) but, instead, has been designed and developed to give all of us the best experience possible … you, as writers and artists and me as the editor / publisher.  As pretty and functional as the website is for the submitter and viewer it is a piece of wonder ‘backstage’, so to speak
– like an iceberg there is SO much more that goes on after you’ve submitted your work and, thanks to the technology, my work is much easier than it could be.  This is all thanks to the tireless work of Lyndon Irwin who took my germ of a mad idea and made it all technically possible. He has recently updated and upgraded everything so that the whole site works SO much better than ever before and, without him, With Painted Words wouldn’t function a fraction as well as it does now.  Another person who I want to mention, as he is very much a part of With Painted Words (and has signed a contract to supply the October/Halloween artwork until his dying day ), is the man of many talents – author and artist,  Chris Howard.   Back in August / September of 2009 when I was getting the concept for With Painted Words formalised I spotted something that Chris had come up with an his iPad, of all things.  That little picture, of a boat lost in a dark and stormy sea, was the very first image that we used and is still an inspiration to me. You should all check out his work, you know, as you are missing out if you haven’t!

Blog

With Painted Words has always had a blog section but, to be honest, I’ve never really used it to its full potential – only putting up a news post about recently published pieces.  However I would like to change that and, to do so, would like to extend an offer and/or invitation to all of you:
Why not become a guest blogger at With Painted Words?
I would love to host you here and let other people find out more about you and your work.  I would suggest that, if you would like to take part, you split your blog post into three sections:
1 – a little about you and what makes you tick
2 – more about your piece on With Painted Words; how/why the picture
inspired you, etc.
3 – what you are doing now.  If you have something coming out soon let us know!
If you would like to do this please send your blog submission through to info@withpaintedwords.com or submit via the submissions engine on the site and mark your piece as ‘BLOG POST’.

2012

I am hoping that, later this year, I will have some exciting news to make available.  If everything goes to plan this will include:
1 – an increase in the compensation rates to $5 for poetry and $10 for flash fiction.  I realise that may not seem like a major increase but, for a place that doesn’t used paid advertising that could end up being pretty expensive.  However I would love to be able to offer more in return than the token $3.
2 – a print anthology collection of With Painted Words being published.  This is obviously going to be rather expensive initially but it will give everyone that has been published by With Painted Words the opportunity to have their work, physically, in their hands and at the same time allow for the increase in compensation (taking the Ouroboros nature of With Painted Words to another level again ).

Facebook

With Painted Words is now on Facebook so if you are also on there feel free to go and check us out at http://www.facebook.com/withpaintedwords

That’s it for now, folks, so take care!

October 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Feeding the Imagination’ ~ by Rachael H Dixon

‘Of Agrarian Advice’ ~ by Charles Grabuski

‘The Pumpkin Man’ ~ by Ben Markley

‘Nothing But Dark’ ~ by Gary Buettner

Submissions for the November 2011 edition will open on the 1st November and will close on 25th November 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the October edition and find out more about November’s.

September 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Pennies’ ~ by Harmony Hodges

‘Exactly the Same’ ~ by Ella Kennen

‘Salt’ ~ by Holly Schwartz-Coignat

‘Times of Change’ ~ by Meghan Feldman

Submissions for the October 2011 edition will open on the 1st October and will close on 25th October 2011.  The October edition will be a Halloween themed edition with artwork supplied by the ever-talented Chris Howard (author of Seaborn, from Juno Books and the SaltwaterWitch graphic novel) – this edition will have a prize for one of the accepted submissions.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the September edition and find out more about October’s.

August 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘The Price’ ~ by Stephanie Bagnall

‘Wishing It Was You’ ~ by Claire Hay

‘Apparitions’ ~ by Antoinette McCormick

‘The Vessel’ ~ by Elaine Bentley

Submissions for the September 2011 edition will open on the 1st September and will close on 25th September 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the August edition and find out more about September’s.

July 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Flyaway’ ~ by Salena Casha

‘Devalidated’ ~ by Katherine McIntyre

‘Ink Blood Milk’ ~ by Jay Pee Yu

‘Cloud Gazing’ ~ by Jayne Thickett

Submissions for the August 2011 edition will open on the 1st August and will close on 25th August 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the July edition and find out more about August’s.

June 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Crossroads’ ~ by Harmony Hodges

‘Shades of Evanescence’ ~ by Michaela Tashjian

‘The Eye of the Hurricane’ ~ by David Scheler

‘See the Burning Sea’ ~ by Anastassia Bougakova

Submissions for the June 2011 edition will open on the 1st July and will close on 25th July 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the June edition and find out more about July’s.

May 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Two Souls Entwined’ ~ by Alexis Hunter

‘Clean Burn’ ~ by Michelle Namovice

‘Paradox’ ~ by Sen Lin

‘Fire Demon’ ~ by Sarena Ulibarri

Submissions for the June 2011 edition will open on the 1st June and will close on 25th June 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the May edition and find out more about June’s.

April 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Doing It In The First Place’ ~ by Christopher James

‘Avathiel’ ~ by Paul Magnan

‘The Final Time’ ~ by Stan Crown

‘Small Truth’ ~ by Timothy Miller

Submissions for the May 2011 edition will open on the 1st May and will close on 25th May 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the April edition and find out more about May’s.

March 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Smoke’ ~ by Harmony Hodges

‘Manolo, He Loves Fires’ ~ by Constance Chan

‘The One Who got Away’ ~ by Meghan Feldman

‘Enveloped in Haze’ ~ by Sharayah Hooper

Submissions for the April 2011 edition will open on the 1st April and will close on 25th April 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the March edition and find out more about April’s.

February 2011’s edition of With Painted Words is now available. This edition features the following:

‘Internal Killer’ ~ by Veronique Medrano

‘Lunch Sacks and Tombstones’ ~ by C. Martinez

‘FadeTo Black’ ~ by Brit Jacob

‘Wild Pare’ ~ by Nick Hale

‘DEAR LOVE’ ~ by David Harry Moss

Submissions for the March 2011 edition will open on the 1st March and will close on 25th March 2011.

Please check out http://www.withpaintedwords.com to read the February edition and find out more about March’s.