A note from Anya
First, a little bit about me. My name is Anya Geist, and I’ve been interning with Stone Soup for most of a year (basically since I turned 14), and reading and submitting to Stone Soup for much, much longer. This is the first newsletter I’ve written! My internship has impacted the way I think about writing, and has inspired me to encourage writing in my own community.
A little over two weeks ago, on February 11, my high school’s literary magazine, The Apricot Journal, published its first issue. To many of you, this most likely does not seem like a big deal. Magazines are published all the time! However, it is a different experience when you are on the inside of that magazine; for example, I am one of the founders of The Apricot Journal.
Being on the inside of The Journal, I have a very different perspective on it than any of my classmates who only see it in its final version. I remember, very clearly, every step of the process that brought us to the published edition. I can recall, for example, when the project of creating a literary magazine suddenly became real a few months ago, I paced excitedly around my kitchen for about ten minutes.
I’m sure that most of my peers would be surprised to hear about the amount of work that went on before they were even aware of The Journal’s existence. Behind seemingly simple things such as submission forms, there were long meetings. Behind every writing workshop we held, or every announcement we made, were elaborate text conversations. And, all of this was before we even published our first issue.
So, as you can see, appearances can be deceptive. The presence of a PDF with a pleasant cover, full of poetry and stories, that appears in an email inbox under the subject title of The Apricot Journal, might not be as spontaneous or sudden as you’d think; in fact, on the inside, it was something being led up to for months.
Now, on the topic of appearances that can be deceiving, I want you to look at Heloise Matumoto’s photo Disco, in Stone Soup’s February issue. In this photo, I really like the way the light is reflected from the disco ball and onto the ceiling. When I first looked at it, I thought the ceiling was domed, because of the way the light warped the shape of the ceiling.
So, this weekend, think about how appearances can be deceiving! Then, write about an instance, whether in real life or not, where what appears on the surface is distorting what’s actually there.
As always, if you like what you have written, please go to our website and submit it to Emma to read for possible consideration.
My best to you all,
More on the Apricot Journal, and Stone Soup Author Interviews
Congratulations, Anya, on The Apricot Journal. All of your friends and colleagues at Stone Soup are so impressed with what you and your team at school have achieved! As well as taking over this week's Newsletter, we asked Anya to write a blog post about her experiences setting up The Apricot Journal. To find out more about it, and to see some more images of the beautifully designed magazine, click here. Check it out, and if you are inspired to create your own publication, let us know about it!
Also, have you been keeping up with the short video interviews with Stone Soup Authors? We have continued to post more in the series Anya recorded last summer to our website over the past weeks, and there are more to come. Visit Stonesoup.com to eavesdrop on conversations between Anya and our authors. You'll hear advice, writing tips, and experiences from some of our contributors and Writing Workshop participants!
Highlights from the past week online
Don't miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com!
As we mentioned above, so many thought-provoking author interviews were posted to the blog this week! Check out the Stone Soup Author Interviews page to watch Anya's chats with Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, Lucy Rados, Georgia Marshall, Analise Braddock, Sasha Miller, Tilly Marlow, and more!
In Eden's poem, "2020," each stanza represents a month from last year. She successfully captures the roller coaster of emotions that so many of us felt in 2020.
Nora, 12, wrote a glowing review of the Betsy-Tacy series of books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Read Nora's review to find out why she enjoys the historical series so much.
At last week's writing workshop, participants wrote about larger-than-life characters. Read some of the work created during the workshop here.
We published an excerpt from Dytui's journal, detailing her experience during Diwali last year. Read her post to find out how she and her family celebrated in 2020.
From Stone Soup
February 2021
When You Fall Asleep at Night
By Yutia Li, 10 (Houston, TX)
(Illustrated by Heloise Matumoto, 13 (Quebec, Canada))
Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered
in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Stone Soup's Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
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