LITplease News and Features

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First, let me tell you a little about LITplease. Originally, we were three clubs: PoetryPlease, ProsePlease, and TheFavoritesProject, all established pre-groups. Each struggled with maintaining adequate staff and, in turn, with staying active. When the groups platform was made available, the three clubs merged into one Super Group called LITplease. All the best features were kept from each club and are now available at LITplease. This news article is designed to bring your attention to some of these features. Feel free to read the article and, if you find something that interests you, please participate. Not all activities require membership, but if it you'd like to join, please do!

:email: I, ATrue, am the group Founder and am always ready and willing to answer any questions and take your suggestions. Just note me with anything!

..........................................................THE FAVORITES PROJECT..........................................................

The Favorites Project features prose and poetry that has been suggested by deviants. Anyone can make a suggestion at any time, member or not! The entries are then voted on by designated staff members devoted to TFP, called Appraisers. If a piece gets five votes, it makes the cut and is featured in this journal. Suggesters are, of course, given credit for the find.

Check out the favorites featured so far this year:

:thumb161098598::thumb160080943::thumb157699910:

Mature Content

:thumb153783563:

Mature Content

:thumb133326519: CarpetMy carpet is my own.
It has lines across it -
strips of dark and light sand-colored shades
that indicate, perhaps, an incessant need for cleanliness.
Barely visible under alternating trails,
areas of fiber, once crushed underfoot,
still showing the remains of that weight.
Some shaped like feet themselves,
some like shoes,
and some like boots during those times I am running late,
but all the same size.
My carpet is not new,
but its patterns recognize only me.
Its wear and tear, fraying on the edge
that sticks out against the wall
by the back door
where no footprints are to be found,
and the stain behind my chair,
slightly orange, barely textured,
and somewhat round,
proudly stand to remind me
that my carpet is my own.
At the entrance to my home,
my carpet meets a tile floor,
which serves as protection from
the outside world.
Shoes stop at this juncture to rest like
weary travelers kicked back in relaxation,
propped casually against the wall or each other
and keeping tightly to themselve
CarpetMy carpet is my own.
It has lines across it -
strips of dark and light sand-colored shades
that indicate, perhaps, an incessant need for cleanliness.
Barely visible under alternating trails,
areas of fiber, once crushed underfoot,
still showing the remains of that weight.
Some shaped like feet themselves,
some like shoes,
and some like boots during those times I am running late,
but all the same size.
My carpet is not new,
but its patterns recognize only me.
Its wear and tear, fraying on the edge
that sticks out against the wall
by the back door
where no footprints are to be found,
and the stain behind my chair,
slightly orange, barely textured,
and somewhat round,
proudly stand to remind me
that my carpet is my own.
At the entrance to my home,
my carpet meets a tile floor,
which serves as protection from
the outside world.
Shoes stop at this juncture to rest like
weary travelers kicked back in relaxation,
propped casually against the wall or each other
and keeping tightly to themselve


:star: We are looking for more Appraisers to help find and feature literature. We are also looking for someone who wants to run this area of the club, which means you'll function as a regular Appraiser but will also be responsible for updating the journal. It takes about ten to twenty minutes to post the journal every one or two weeks, so the workload is light. To apply, visit the About Us page and read the bottom left widget.

:star: DID YOU KNOW? Technically, there is a rule that requires all new members to suggest one fave before they can join. We haven't been enforcing it, but we may have to if we continue to get very few suggestions. Help out a fellow writer (and the club) by suggesting something today!

..........................................................COMMUNITY CRITICS..........................................................

Community Critics, brought over from ProsePlease but now available for all genres of literature, seeks literature submissions from members looking for in-depth critique on their work. Submissions are accepted each month and people are encouraged to provide critique on areas that the writer have specified they need help with. Also each month, one deviant is selected as the best critiquer for the month, and is allowed to jump the waiting list and get their own piece critiqued in the following installment of Community Critics.

Check out the pieces available for critique this month:

BlewI could never dream of English
rains that lashed the slabs of Cornish
paves, as a wild clawed cat paws
waves into boats onto rocks
unto death. Hear the slosh
slosh slosh of Mousehole harbour's
bathtub slop; see the gulls flying
backwards, the rainbows as warning
flags, the white horses blowing
up the cliff and over the heath,
taste the wind-nipped salt
drying on your lips. Once I felt
the lightning buzz before
it cleaved a nearby birch in two,
once saw the eye of Men-an-Tol
winking in the storm, and fish
jumping for their very lives
straight into the mouths of birds.
The sea is everywhere. It bites
at our ankles, gnaws at the crags
in cliffs until the whole world
tumbles into its steaming maw.
It rises and falls, rises and falls,
hailing into the flanks of miserable
animals on the storm-sodden tor.
Do they pine, as we do, for one
last breath of stagnant summer?
:thumb151913912::thumb155108461:

..........................................................PROMPTS..........................................................

LITplease has a variety of prompts in which you can participate, with sections devoted to poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. They are run out of the gallery, with each prompt having its own folder that you can submit to directly. Unlike TFP, you need to be a member to participate in the prompts and submit to the gallery. If all goes well with the staff, a new prompt is posted for each section every month and a winner is chosen from the previous month. That piece is moved to the Featured gallery, where only prompt and contest winners are displayed. This way, your work gets more exposure for longer on our front page.

:star: The latest prompts are: Phobias (fiction), Hear the Poetry (poetry), and Your First Car Crush (nonfiction). Give one or all of them a go!

Check out the prompt winners so far this year:

:thumb155572459::thumb151287668: Hopes And ResolutionsResolutions made in the dead of night,
The first of the year causes a din.
Fireworks sound and flare and spark.
Hark! It's the sound of a new arrival.
The time for resolution is nigh.
The overweight man down the road,
His resolution is to lose some baggage.
The middle-aged woman next door,
She wants to take care of her mother,
While she still has one.
Little Billy, with his small knowledge,
Hopes to pass the third grade.
Marie, with problems of her own,
Hopes to finally escape the pain,
Because she can't take it anymore.
As one, the planet joins.
Together, the people hope.
And that's all that matters,
Right?


:star: FACT: LITplease prefers to hire staff that are already participating members. The newest prompt admin, Skuhweer, was recruited after she won the first poetry prompt.

..........................................................CONTESTS..........................................................

Our first contest was a big hit and produced some wonderful work now showcased in our featured gallery. The new contest admins are just getting their bearings, but we are planning new contests for poetry and prose, so stay tuned!

Check out the contest winners so far this year:

Nonfiction: Fitting In
Being homosexual has never been easy, but I don't suppose I ever realized just how much of a problem it would pose until I started attending church. Churches are buildings I had trained myself to avoid on principal. Growing up in one, people treated me badly purely because we weren't as wealthy as other church members. I was looked down on because of my status, because of my size, my heritage, and purely because I was a nerd.
So when my two closest friends went off to college I didn't have anyone to really talk to other than a girl I had met through them who was more religious than I ever cared to be. I had to watch my tongue around her, the way I acted, even the way I joked. I had known she didn't necessarily agree with homosexuality, but she believes that things are based on your own personal relationship with God. Out of boredom and loneliness, we clung to each other and got close.
When she invited me to church I was shocked by her offer. A woman there had spoken with her after a Su
:thumb150961069: Launching The Titanic, 1911Never did any of us see the like!
And every one of us was part of it,
the biggest ship in the world, built in
Harland's Belfast Yard. This was the day when
all our sweat and effort would sweep down
the slipway and cannon into the sea.
We'd been greasing for days, and fitting
the hundreds of tons of chains that would brake
her progress as she hit the water. Twenty-six thousand tons
of steel girders and plate, best part of half a mile long,
as tall as a cathedral. And we built her,
the biggest ship in the world.
True enough, the masters and the bosses set us on,
and she'd been plotted and planned piece by piece
at a thousand and more drawing boards in Belfast,
Glasgow and London. Hundreds had laboured
near the Clyde to smelt the steel, and forge it into
the huge plates our cranes lifted into place, while
we used sledge hammers to bash the bright
vermillion rivets into the seams, watching as
they cooled to angry ruby and sulky black.
That's real engineering for you, The mind of the design
© 2010 - 2024 ATrue
Comments11
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KabieBaby's avatar
Thank you very much for the feature. Lots of wonderful literature pieces here. n_n