I am grateful for all the writing opportunities out there. From anthologies to contests, there are plenty of chances to submit writing. Learning to write on demand has been my 2026 training program. A specific prompt, a specified word length, a submission deadline. What better way to develop my writing muscles? Train my muse to work on demand. Weave a story out of nearly nothing.
Not all prompts are great. The word “Snapple” must appear somewhere in the story; for example, doesn’t provide the grit required to form a pearl. But there has been no shortage of fun prompts from which to choose. Among my favorites so far are Iron Fang Press, “A vacation gone wrong,” which inspired Backcountry Adventures, and Screaming Scorpion Press, “A holiday or special day (not Christmas or a birthday)” which gave me Happy Bris-Day. Neither story was accepted (though I received a lovely personalized letter from the editor of Screaming Scorpion Press informing me that Happy Bris-Day made the shortlist, she enjoyed the humour and hopes to see more from me in the future, though preferably next time with fewer foreskins). Though I would have loved to see these stories accepted, the win was that I enjoyed writing them and enjoy reading them, and without those writing prompts, they would not exist.
For my money, Raconteur Press puts out the best prompts. I have written to all their prompts apart from one. They provide a consistent, clear format and imagination-provoking writing prompts. The first one I wrote for was “For Want of a Rivet,” which gave me Fromage and Failure. I did receive a note from the editor explaining that despite the strength of the story, it did not align with the rest of the stories in the anthology. It turned out all the stories selected had a World War II theme. It wasn’t intentional; it was just how it turned out. It was the most obvious response to the prompt. In fact, I had specifically chosen a different era and a non-war related story to avoid going the predictable route and writing a World War II story. Low hanging fruit.
My next story, Half-Baked Curses, was accepted for The Muse Within Us anthology (yay!)
For the Pet Monster anthology, I wrote The Best Kind of Pet, creating a world and cast of characters I enjoyed so much that I would revisit them for a future anthology submission.
Winter Ghost, a tale from the Finnish Winter War, was published in Wyrd Warfare Forgotten Frontiers.
I have submissions pending for Hold-My-Beer Heroes (Uncle Jake’s Follies) and “Giant Killer Kaiju” (The Nuclear Option). Both those stories were so fun to write and to read. Sure, I hope that they are selected for publication, but even if they are not, I am pleased with how they turned out.
For “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” I returned to the cast from The Best Kind of Pet writing Playground Rules. This is actually the second story I wrote for this prompt. The first one, Leave It All on the Field was great, but I wrote it before the editor revealed her intention for the anthology to feature PG stories that leaned toward humour. So, I actually got two fun stories out of this one though only one was suitable for submission.
Sitting in my draft folder is the story From Different Tides for the final Raconteur anthology of the year: “Deep Blue.”
This week my Substack story feature is Spirits of Innovation. This was written and rejected for the Raconteur Press anthology “Arcane Intelligence.” From the outset, I knew it was an unlikely fit. The anthology leaned toward spy craft, which is not a genre I read or write in. I might not have written to the prompt at all were it not for a note from the editor that mentioned corporate espionage might be acceptable as well.
https://brainsoupfic.substack.com/p/the-spirits-of-innovation?r=1vg5y9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
That got my imagination fired up. My muse was keen to combine the supernatural with tech. But only because I thought it would be funny. And I knew, even as I wrote that the editor was probably looking for a more serious tone. Real cloak and dagger kind of stuff. But when I set out on this journey, I did it to entertain myself. The primary goal is writing stories that I enjoy writing and reading. Publication is a secondary goal. So, rather than write the story I thought likely to be published, I wrote the story I wanted to read. Predictably, this one was not accepted. I didn’t really expect that it would be, so I wasn’t disappointed. Once again, I was happy for the opportunity and satisfied that my muse had once again delivered, weaving an entertaining story out of a random prompt.
There was a time that I harboured the fear that I might run out of stories, but 2026 has proven that there are always more stories to tell. Let a prompt sit in my head a day or two, irritating my subconscious, and the muse begins to weave a narrative structure in response. My mind can’t stop worrying the problem until it begins to take on the shape of a story.
It is reassuring how consistent this process is. And how many prompts exist for upcoming anthologies and writing contests. I’m writing this now because after Deep Blue, I expect to take a step back from submitting stories while I work on the back catalogue I have built. So many stories in so little time. I need to find a home for them all so that they can go out into the world.
In 2027, I expect to return my attention to new prompts, prioritizing Raconteur Press, but for now, I am grateful for all the wonderful inspiration I received through 2026. It has been a banner year. And though I hope that my three pending submissions see print before the year is out, either way, I am satisfied with what I have accomplished thus far.
All About the Prompts
