Where to Submit Roundup: February 6, 2026

Happy Friday and welcome to February!
We’ve officially made it through the first week of a new month. Here in Michigan, February arrived with an unexpected warm spell (20s after negative temperatures definitely counts as a heat wave, right?) after January delivered its fair share of subarctic drama. Winter, of course, isn’t finished with us yet.

If the weather outside your window isn’t especially inviting, NewPages has plenty to keep you inspired indoors. This week’s roundup features dozens of new and ongoing submission opportunities, along with a creative writing prompt designed to help you shake loose any lingering writer’s block.

Inspiration Prompt: A Penny for Your Thoughts

Writing exercises aren’t about perfection. They’re about momentum.

Think of them as rough drafts of the mind: fragments, sparks, half-formed ideas that exist simply to get words moving. Sometimes, it’s those unpolished scraps that become the pieces we return to later and think, Ah. There’s something here.

(If you’re anything like us, that explains the notebooks, documents, and folders full of unfinished starts and fragments from who knows where.)

This week, we’re trying something a little different with a response-based writing prompt.

The Spark

Read the following lines from a work-in-progress and let them sit with you for a moment. Don’t worry about original context. Let the words become something new in your hands.

“Mercy, mercy,” quoth he. “Please have mercy on me!”

Why should I mercy show when you yourself have none?”

“Why, milady, to prove that you are the better one!”

“Aye and to prove that I am, a secret I shall let thee know… there is no mercy for the damned.”

And in one fell swoop she struck the killing blow.

The Challenge: Translate the Echo

Don’t just read it. Reimagine it.

What does this exchange stir in you? What kind of world does it belong to? Take this moment and translate it into something entirely your own.

Here are a few ways you might approach it:

• The Storyteller: Write the scene after the blow. Who remains? What does the silence hold?
• The Poet: Break the rhyme. Transform the exchange into a modern noir poem, free verse, or even a haiku of vengeance.
• The Artist: Create a sketch, collage, or single comic panel that captures the instant she decides what “better” truly means.
• The Philosopher: Write a 100-word flash piece exploring the line: “There is no mercy for the damned.”

Join the Conversation

There are no wrong answers here, only echoes.

If you feel inspired to share your response, tag NewPages on social media. We love seeing how a single spark can turn into wildly different creations.

📬 Want even more writing prompts?

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