Happy Friday!
As we head into the final weekend of February, here’s hoping March eases in gently rather than roaring to life. Mother Nature is a fickle one, of course—so we’ll see what she has in mind.

Whether you’re feeling early spring energy or full-on cabin fever, NewPages is here to help you channel it into your writing and submitting. March brings a fresh wave of opportunities, and several deadlines are closing soon. Don’t miss your window.

Inspiration Prompt: Precious Children

We weren’t called precious because we were adorable and utterly lovable.

We were called precious because of what we looked like.

One child came with golden locks and golden eyes, skin kissed warm by some unseen sun—a living echo of the most coveted metal on earth. Another arrived silver-haired and metallic-eyed, with a cool bluish-grey undertone that made him look like something poured and set, something that belonged behind glass. The third had copper hair, coppery brown eyes, a warmth in her skin that glowed like something freshly forged.

Three children who reminded people of precious metals. Three children who had done nothing to earn that resemblance and nothing to deserve what came with it.

Here is what you get to decide: what does come with it?

Are they coveted, sought after, collected, kept close by people who want to own beautiful things? Are they feared, because what looks rare is also fragile, and fragile things make people nervous? Are they worshipped in ways that hollow a person out over time? Or are they cursed by a world that can’t see past the surface of them, that has decided their worth before they’ve spoken a single word?

Write the life of one, or all three. Write the moment someone first looked at them and wanted something. Write the moment they understood what they were to other people. Write the moment they decided whether to use it or fight it or flee it.

Precious is only a word until someone decides what it means. You be the one who decides.

Happy Friday!
Somehow we’re already staring down the last week of the month. The February eLitPak newsletter is out, and here in Michigan the warmer weather has arrived with its usual mix of rain and fog—but at least we’re getting a break from snow and ice.

With another major storm rolling across the country, I hope you’re staying safe and finding time to write. Here’s this week’s roundup of submission opportunities, plus a little spark to keep your creativity going.

Inspiration Prompt: Reading Between the Lines

Mark Twain once said, “A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.” He was talking about editing — but there’s a deeper implication worth sitting with. Omission isn’t just a tool for clarity. It’s where a story’s interior life lives.

Every piece of writing has an on-screen existence — the words the reader follows, the scenes they witness, the dialogue they hear. But surrounding that visible story is a larger, quieter one: the character history that never surfaces, the worldbuilding detail you wrote only for yourself, the emotional beat implied in a pause rather than stated in a speech, the off-screen choice that explains everything without ever being named.

The most resonant writing doesn’t fill in those gaps. It trusts them. It lets the unseen world press against the edges of the page — present, shaping, felt.

Your Challenge

Happy Friday — or as happy as a Friday the thirteenth can be.
If you’re feeling superstitious and would rather avoid today’s bad‑luck vibes by staying home with a mug of something warm, we’ve got you covered. NewPages is back with our weekly roundup of submission opportunities, plus a little spark of inspiration to get those creative juices flowing.

Inspiration Prompt: It Just Takes Time…or A Jug of Moonshine

While reading the inaugural issue of Poetry Midwest, Paul Hostovsky’s poem “Flents” stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps it’s because my own grandfather passed away this past December, but the poem’s shift in perspective felt especially resonant.

In the poem, Paul Hostovsky recalls being fascinated as a boy by his father’s “Flents”—waxy, bite-sized lumps molded to the shape of his father’s ear canals. At thirteen and a half, they were novelties, curious mementos of the man himself. It wasn’t until Hostovsky reached the age his father was when he passed away that Hostovsky’s perspective changed. He realized those Flents weren’t just objects, but shields his father used to endure the very rock music Hostovsky once blasted through the house while his father lay in bed dying.

Perspective is a living thing—rarely objective, and always subject to change.

The Challenge:

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.

Happy Friday!

Can you believe January is already halfway gone? This week we sent out our eLitPak newsletter—if you missed it, you can catch up online here.

The weather’s still doing its 2026 flip-flop—50s one day, teens the next. Some things never change! One thing you can count on, though, is NewPages bringing you a fresh roundup of submission opportunities and inspiration every week. Happy writing and submitting!

Inspiration Prompt: Negativity is All in the Head

We talk about “negative” temperatures, but what does that really mean? For some, cold means the 40s or 50s. For others, it’s subzero, where the air bites and the world freezes solid. Did you know that when it gets extremely cold, the atmosphere can become too dry for snow? The colder it gets, the less likely you’ll see those flakes…and the more likely you should be slathering yourself in moisturizer.

This week, imagine life in a world below zero. What would change for you? What new skills would you need to survive? Now take it further: what if your attitude controlled the temperature? The more negative your thoughts, the colder your surroundings become. Could your mindset freeze rivers, frost windows, or plunge a city into an endless winter?

Write, sketch, or create around the idea of negativity—how it shapes environments, relationships, and survival.

Now that you are perfectly inspired, and perfectly frigid, keep going to find a home for your work.

Happy Friday!

Welcome to the first submissions roundup of 2026! We hope you enjoyed a fun and relaxing winter holiday season. We’re back to help you keep your writing and submission goals going strong—and to spark your creativity with a weekly dose of inspiration.

Inspiration Prompt: What is a Living Wage?

“There is an apple in the world for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”
— Rock My World

Minimum wage and living wage are not the same thing—and rarely even close. In the early 2000s, economists estimated that a true living wage for the average American would hover around $22 an hour. Two decades later, the gap between what people earn and what it costs to live has only widened.

We know the arguments: raise wages, cut jobs, hike prices. It feels like an endless cycle. But what does “enough” really look like?

Using your own experiences or observations, what do you think a true living wage is—and what would it take to achieve it?

• Explore what happens when the concept of “living wage” becomes literal: what if wages determined how long you live?
• Imagine a world where wages are tied to something other than money—time, health, happiness, or even art.
• Visualize the symbols of “need” versus “greed”: apples, scales, empty wallets, overflowing vaults.
• Tell the story of a character who earns their living in an unconventional way—or who fights for fairness in a system stacked against them.

Once you have finished your creation, keep going to find a home for your work.