TWBTO Literary Journal: Fall Collection 2023-RESTORATION (Submissions Open Aug. 1-Oct. 1)
The Way Back to Ourselves Literary Journal Presents:
Fall Collection 2023: RESTORATION
SUBMISSIONS OPEN AUGUST 1-OCTOBER 1, 2023:
Click on “Contact” to learn more. Please carefully follow the submission guidelines. Work cannot be previously published. WE NOMINATE SELECT PIECES FOR THE PUSHCART PRIZE. Have questions? Please email us at thewayback2ourselves@gmail.com.
FALL’S THEME: RESTORATION
What is this “RESTORATION” work?
No doubt, so many things feel broken today, friends. I look around, and I see a hurting world and hurting people. I see hearts who are desperate for repair. And souls that are so beaten down and tired that they need a renovation.
Don’t you see it, too?
I think it’s why RESTORATION is one of my favorite words right now—and always has been. It carries with it such hope and deep meaning. And in our faith, it is the central spirit of Christ’s work: to restore us to him and restore the world to TRUTH and LIGHT.
RESTORATION can come in many forms. It is the process of repair, like the ancient Japanese art of KINTSUGI, for “golden repair.” When a delicate porcelain cup shatters, it is not lost. Instead, it can be restored with a liquid gold that is far more precious than the cup ever was. And this beautiful metaphor can be us, if we allow RESTORATION in our lives. What was broken can be bonded up, and in that binding, we become stronger and more precious than ever before. It’s that age-old promise in the Bible: it’s BEAUTY FROM ASHES.
RESTORATION can also be bringing an old family car—long forgotten under ragged cloths in a dilapidated shed—back to its former glory. It can be getting clean after years of addiction. It can be forgiveness between old friends. It can even be forgiving yourself for the unforgivable.
RESTORATION says “Yes, you deserve a second life! You deserve to be new again!”
These are the stories we want you to tell in your poetry, prose, stories, essays, and art. Move us. Heal us. Restore us with the theme of RESTORATION. It can be direct or indirect. It can be literal or figurative. It can be a major or minor theme. But whatever you decide, let your art exalt TRUTH, LIGHT, and BEAUTY.
As Fyodor Dostoevsky once penned, “BEAUTY will save the world.” And I believe it can save souls, too. When something is beautiful and rings truer than the noise of this world, even the greatest skeptic might lean in and say, “I want to see more.” And “Who is this God you exalt?”
Our work is an active invitation to believers, seekers, and wanderers. May we ever be faithful creatives!
We can’t wait to see what you’ll do!
You belong here,
Kimbelry Phinney