Issue 4.1 Launch Reading and Open Mic

If you're in the Sheboygan area on Sunday, November 10, 2013 we will be holding a reading to launch our fall issue.

From one writer to another...

Although most of you know me as an editor at Stoneboat, I think of my editorial work as secondary to my creative work. Editing the journal is something I fell into by accident—and while I love it, it’s not my first love. If I was forced to choose between being an editor and being a writer, I’d choose writing without any hesitation.

T-Shirt Giveaway!

The Stoneboat T-shirt machine has been out of commission for the last few months, but now that Rob is all settled into his new basement and our supply is dwindling, we're ready to fire that baby up again. We went on a mission to find T-shirt making supplies this weekend, and when the local craft store turned out to be a bust, we hopped in the Buick and headed 45 minutes down the Interstate to Grafton.

Writer's Block: Where Did My Words Go?

I have a degree in writing, and I want to be a writer, but I excuse my way out of it all the time: I can't find the notes I'm looking for. My favorite pencil has gone missing. I don't have enough time to immerse myself in writing today. I should make sure I didn't miss anything on Facebook. I'm not going to be able to focus until I trim my nose hair. I've got a million of them. Today I'm just stuck. So I rewrite what somebody else has written--a technique that often works for me.

The Passing of the Spark

There is nothing more life-affirming than the realization of the creative spark. If you are reading this blog  on any sort of regular or semi-regular basis, you are most likely in the camp of the human race that sees there is value in pursuing this spark, in preserving this spark, and in handing it--as it twinkles on the edge of a slender twig--onto another soul who is also looking for the spark. A few days after my dad, the artist Georg Vihos, passed on, I got this email from my "cousin" (not a blood relative, but the Greeks are a close-knit clan), sharing his story of the passing of the spark. He gave me permission to print the email here. I share it with you not so much because it is about my dad (and also about Ernie) but because it is a story about passing on that which is most beautiful, most delicate, most strong. I think you will find it relevant to your own story, somehow:

Hartford Avenue Poets Reading

This weekend Pebblebrook Press, an imprint of Stoneboat Literary Journal, hosted a reading for the recently released Hartford Avenue Poets collection of work "Masquerades & Misdemeanors" at the Frank Juarez Gallery in Sheboygan,Wisconsin.

Georg Vihos, Phone Numbers, and Breaded Cutlets

Lisa here. In the coming days, I am going to be posting some tributes and meditations on my father who left this physical plane on September 26. He was an amazingly prolific artist, and a lover of life. His greatest pleasure, it seemed, was to pass on the spark of creativity to others. I think about him all the time, which I suppose is quite normal right after someone dies. However, I can't imagine how I will ever not think about him. I am not ready to write about him yet, but I know I will soon enough. One day, at the hospital, he said to me: "Write a story about me." I said, "I will, dad." He said, "Make it a good one." Before I get to my own stories about Georg, I will share some from others. Here is the first one, from Stoneboat contributor who happens to be my brother-in-law, Stephan Mazurek:

Evolution Through Mediation

There's a quote I like by John Barton, a Canadian poet: "A literary journal is intended to connect writer with reader; the role of the editor is to mediate." Our goal at Stoneboat has always been to help distribute art, whether written or graphic, to a broader audience, with the intention of subjectively publishing the "best" work using relatively objective parameters. I think we've been steadily improving as editors with each issue we publish, and I look forward to continuing that in the future.