Every semester the BYU-Idaho Writing Center accepts writing submissions for Inkblot, an anthology collection of written work by students. This semester’s theme is Midsummer Promise.
Leah Curtis is a Writing Center tutor and the Inkblot coordinator and editor in chief. She picked the theme.
“I mostly wanted something that could capture the feeling of summer,” Curtis says. “Midsummer kind of alludes to Midsummer Night’s Eve, and there’s a lot of mischief that goes on in that as well. And the Idea that midsummer is also halfway through the summer, so pairing that with the word ‘promise’ is sort of like half-kept promises and mischief and the sort of romantic ideas of summertime.”
Each semester about 30 submitted works are published in Inkblot. Students can write in any genre, ranging from poetry, creative, non-fiction, to prose. They do not have to follow the theme.
Curtis says her number one piece of advice for those submitting their writing is for them to get their work looked at by other people.
“Creation is never a solitary process,” she says. “You always need the opinions of others, another set of eyes to look at what you have and to tell you where issues might be that you can’t see.”
Curtis encourages students who enjoy writing to submit their work and says it’s a great opportunity.
“It’s a really low-stakes opportunity to get published as a student at a college,” Curtis says. “There’s no penalty if you don’t get accepted, and you just submit something and see what happens and then who knows, maybe you have a piece published and you can put that on your resume.”
Curtis has submitted her own work to Inkblot in past semesters. She wrote a poem, “Matches at Midnight,” based on her experience in the British literary tour through the school.
“What I like most is how much fun it is. You just get to play around with all these different ideas and just see what happens,” Curtis says.
Students have until Wednesday, June 11 at 11:59 p.m. to submit their work. Access the submission form by scanning the QR code on one of the Midsummer Promise posters located around campus or submit at Inkblot Submissions.