Dear Friends, July marks five years since I launched my author website—my own little corner of the internet. It's a space I pay for and maintain. I share links to my writing, connect with readers, and give voice to others wanting to share theirs. It doubles as a free craft posts library and resource site with writing know-hows, poet/author interviews, lists, as well as guest posts, and a home for various general/community interest blog posts.

By now, many of us have settled into the rhythms of summer—or winter, depending on where we are in the world. Where I live, clouds have gathered and it might rain. Our planet keeps at it. In tandem, the literary calendar rarely slows down (In fact, "Publishing is moving too fast"--but more on that later). June brought announcements, debates around AI and authorship, and an abundance of excellent work appearing in journals across the globe.

Hello June! How are you? A lot has happened in lit world since the last newsletter, and I hope I'm able to take you through as many of them as possible. Let's get started! good news stories The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has launched the RSL Hawthornden Literature Matters Grants, a £1m fund to support reading across the UK, described as “a major intervention” in support of an area of the arts that is “critically under‑supported”.

Sometimes we howl.

In this month's newsletter, a Pulitzer Prize winner waiting tables, a Moroccan city becomes the World Book Capital, some editors uploading unpublished manuscripts into tools like ChatGPT, why every major Indian writer lives abroad, Ruby Lit and at least two other magazines announcing closure, what "send mores" can be hurtful, O. Henry Prize and Commonwealth Short-story Prize announcements, the debate over delusion that MIT researched, submission calls, recommended reading, new contest I'm judging, Short-story Month's history and more...

Near where River Bhogdoloi flows, my family has a home. Last I was in contact, Aunt Cheema, too afraid to lead a solitary life, had married the crocodile

Shifting states. The novel-in-flash Glass/Fire (Querencia Press, 2024) exhibits the unfolding travails of girlhood, a reality adorned in rich contradiction and symbolism. Mandira Pattnaik’s sumptuous ...

Swear.  Before that, roll over. Cover your bottom. Juggle your weight on all fours. Climb out of the creaky bed. Be irritated, or sad, or drained, or hungry—or all of these. Before that, close…

…and each time there was a story in the end: 1. Driverless train destined to crash, until something caused surroundings to speed away too. Result? Train was relatively stationary, and safe. 2...

…and each time there was a story in the end: 1. Driverless train destined to crash, until something caused surroundings to speed away too. Result? Train was relatively stationary, and safe. 2...

I do understand the way my loving husband labels the bell jars, even though I can see through the glass what they are filled-with—salt, sugar, biscuits, and flour.

I do understand the way my loving husband labels the bell jars, even though I can see through the glass what they are filled-with—salt, sugar, biscuits, and flour.

Alt: a little boy wearing a hat that says respect on it

Mandira Pattnaik

Dear Readers, We completed a full circle of our Sun and we're here at edition 12 of my monthly newsletter! YAY! I'm doubly thankful for y'all sticking by me and for your wonderful response to the March edition. As always, I'll jump straight to what's important! what writers are talking about? Topmost, about Artificial Intelligence in writing. Recently, writer-editor Becky Tuch posted an excerpt from a New York Times Modern Love column on…

Hi everyone, how are you? It's March already! We've clocked two months of 2026, and where are we? Let's take heart that there are writers (and we aren't one of them!) who pay utility bills with spider drawings --yes this happened-- and fun fact: February 23 was David Thorne's birthday, and we are not the writer who discovered her own pirated books being sold!

The writer shares a personal experience of receiving an acceptance email for an essay titled "I Owe You an Explanation, Son," which discusses the urgent climate crisis and the generational responsibility to care for the planet. This piece, inspired by reflection on childhood and human connection, was built over time into a significant work despite numerous rejections.

Dear writers, February is upon us. February is Spring in our part of the world. Also Valentine's Day. Most schools here have their annual examinations. So it is a strange mix of feelings, this month--work and fun, enjoying the breeze until Summer. Have you ever thought of writing about a month? Please share below, I'd love to read! Back in 2021, I wrote about February too, and published in the now-defunct SLEDGEHAMMER LIT, MAY 2021 (reproduced below):

Dear Subscribers, Wish you a very Happy New Year! Know what? I am always so confused if H. N. P. (in happy new year) should be capitalized or not? Just like I'm not sure if the phrase is 'Look forward to it', or is it 'Looking forward to it'? Just two of millions of such embarrassing confusions! To be honest, I am more worried about the emails than I am about my stories!

Flash fiction is evolving as writers experiment with new forms and subjects that align with today’s realities. In our fast-paced digital world, social media and online magazines encourage stories that are shorter, bolder, and more interactive, often blending genres and using unconventional structures. Selecting these stories was a thrilling challenge--my gratitude to the talented flash fiction writers for this difficult task.

Good morning, friends! We are officially into the last month of 2025--how utterly unbelievable is that! We're also at the eighth edition of this newsletter--and 8 is an auspicious number in my culture, so I'm rather happy we've come this far. Let's get straight to sharing some news from the lit world that caught my eye. First up, celebrated publishing venue…

Hello readers — welcome to the November 2025 edition of A Newsletter With a View of One's Own. How are you? I hope you're absorbing the changes around you and collecting memories. Writing spontaneously about perceptions and experiences, is extremely rewarding. Imagine your responses to "How are you" and pen a story. For example, "How are you?" is a powerful starting point of "DATE MYSELF" by Tom Misuraca in…

Hi friends! I woke up today to unseasonal rains and there's an unmistakable nip in the air. Autumn might be sooner than usual, and winter, colder. Have you noticed the season changing where you are? Let me know in the comments! It is interesting how a small change triggers a big one. Perhaps you're more intent and energetic now, perhaps you're looking to work on drafting and editing as a new season kicks in, perhaps you feel lesser so than in the summer months.

Formats of handwritten mails (and emails) provide excellent jackets to write fiction that needs to be direct and personal. That is why — epistolary fiction. Read on to find OUT more including helpful examples. Hi friends! A warm welcome to everyone, especially those of you who are subscribers of my Substack and receiving this email. It is so because I'm pausing my tiny Substack account and streamlining you all into this 4-

Hello subscribers and readers! September is the month when a lot of journals and magazines open to submissions. I hope you've been submitting to as many as you'd like to. Most will, sadly, close before you know it because magazines these days cap submissions to a manageable limit. Anyway, if you're unsure what I'm talking about, look at this list…

For this blogpost, I’ve combed through my notebooks to come up with a list of six new PROMPTS you may try during the upcoming long weekend: Take an abstract noun--here's a brief list below--and form an idea around it. Work on the idea to form a plot. Make it reflective and semi-autobiographical. It is amazing how abstract ideas can be useful foundations for writing deep, imaginative, or philosophical stories.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com If you are a writer, don’t read. That is the advice of leading writers, thinkers and eminent personalities, including Albert Einstein, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy and William Woodard. Sounds like literary sacrilege, doesn’t it? More so, given that, as writers, we want to read everything we can lay our hands on. But, turns out, there are more layers to it.

August 01, 2025 Allow me to begin this month's A Newsletter With a View of One's Own-04 with shout out to some of our subscribers who have had a great June and July. Subscriber and guest contributor Sudeepa Nair released her book The Lakeview Mystery, available on Kindle across Amazon websites. Jack Morris published And on the seventh day she rose again…

Past two months, I wrote and received acceptances for six pieces after making a conscious decision: I spent less time on social media. Even though engaging through my platforms have emerged to become an indispensable part of my writing life. Why and how? Read on to find out. As you may very well know, writing life is as much about writing and publishing as it is about promoting your publications.

Dear Friends, Today marks four years since I launched this little corner of the internet—my author website! It is a space I carved out to share my writing, connect with readers, and give voice to others wanting to share theirs. I run my author site as a payback medium to Writing Community. It's a craft posts library, a display window for writing, author interviews, guest posts, besides being a home for many general/community interest blogposts.

July 02, 2025 Hey friends! How about starting this month's newsletter by sharing some submission calls I'm really excited about and believe you will be too. Hudson Review is open all month to a no-fee #poetrycontest 1st prize: $1000 + publication, 2nd & 3rd: $500 + publication. Submit up to 5 poems; manuscripts accepted electronically. Stone’s Throw (Rock and a Hard Place Magazin…