Friday Five: author and ‘Mucky Mondays’ maestro Shawn Scott Smith

‘Community has always been a thing for me, and I saw a chance to give back to some of the writers I admired.’ 

Ever had a case of the Mondays? Of course you have. But thanks to Shawn Scott Smith, a writer, editor, and pinball aficionado from North Carolina, you can get your week off to a better start by reading a poem or flash fiction piece selected and curated by Shawn via his online literary presence, Mucky Mondays.

Shawn Scott Smith

Shawn launched the project earlier this year, and it didn’t take long for him to fill his calendar for 2026. (I’m one of the lucky mucks to be included in Scott’s publication this year. Check out “Scenes from a Chinese Restaurant,” which Scott kindly nominated for a Best of the Net award.) He will solicit submissions for the 2027 lineup beginning in November.

An accomplished writer in his own right, Shawn’s first collection of poetry and short stories, Telemetry: Poems and Shorts 2014-2017, was published in 2018. His newest book, Atomic Number, contains 117 poems, each one titled after an element of the periodic table. (Check out a couple of poems from the collection.) He’s also been published in a bunch of literary magazines, including Alien Buddha, BULL, Burial Magazine, Dodo Eraser, and Hawkeye.

Read on to learn more about Shawn’s writing journey, the origin of Mucky Mondays, his pinball obsession, and more.

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David Epstein: ‘Why creative people can’t stick to one thing’ (video)

This explains a lot!

If you tend to hop around from project to project, or take interest in a variety of topics, or generate a ton of disparate ideas, or write in different genres and voices and styles, and wonder if you’re an oddball, well…

OK, maybe you’re an oddball. But maybe you’re also a creative type who can’t stick to one thing.

That’s not a bad thing, as author David Epstein (whose book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World ought to be on every writer’s reading list) points out in this 20-minute video. In fact, he writes, “your scattered interests might be your biggest creative advantage.” Take, for example, two British musicians who came of age in the late 1960s: David Bowie and Peter Frampton. As Epstein explains in the video, Frampton found his lane quickly as a guitar prodigy while Bowie was all over the place. Both achieved success, but one’s path was narrower than the other’s.

Take the time to watch. You’ll be glad you did.

Top image: screenshot from the video.

New in ‘Burial Magazine’: ‘Señor Newton’

‘He stacks nine or ten of the cookies pyramid style on his plate, then turns, the tugboat reversing course, and steers toward his table…’

I’m hyped to have a short story out today in the legendary online literary publication Burial Magazine. Please give “Senõr Newton” a read!

Here’s what Burial editor Z.H. Gill (who previously was featured in a Friday Five on this site) has to say about the story:

Z.H. is wise. Listen to Z.H. Read the story.

Thank you.

Image via Pexels.

Friday Five: Ukrainian writer and ‘Sunday Morning’ creator Iryna Somkina

‘The single most valuable asset you possess is your own unique view and your unrepeatable experience’

As I was preparing to send a draft of this post to this week’s featured writer/editor, Iryna Somkina, Iryna herself was enduring the horrors of the latest drone and missile attacks by Russia on the Ukrainian capitol of Kyiv, where Iryna now lives and–somehow, in the midst of everything–writes some incredible creative nonfiction in English as well as a bit of poetry. “Honestly, my life has been so intense and packed with reality that there’s absolutely no point in even trying to write fiction,” she writes.

Iryna Somkina

Originally from Donbas, which has been a focal point in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she is also preparing to launch a new literary magazine, Sunday Morning, which will make its official debut Sunday, July 26. She also serves as fiction editor for Michigan City Review of Books.

I have such great respect for Iryna’s commitment to writing even in the midst of a horrific and senseless war, and even greater respect for her decision to create a new forum on which writers may publish their work.

Read on to learn more about Iryna’s writing, her new lit mag, and how she generates ideas for her writing.

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