I haven’t been submitting my writing for publication as regularly as I used to, so it was a bit of a shock to receive an acceptance from the Storyscape Journal.
(Click the image to read the entire story)
Old Bishnu’s Feet is a story set in India about religious devotion/brainwashing, family, taboo, and the harsh truths of love. It is a deeply personal story for me, because I struggle with faith. I’ve lost it in the last few years, and in some ways, this story is born out of that loss.
(Besides this story, I have other exciting publication news, which will hopefully be out this month!)
What have you published lately? I’m adding a Linky list, open till Saturday, and invite you all to add links to your recently published pieces. Anything in the last few months is great.
The list is moderated so it will not have spam, so if you want to browse through the list, read and encourage others, you’re most welcome. The link will remain up, till further notice. I loved the experience with reading posts on my last linky– check out the wonderful novels, short stories and essays shared there!
Here’s a linky for this week:
In the linky list above, please do the following:
- Link to the article/ novel/ blog post/ essay you want read, and not to your blog. I’ll delete links that lead to home pages and websites.
- In the Blog Title part of the Link form, add the genre and the title (For instance: Novel: The Old Man and the Sea).
Do NOT do the following:
- Do not add spam links. (I’ll delete them during moderation)
- Do not add homepage links to Websites/ Blogs.
- Do not add more than one link. (The list is moderated, so your link will appear only after I’ve cleared it. This is to discourage spammers.)
- Do not ask me to edit/ make changes to the list. (I edit typos without being prompted, don’t worry).
I hope to have a few things to read by the weekend!
In other news, I’m also happy to report that the feedback for my writing and reading gazettes has been overwhelmingly positive. (If you’re a reader, or a writer, you need to find out more here.)
All of it comes to the subscribers for free, and that’s the way it will remain because it is about giving back to the community that has grown around this blog for the past eleven years. Even if this is your first time on the blog, you’re very welcome to SUBSCRIBE HERE, to get monthly curated resources on writing and reading, via emails which would drop into your inbox around the 10th of each month.
What have you published lately? What do you think of Old Bishnu’s Feet? Are you already subscribed to one of my gazettes? Has it been helpful? If you haven’t, would you like to receive Curated Writing and Reading Resources in your inbox?
I co-host the monthly We Are the World Blogfest: I’d like to invite you to join, if you haven’t as yet, to post 
the last Friday of each month snippets of positive news that shows our essential, beautiful humanity.
This monthly event has brought smiles on the faces of a lot of participants and their audiences, and somewhat restored their faith in humanity. Here’s a sampler. Click here to know more.
Sign up here and add your bit of cheer to the world for the next installment on the 26th July.
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Thank you for stopping by my blog and congrats on getting published. May I also send a link to my children’s short stories or haiku that have been published?
Love this story! Very good mix of informative, descriptive, and compelling themes. I tend to write on themes involving disenchantment and disillusionment with faith, too. And that in itself is taboo when you come from a deeply religious family and background. So it takes courage to write something like this, imo. Well done. 🙂
Thanks, Melody. I set out writing just a story, with no theme in mind. The themes emerged after I’d written it. The setting was easy because it is based on a place I’ve seen very closely, but yeah, the ending took a lot out of me. Thank you so much for your kind words.
Congratulations!
I contribute to a UK Veterans internet radio… something I really enjoy. To play music that I love… and even some that I only like, is great!
The radio is part of a multi-media platform and just last month I was lucky enough to have one of my short stories published.
Damyanti mentions faith… this story has it’s roots in the effects of #PTSD… and the struggles military and ex-military have with this scourge. Faith and feelings… intertwined and one often affects the other… either because of it or because of the lack of it!
https://ouchmybackhurts.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/do-nothing.jpg
Please click here to visit the magazine… page 28 you’ll find the story. Aptly enough, the editor’s “Have Faith” monthly is on page 29…
https://www.yumpu.com/kiosk/sandbagtimes
So, I think I’ve answered the question… and if you’d like more info about my collections of short stories, do please drop me a line… I’ll really appreciate it! ??
Congratulations on your publications. I have never been published but it’s not something I am working towards just now.
Thanks D for the lovely invite. And so glad to hear about the nearing of your baby! Oh yes, and congrats on the article! <3
Congratulations on getting published at Storyscape. Reading your writing is a pleasure. All the best.
That’s awesome news. Will check out Old Bishnu’s Feet soon and looking forward to your next publication too! Cheers!!
Thank you—let me know what you think of the story :).
As to the next news, you already know it, but it will be publicly announced this week/ next.
Congratulations on Storyscape, Damyanti. The story sounds wonderful. I guess I need to find Storyscape to read it? I have found and lost and found spirituality. I continue to feel I need to fix it within myself. Maybe your story will help!
Thanks Jacqui. If you click the image of the excerpt, it will take you to the entire story. (Since the magazine published it, I’m requesting everyone read it there.)
I haven’t lost spirituality, just the blind faith I used to find myself enveloped with. I’m not sure my story would restore faith, especially the ending, which seems to come as a shock to everyone. In my head, it builds up throughout. Let me know what you think, and thanks so much for your interest.
Thank you so much for your generosity! I LOVED “Old Bishnu’s Feet”. I struggle, too, with faith/disbelief. It’s hard to make sense of …. Well, it’s a long discussion, isn’t it? ANYWAY, thank you for the list of good things to read, plus my book. 🙂
Read your story, D. It’s amazingly well-written. It was so gripping.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share the link of my story on your website. Keep writing. Keep rocking 🙂
Thanks for reading, Priya, and I’m so glad it resonated. It went through month after month of rejection, so it is great to habe it out there, and read. You can also add your link here: https://www.facebook.com/DamyantiWrites/photos/a.375506999315556/1125878374278411/?type=3&theater
Thanks, as always, for your support.
Congratulations on your story’s acceptance (I just skimmed that first paragraph for the moment and it is wonderful), and in advance on the super secret surprise publishing news that you are getting ready to reveal!
Also, thanks for visiting my blog(s) and celebrating my own recent publication. I don’t think I fully understand the linky business (blogging appears to have changed some, since I was last doing it regularly), but I like it and would be honored if you or anyone else here were interested in checking out Favored One, my novel about Mary the mother of Jesus. It’s also (maybe more indirectly but also primarily) about a journey of faith and doubt, and what that can look like in an individual life.
I appreciate your blog’s faith-slant, particularly the openness around the idea that sometimes it feels (or is) quite tenuous. Thank you for your hospitality here.
Thanks, Jennifer. I’ll check out your novel. If you’d like you can also add a link to the FB thread I have going where authors are posting their books: https://www.facebook.com/DamyantiWrites/photos/a.375506999315556/1125878374278411/?type=3&theater
Oh, that’s really great! Thank you so much for that!
You’re welcome. I do this from time to time. I’ve boosted that FB post, so it is gaining a wide reach–just my way of giving back to writers.
That’s brilliant and generous. I have inconsistent internet/WiFi in my immediate location but have made myself a note to share there when I get home. Thanks again!
Thanks, will look forward to it. Sharing love has always been the cornerstone of the Daily (w)rite community.
Congratualtions on the acceptance of your story submission. This is a good way of encouraging fellow writers.
Thanks Anamika. Please feel free to add a link to one of your posts/ publications.
Enjoyed your story, Damyanti. Also, thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my article on your blog.
Thanks for reading, Nishi. And you’re very welcome. If you keep an eye on the gazette, you’ll find that I send out similar invites from time to time.
I enjoyed this story when I first read it and congratulations on having it accepted to be published. I always look forward to your stories . 🙂
Thanks, Ian. You’re such an engaged and considerate reader. I’m fortunate to have you for a friend.
I really admire your philosophy in life, your honest writing and talent. 🙂
You’re super-kind, Ian.
Damyanti I’ve been wondering if you finally decided on the ending of that story you shared with me and if it is published on the web yet? 🙂
Hi Damyanti…Thanks for sharing . Truth be told, have been on a road trip and hence unable to be more participative. Looking forward to reading them next week. Much appreciate your mails.
I saw on WII that you were traveling, Chandrika–hope it is a stress-free and productive trip.
Thanks for signing up for the gazettes. I look forward to your feedback–always looking for ways to make the gazettes more useful.
Thank you for sharing and congratulations on your publication!!.. 🙂
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” Gustave Flaubert
Thanks Larry. Hope you’re having a good week.
I loved your story, especially the surprise ending. It kept me hooked from beginning to end.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Padmini. Thank you also for signing up for the gazettes–hope you find them useful.
Congratulations, Damyanti! You are a rock star! 😀 Can’t wait for the other news. 🙂
I loved your gazettes.
Thanks, Vinitha, you are very kind.
I’m eager to share the news as well–you know it already…shh. 🙂
SO happy that the gazettes were useful.
Yes, I know it, don’t I? 😀 <3
Yes!!! hugs 🙂
Congratulations! What lovely news. And even better that it was unexpected. Can’t wait for the other news!
Thanks Cinda! Yes the other news has been a long time coming and I’d love to share it with the world soon.
So glad you’re doing better! I hope you’re back to absolute normal real soon.
“Normal” will take some time but I’ve been enjoying defying the medical doctors’ expectations! 🙂
Yay!! That’s fab news, and that normal will come sooner than you think, Cinda.
Congrats on being published again. I will be seeking this story to read in it’s entirety. Writing is truly an emotional rollercoaster. The excitement of an idea. The despair of the story not coming together. The election when it does. The doubts that accompany rejections and the thrill of acceptance. I sometimes question why do I do this but the answer is always the same:it’s the only thing I know how to do that gives me an incredible sense of satisfaction and while I have tons of self doubt, after a good day of writing, I feel a little better about me. My past published piece was a novel released on May 2, 2019 called ICY ROADS. It’s about a woman who has a different perspective of marriage than her spouse. She wants to start a family, he wants a divorce. An accident places her on an emotional ride. First she’s happy he survived then depressed they may never have kids due to his injuries. The ride continues until she learns what happened the night. She then must decide to stay married or not, forgive or not and how to forgive as God dories when her world has been shattered?it is a contemporary christian fiction piece that deals with the rawness of life, not the Ozzie and Harriet feel good world that traditional Christian Fiction believes in.
Yes, the writing and publication journey is a mixed ride.
Thanks for sharing your novel with us. Will check it out.
congratulations on your publication. Enjoyed the story, and the surprise ending. Also, as an accounting teacher, I was happy to see that Nikhil was an accountant. Too bad that didn’t provide him with enough money.
Wow thanks for reading Jim. I didn’t mean the ending to be a surprise, but many others have told me they didn’t expect it.
Nikhil isn’t a big accountant in a big city, so he doesn’t make enough— money may not be everything but it sure helps.
Nikhil is lucky to be part of an extended family that provides the necessary support.
Congratulations on getting into Storyscape. Getting published is such a long process that you must be feeling that odd mix of relief and elation by now.
Thanks so much.
I don’t know if I feel very joyful upon publication news these days— some joy, yes, but it is quite brief.
Years of submissions and I’m not too joyful at the acceptances nor too sad at the rejections. It all seems like part of the process.
I know exactly how you feel, but I try to remind myself that after all the knotted neurones involved in getting a story to the point of being allowed out on its own, we’ve earned the right to take any joy where we find it. If an editor wants to tell us it’s a fine looking fellow, I’ll take the compliment!
Yes, I understand your point, absolutely. We tend to take rejection to heart, but don’t rejoice enough in our acceptances.
Those are the best kind of surprises, aren’t they? Huge congratulations on your next publication.
Thanks Cheryl!
I often forget that I made a submission so it is quite a joy when I see an acceptance:)
Hi Damyanti – congratulations on your publication … excellent that it’s so person – it must have rung really true by the judges. I look forward to reading it … I’ll be back. I haven’t sent off anything for publication – but keep the blog going … take care and all the best with all your other stories – and looking forward to your exciting news. Cheers Hilary
Thanks Hilary, the news is quite a big one—and I feel blessed.
I love your blog— it brings so much joy to me and all your other readers!
Thanks for offering to check the story out—it was indeed personal, not the events, but definitely the emotions.