The Holy Grail of Writing Practices
More than two years in the making, the super-duo behind New Millennium Writings and Sunshot Press & Book Awards has brought the writing community another bold and adventurous opportunity. In this complex world, engaging in ways that bring happiness and joy and meaning and connection, to ourselves and to others, must become a priority.
The secret behind watershed moments of creative genius, or game-changing innovation, or breakthrough scientific discovery, is the exponential growth catalyzed by small, continuous improvement. The Japanese call it kaizen.
This isn’t a sexy story to tell, nor profitable for marketers to sell. Progress hides in disguise, making growth appear neutral or at times in actual decline. These steps of incremental progress are the unseen building blocks of exponential growth, of what we call “genius”.
The secret behind Musepaper is kaizen writing: a small and achievable monthly writing practice of 1,000 words or less with curated writing prompts, writing awards, and publishing opportunities inspired by our Muse. So if you’re ready to take your writing to a new level, enrich your voice, refine your style, push the envelope, affect change, turn pro, and follow your Muse…
musepaper
PRO
musepaper
PRO
Founding Supporter
Write 1,000 Words (or less)
Story, Essay, or 1-2 Poems
New Writing Prompts
6+ Musepaper Prizes + Publication
— Monthly —
6+ Total Submissions
No Restrictions on Style
Easy to Submit
PLUS, exclusive Member benefits*
Write 1,000 Words (or less)
Story, Essay, or 1-2 Poems
New Writing Prompts
6+ Musepaper Prizes + Publication
— Monthly —
12+ Total Submissions
No Restrictions on Style
Easy to Submit
PLUS, exclusive Member benefits*
musepaper
PROLIFIC
musepaper
PROLIFIC
FOUNDING MEMBER
PRO
Write 1,000 Words (or less)
Story, Essay, or 1-2 Poems
New Writing Prompts
6+ Musepaper Prizes + Publication
— Monthly X 3 —
18+ Total Submissions
No Restrictions on Style
Easy to Submit
PLUS, exclusive Member benefits*
Write 1,000 Words (or less)
Story, Essay, or 1-2 Poems
New Writing Prompts
6+ Musepaper Prizes + Publication
— Monthly X 3 —
36+ Total Submissions
No Restrictions on Style
Easy to Submit
PLUS, exclusive Member benefits*
— MONTHLY —
CONTEST SUBMISSIONS
| 36 TOTAL |
Billed annual/biannual • Cancel anytime
Why did you subscribe?
You've been encouraging and I appreciate your dedication to helping us all be better writers.
Why did you subscribe?
I want to support and connect with honest, brave and energetic writers. We have never needed these writers more.
Why did you subscribe?
I want to be a part of a writing community that provides engaging opportunities to writers like me that are trying to figure it all out.
Why did you subscribe?
The mission spoke to me, right now in this period of my writing - releasing my writing into the world is so important, and hard.
Why did you subscribe?
I am an introvert, so getting out in the world and becoming part of a creative community is important Musepaper is creative, innovative, and caters to the writers.
Why did you subscribe?
New Millennium Writings has inspired and energized and supported my writing for years. I have felt personally connected, respected, and encouraged by both Don and Alexis. These editors care! Gratitude!
Practical + Achievable
Write and submit one story, one essay, or two poems per month.
(1,000 words or less)
New Monthly Writing Prompts
Encouraging & Synergistic Community
Small, Continuous Improvement
A writing practice grounded in simplicity, inspired by the Muse, and impelled by the happiness we feel from forward progress.
A process to realize your full potential and then catalyze new growth and expansion. It's a journey, and it's hard.
Musepaper makes it easier.
Monthly Writing Awards
6+ Musepaper Prizes per Month
Enigma Gift + Full Publication
(online and in print)
No Restrictions on Style
2 New Writing Prompts Each Month
x
3 Winners from Each Prompt
=
6 Musepaper Prizes per month
(a mix of stories, poems, and essays)
Musepaper PRO: ONE monthly submission to the Writing Prompt of your choice (+ Subscriber Perks)
Musepaper PROLIFIC: THREE monthly submissions to any combination of Writing Prompts (+ Subscriber Perks)
Submission: A story, essay, or poem† of 1,000 words or less
†1 or 2 poems totaling 1,000 words or less is allowed.
Each winner receives:
- Publication online and in annual print collection
- Recognition on all of our online platforms, including NMW’s website and in its widely circulated email newsletter
- The ever-changing Enigma Prize, sure to delight and amuse!
*SUBSCRIBER PERKS include at least one extra submission per month for a growing selection of Subscriber-Only Prompts, complete with Musepaper Prizes and publishing opportunities.
Subscriptions are for the Infinite Game
Goals are ultimately about what we become, rather than what we get. They focus motivation, preserve momentum, and guide our highest objectives when the game is infinite.
Goals can be invaluable when used wisely. For Musepaper, we wanted to create one of the most unique and interesting prizes, full of meaning and possibility… so we began listening to Clio, our Muse.
6+ Musepaper Prizes per Month
Enigma Gift + Full Publication
(online and in print)
The Start of this Story
- Exclusive opportunity to launch Musepaper’s first experimental publication, The Never-Ending Story series, where authors build on each others creativity to create something beautiful and unending.
- The best “Start of this Story” entry will be the first installment for this multi-year series, laying the foundation for everything that follows. After the first winner has been selected and announced, The Never-Ending Story prompt will be open to Subscriber-Only submissions each month.
Monthly Bonus Submission(s)
- Subscriber-Only Prompts (complete with awards and publication opportunities)
Collective Evolution
- From cover design to typeface, to ideas beyond the margins, we’re inviting Subscribers to directly influence Musepaper’s evolution. Be part of something bigger than yourself.
- Participation is optional, Subscribers can chime in as much or as little as they’d like.
- Cast your vote to help determine Volume 1’s cover design! See the contenders here.
Follow your Muse. We’ll follow ours.
You will become a better writer. Guaranteed.
Any subscriber who doesn’t have that experience can request a full refund after completing twelve months.*
Subscriptions can easily be cancelled, at anytime, directly from your account page.
Easy peasy, lemon breezy.
* To ensure accountability and fairness to all of our subscribers some requirements apply.
Read the Refund Policy.
2 New Writing Prompts Each Month
x
3 Winners from Each Prompt
=
6 Musepaper Prizes per month
(a mix of stories, poems, and essays)
Musepaper PRO: ONE monthly submission to the Writing Prompt of your choice (+ Subscriber Perks)
Musepaper PROLIFIC: THREE monthly submissions to any combination of Writing Prompts (+ Subscriber Perks)
Submission: A story, essay, or poem† of 1,000 words or less
†1 or 2 poems totaling 1,000 words or less is allowed.
Each winner receives:
- Publication online and in annual print collection
- Recognition on all of our online platforms, including NMW’s website and in its widely circulated email newsletter
- The ever-changing Enigma Prize, sure to delight and amuse!
*SUBSCRIBER PERKS include at least one extra submission per month for a growing selection of Subscriber-Only Prompts, complete with Musepaper Prizes and publishing opportunities.
Subscriptions are for the Infinite Game
Goals are ultimately about what we become, rather than what we get. They focus motivation, preserve momentum, and guide our highest objectives when the game is infinite.
Goals can be invaluable when used wisely. For Musepaper, we wanted to create one of the most unique and interesting prizes, full of meaning and possibility… so we began listening to Clio, our Muse.
6+ Musepaper Prizes per Month
Enigma Gift + Full Publication
(online and in print)
The Start of this Story
- Exclusive opportunity to launch Musepaper’s first experimental publication, The Never-Ending Story series, where authors build on each others creativity to create something beautiful and unending.
- The best “Start of this Story” entry will be the first installment for this multi-year series, laying the foundation for everything that follows. After the first winner has been selected and announced, The Never-Ending Story prompt will be open to Subscriber-Only submissions each month.
Monthly Bonus Submission(s)
- Subscriber-Only Prompts (complete with awards and publication opportunities)
Collective Evolution
- From cover design to typeface, to ideas beyond the margins, we’re inviting Subscribers to directly influence Musepaper’s evolution. Be part of something bigger than yourself.
- Participation is optional, Subscribers can chime in as much or as little as they’d like.
- Cast your vote to help determine Volume 1’s cover design! See the contenders here.
Follow your Muse. We’ll follow ours.
You will become a better writer. Guaranteed.
Any subscriber who doesn’t have that experience can request a full refund after completing twelve months.*
Subscriptions can easily be cancelled, at anytime, directly from your account page.
Easy peasy, lemon breezy.
* To ensure accountability and fairness to all of our subscribers some requirements apply.
Read the Refund Policy.
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Faust”
Invention does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.
The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes.
[Genius requires] freshness and wildness of imagination, a raging ambition, an unusual gift for learning and growing, a depth and breadth of thought and spirit.
Patience is the master key to every situation.
Of genius the only proof is, the act of doing well what is worthy to be done, and what was never done before.
Of genius, in the fine arts, the only infallible sign is the widening the sphere of human sensibility, for the delight, honor, and benefit of human nature.
Genius is the introduction of a new element into the intellectual universe, or, if that be not allowed, it is the application of powers to objects on which they had not before been exercised, or the employment of them in such a manner as to produce effects hitherto unknown.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed poets and writers citizens can change the world.
The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.
A Collective Evolution
Subscribers are invited to directly influence Musepaper’s evolution.
From cover design to typeface, to ideas beyond the margins, join us in reimagining the publisher/writer relationship, growing readership organically, pushing the envelope, and letting brand new literature lead the way to a more connected, creative, and flourishing future.
Participation is optional, Subscribers can chime in as much or as little as they’d like.
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
UPDATE: Poll #1 has officially closed and the votes have been tallied. Subscribers have decided which design will grace the cover of Musepaper, Volume 1 and the winning design is… “Leo’s Notebook”!
“Leo’s Notebook” was designed by our very own Publisher, Brent Carr, who took inspiration from the journals of Leonardo da Vinci and the writings, drawings, and musings which they contain.
Thanks to all of the Subscribers who voted and are helping to guide Musepaper’s creative evolution right along with us.
A new poll is already up, so login, check it out, and cast your vote.
Not a Subscriber? You can graduate your writing to a new level and have an early hand in Musepaper’s growth and creative evolution. Not to mention new writing prompts, at least six writing awards, with publication (online/print), happening every month. Plus, a growing community of like-minded poets and writers.
DURING THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, Musepaper’s most popular subscription will be less than $2 a week. Subscribe today.
* * * OUT OF COMP * * * - EYES of the world
Thanks for checking out Musepaper!
If you’ve made it this far and you’re still on the fence, hop on down and join us. Here’s why:
- Nothing will take your writing to the next level more effectively than small, continual improvement. Step-by-step it can hardly be seen, but this compounding effect creates exponential growth.
- New Millennium Writings has been awarding new and emerging writers for nearly a quarter century. Most recently, we created Sunshot Press, and the inaugural publications have already garnered Finalist awards from PEN America, Next Gen Indie Awards, and Book Excellence Awards. We’re expecting equally swift and amazing results from the Musepaper.
It’s hard to contain our excitement, but we’re at the beginning of something really special and we want you join us.
Whatever you decide, we wish you love, laughter, and respect. We hope to read you soon.
Your friends,
Alexis & Brent
P.S. Learn more on the About page.