You may have seen these notices – postcards and small posters with a comforting retro career woman on them, shouting out Submit Your Stuff! This is a call to all Wordsmiths. But what’s it all about?
Just who are these literary mavens, Hazel and Wren? Well, if you are at all interested in any area of the book world, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place to start than their website. From their monthly Open Mic to their writing prompts, from project how-tos to a submission deadline calendar, Hazel and Wren have got it covered.
They are, respectively, Amanda and Melissa Wray, sisters from southeastern Minnesota. If you can’t keep the alter-egos straight, just practice. They are amazingly patient about people confusing the two. But once you get it, you’ll see: Hazel is Hazel, and Wren is Wren. They are joined by Timothy Otte, who does the submission calendar (the Un-deadlines), does What We Are Reading once a month, and helps comment on Open Mic.
You may have seen their letterpress-splashed booth at the Twin Cities Book Festival. They recently started selling limited edition letterpress prints, and for the month of December (actually until January 2), you can get your very own at a 30% discount. What a wonderful gift for the word freak who has everything! With phrases such as Speak Softly and Carry A Big Book. And my personal favorite: At Night, I Can Hear My Books Whisper Underneath Their Covers. Limited edition means no reprints, so get ‘em while they last.
And the rest of it? Hazel and Wren have been posting teasers for their online Open Mic for about 8 months now, just since March. Seems like they’ve been around longer than that. They are that good. You may have seen these invites posted at Open Book and various other lit-type venues around town. They go to lots of events, talk to lots of people, and just generally have their hand in a bunch of different literary pies.
Probably the most visible thing they do is Open Mic. It’s an online forum that takes place over 24 hours every second Wednesday of the month, from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm. “In a nutshell, Open Mic is basically an online writing workshop,” they explain. Anyone may submit one (1) work-in-progress piece of creative writing Monday through Tuesday the week of the scheduled Open Mic. There are limitations, due to the nature of the system – up to 500 words of fiction or nonfiction, or 40 lines of poetry.
Then the items are posted on that Wednesday, and the comments begin! The goal is for writers to receive constructive feedback from other community members. Each person who submits is asked to comment on at least one other post.
The next shebang begins taking submissions on Dec 12, then the Open Mic is open for comments for 24 hours on Dec 14. You can still go in and read the comments from last month’s whirlwind, to get the idea. So sharpen your pencils and get those excerpts ready!
How big can it get? Well, the record 35 submissions they received in November just about put the system at maximum. (This was from a creative writing class at Macalester – totally welcome, by the way.) Hazel and Wren, with Timothy’s help, read each submission and try to comment on as many as possible. They are concerned that a larger number would spoil the intimate feel that makes the forum so valuable to participants. But they want to let it grow organically. They aren’t sure what to do to keep it cozy – maybe chunk things up, having different Open Mics for different genres. Or holding more than one general Open Mic every month. Or even limiting the number of submissions (but that is the least favorite option, going against the spirit of the whole thing to begin with).
But wait! There’s more! Weekly writing prompts, book reviews and great little projects are just a few of the other things you’ll find at HazelandWren.
Three Things are weekly writing prompts posted by Hazel that grow from her artistic bent and self-described “dictionary-browsing habit.” She uses artwork and other images to illustrate her idea, and throws it to the wind. The rest, as they say, is up to you.
Press Here is a compendium of tactile projects or advice on things that you might enjoy doing. They had me at Japanese binding. It’s advice and information on running a literary magazine (Wren was the lit mag co-editor in her undergrad days at the U of M) and information about letterpress printing. And more to come.
Hazel and Wren both do paying work on the side, not having been able to quit their day jobs just yet. Hazel holds the design strings, does the website work, and writes. Since Wren doesn’t do design work, most of the writing falls in her lap, but she doesn’t seem to mind. They are both into book arts in a rather big way, Hazel designing and Wren doing the practicum at Red Dragonfly Press. But don’t pigeonhole them, either. This is not to say that Hazel cannot pull a good print, or that Wren is not creative. It’s completely collaborative, but the complementary talents sure don’t hurt.
What’s next for Hazel and Wren? Well. They’ve just acquired a 9x13 Kelsey platen tabletop press, and once they find a good space in which to set it up, perhaps you too will be able to have them print your own chapbook, dustjacket or other original item. These are some talented ladies. They’re also throwing around ideas about hosting some in-person events. What fun that would be!
Find them on Facebook, get your groove on in Open Mic, purchase letterpress prints at their online store, or heck, get a burst of inspiration from the Three Things column every week. And there’s no telling what they’ll come up with next… watch for it!
And if you enjoyed this profile, watch for the Q&A to be published soon. Get it in their own words!
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