The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild wants you, your creative talent, and your ideas for a new literary journal they have in the works. They’re looking for ideas for just about everything pertaining to the journal including the title, submission guidelines, marketing, distribution, design, and most importantly, your outstanding prose and poetry. At the helm of the journal’s creation are Eric Rasmussen, a writer and English teacher at Eau Claire Memorial High School, and B.J. Hollars, Chippewa Valley Writers Guild director and English professor at UW-Eau Claire. Over this past year, Rasmussen was hired as assistant fiction editor at an up-and-coming national literary journal, The Indianola Review, and since then he has been quickly learning the ins and outs of the way such journals operate. “As I experienced the frustration that comes with trying to publish fiction, and learned more about how journals work, it became clear that a creative publication with a local focus would be a fantastic way to support local writers,” he said. Naturally, The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild is a perfect fit for supporting Rasmussen’s vision. “That’s exactly what we’re here for – to build off people’s enthusiasms related to art and writing and to find ways for these things to happen,” Hollars said. “Thinking about the potential for something like this is really exciting.” With lots of venues hosting poetry and prose readings regularly, it makes plenty of sense to give the words of local readers a home in a brand-new journal. Although this journey has just begun, Rasmussen hopes to open submissions for the first issue in March or April. Stay tuned for more as the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild continues to build the journal from the ground up.