Line Of Advance: Literary Journal for Veterans
It’s no exaggeration for me to state that writing has positively changed my life. Writing became the avenue through which I was able to process my combat experiences and deal with the challenges of coming home. Things I was never able to articulate verbally finally achieved expression through the written word. For these reasons, I am very happy to post this email from Chris Lyke, one of the founders of Line Of Advance, a non-profit literary journal dedicated to preserving the voices of veterans. To make this a reality, Chris is soliciting donations via http://www.indiegogo.com/
I have never met, nor conversed, with Chris. His email, embedded below, came to me from a good friend at Penn State. I rarely trumpet other’s causes, but I think this journal could be very helpful for veterans trying to tell their story. I hope Chris gets his seed money to get Line Of Advance up and running.
Here’s Chris’s email:
“…This past April a fellow Afghanistan veteran and I were talking about deployments, the writing we’d been doing, where it could be published, and where our community is being best served. Aside from a handful of organizations, many of them being blogs, we were hard pressed to find a serious, literary, outlet for the writing that is inevitably going to start changing American opinions about the last decade.
We decided to launch a non-profit literary journal titled Line of Advance. It’s dedicated to publishing the creative work of military veterans. We are deeply committed to both providing space for the artistic voices of veterans as well as developing a community of like-minded readers.
The journal will live primarily as online content — both via a website and distributed e-book issues (Kindle, iOS). We plan to publish an annual, high-quality printed edition as well. Authors and artists selected for print publication will receive monetary awards or scholarships to further their writing/artistic development. In the future we plan to expand our journal from just the written word to other media forms. We are targeting a November 2013 launch (on or around Veterans Day).
Veterans of the last 10-15 years are not only the first American military veterans to see combat as an entirely volunteer force, but they have endured cycles and forms of combat that are unique to the American experience. They have witnessed history, and as much as they deserve to have their creative voices heard, the American public deserves to hear them.
We’re currently raising funds to help bring the journal to life. Without a marketing budget, we’re relying entirely on word of mouth, and if you were able to help spread the word we would be incredibly grateful. You can check us out on Facebook or visit out fundraising page located at: http://www.indiegogo.com/
Please feel free to follow-up with any specific questions you may have. I can be reached via email atchris@lineofadvance.org. And thanks for any support you are able to offer.
Regards,
Chris Lyke
Line of Advance,
Chicago, Illinois
