One struggle many of us face as writers is finding inspiration. There may be many wonderful things in your head, but you just can’t find a way to express them. When I run into writer's block like this, I like to turn away from my paper or my screen and step back into the world for a moment. Inspiration rarely comes from staring at a blinking cursor. It comes from living, noticing, and allowing your mind to wander a little. Sometimes that means going for a walk, listening to m

Hello! My name is Maddison Sable, and I am the editor in chief! The entire team has been working really hard to bring this journal and I know I am super excited about it. We'll have a wide arrange of stories and art within it and I can't wait to see what everybody creates. Please consider adding to it, it would mean the world for our team! Thanks for reading!

Hi! My name is Kait Neuharth and I’m a freshman studying English. This is my first time taking Literary Publications, so I’m excited to see our final product! Being in this class has been a super fun and new experience for me. As a part of our small three person promotions team I’ve gotten the chance to be creative and come up with fun ideas to get the word out about the journal! We’re currently working with one of the public libraries, and we developed a bookmark advertiseme

Hey everyone! My name is Kaitlyn Schmidt and I’m a graphic design major at NDSU. This is my first time taking the Literary Publications class, and so far, I’ve had a lot of fun with it! I’m part of the design team where we design different things parts of the journal. We’ve designed posters to put up around campus and will design the layout for the journal. I enjoy using my major in an elective class and putting together work for my portfolio. This class provides real-world e

Hi there! My name is Alison Hollatz, and I am a second-year English major at NDSU. I am also in the process of obtaining a certificate in publishing, which was my main motivator for enrolling in this course. English 313: Literary Publications is a class offered through NDSU’s English Department. It has provided me the opportunity to work hands-on and see the entire process of literary publications. I am Northern Eclecta’s Promotions Team Lead, so I manage the team and come up

Hi! My name is Josie Hamilton, and I am a freshman here at NDSU. I am currently pursuing a major in English and a Pre-law minor. I have not taken Literary Publications before, or any other class dealing with publishing, so I am excited to see another part of the creation process when it comes to books. I am part of the promotions team in the Lit. Pub. Class and have had a lot of fun creating content and promoting the journal!     I think that this journal is so important to t

Hello! My name is Grace Wolf, and I’m an English major here at NDSU with a minor in creative writing. This is my second time taking English 313: Literary Publications, and I’m excited to work with a group of mostly new students for this year's 20 th volume of Northern Eclecta. I’m also taking on more of a leadership role this time around as I help navigate the Design Team. This opportunity is very exciting, and I'm thrilled to incorporate my artistic visions into the product

Wonderstruck Webster’s 1913 Dictionary Won´der`struck` a. 1 . Struck   with   wonder , admiration , or   surprise . Wonderstruck Northern Eclecta 2026 Definition Wonderstruck a. 1. Something that causes one to be filled with awe, questions, wonderings, or wonder. Northern Eclecta invites you to explore and share what fills you with awe and wonder. Perhaps you may think of a relationship that shaped who you are today. Perhaps you are thinking about a moment when you were struc

Hello! My name is Avery Wiese, and I’m a part of Northern Eclecta’ s design team. I’m a sophomore at NDSU (go Bison!) and I’m majoring in English with a Creative Writing minor. Following graduation, I plan on involving myself in the world of publications and book production. I’ve worked on Northern Eclecta  in the past as a promotional team member, so it’s exciting to see and be a part of a different production aspect this year. I think it’s so important to provide NDSU stude

Hi! My name is Elana Anderson and I am a junior at NDSU studying English. I'm working towards teaching English as a foreign language and while I don't have journalism in my sights, I still find it incredibly interesting. I have always had a love for art and writing, I spend most of my free time filling up my dorm walls with art I've made or collected. This is my first year with the Northern Eclecta design team and I look forward to bringing your visions of Wonderstruck to lif

You say you are no poet But your words come like velvet, smooth and soft and warm. I melt at your confessions, reminiscent of the first drop of dew on a newly spring day- You chip all my hard worn armor away.  You tell me you are no good with words But they come unprompted, and genuine. That is far more valuable to me than words woven in scripture without any meaning.  I chase after your I love you’s every time, no matter how much it’s been whispered to the wind. They a

My friends and I trudged through the snow and ice in the trails of Northern Minnesota in the dead of Winter, a time ripe with introspection. We came across a river, once flowing free with rushing water, now frozen in ice. Looking out across the river, in the clear patches, we could see waves of light shimmering beneath the ice. When we knelt, putting our ears to the ice, the silence of winter broke, and we could hear the frantic rush of water surging beneath us. The vitality

Hi everyone! My name is Eliana Staton and I am an English major with a minor in Journalism and History. I am so excited to be a part of the 2026 northern eclecta literary journal and it's publication. Our theme for this year, Wonderstruck, I am anticipating with great thrill. I believe is going to be a great challenge for the betterment of each of us who come across this journal. Our society teaches us to rush. We need to get from point A to point B and we have an allotted am

Hello, this is my first blog post! My name is Peter Havelka and I’m currently a sophomore at NDSU studying journalism and minoring in English. My end goal after I’m done with my education is to work in media while producing my own sports show or write for a big sports media outlet like CBS sports, The Athletic, or ESPN. I’m very interested in all of the different submissions and all of the different processes of the editorial team in editing a literary journal. I look forward

Hello, my name is Mason Solo. I am a sophomore at NDSU majoring in English, with a minor in Journalism. I plan to write for a local or national paper at some point in the future. I am excited to dig deeper into the editorial processes of a literary journal, and hopefully improve. Reading and writing are, to me, some of the finest mediums for true expression and revolution. And with our world slowly careening towards the digital, there is an understated power in the physical,