Well, well, friends, we have arrived not only at the end of another month but the near-end of a whole nother year. And what a year it’s been. We’ve had ups, we’ve had downs, we’ve been thrilled and throttled and through the loop-de-loop of time all in order to arrive here, more or less intact and most definitely together.
If you’re a long-time reader of Lit Mag News, then you know just what I am about to say. If you’re brand new, welcome! Glad to have you.
This last weekend of the month is all about celebrating you—your tremendous accomplishments, your perseverance, your passion, your hard work, your energy and commitment.
What did you publish this past month? Share the link(s!)
If there is a piece you published in the past year that you are especially proud of, go on and share that too!
Tell us all about it. How did you find the magazine(s) that took your work?
What was your experience with the editors like? Are you happy with the final product?
Did you revise the piece as you submitted it or was it done and done?
How many places did you submit to? How long was the piece making the rounds?
Go on and step right up to tell your tale. Don’t be shy.
We want to hear from you, we want to know where everyone’s publishing their work, and we want to celebrate all that you have done and worked for this month, and this year.
Come on out, dear ones. It is time to brag your lit mag!
My first published poem came out in The Ekphrastic Review on December 4! This journal publishes an ekphrastic poem every weekday with a wide range of art and poetic styles, so be sure to browse around. Here’s a link to my poem:
If I wanted to, I could probably count up what submitting has cost me in fees in the last year and count up the number of rejections. However, my take on submitting is this. Almost nobody, apart from the editors, will actually read my pieces. But for me, that's enough. The fact that someone who loves writing and publishing as much as I do has chosen one of my pieces to publish is an honour and a potent recognition that I am not a great writer but a good writer. A handful of my pieces have received payment but I wouldn't give up my day job for it (if I had one). I am now 72 and didn't start taking my writing seriously until 3 years ago and since then I've had over 150 pieces accepted. Some of that is due the number of times I submit but it gives me the greatest joy to know that I connected with 150 editors that wanted to share what I had to say. Just as importantly, when I launched Witcraft https://witcraft.org 4 months ago to bring some humour to a world driven by angst, I never dreamed that I would publish over 50 stories from writers around the world, many of whom tell me it's the first time they've ever been published. We each do what we can.
I had a lucky publication year, significantly aided by the fact that I started aiming for a hundred rejections a year last year!
I published poems in Terrain, Barrow Street, swamp pink (formerly Crazyhorse), North American Review, New Ohio Review, berlin lit, The London Magazine, New Letters, Mslexia, The Greensboro Review, and Gulf Coast.
2023: 83 submissions, 12.5% acceptances. Poems in Last Stanza Literary, Hyacinth Review, Poetry NI+ Holocaust Anthology, and Poetica. A post-Holocaust short story, "Stones Tell No Lies," published in Kelsey Review and nominated for a Pushcart (wrote exclusively for this lit mag, only sent the story to this lit mag, revised two lines). I'm especially proud of my essay, "Anderlecht," published in Collateral Journal (an exclusive submission, a couple of revisions, includes an audio reading for which I had to practice French and Flemish) in which I traced the steps of a friend who'd been a hidden child in Brussels during the Holocaust. Novel in verse, Facing the Enemy: How a Nazi Youth Camp in America Tested a Friendship, published by Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers, named a Junior Library Guild Selection.
2024 looks promising; My essay, "The Yiddish Learner," appears on Jan. 1 in Jewish Literary Journal (sent to them exclusively, revised one sentence), and a poem in the Paterson Literary Review that earned an Honorable Mention in the 2023 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest.
I had a year of rejections, but my New Year’s resolution is to submit more frequently. Thanks to this supportive community and to Becky for hosting it and providing the excellent content!
Closing the year with two awards (International Human Rights Arts Program and Chilean Writers' Association) - one in English and one in Spanish. Fifteen stories, flash, or articles published in 2023. Apart from the awards, my favorite was published in India https://www.thewiseowl.art/jb-polk and one in Croatia https://wordpress.com/post/aloka-magazine.com/983. Looking forward to finishing my novel and writing more good fiction. A prosperous and successful 224 to all.
In the past 13 months, I had five poetry titles published and/or accepted for publication.
These include:
"Apprenticed to the Night" [full collection; still in PRE-release since April 2023];
"Vampire Ventures" [chapbook; released in October 2023];
"Cancer Courts My Mother" [chapbook; forthcoming in February 2024];
"Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems" [illustrated; forthcoming in October 2024];
"Eros and His Entourage" [erotic verses; forthcoming in 2025].
* * But I am even prouder of this feat:
* * * I helped two poet colleagues place their full-length mss with two good publishers on the first try.
In 2024 I was nominated for literary awards; my writing was a finalist on two occasions; and also I turned down six book contracts that I considered to be infra dig - - - a sign that I have emotionally re-evaluated my place in the literary landscape.
Here's to hearing more bragging - - - especially from writers who have been helping other writers advance a few squares!
It's energizing to read these publishing triumphs! I'm new to this at 77. I got word on Dec. 23rd that Dorothy Parker's Ashes (DPA has no fee) had accepted my essay (lovely to work with, requested only five punctuation edits) for their themed month "Secrets." Best Christmas present. I took a chapter from my memoir-in-progress and re-wrote the secret my mother kept for 30 years, creating a totally new format for the story. I only submitted this piece to DPA, but had submitted other pieces elsewhere this year. I think Allison K Williams had suggested DPA. My essay "No U-Turn Allowed" comes out in January issue. https://www.dorothyparkersashes.com/ Happy New Year, everyone. And Becky, thanks for a brag opportunity!
In adding up my expenses for 2023, I saw that I'd spent something like $450 on submission fees. I had thrown in tips sometimes, but I had no idea I was spending so much because each time it was just $3, $5 or $10.
On the other hand, in 2023 my essays got published in Bluebird Word, Modern Stoicism, Next Avenue, The Raven's Perch, Down in the Dirt, Meat for Tea, Grande Dame Literary, and with forthcoming pieces in Sequoia Speaks and Litro.
All that plus publishing a weekly essay in my substack, Introvert UpThink (https://www.introvertupthink.com). So it was a good year.
December lesson #1: Keep submitting. After 32 submissions, my visual/word piece "How to Weave a Caned Chair or a Friendship" was published at JMWW. December lesson #2: Aim high. Many lesser-ranked lit mags rejected this piece before JMWW (133 on Brecht's Top 1000 Lit Mags 2024) picked it up. https://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/how-to-weave-a-caned-chair-or-a-friendship-by-n-l-jorgensen/
Good morning. This month I have a silly, eye roll-inducing poem in Defenestration, a humor magazine that recently received a well-deserved shoutout from Chill Subs. It's an online journal that's been around for 20 years, and the editors are lovely. When my piece first came out there was a formatting issue. I emailed the editors, and EIC Andrew Kaye was extremely apologetic and fixed it right away. I submitted this to four places in fall 2022. I received three rejections and withdrew from the Coastal Shelf humor contest upon concluding (correctly) that the journal was defunct. Because this piece is clearly seasonal, I waited until fall 2023 to resubmit, and sent it only to Defenestration. Note that Defenestration does not allow simultaneous submissions (however, they are fairly speedy in terms of either declining your piece or letting you know if you've made the final round.) Here's the link:
Dec 30, 2023·edited Dec 30, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
My villanelle poem "The Treachery of Memory" was accepted for The Crow's Quill Magazine, a themed monthly Gothic poetry & fiction journal. The theme was "Darkest Endings" & I wrote it over three days. Two days later it was accepted &, as I submitted close to the deadline, it was live a week later! This has been my fastest-ever route from conceptualization to publication. The visual lay-out is gorgeously Gothic & I've just ordered my print copy. The editor was lovely - there were no changes or revisions. They paid 10USD for poems. Sadly, this is the last edition of Crow's Quill. This is the 2nd villanelle I've written & I'm quite new to form poetry, so it felt like an affirmation that I'm (hopefully) growing as a poet. Free PDF link is below:
I received word just before Xmas that my prose poem "Nightfall in a Fenced Arcadia" has been accepted for Issue 9 of "Exist Otherwise", a journal for surrealist poetry & short fiction. This is my 4th acceptance for EO, which feels a bit crazy. They pay $15 per piece. Issue 9 will be live Jan 2024.
For my first year of seriously submitting to lit journals, I committed to 52 submissions for 2023 & made my goal, receiving 14 acceptances so far. It's been an amazing year & Lit Mag News has been a big shiny part of my adventure (thanks Becky). Congrats everyone for their December acceptances & here's to a new year of lit magging & bragging! My favourite acceptance for 2023 was the 1st piece I wrote especially for a journal (Aurora Journal) & my 1st prose poem acceptance (a "passion" genre). Also, the lay-out looked super-pretty :) : https://www.theaurorajournal.org/winter-2023-volume/molten-summer-reverie
It's so gratifying to hear other writer's experiences of this year and to have a community where we can share these things - thank you Becky! I aimed for 100 submissions and made it to 82, which is the most I've ever done. (I also came to this late - I'm 70 and started three years ago). I had three two short stories and one flash fiction piece published. "Detroit in the Distance" was published in Idle Ink, a UK journal and "Betrayal" was published in Fault Zone: Detachment, a juried anthology of the California Writers Club SF Peninsula Branch. My flash fiction piece, "Acts of God", was published in Calliope.
Equally important to all this were the three fiction writing classes I took through Stanford Continuing Studies taught by Lynn Stegner, Elizabeth Percer and Nina Schuyler. Nina's class was focused on alternative plot structures and was immensely helpful in expanding the envelope of what it is possible to do within a short story.
One other item to add: I put together a PPT presentation for my writers club called "Cracking the Code: How to Get Published in Literary Journals" in which I shared the methodology I've developed for identifying and submitting to lit mags. It felt good to share this info with newer writers who weren't well-versed in this whole world and didn't quite know how to step into it.
Well- thanks…. published a short story in the “Jewish literary journal,” and in the last month I choose to write and illustrate three article-memoir pieces , which were accepted and published in “Santa Barbars Independent!” -Devo Cutler —- happy new years all!
I've been absent from the Brag for several months while I racked up dozens of rejections. But, at long last, an acceptance! Down in the Dirt was suggested by Erik Klass, and they published my narrative nonfiction piece, The Backpacking Mother Who Saved Escalate. https://scars.tv/cgi-bin/works_e.pl?/home/users/web/b929/us.scars/perl/text-writings/g12718.txt. They publish immediately in digital form, followed by a print edition. No edits. Easy to work with.
In other news I've nearly completed my book, a centennial history of my mountain club, which should be out in the world in May 2024.
So grateful for this community! Thank you, Becky. Congrats to everyone for your attempts and your successes!
I am particularly happy with the Crime Scene essay. It had sat in the "In Progress" box of a journal I have a personal connection to for months. I finally submitted it to Amethyst Review and they accepted it. I was a little sorry to write that withdrawal note to the first journal, but submitted something else to them this fall, and they accepted that one quickly. No cheating! It was a good essay.
The Smokelong Summer Flash Workshop was fun and got me to write a lot of flash -- three of those pieces have subsequently been accepted -- but this is the year for the grueling work of getting the damn memoir in marketable shape. I'm sure I'll sneak off to write some flash and try to get some essays relevant to the longer piece published. Happy New Year, one and all! And thanks for your column and workshops, Becky.
This was a repost from a piece in a defunct mag. That’s what BCC specializes in. I got this accepted in September and they gave be the specific pub date then. I also had a opportunity to answer questions about this piece and my process which will be published on February 11th. If you have a piece at a defunct mag I highly recommend BCC.
My chapbook of short fiction, "Pass the Panpharmacon! (Five Fictions of Delusion)" has been published by Greying Ghost Press. I put this collection together a couple of years ago for a publisher's call, unsuccessfully. Happened to catch the opportunity at GGP; I'm well-pleased by the design and high production quality. Took about a year from acceptance to print.
In 2011, I had a story accepted for a post-apocalyptic fiction e-book anthology that never came out. Since then I've sent it out periodically, and finally found a home for "All the World Was a Stage." Because there's something timeless about a story featuring fear, loathing, cannibalism and the theater arts, don't you know. The book also features work by sci-fi legend Robert Silverberg, still cranking them out at the age of 88, apparently.
Earlier this month, proving that Txitter still serves some purpose, I discovered something called Best of the Bests, where writers send in their favorite story published this year for possible recognition. And lo and behold, my story "They Who Stay," that came out in A Thin Slice of Anxiety, made the list.
Finally, while I had about a dozen fiction publications this year of various shapes and sizes, the most fun I had was doing the piece that found its way onto these "pages," "A Geezer's Guide to Lit Mag Maneuvers." Many thanks to Becky T. for that acceptance, and maintaining this wonderful and welcoming writers' world with her wit and hard work. Cheers!
And, from last December, “What the north wind knows,” in Flash Frontier, which is one of my favourites. The link opens to the magazine’s front page and further links to the stories.
It has been a good year with 5 flash stories and one micro-poem published, plus an acceptance for another story to come out in a print magazine next April.
Happy new year everyone! It has been a joy and an honour to be part of this group.
“To My Mother’s Older Daughter” originally appeared in a magazine that later closed, so I’m thrilled to see it in SugarSugarSalt, which accepts only previously published CNF. The editors are accomplished writers. They’re also responsive and promote their contributors well on social media. Six months from acceptance to publication. Contributors write a brief “The Story Behind the Story,” which was, for me, part of the draw. Overall, a great publishing experience.
It was a mixed year with a lot of poetry appearing at The Dirigible Balloon, a UK-based children's/educator's library of online poetry works by well-known, somewhat-published, and new poets, a poem in a Paddler Press children's anthology, and four poems accepted by my favorite high-quality children's group, Cricket Media (Babybug Magazine)...and a lot of poetry for adults rejected, but with four publications of poems close to my heart. I continue to send lots of work out, write almost every day and have joined The Stafford Challenge for 2024 (https://www.facebook.com/staffordchallenge/).
My favorite publication this year—and my favorite editorial relationship—was at the Jewish Writing Project. Editor Bruce Black was extremely perceptive and encouraging about digging deeper in a poem I'd written. The poem appeared here: https://jewishwritingproject.com/2023/08/21/something-about-the-rugalach/
Best wishes to all for a productive and meaningful 2024!
It was one of those rare pieces that wanted to exist, exactly as created: it flowed onto the page while I was in flight; Welter was my first submission; they accepted it immediately (without edits). I read my piece aloud during their digital release party, which was fun. However, there hasn't been much individual promotion of pieces on social media. The journal is run by University of Baltimore students & faculty, so they may be on a well-deserved holiday break. :) I kind of wish the digital table of contents provided author names underneath the titles. But each piece is uploaded blog style with a nice shareable link. Overall I had a positive experience with Welter, and I'm proud they saw something in my words. I hope you get a chance to read "Tropospheric" and drift across the landscape with me!
It has been a really good year. Three published stories, Finalist in one award, and in the short list for a short story collection they were supposed to reveal the winner in September, then November then December and we do not know the winner yet. I always wanted to be published in the Acentos Review, they just published the last chapter of my novel, which works as a short story. But my proudest moment came from a story I wrote 30 years ago. Sent it out durning the Pre-cambrian Snail Mail era to be rejected a few times. I then stopped writing for a decade. After I workshopped the story, and Submittable became a reality, it got rejected about 20 times. Then on a second bout of workshopping, one of my critiques suggested to change the name to Catire, the protagonist nick-name, then sent it out to two places one accepted it. In that story I worked with an editor who was fabulous and helped me clear things that people in the US would not understand about South America. You can read that story here:
In December, my story 'Mermaids for Seahorses' came out in Sequestrum after 20 previous rejections and a few revisions between groups of rejections. This was my first paid acceptance and the editor was great to work with. He always responded to my emails and was very friendly, encouraging and supportive. Sequestrum periodically publishes reprints and they also do short author interviews to go with the pieces.
My novel excerpt "A Wall of Masks" just came out in the journal L=Y=R=A. I logged another 11 declines. I've got about 35 things out. Happy new year everyone!
Poem that I wrote last year was just published in Consilience! This poem was rejected by a dozen other places, then I found Consilience Journal through the Full House Lit newsletter and noticed their issue theme this month fit my poem. Link below:
Here is a link to one of the short stories I had published this year (You Don't Know How I Get in Reckon Review): https://reckonreview.com/you-dont-know-how-i-get/. This was my first time submitting to this particular venue. I highly recommend it, especially for anyone writing literary fiction; the editors especially like stories with a little "grit." Cheers to you all and best wishes for 2024!
- I had a holiday (ahem) story at Shotgun Honey. "Gift Wrapped" - https://shotgunhoney.com/fiction/gift-wrapped-by-m-e-proctor/ - They only accept max 700 words, which is always tough. The editor sent a call to their authors (Shotgun Honey will publish my PI novel next year), saying they had room for a topical story. I wrote it in 2 days and they liked it, so, boom!
Dec 30, 2023·edited Dec 30, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
I had a "lifetime" year in 2023 for which I am very grateful, my graphic memoir was republished by Impspired Press https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915819571? and my first and second poetry books were published Lyrical Years (Kelsay) https://www.amazon.com/Lyrical-Years-Gary-D-Grossman/dp/1639802630/ref=sr_1_3 and What I Meant to Say Was... (Impspired) https://www.amazon.com/What-I-Meant-Say-Was/dp/1915819431/ref=sr_1_1 . Both of these presses are very easy to work with, and Kelsay seems to publish many author's first books so don't be shy. Lots of pubs in reviews and I particularly like MacQueen's Quinterly and Verse-Virtual. Responses are quick and editors very easy to work with. Medusa's Kitchen is another review with those characteristics. I tend to submit to reviews that take no longer than 60 days and I always submit simultaneously, except to Poetry Breakfast which doesn't allow that, but responds within a few days so those subs don't hold up my submissions much. If you're new to the poetry world, both of my books are composed of poems that were both previously published and new and the publisher will tell you which ratio they want. Kelsay is around 50% IIRC and I don't think Impspired has a set ratio. I had three or four rejections of the ms. for What I Meant to Say... prior to Impspired's acceptance and a few for Lyrical Years. I put all my published work on my Medium blog, which is full of writing info/advice/pieces and worth the $5 a month membership IMO. I think they do give four free reads a month if you don't want to join. My blog is https://garydavidgrossman.medium.com/ . You can sign up for the Medium newsletter for free and Erica Verrillo publishes a monthly list of reviews looking for submissions so it's worth signing up just for that. Have a great publication/writing year everyone.
I published a long short story (7000 words or so) called Flowering in the Summer 2023 issue of The Opiate (https://issuu.com/theopiatemagazine/docs/the_opiate_vol._34.) This was the longest piece I've ever published. I think maybe 20 people read the story but I was still very happy with it. I submitted it to 5-10 publications I found on Duotrope before it was accepted (I now rely more on SubClub). Thank you, Becky, for this opportunity to share and brag! Happy and healthy 2024 and thank you for doing what you do. I love this space.
Becky, as always, I thank you for giving us this opportunity, but for once my ego is asleep while my soul awakens-- and my soul wishes all of you a most productive and blessed 2024!
The world today is truly more dangerous than it has ever been [even compared to the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 15 and for a week it seemed WWIII might go off]. And there is a miasma of anxiety, depression, despair spreading the globe, all because it seems many of us have forgotten we are actually immortal beings, each an endless consciousness, 'traveling' for a time in a fragile vessel. And if you don't believe that, think about how it is your words enter another's mind, being, and yes, maybe even soul.....
I'm excited to share that my personal essay, "By Vespa through Sardinia" was published at https://causticfrolic.org/current-issue/ on p. 95. It was a themed issue (on "Coda", which the editors defined as the final movement, the closing statement, the concluding brushstroke ... explore the art of resolution, conclusion, and the lingering resonance of ideas. How can the conclusion be a new beginning? How can the final brushstroke contain multitudes?”) -- and the theme resonated so with me that that's when I knew I had to submit there.
The "friendship" described within was the initial trigger for the piece, when several years ago I tried writing a series of essays about my difficult adult friendships with women. I re-conceived the essay when taking a class on submitting to the NYT's Modern Love this March. Upon their rejection, I reiterated and reiterated it, expanded it, shifted the focus, polished it some more. And then the first place I'd submitted, a grad student-run journal at NYU, accepted it. I quickly withdrew it from a number of (actually more renowned, top-tier) places I'd submitted it to.
Another publication this year that I'm quite proud of is a personal spoken word and piano essay. Inspired by The Decadent Review's invitation to write about Dmitri Shostakovich, I revisited his Preludes and Fugues, op. 87 on the piano, a piece I've explored for years, which led me to two beautiful novels which imagine Shostakovich's psyche, as well as to look into historical and musicological perspectives on the work. https://thedecadentreview.com/corpus/tangled-web-of-relationships-24-preludes-and-fugues-op-87-by-dmitri-shostakovich/
My flash nonfiction story, Warming Up, was published in the December edition of The Mantelpiece https://issuu.com/themantelpiece/docs/themantelpiece_december_2023. This was the 30th time I'd pitched this piece, so big shout out to The Mantelpiece for looking favourably on it.
After several rejections this year (I made about 30 submissions), the year finished on an upswing! I won my first literary prize - The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction – and received a very encouraging note from another lit mag editor telling me one of my stories came close to being a semi-finalist for a long-story contest and that they'd like to see more of my work! Just the encouragement I needed to motivate me to commit to being more consistent in my submitting in 2024. Here is the story in The Letter Review: https://letterreview.com/the-dinner-new-short-fiction-by-lori-miller-kase/
My 100 word micromemoir was one of 13 finalists out of 170 submissions for a contest from Five Minutes. It's my second piece published with them and I can't sing their praises enough. Susanna, the editor, is easy to work with and she does a great job building community. She promotes her contributors on social and in a newsletter. She shares when her contributors have work published in other magazines. And she offers the opportunity to work as a reader. I'll be serving my second stint in January. If you write CNF, I encourage you try Five Minutes.
And a shout-out to one of my very favourite editors this year, Cathy Ulrich of Milk Candy Review. She recently sent a lovely message thanking me for my contribution to her magazine in 2023. And, as she always does, even on rejections, she added a line that was personal and showed that she remembered the piece. She is a gem. You too are a gem, Becky. Thank you!
I had two this month: a sci-fi story, "Sickle Dance", in Voices of the Winter Solstice, and a hermit crab story, “The Cigarette Ash Column Between Her Fingers Is About to Crumble”, in The /tƐmz/ Review.
Dec 30, 2023·edited Dec 31, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
Dear Friends,
December was a good month for my poetry. And 2023 was exciting because I found publishers for prose and poetry that I had written years ago and revised recently.
My tanka “Cedar Waxwings” appeared in Eucalypt #35 (2023) on page 26. This tanka journal is based in Australia.
Cold Moon Journal published my haiku “Coyote” and “Muffin Top” on December 11, 2023. The link is
Author of the poetry books Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011); the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990); the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016); and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; seventh edition 2022).
35 rejections and one acceptance. Proudly placed my story "Monster Monster" in the Winter Issue of Epiphany. They loved it but thought it ended a fuller ending. They were right. Chris, Miracle, and Noreen were all great to work with. A terrific experience..
Dec 31, 2023·edited Dec 31, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
My co-authored kids' book about bullying and self-esteem that's sold over 300,000 copies has been published in China, which makes for 15 translations and I got four copies of it this month without knowing they were coming. It looks lovely.
65: That will be the number of essays I'll have published (including reprints) in the last two and half years when Paranormal Magazine prints another true-life ghost story from me in their February issue. It was accepted and scheduled this past month. They do gorgeous art work. The following entries are just for December since I've posted my tallies in previous months.
Oddball, which had published a funny piece of mine last year, accepted "Streetwalker Stew" which is also written in that vein: https://oddballmagazine.com/oddball-stories-with-lev-raphael/ First line: "A sex worker taught my mother how to cook."
The editor of Halfway Down the Stairs said that "Dana Andrews Dream Suite" about my late father was "exactly what we want to be publishing"--and more. I was delighted. Of the dozens of essays I've published in the last 2+ years, this is one of my absolute favorites: https://halfwaydownthestairs.net/2023/12/01/dana-andrews-dream-suite-by-lev-raphael/ This one went through several title changes.
At the end of my recent workshop on personal essays for Rochester Writers, I shared a micro essay and gave people a theme, regret. I worked on one along with the group. Slightly revised, it's been accepted by Corvus Review which I'm fairly sure I found via the Author Publish newsletter. It will be out January 1.
What a collection of inspiring successes! Rays of hope! I had two short pieces accepted this year - The Globe and Mail (Canada's national newspaper) and ROOM Magazine - both print format, so no links, but thrilled just the same. Wishing everyone writing and publishing success for 2024, and for a little more peace in our world.
My first published poem came out in The Ekphrastic Review on December 4! This journal publishes an ekphrastic poem every weekday with a wide range of art and poetic styles, so be sure to browse around. Here’s a link to my poem:
https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/aleyt-goyaerts-van-den-meerven-looks-out-at-the-garden-of-earthly-delights-from-within-the-peachy-marriage-chambers-by-caitlin-palo
If I wanted to, I could probably count up what submitting has cost me in fees in the last year and count up the number of rejections. However, my take on submitting is this. Almost nobody, apart from the editors, will actually read my pieces. But for me, that's enough. The fact that someone who loves writing and publishing as much as I do has chosen one of my pieces to publish is an honour and a potent recognition that I am not a great writer but a good writer. A handful of my pieces have received payment but I wouldn't give up my day job for it (if I had one). I am now 72 and didn't start taking my writing seriously until 3 years ago and since then I've had over 150 pieces accepted. Some of that is due the number of times I submit but it gives me the greatest joy to know that I connected with 150 editors that wanted to share what I had to say. Just as importantly, when I launched Witcraft https://witcraft.org 4 months ago to bring some humour to a world driven by angst, I never dreamed that I would publish over 50 stories from writers around the world, many of whom tell me it's the first time they've ever been published. We each do what we can.
I had a lucky publication year, significantly aided by the fact that I started aiming for a hundred rejections a year last year!
I published poems in Terrain, Barrow Street, swamp pink (formerly Crazyhorse), North American Review, New Ohio Review, berlin lit, The London Magazine, New Letters, Mslexia, The Greensboro Review, and Gulf Coast.
Links are here:
https://www.poetalicewhite.com/poetry
My poetry collection was published by Fernwood Pres: Girl in Tulips http://www.fernwoodpress.com/2023/11/06/girl-in-tulips/
Excellent publisher
2023: 83 submissions, 12.5% acceptances. Poems in Last Stanza Literary, Hyacinth Review, Poetry NI+ Holocaust Anthology, and Poetica. A post-Holocaust short story, "Stones Tell No Lies," published in Kelsey Review and nominated for a Pushcart (wrote exclusively for this lit mag, only sent the story to this lit mag, revised two lines). I'm especially proud of my essay, "Anderlecht," published in Collateral Journal (an exclusive submission, a couple of revisions, includes an audio reading for which I had to practice French and Flemish) in which I traced the steps of a friend who'd been a hidden child in Brussels during the Holocaust. Novel in verse, Facing the Enemy: How a Nazi Youth Camp in America Tested a Friendship, published by Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers, named a Junior Library Guild Selection.
Links:
"Stones Tell No Lies"--https://kelseyreview.com/2023/12/14/barbara-krasner-2/
"Anderlecht"--https://www.collateraljournal.com/nonfiction/bkrasner
2024 looks promising; My essay, "The Yiddish Learner," appears on Jan. 1 in Jewish Literary Journal (sent to them exclusively, revised one sentence), and a poem in the Paterson Literary Review that earned an Honorable Mention in the 2023 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest.
I had a year of rejections, but my New Year’s resolution is to submit more frequently. Thanks to this supportive community and to Becky for hosting it and providing the excellent content!
Closing the year with two awards (International Human Rights Arts Program and Chilean Writers' Association) - one in English and one in Spanish. Fifteen stories, flash, or articles published in 2023. Apart from the awards, my favorite was published in India https://www.thewiseowl.art/jb-polk and one in Croatia https://wordpress.com/post/aloka-magazine.com/983. Looking forward to finishing my novel and writing more good fiction. A prosperous and successful 224 to all.
In the past 13 months, I had five poetry titles published and/or accepted for publication.
These include:
"Apprenticed to the Night" [full collection; still in PRE-release since April 2023];
"Vampire Ventures" [chapbook; released in October 2023];
"Cancer Courts My Mother" [chapbook; forthcoming in February 2024];
"Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems" [illustrated; forthcoming in October 2024];
"Eros and His Entourage" [erotic verses; forthcoming in 2025].
* * But I am even prouder of this feat:
* * * I helped two poet colleagues place their full-length mss with two good publishers on the first try.
In 2024 I was nominated for literary awards; my writing was a finalist on two occasions; and also I turned down six book contracts that I considered to be infra dig - - - a sign that I have emotionally re-evaluated my place in the literary landscape.
Here's to hearing more bragging - - - especially from writers who have been helping other writers advance a few squares!
Happy New Year!!!
It's energizing to read these publishing triumphs! I'm new to this at 77. I got word on Dec. 23rd that Dorothy Parker's Ashes (DPA has no fee) had accepted my essay (lovely to work with, requested only five punctuation edits) for their themed month "Secrets." Best Christmas present. I took a chapter from my memoir-in-progress and re-wrote the secret my mother kept for 30 years, creating a totally new format for the story. I only submitted this piece to DPA, but had submitted other pieces elsewhere this year. I think Allison K Williams had suggested DPA. My essay "No U-Turn Allowed" comes out in January issue. https://www.dorothyparkersashes.com/ Happy New Year, everyone. And Becky, thanks for a brag opportunity!
In adding up my expenses for 2023, I saw that I'd spent something like $450 on submission fees. I had thrown in tips sometimes, but I had no idea I was spending so much because each time it was just $3, $5 or $10.
On the other hand, in 2023 my essays got published in Bluebird Word, Modern Stoicism, Next Avenue, The Raven's Perch, Down in the Dirt, Meat for Tea, Grande Dame Literary, and with forthcoming pieces in Sequoia Speaks and Litro.
All that plus publishing a weekly essay in my substack, Introvert UpThink (https://www.introvertupthink.com). So it was a good year.
December lesson #1: Keep submitting. After 32 submissions, my visual/word piece "How to Weave a Caned Chair or a Friendship" was published at JMWW. December lesson #2: Aim high. Many lesser-ranked lit mags rejected this piece before JMWW (133 on Brecht's Top 1000 Lit Mags 2024) picked it up. https://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/how-to-weave-a-caned-chair-or-a-friendship-by-n-l-jorgensen/
Good morning. This month I have a silly, eye roll-inducing poem in Defenestration, a humor magazine that recently received a well-deserved shoutout from Chill Subs. It's an online journal that's been around for 20 years, and the editors are lovely. When my piece first came out there was a formatting issue. I emailed the editors, and EIC Andrew Kaye was extremely apologetic and fixed it right away. I submitted this to four places in fall 2022. I received three rejections and withdrew from the Coastal Shelf humor contest upon concluding (correctly) that the journal was defunct. Because this piece is clearly seasonal, I waited until fall 2023 to resubmit, and sent it only to Defenestration. Note that Defenestration does not allow simultaneous submissions (however, they are fairly speedy in terms of either declining your piece or letting you know if you've made the final round.) Here's the link:
https://www.defenestrationmag.net/2023/12/consequences-of-poor-planning-in-winter-by-colette-parris/
(In case anyone is wondering, I do not actually own a Mini Cooper. :)
Looking forward to another year of being part of this great community. Happy New Year to all!
My villanelle poem "The Treachery of Memory" was accepted for The Crow's Quill Magazine, a themed monthly Gothic poetry & fiction journal. The theme was "Darkest Endings" & I wrote it over three days. Two days later it was accepted &, as I submitted close to the deadline, it was live a week later! This has been my fastest-ever route from conceptualization to publication. The visual lay-out is gorgeously Gothic & I've just ordered my print copy. The editor was lovely - there were no changes or revisions. They paid 10USD for poems. Sadly, this is the last edition of Crow's Quill. This is the 2nd villanelle I've written & I'm quite new to form poetry, so it felt like an affirmation that I'm (hopefully) growing as a poet. Free PDF link is below:
https://www.quillandcrowpublishinghouse.com/cqmagazine2023
I received word just before Xmas that my prose poem "Nightfall in a Fenced Arcadia" has been accepted for Issue 9 of "Exist Otherwise", a journal for surrealist poetry & short fiction. This is my 4th acceptance for EO, which feels a bit crazy. They pay $15 per piece. Issue 9 will be live Jan 2024.
For my first year of seriously submitting to lit journals, I committed to 52 submissions for 2023 & made my goal, receiving 14 acceptances so far. It's been an amazing year & Lit Mag News has been a big shiny part of my adventure (thanks Becky). Congrats everyone for their December acceptances & here's to a new year of lit magging & bragging! My favourite acceptance for 2023 was the 1st piece I wrote especially for a journal (Aurora Journal) & my 1st prose poem acceptance (a "passion" genre). Also, the lay-out looked super-pretty :) : https://www.theaurorajournal.org/winter-2023-volume/molten-summer-reverie
December has been good to me. Two slim volumes (as the saying goes) of mine have been published:
“Curiouser and Curiouser Flash Fiction by Tony Dawson” Published by Cyberwit.net ISBN: 978-81-19654-93-2 First Edition 2023
and
“Musings. Poems by Tony Dawson” Published by Impspired ISBN:978-19-15819-66-6 First Edition 2023
In addition, Lighten Up Online took “Ash to Cash: A Cautionary Tale” which can be found at
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-64-december-2023/tony-dawson-from-ash-to-cash-a-cautionary-tale
Meanwhile, Cajun Mutt Press accepted a poem, “Conscience” for publication in February 2024.
Yippee!
Thank you Becky for this amazing community! I've loved celebrating and commiserating with everyone in 2023.
This Dec, I had two short stories come out: “The Observer’s Cage” in The Offing
https://theoffingmag.com/backoftheenvelope/13556/
and
“Tiger on My Roof” in Epiphany
https://epiphanyzine.com/tiger-on-my-roof-by-marguerite-sheffer
and I'm very happy with both experiences!
I had 11 stories published overall in 2023 -- all are at www.margueritesheffer.com if you'd like to see.
Good luck to everyone in 2024!
It's so gratifying to hear other writer's experiences of this year and to have a community where we can share these things - thank you Becky! I aimed for 100 submissions and made it to 82, which is the most I've ever done. (I also came to this late - I'm 70 and started three years ago). I had three two short stories and one flash fiction piece published. "Detroit in the Distance" was published in Idle Ink, a UK journal and "Betrayal" was published in Fault Zone: Detachment, a juried anthology of the California Writers Club SF Peninsula Branch. My flash fiction piece, "Acts of God", was published in Calliope.
Equally important to all this were the three fiction writing classes I took through Stanford Continuing Studies taught by Lynn Stegner, Elizabeth Percer and Nina Schuyler. Nina's class was focused on alternative plot structures and was immensely helpful in expanding the envelope of what it is possible to do within a short story.
One other item to add: I put together a PPT presentation for my writers club called "Cracking the Code: How to Get Published in Literary Journals" in which I shared the methodology I've developed for identifying and submitting to lit mags. It felt good to share this info with newer writers who weren't well-versed in this whole world and didn't quite know how to step into it.
Well- thanks…. published a short story in the “Jewish literary journal,” and in the last month I choose to write and illustrate three article-memoir pieces , which were accepted and published in “Santa Barbars Independent!” -Devo Cutler —- happy new years all!
I've been absent from the Brag for several months while I racked up dozens of rejections. But, at long last, an acceptance! Down in the Dirt was suggested by Erik Klass, and they published my narrative nonfiction piece, The Backpacking Mother Who Saved Escalate. https://scars.tv/cgi-bin/works_e.pl?/home/users/web/b929/us.scars/perl/text-writings/g12718.txt. They publish immediately in digital form, followed by a print edition. No edits. Easy to work with.
In other news I've nearly completed my book, a centennial history of my mountain club, which should be out in the world in May 2024.
So grateful for this community! Thank you, Becky. Congrats to everyone for your attempts and your successes!
I had two pieces come out this month: https://amethystmagazine.org/2023/12/21/crime-scene-an-essay-by-kresha-richman-warnock/ and a piece of micro: https://persimmontree.org/winter-2024/what-i-like-what-i-dislike/. (this is their "Short Takes" list and mine is at the end.)
I am particularly happy with the Crime Scene essay. It had sat in the "In Progress" box of a journal I have a personal connection to for months. I finally submitted it to Amethyst Review and they accepted it. I was a little sorry to write that withdrawal note to the first journal, but submitted something else to them this fall, and they accepted that one quickly. No cheating! It was a good essay.
The Smokelong Summer Flash Workshop was fun and got me to write a lot of flash -- three of those pieces have subsequently been accepted -- but this is the year for the grueling work of getting the damn memoir in marketable shape. I'm sure I'll sneak off to write some flash and try to get some essays relevant to the longer piece published. Happy New Year, one and all! And thanks for your column and workshops, Becky.
I had two pieces published this month
Incarcerated Spaces - Bulb Culture Collective
https://www.bulbculturecollective.com/read/incarcerated-spaces-dave-nash
This was a repost from a piece in a defunct mag. That’s what BCC specializes in. I got this accepted in September and they gave be the specific pub date then. I also had a opportunity to answer questions about this piece and my process which will be published on February 11th. If you have a piece at a defunct mag I highly recommend BCC.
Someday I’ll walk in the Rays - Working Title
https://workingtitlelit.substack.com/p/someday-ill-walk-in-the-rays?utm_medium=ios
Yay Substack mag! First time on this platform as an Au. Great work with and the editors made some edits to the format that I thought was spectacular.
Here’s a link to all I published in 2023 and what’s on deck
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ek8puqLyXH73aIpgO1Saq19vwIvqRecJpG3ug6105lg/edit
My chapbook of short fiction, "Pass the Panpharmacon! (Five Fictions of Delusion)" has been published by Greying Ghost Press. I put this collection together a couple of years ago for a publisher's call, unsuccessfully. Happened to catch the opportunity at GGP; I'm well-pleased by the design and high production quality. Took about a year from acceptance to print.
https://greyingghost.bigcartel.com/product/fain
In 2011, I had a story accepted for a post-apocalyptic fiction e-book anthology that never came out. Since then I've sent it out periodically, and finally found a home for "All the World Was a Stage." Because there's something timeless about a story featuring fear, loathing, cannibalism and the theater arts, don't you know. The book also features work by sci-fi legend Robert Silverberg, still cranking them out at the age of 88, apparently.
https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-William-Joseph-Roberts-Presents/dp/1962791238
Earlier this month, proving that Txitter still serves some purpose, I discovered something called Best of the Bests, where writers send in their favorite story published this year for possible recognition. And lo and behold, my story "They Who Stay," that came out in A Thin Slice of Anxiety, made the list.
https://tylerdempseywriting.com/best-of-the-bests/
Finally, while I had about a dozen fiction publications this year of various shapes and sizes, the most fun I had was doing the piece that found its way onto these "pages," "A Geezer's Guide to Lit Mag Maneuvers." Many thanks to Becky T. for that acceptance, and maintaining this wonderful and welcoming writers' world with her wit and hard work. Cheers!
My novella-in-flash made it to a shortlist of ten in a contest AND I got a story acceptance on Christmas Day!
Here's a very short story https://milkcandyreview.home.blog/2023/09/21/1986-by-sarah-freligh/
Happy New Year to all who celebrate!
We published our third issue of The Apostrophe. Our theme was "mistakes" and the authors interpreted it in totally unexpected ways and it was great. https://hkwcmagazine.substack.com/p/issue-3-mistakes
We're re-opening submissions on January 1 (deadline January 31) and the theme is "time".
My flash story “Plumbing the Depths” is in Nunum’s Winter issue:
https://online.fliphtml5.com/kmmwt/ktgu/#p=1
And, from last December, “What the north wind knows,” in Flash Frontier, which is one of my favourites. The link opens to the magazine’s front page and further links to the stories.
https://flashfrontier.com/december-2022-wonder/
It has been a good year with 5 flash stories and one micro-poem published, plus an acceptance for another story to come out in a print magazine next April.
Happy new year everyone! It has been a joy and an honour to be part of this group.
“To My Mother’s Older Daughter” originally appeared in a magazine that later closed, so I’m thrilled to see it in SugarSugarSalt, which accepts only previously published CNF. The editors are accomplished writers. They’re also responsive and promote their contributors well on social media. Six months from acceptance to publication. Contributors write a brief “The Story Behind the Story,” which was, for me, part of the draw. Overall, a great publishing experience.
https://sugarsugarsalt.org/2023/12/15/to-my-mothers-older-daughter-by-lisa-buchanan/
It was a mixed year with a lot of poetry appearing at The Dirigible Balloon, a UK-based children's/educator's library of online poetry works by well-known, somewhat-published, and new poets, a poem in a Paddler Press children's anthology, and four poems accepted by my favorite high-quality children's group, Cricket Media (Babybug Magazine)...and a lot of poetry for adults rejected, but with four publications of poems close to my heart. I continue to send lots of work out, write almost every day and have joined The Stafford Challenge for 2024 (https://www.facebook.com/staffordchallenge/).
My favorite publication this year—and my favorite editorial relationship—was at the Jewish Writing Project. Editor Bruce Black was extremely perceptive and encouraging about digging deeper in a poem I'd written. The poem appeared here: https://jewishwritingproject.com/2023/08/21/something-about-the-rugalach/
Best wishes to all for a productive and meaningful 2024!
Catching up a bit...my CNF flash "Tropospheric" was published by Welter Online in the Fall 2023 issue:
https://blogs.ubalt.edu/welter/creative-nonfiction-2/tropospheric/
It was one of those rare pieces that wanted to exist, exactly as created: it flowed onto the page while I was in flight; Welter was my first submission; they accepted it immediately (without edits). I read my piece aloud during their digital release party, which was fun. However, there hasn't been much individual promotion of pieces on social media. The journal is run by University of Baltimore students & faculty, so they may be on a well-deserved holiday break. :) I kind of wish the digital table of contents provided author names underneath the titles. But each piece is uploaded blog style with a nice shareable link. Overall I had a positive experience with Welter, and I'm proud they saw something in my words. I hope you get a chance to read "Tropospheric" and drift across the landscape with me!
It has been a really good year. Three published stories, Finalist in one award, and in the short list for a short story collection they were supposed to reveal the winner in September, then November then December and we do not know the winner yet. I always wanted to be published in the Acentos Review, they just published the last chapter of my novel, which works as a short story. But my proudest moment came from a story I wrote 30 years ago. Sent it out durning the Pre-cambrian Snail Mail era to be rejected a few times. I then stopped writing for a decade. After I workshopped the story, and Submittable became a reality, it got rejected about 20 times. Then on a second bout of workshopping, one of my critiques suggested to change the name to Catire, the protagonist nick-name, then sent it out to two places one accepted it. In that story I worked with an editor who was fabulous and helped me clear things that people in the US would not understand about South America. You can read that story here:
https://www.westchesterreview.com/l-vocem
Acentos Review: https://acentosreview.squarespace.com/l-vocem
So I have a feeling that 2024 is going to be an even more momentous year.
Happy New Year everyone,
In December, my story 'Mermaids for Seahorses' came out in Sequestrum after 20 previous rejections and a few revisions between groups of rejections. This was my first paid acceptance and the editor was great to work with. He always responded to my emails and was very friendly, encouraging and supportive. Sequestrum periodically publishes reprints and they also do short author interviews to go with the pieces.
https://www.sequestrum.org/fiction-mermaids-for-seahorses
A story that is in my forthcoming book (So as Not to Die Alone, Finishing Line Press) and was a Finalist in the London Independent Story Prize 2022 will be included in their 2023 anthology. Here’s the link: https://www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk/post/reunion-by-lisa-johnson-mitchell
My novel excerpt "A Wall of Masks" just came out in the journal L=Y=R=A. I logged another 11 declines. I've got about 35 things out. Happy new year everyone!
Poem that I wrote last year was just published in Consilience! This poem was rejected by a dozen other places, then I found Consilience Journal through the Full House Lit newsletter and noticed their issue theme this month fit my poem. Link below:
https://www.consilience-journal.com/issue-15-light-years-away
Here is a link to one of the short stories I had published this year (You Don't Know How I Get in Reckon Review): https://reckonreview.com/you-dont-know-how-i-get/. This was my first time submitting to this particular venue. I highly recommend it, especially for anyone writing literary fiction; the editors especially like stories with a little "grit." Cheers to you all and best wishes for 2024!
It has been a good December...
- The Yard: Crime Blog published a retro noir early in the month. "The Sunny Side of the Street" - https://theyardcrimeblog.com/2023/12/08/the-sunny-side-of-the-street-police-fiction/ - This one, written in March 2022, took a while to find a home. 5 subs before an acceptance. And then everybody tells me they love it... go figure.
- I had a holiday (ahem) story at Shotgun Honey. "Gift Wrapped" - https://shotgunhoney.com/fiction/gift-wrapped-by-m-e-proctor/ - They only accept max 700 words, which is always tough. The editor sent a call to their authors (Shotgun Honey will publish my PI novel next year), saying they had room for a topical story. I wrote it in 2 days and they liked it, so, boom!
And reviews are coming in, slowly as these things tend to do, for the short story collection. "Family and Other Ailments" (it's a steal at 3.99 on the zone: https://www.amazon.com/Family-Other-Ailments-Crime-Stories-ebook/dp/B0CD4S8ZL2/)
I had a "lifetime" year in 2023 for which I am very grateful, my graphic memoir was republished by Impspired Press https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915819571? and my first and second poetry books were published Lyrical Years (Kelsay) https://www.amazon.com/Lyrical-Years-Gary-D-Grossman/dp/1639802630/ref=sr_1_3 and What I Meant to Say Was... (Impspired) https://www.amazon.com/What-I-Meant-Say-Was/dp/1915819431/ref=sr_1_1 . Both of these presses are very easy to work with, and Kelsay seems to publish many author's first books so don't be shy. Lots of pubs in reviews and I particularly like MacQueen's Quinterly and Verse-Virtual. Responses are quick and editors very easy to work with. Medusa's Kitchen is another review with those characteristics. I tend to submit to reviews that take no longer than 60 days and I always submit simultaneously, except to Poetry Breakfast which doesn't allow that, but responds within a few days so those subs don't hold up my submissions much. If you're new to the poetry world, both of my books are composed of poems that were both previously published and new and the publisher will tell you which ratio they want. Kelsay is around 50% IIRC and I don't think Impspired has a set ratio. I had three or four rejections of the ms. for What I Meant to Say... prior to Impspired's acceptance and a few for Lyrical Years. I put all my published work on my Medium blog, which is full of writing info/advice/pieces and worth the $5 a month membership IMO. I think they do give four free reads a month if you don't want to join. My blog is https://garydavidgrossman.medium.com/ . You can sign up for the Medium newsletter for free and Erica Verrillo publishes a monthly list of reviews looking for submissions so it's worth signing up just for that. Have a great publication/writing year everyone.
My poem "Come Lie With Me" was published in The Passionfruit Review on December 1, 2023. Here's a link to my poem: https://passionfruitreview.com/nancy-p-hesting/. I hope you enjoy it.
I published a long short story (7000 words or so) called Flowering in the Summer 2023 issue of The Opiate (https://issuu.com/theopiatemagazine/docs/the_opiate_vol._34.) This was the longest piece I've ever published. I think maybe 20 people read the story but I was still very happy with it. I submitted it to 5-10 publications I found on Duotrope before it was accepted (I now rely more on SubClub). Thank you, Becky, for this opportunity to share and brag! Happy and healthy 2024 and thank you for doing what you do. I love this space.
I found the site, athinsliceofanxiety, on authors publish and submitted a poem. The editor accepted it right away and published it a few days later.
http://www.athinsliceofanxiety.com/2023/12/poetry-working-crisis-hotline-by-dianne.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR0qb4VqqIHmzszXlYuKp72WkdOr8LuTImvIebHAwHQqjO3dsXoqHz2TKoA
Becky, as always, I thank you for giving us this opportunity, but for once my ego is asleep while my soul awakens-- and my soul wishes all of you a most productive and blessed 2024!
The world today is truly more dangerous than it has ever been [even compared to the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 15 and for a week it seemed WWIII might go off]. And there is a miasma of anxiety, depression, despair spreading the globe, all because it seems many of us have forgotten we are actually immortal beings, each an endless consciousness, 'traveling' for a time in a fragile vessel. And if you don't believe that, think about how it is your words enter another's mind, being, and yes, maybe even soul.....
Vayan con Dios, todos--
Nolo Segundo
I'm excited to share that my personal essay, "By Vespa through Sardinia" was published at https://causticfrolic.org/current-issue/ on p. 95. It was a themed issue (on "Coda", which the editors defined as the final movement, the closing statement, the concluding brushstroke ... explore the art of resolution, conclusion, and the lingering resonance of ideas. How can the conclusion be a new beginning? How can the final brushstroke contain multitudes?”) -- and the theme resonated so with me that that's when I knew I had to submit there.
The "friendship" described within was the initial trigger for the piece, when several years ago I tried writing a series of essays about my difficult adult friendships with women. I re-conceived the essay when taking a class on submitting to the NYT's Modern Love this March. Upon their rejection, I reiterated and reiterated it, expanded it, shifted the focus, polished it some more. And then the first place I'd submitted, a grad student-run journal at NYU, accepted it. I quickly withdrew it from a number of (actually more renowned, top-tier) places I'd submitted it to.
Another publication this year that I'm quite proud of is a personal spoken word and piano essay. Inspired by The Decadent Review's invitation to write about Dmitri Shostakovich, I revisited his Preludes and Fugues, op. 87 on the piano, a piece I've explored for years, which led me to two beautiful novels which imagine Shostakovich's psyche, as well as to look into historical and musicological perspectives on the work. https://thedecadentreview.com/corpus/tangled-web-of-relationships-24-preludes-and-fugues-op-87-by-dmitri-shostakovich/
My flash nonfiction story, Warming Up, was published in the December edition of The Mantelpiece https://issuu.com/themantelpiece/docs/themantelpiece_december_2023. This was the 30th time I'd pitched this piece, so big shout out to The Mantelpiece for looking favourably on it.
After several rejections this year (I made about 30 submissions), the year finished on an upswing! I won my first literary prize - The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction – and received a very encouraging note from another lit mag editor telling me one of my stories came close to being a semi-finalist for a long-story contest and that they'd like to see more of my work! Just the encouragement I needed to motivate me to commit to being more consistent in my submitting in 2024. Here is the story in The Letter Review: https://letterreview.com/the-dinner-new-short-fiction-by-lori-miller-kase/
My 100 word micromemoir was one of 13 finalists out of 170 submissions for a contest from Five Minutes. It's my second piece published with them and I can't sing their praises enough. Susanna, the editor, is easy to work with and she does a great job building community. She promotes her contributors on social and in a newsletter. She shares when her contributors have work published in other magazines. And she offers the opportunity to work as a reader. I'll be serving my second stint in January. If you write CNF, I encourage you try Five Minutes.
https://www.fiveminutelit.com/five-minutes/away-and-back
And a shout-out to one of my very favourite editors this year, Cathy Ulrich of Milk Candy Review. She recently sent a lovely message thanking me for my contribution to her magazine in 2023. And, as she always does, even on rejections, she added a line that was personal and showed that she remembered the piece. She is a gem. You too are a gem, Becky. Thank you!
I had two this month: a sci-fi story, "Sickle Dance", in Voices of the Winter Solstice, and a hermit crab story, “The Cigarette Ash Column Between Her Fingers Is About to Crumble”, in The /tƐmz/ Review.
https://constancemalloy.com/2023/12/21/voices-of-the-winter-solstice-ii-the-ending-place/
https://www.thetemzreview.com/worrell.html
Dear Friends,
December was a good month for my poetry. And 2023 was exciting because I found publishers for prose and poetry that I had written years ago and revised recently.
My tanka “Cedar Waxwings” appeared in Eucalypt #35 (2023) on page 26. This tanka journal is based in Australia.
Cold Moon Journal published my haiku “Coyote” and “Muffin Top” on December 11, 2023. The link is
https://coldmoonjournal.blogspot.com/ You can find my poems by searching for "Heller" or by scrolling to the date of December 11.
My senryu “Birthday Visitors” appeared in failed haiku 8, #96 (December 2023), and the link is https://failedhaiku.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/failedhaikuissue96.pdf My poems are toward the end of this issue.
I was happy to have three full-length poems published in one journal: “Mother-in-Law on the Phone,” “Snow Woman in Portage,” and “Mark’s Progress II” appeared in Live Encounters Poetry & Writing (January 2024). Although the date of this issue is "January 2024," it got posted in December 2023. Here is the link: https://liveencounters.net/2024-le-pw/01-january-le-pw-2024/janet-ruth-heller-mother-in-law-on-the-phone/
Best wishes for 2024 to everyone!
Janet Ruth Heller
Author of the poetry books Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011); the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990); the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016); and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; seventh edition 2022).
My website is https://www.janetruthheller.com/
35 rejections and one acceptance. Proudly placed my story "Monster Monster" in the Winter Issue of Epiphany. They loved it but thought it ended a fuller ending. They were right. Chris, Miracle, and Noreen were all great to work with. A terrific experience..
My co-authored kids' book about bullying and self-esteem that's sold over 300,000 copies has been published in China, which makes for 15 translations and I got four copies of it this month without knowing they were coming. It looks lovely.
65: That will be the number of essays I'll have published (including reprints) in the last two and half years when Paranormal Magazine prints another true-life ghost story from me in their February issue. It was accepted and scheduled this past month. They do gorgeous art work. The following entries are just for December since I've posted my tallies in previous months.
Oddball, which had published a funny piece of mine last year, accepted "Streetwalker Stew" which is also written in that vein: https://oddballmagazine.com/oddball-stories-with-lev-raphael/ First line: "A sex worker taught my mother how to cook."
Lit Mag News published my piece about writing sex scenes, with examples of what to avoid and advice on what makes sex scenes work: https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/bad-sex-blues
The quirky and fun lit mag Roi Fainéant took my essay "Writer off the Road." I love their website.
My personal essay "Still Life With Pain" (https://kneebracepress.com/2023/11/30/still-life-with-pain/) appeared in Knee Brace Press's magazine ab0ut disability and chronic illness. I love the lit mag's title, found them via Chill Subs, and I wrote a substack about the essay itself here: https://levraphael.substack.com/p/still-life-with-pain
The editor of Halfway Down the Stairs said that "Dana Andrews Dream Suite" about my late father was "exactly what we want to be publishing"--and more. I was delighted. Of the dozens of essays I've published in the last 2+ years, this is one of my absolute favorites: https://halfwaydownthestairs.net/2023/12/01/dana-andrews-dream-suite-by-lev-raphael/ This one went through several title changes.
Sybil accepted a reprint of my essay "Plan B: Liberation" under the title "Honey from the Rock" to be published early next year. Here's the first appearance: https://writewithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Plan-B.pdf
At the end of my recent workshop on personal essays for Rochester Writers, I shared a micro essay and gave people a theme, regret. I worked on one along with the group. Slightly revised, it's been accepted by Corvus Review which I'm fairly sure I found via the Author Publish newsletter. It will be out January 1.
Loving this group. Happy New Year to Becky and to all!
What a collection of inspiring successes! Rays of hope! I had two short pieces accepted this year - The Globe and Mail (Canada's national newspaper) and ROOM Magazine - both print format, so no links, but thrilled just the same. Wishing everyone writing and publishing success for 2024, and for a little more peace in our world.