Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Lit Mag!
Editor is the target of online harassment; Misery Tourism closes; Trish Hopkinson goes on hiatus; jobs at Conjunctions, Radon, Adi & Writers Resist; 200+ markets
Greetings Lit Magistrates,
[Note to readers: An earlier version of this post covered a recent ordeal involving the editor of a poetry magazine. In the post, I highlighted instances of public shaming of the editor based on her political views and showed one instance of a violent threat being made against her.
My intention was to draw attention to this sort of behavior, to make it public and known, and to encourage the literary community to speak out wherever they encounter such harassment. I strongly believe that creative communities thrive when diverse perspectives are allowed and encouraged, and that regardless of opinion, no editor deserves to be threatened with physical violence.
However, the post contained one factual inaccuracy regarding the narrative of events. I apologize for the error. There was also subsequent concern that my coverage would fan the flames of targeted harassment at a time when people just want to be left alone and move on.
I’ve taken down my coverage of the specific details of the episode. I wish the editors peace going forward, and I continue to applaud those who speak out against online and real-world bullying, in the literary community and beyond.]
In related news, the magazine Misery Tourism has announced its closing. As they say in their statement, “social media sucks…and…We’re sick to death of it. The petty scene drama. The same recursive outrages and scandals…The opportunistic brand-building masquerading as ideological purity tests. The guilt-by-association, denounce-or-die McCarthyite nonsense.”
And poet and literary citizen extraordinaire Trish Hopkinson has announced an indefinite hiatus. “TrishHopkinson.com, aka SelfishPoet.com, has been running since 2014 and I’ve published over 2,100 posts in the last eight years. It has been an extremely rewarding project and was a complete surprise–I had no big plans when I first started sharing information for the poetry and literary community. When I took last June off and re-prioritized everything, the change was good, but now I’m realizing I need a bigger change long term.”
However, despair not, friends. The news isn’t all bad! Or at least, not all of it is all bad. I suppose what I mean is, not all of it is all bad all the time. Or, er, well, look: jobs!
Conjunctions is seeking a Managing Editor. This is a full-time on-site position at Bard College.
Writers Resist seeks a volunteer Editor “willing and able to donate some time for the love of words.”
Adi Magazine is seeking an Editor-in-Chief. This is a paid, part-time position.
Radon Journal is looking for volunteer readers and a social media manager.
For those of you on the prowl for markets for your latest poetic masterpiece, be sure to check out Trish Hopkinson’s list of Where to Submit Poetry June - August 2022.
For flash fiction writers, Terena Bell has posted The Top 30 Places to Publish Flash Fiction.
If you’d like to try your luck at a contest, The Masters Review has posted 14 Contests and Prizes to Enter This Month.
Erica Verrillo has a list of 41 Writing Contests in July 2022 - No entry fees and 105 Calls for Submissions in July 2022 - Paying markets.
You can find additional markets on the blog of Erika Dreifus.
At Authors Publish you can find 41 Themed Submission Calls for July 2022; and for the young’ens in your midst: 22 Magazines that Publish Writing by Children and Teens.
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who participated in this weekend’s discussion about ageism in lit mags. It was quite a thread! In case you missed it, you can catch it here.
And that you windsurfers and beach-goers, you saltwater swimmers and sandcastle makers, you who watch the tide roll in, you for whom the tide is high, you all tied up in the tye-dye days of endless summer and you daydreaming your way through a to-do list whose horizon keeps expanding, you who climb rocks, you who rock boats, you with your flip-flops flop-flipping along the boardwalk slats of your own sun-soaked mind, you in your shorts by the seashell-speckled seashore and you hoping you see someone selling sunscreen because for some reasons you always underestimate the length of your own arms, you and you, closing your eyes and fearlessly soaking beneath the water’s swaying glisten and you sweet souls who won’t so much as swim unless it’s midnight, cloudless, and all the sky is stars, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a sweet week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
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Go for it, Becky. This sort of vicious vitriol has to be called out at every opportunity.
How truly sad that an editor of a lit mag had to step down simply for expressing an opinion. She didn’t threaten anyone, didn’t say anything racist or sexist, didn’t do anything wrong at all. Just expressed an opinion on something close to her heart, which is her right as an American. What happened to “diversity”? What happened to “tolerance”? Does everyone who works for a lit mag have to be in lock step with certain politically correct sentiments in order to keep their job?