Can you believe September is almost over? That winter is nearly here?
Shorter days, darker afternoons, raindrops freezing on our eyelashes…
But we have nothing to fear! We shall warm ourselves in the ever-golden glow of our latest accomplishments!
That’s right, friends. It’s the last weekend of the month and you know what that means: It’s time to celebrate your wins.
Tell us where you’ve had work appear recently.
Share the link(s) if you can.
Tell us the story behind the story. How did you find the magazine? How long were you sending out the work? Did you revise it as you went, or did you stick to your vision from the very start? Had you submitted to this journal before?
Did you ever feel like giving up on the piece? What kept you inspired?
I discovered MoonPark on Duotrope. The journal is speedy in terms of response time (I received an acceptance in 29 days), and prepares custom artwork for each piece. MoonPark sent proofs approximately one week before publication, and co-editor Mary Lynn Reed was very gracious about allowing last-minute changes to my bio. I also love the thoughtful layout. The issue is bookended by work about the sun; the first piece is called "Eclipse," while my piece is last. I highly recommend submitting to this journal.
It's a story I originally wrote for Furious Fiction, which I participate in every time and never get anywhere, but the stories I write for them often get picked up. This one I wrote pretty quickly and did not do much revision for-which is very unusual for me-and I got paid $30-which is also very unusual. Plus, the editor Rose was very communicative and kind. So, this was nice! I don't know where I found the lit mag-most likely Duotrope or Chill Subs.
I found the listing on Duotrope. I'd never submitted the piece anywhere else since it seemed too weird to place, but Bullshit Lit said yes right away — and they have Pushcart Prize nominees, so I'm jazzed to be in their company. Everything I've read on their site has been really worthwhile.
I've been busy in the past year with short stories published in Fig Tree Lit, Belle Ombre and Past Ten Years (links on my website at https://www.klevywriter.com/books) plus the best news, my first book published in May (Alzheimer's Fantasy in the Key of G)! It's a memoir that speaks to the soaring of the mind of the Alzheimer's patient, my mother, non-verbal at the end. Finding the lit mags wasn't easy, there were clues that led from one strike-out to the next then finally to "accepted". Same was true for the press that published my book. Keep at it! Sometimes things fall your way. All of my pieces went through minor editorial revision and my vision for all of them--what I wanted to say--stuck. Thanks for the support!
Sep 24, 2022·edited Sep 24, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
My dream has been to publish in Ms. Magazine, created by Gloria Steinem in 1972. I pitched them, and my story was accepted quickly. I then wrote the entire piece, which I was terrified of doing, in case they didn't like it. But the editor wrote back and said it was fabulous.
We didn't have any rounds of edits, which I was surprised about, and they kept my title, which I was as equally surprised about.
Sep 24, 2022·edited Sep 24, 2022Liked by Becky Tuch
So thanks for this recurrent opportunity — it’s the first time I’m taking advantage of it. My essay, “Tanker”, just came out in the newly released issue of The Massachusetts Review. It’s a departure from my usual writing in both tone and content — I credit friend and author and @massreview prose editor @morgantalty with providing the safe space and gentle editing to bring this piece public.
Last month, Atticus Review published this little poem of mine: https://atticusreview.org/transaction/ in their Internet-themed issue. I'd written the poem months ago if not longer and I'm not sure I would have sent it anywhere without that themed call. . unless maybe to Light or some other journal looker for lighter work. I seem to rely on themed submission calls for motivation and focus when I'm flailing around with deciding where to send work.
I had three pieces published this week. This is my third. I met this editor through a parenting conference. This was my first time writing an annotated interview. It was trickier than it looks. I'm always so nervous, taking someone's words and transforming them into my own. But now that I've done it, I feel much more comfortable.
I published my first book review and my first piece with Literary Mama. I met the editors at an editor talk with Becky (Thank you, Becky!). From the time I pitched this until it came into the world was several months. I don't believe I was paid anything. But I had a fabulous experience working with the editors.
If you have a book coming out, please let me know. If I have the time and resources, I'd love to interview you. I am a memoirist and feel most comfortable in memoir, but depending on the topic, I may be able to do a Q&A, which I really love doing.
I discovered Full Mood on Twitter. The editor sends amazing acceptance and rejection letters! She is encouraging and uplifted many writers during this last submission period.
Jaime was easy to work with and response times for emails were stellar. Each issue has a theme. This last theme was yellow.
I highly recommend working and reading this journal.
Like Colette, I had a short piece come out in MoonPark Review.
It's NOT ENOUGH SLEEP and tangentially addresses school violence and, as a parent, having your heart vulnerably tread the earth. The Editors at MoonPark are lovely to work with and I love that they have original art for each piece. The art is awesome! Here's the link: https://moonparkreview.com/issue-21-fall-2022/not-enough-sheep/
I also had a short story published in Potato Soup Journal this week. Potato Soup published one of my first personal essays last year (I Read Playboy for the Articles) and it was a delight to work with them then and now. The story that came out this week has one of those slightly awkward lengths that makes it too long for flash, but kind of short for conventional short stories. Potato Soup is generous in their word count guidelines. They don't have a social media presence, but I have not found that to be a detriment as my Playboy piece is one of my most read pieces (I blame the title).
The short story in Potato Soup Journal has a backstory. It's one of the very first things I wrote some years ago and it was a little too sweet. The main feedback I got was that they wanted to know the character's backstory and trauma and pains that led him to where he was. Then I was supposed to write a historical for a short story competition. So I borrowed the character from that old story draft and weaved in letters (I love letters and epistolary stories) to create a braided historical story.
My first publication in a literary journal came out this summer! https://45thparallellitmag.com/polly-hansen I found 45th through Submittable. They paid me $25. Totally thrilled! The CNF story was a passage I deleted from my memoir that won Memoir Magazine's 2022 Memoir Prize for Books coming-of-age category. Thanks, Becky. It's fun to brag!
Monique often includes elements of genre fiction (in this case, body horror) in stories with a literary voice and sensibility, which makes her stories a lot of fun to translate and sometimes tricky to place. I knew ANMLY would be a good fit for her general vibe, and I'd missed their submissions window with another story of hers, but the timing was right with this piece.
The strangest thing this year was having a poem appear in a magazine in Cairo, Egypt. Published in conjunction with an International Surrealist Conference, it appeared in English, French, and Arabic.
"Only Known By Ancient Ones” in The Room #2 – Surrealism in Africa / Le Belle Inutile Editions. Mohsen El Belasy, Editor. Egypt 2022
But that's it for 2022 because I've been working on a novel.
DEvilspartypress.com/the-marimekko-porch-kresha-ricman-warnock/ This essay came out in Devil's Party Press this month. I think I learned of the publication through Duotrope. They accepted it last February and then it took some time to publish, but I like working with them.
It's a story loosely based on some experiences I had as a young boy and it's been kicking around in various forms for some years now without being accepted, so I was particularly pleased to see it have its day in the sun. It was the first time I'd submitted to them. Not sure where I found them. I don't think there's a cheque in the mail, ;-)
A snarky short story: "Yoni Space," in the cheeky new MIDLVLMAG's Company Policy Issue (FYI, they're open for submissions until 9/30 for their Retail Hell Issue):
All mags were professional to work with and responded fairly quickly to my submissions (1 day-2 months). And Ripe pays $5. Hey, it's something!
I'm also a panelist, a.k.a. reader, for Newfound's prose chapbook contest, judged by Joy Castro. If you have a 15-60 page fiction or nonfiction manuscript you're excited about and this contest sounds up your alley, I encourage you to submit (subs open now-3/15/23). Details: https://newfound.org/prose-prize/
I learned about Torch while at the Kimbilio Fellowship retreat this summer. They were very quick with their response; the timeline from submission to publication was about six weeks. They didn't ask for any revisions (which is always lovely), and they are great at promoting their features on multiple platforms.
Hi everyone. Here's a link to a graphic essay that came out August 30 (almost September!) in Sweet Lit called, "Teaching English to Ukrainians." This was especially "sweet" for me because Sweet Lit is one of a few high quality journals that specialize in "graphic essays" or "visual prose" (with an expansive and fresh sense of what those categories can mean). I've seen some superb work there and feel honored to be part of it. With this piece I combined drawings and writing in a very intuitive spirit, playing off each other with the hope that I would surprise myself as much as the reader/viewer. The subtitle is "Cats Tanks Bikes Tanks Cats". The multi-faceted structure of this piece invited a lot of declines, and a couple of appeals that I cut it down and "stick to one subject". I kept revising and rewriting (and even adding more "subjects"!") and felt that glow of vindication when Sweet liked it exactly as it became, baggy and loose as it is!
My most recent writing is "Swimming Towards Africa" in A Long House Literary Magazine. https://alonghouse.com/swimming-towards-africa/. I heard about the magazine when they hosted a talk on zoom with writer Maurice Ruffin amongst others. I was impressed by the magazine as an organization, and I just really wanted to be published there. My piece was accepted with few edits which made me feel proud. -- Audrey Shipp
It's exciting to read this thread. BuXman Story Service by Buckman Journal sends 10 snail mail short stories to subscribers, each printed on pages with very faint original art work related to that story. Lovely idea, lovely process working with them, $150. Read about them on Submittable.
They had previously published my essay about the Queen (and her predecessors Victoria and Elizabeth I) on the occasion of Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee. When the queen passed, the editor contacted me and asked whether I'd be interested in writing a brief overview of her life and times.
Thanks, Becky, for the chance to share. On September 20, a local bookstore held the launch for my debut poetry collection! Talk Smack to a Hurricane is about my mother's severe mental illness, our relationship, treatments of the 1950s and 1960s, psychiatry's view of women, as well as Jewish roots and antisemitism. The folks at Ice Floe Press are amazing to work with. We connected last year on Twitter! About a third of the poems were published in journals, the latest being "Whale Foam, Sea Honey" in Moist Poetry Journal (Aug 12, 2022—https://moistpoetryjournal.com/?s=lynne+jensen+lampe). The book can be found at https://icefloepress.net/talk-smack-to-a-hurricane-lynne-jensen-lampe/
My story, “Dick Surly Parlays,” was published this month by Another Chicago Magazine. First draft was finished maybe three years ago, and I’d submitted it maybe 8 or 9 times to other pubs. My experience with Tamara at ACM was great. We worked through a few edits, and I was very happy with the process. https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2022/09/06/dick-surly-parlays-by-connie-corzilius/
I recently entered a flash piece in Midway Journal's -1000 Below Flash Prose and Poetry Contest (judged by Kim Chinquee) and it won second place. I learned about Midway due to Becky's thoughtful interview last year with the fiction editor, Ralph Pennel. Thrilled to have my work in this boundary crossing journal!
Good morning, all. I have a short piece that came out on Thursday in MoonPark Review called "That Day the Sun Was Over Us."
https://moonparkreview.com/issue-21-fall-2022/that-day-the-sun-was-over-us/
I discovered MoonPark on Duotrope. The journal is speedy in terms of response time (I received an acceptance in 29 days), and prepares custom artwork for each piece. MoonPark sent proofs approximately one week before publication, and co-editor Mary Lynn Reed was very gracious about allowing last-minute changes to my bio. I also love the thoughtful layout. The issue is bookended by work about the sun; the first piece is called "Eclipse," while my piece is last. I highly recommend submitting to this journal.
Thanks for the opportunity, Becky! I had a story posted last night at Twenty-two Twenty-eight:
https://www.twentytwotwentyeight.com/single-post/fiction-on-the-run-by-maggie-nerz-iribarne.
It's a story I originally wrote for Furious Fiction, which I participate in every time and never get anywhere, but the stories I write for them often get picked up. This one I wrote pretty quickly and did not do much revision for-which is very unusual for me-and I got paid $30-which is also very unusual. Plus, the editor Rose was very communicative and kind. So, this was nice! I don't know where I found the lit mag-most likely Duotrope or Chill Subs.
Maggie Nerz Iribarne
https://www.maggienerziribarne.com
I'm delighted to report that a flash thing I wrote (literally, it's billed as A Thing by Jan M Flynn) came out in Bullshit Lit: https://www.bullshitlit.com/post/a-thing-by-jan-m-flynn
I found the listing on Duotrope. I'd never submitted the piece anywhere else since it seemed too weird to place, but Bullshit Lit said yes right away — and they have Pushcart Prize nominees, so I'm jazzed to be in their company. Everything I've read on their site has been really worthwhile.
I've been busy in the past year with short stories published in Fig Tree Lit, Belle Ombre and Past Ten Years (links on my website at https://www.klevywriter.com/books) plus the best news, my first book published in May (Alzheimer's Fantasy in the Key of G)! It's a memoir that speaks to the soaring of the mind of the Alzheimer's patient, my mother, non-verbal at the end. Finding the lit mags wasn't easy, there were clues that led from one strike-out to the next then finally to "accepted". Same was true for the press that published my book. Keep at it! Sometimes things fall your way. All of my pieces went through minor editorial revision and my vision for all of them--what I wanted to say--stuck. Thanks for the support!
Kirsten Levy
My dream has been to publish in Ms. Magazine, created by Gloria Steinem in 1972. I pitched them, and my story was accepted quickly. I then wrote the entire piece, which I was terrified of doing, in case they didn't like it. But the editor wrote back and said it was fabulous.
We didn't have any rounds of edits, which I was surprised about, and they kept my title, which I was as equally surprised about.
https://msmagazine.com/2022/09/23/uncultured-book-review-children-of-god-cult-girls-women/
So thanks for this recurrent opportunity — it’s the first time I’m taking advantage of it. My essay, “Tanker”, just came out in the newly released issue of The Massachusetts Review. It’s a departure from my usual writing in both tone and content — I credit friend and author and @massreview prose editor @morgantalty with providing the safe space and gentle editing to bring this piece public.
Last month, Atticus Review published this little poem of mine: https://atticusreview.org/transaction/ in their Internet-themed issue. I'd written the poem months ago if not longer and I'm not sure I would have sent it anywhere without that themed call. . unless maybe to Light or some other journal looker for lighter work. I seem to rely on themed submission calls for motivation and focus when I'm flailing around with deciding where to send work.
I had three pieces published this week. This is my third. I met this editor through a parenting conference. This was my first time writing an annotated interview. It was trickier than it looks. I'm always so nervous, taking someone's words and transforming them into my own. But now that I've done it, I feel much more comfortable.
https://www.mother.ly/life/motherly-stories/adiba-nelson-interview/
I published my first book review and my first piece with Literary Mama. I met the editors at an editor talk with Becky (Thank you, Becky!). From the time I pitched this until it came into the world was several months. I don't believe I was paid anything. But I had a fabulous experience working with the editors.
If you have a book coming out, please let me know. If I have the time and resources, I'd love to interview you. I am a memoirist and feel most comfortable in memoir, but depending on the topic, I may be able to do a Q&A, which I really love doing.
https://literarymama.com/articles/departments/2022/09/embracing-challenges-a-review-of-aint-that-a-mother-postpartum-palsy-and-everything-in-between?fbclid=IwAR2Udv3jZBEH_8MVsyv3REAIX8VNdondW1RpS4Jso3vwbvXzn9NieaW4OFc
Good morning! I have a piece that came out recently in Full Mood Mag called, "Fever Dream"
https://www.fullmoodmag.com/fever-dream
I discovered Full Mood on Twitter. The editor sends amazing acceptance and rejection letters! She is encouraging and uplifted many writers during this last submission period.
Jaime was easy to work with and response times for emails were stellar. Each issue has a theme. This last theme was yellow.
I highly recommend working and reading this journal.
Thanks for this opportunity!
Like Colette, I had a short piece come out in MoonPark Review.
It's NOT ENOUGH SLEEP and tangentially addresses school violence and, as a parent, having your heart vulnerably tread the earth. The Editors at MoonPark are lovely to work with and I love that they have original art for each piece. The art is awesome! Here's the link: https://moonparkreview.com/issue-21-fall-2022/not-enough-sheep/
I also had a short story published in Potato Soup Journal this week. Potato Soup published one of my first personal essays last year (I Read Playboy for the Articles) and it was a delight to work with them then and now. The story that came out this week has one of those slightly awkward lengths that makes it too long for flash, but kind of short for conventional short stories. Potato Soup is generous in their word count guidelines. They don't have a social media presence, but I have not found that to be a detriment as my Playboy piece is one of my most read pieces (I blame the title).
The short story in Potato Soup Journal has a backstory. It's one of the very first things I wrote some years ago and it was a little too sweet. The main feedback I got was that they wanted to know the character's backstory and trauma and pains that led him to where he was. Then I was supposed to write a historical for a short story competition. So I borrowed the character from that old story draft and weaved in letters (I love letters and epistolary stories) to create a braided historical story.
The link to that one is here: http://potatosoupjournal.com/postscripts-by-amy-marques/
My first publication in a literary journal came out this summer! https://45thparallellitmag.com/polly-hansen I found 45th through Submittable. They paid me $25. Totally thrilled! The CNF story was a passage I deleted from my memoir that won Memoir Magazine's 2022 Memoir Prize for Books coming-of-age category. Thanks, Becky. It's fun to brag!
This creepy, twisty story by French author Monique Debruxelles appears in my translation in the new issue of ANMLY:
https://anmly.org/ap35/laura-nagle-translates-monique-debruxelles/
Monique often includes elements of genre fiction (in this case, body horror) in stories with a literary voice and sensibility, which makes her stories a lot of fun to translate and sometimes tricky to place. I knew ANMLY would be a good fit for her general vibe, and I'd missed their submissions window with another story of hers, but the timing was right with this piece.
The strangest thing this year was having a poem appear in a magazine in Cairo, Egypt. Published in conjunction with an International Surrealist Conference, it appeared in English, French, and Arabic.
"Only Known By Ancient Ones” in The Room #2 – Surrealism in Africa / Le Belle Inutile Editions. Mohsen El Belasy, Editor. Egypt 2022
But that's it for 2022 because I've been working on a novel.
DEvilspartypress.com/the-marimekko-porch-kresha-ricman-warnock/ This essay came out in Devil's Party Press this month. I think I learned of the publication through Duotrope. They accepted it last February and then it took some time to publish, but I like working with them.
And can't wait to read everyone else's story!
My story 'Killing the Serpent' was given a podcast this month by Story Radio. https://pod.co/storyradio/killing-the-serpent-by-doug-jacquier
It's a story loosely based on some experiences I had as a young boy and it's been kicking around in various forms for some years now without being accepted, so I was particularly pleased to see it have its day in the sun. It was the first time I'd submitted to them. Not sure where I found them. I don't think there's a cheque in the mail, ;-)
This past month, I've had the following pieces published (ordered from short to long):
An incendiary little poem: "The Clearing" in Ripe:
https://www.ripeliteraryjournal.com/issues/issue-02-sept-2022/contributors/goldie-peacock
Wry microfiction: "Happy and Free From Care" in MoonPark Review: https://moonparkreview.com/issue-21-fall-2022/happy-and-free-from-care/
A snarky short story: "Yoni Space," in the cheeky new MIDLVLMAG's Company Policy Issue (FYI, they're open for submissions until 9/30 for their Retail Hell Issue):
https://midlvlmag.com/goldie-peacock-yp/
All mags were professional to work with and responded fairly quickly to my submissions (1 day-2 months). And Ripe pays $5. Hey, it's something!
I'm also a panelist, a.k.a. reader, for Newfound's prose chapbook contest, judged by Joy Castro. If you have a 15-60 page fiction or nonfiction manuscript you're excited about and this contest sounds up your alley, I encourage you to submit (subs open now-3/15/23). Details: https://newfound.org/prose-prize/
Good Morning Everyone! My short story, "But Did You Die?" was published this month as a Friday Feature in Torch Literary Arts.
https://www.torchliteraryarts.org/post/friday-feature-shinelle-l-espaillat
I learned about Torch while at the Kimbilio Fellowship retreat this summer. They were very quick with their response; the timeline from submission to publication was about six weeks. They didn't ask for any revisions (which is always lovely), and they are great at promoting their features on multiple platforms.
Hi everyone. Here's a link to a graphic essay that came out August 30 (almost September!) in Sweet Lit called, "Teaching English to Ukrainians." This was especially "sweet" for me because Sweet Lit is one of a few high quality journals that specialize in "graphic essays" or "visual prose" (with an expansive and fresh sense of what those categories can mean). I've seen some superb work there and feel honored to be part of it. With this piece I combined drawings and writing in a very intuitive spirit, playing off each other with the hope that I would surprise myself as much as the reader/viewer. The subtitle is "Cats Tanks Bikes Tanks Cats". The multi-faceted structure of this piece invited a lot of declines, and a couple of appeals that I cut it down and "stick to one subject". I kept revising and rewriting (and even adding more "subjects"!") and felt that glow of vindication when Sweet liked it exactly as it became, baggy and loose as it is!
https://sweetlit.org/category/graphic/
My most recent writing is "Swimming Towards Africa" in A Long House Literary Magazine. https://alonghouse.com/swimming-towards-africa/. I heard about the magazine when they hosted a talk on zoom with writer Maurice Ruffin amongst others. I was impressed by the magazine as an organization, and I just really wanted to be published there. My piece was accepted with few edits which made me feel proud. -- Audrey Shipp
It's exciting to read this thread. BuXman Story Service by Buckman Journal sends 10 snail mail short stories to subscribers, each printed on pages with very faint original art work related to that story. Lovely idea, lovely process working with them, $150. Read about them on Submittable.
My essay on Queen Elizabeth II, "The Second Elizabeth, A Life Appreciated" was published in the online magazine, Merion West.
https://merionwest.com/2022/09/22/the-second-elizabeth-a-life-appreciated/
They had previously published my essay about the Queen (and her predecessors Victoria and Elizabeth I) on the occasion of Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee. When the queen passed, the editor contacted me and asked whether I'd be interested in writing a brief overview of her life and times.
Thanks, Becky, for the chance to share. On September 20, a local bookstore held the launch for my debut poetry collection! Talk Smack to a Hurricane is about my mother's severe mental illness, our relationship, treatments of the 1950s and 1960s, psychiatry's view of women, as well as Jewish roots and antisemitism. The folks at Ice Floe Press are amazing to work with. We connected last year on Twitter! About a third of the poems were published in journals, the latest being "Whale Foam, Sea Honey" in Moist Poetry Journal (Aug 12, 2022—https://moistpoetryjournal.com/?s=lynne+jensen+lampe). The book can be found at https://icefloepress.net/talk-smack-to-a-hurricane-lynne-jensen-lampe/
My story, “Dick Surly Parlays,” was published this month by Another Chicago Magazine. First draft was finished maybe three years ago, and I’d submitted it maybe 8 or 9 times to other pubs. My experience with Tamara at ACM was great. We worked through a few edits, and I was very happy with the process. https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2022/09/06/dick-surly-parlays-by-connie-corzilius/
I recently entered a flash piece in Midway Journal's -1000 Below Flash Prose and Poetry Contest (judged by Kim Chinquee) and it won second place. I learned about Midway due to Becky's thoughtful interview last year with the fiction editor, Ralph Pennel. Thrilled to have my work in this boundary crossing journal!
Becky, thank you for this opportunity!