The other day I went to the supermarket. I entered the front doors and saw two rows of carts before me. In one row were about five carts, tightly lined up. In another row was a single cart, by itself.
The single cart was much closer to me. It was also closer to the doors of the supermarket. All I had to do was grab it, then go do my shopping.
Instead, I walked past the lone cart and went to the row of tightly packed carts. These carts were really jammed together; I had to yank repeatedly to set one free. Even then I could not do it. I tried for a good couple of minutes, trying to wrestle a cart away for use. It wouldn’t budge.
Finally, I said to myself, Becky, there is a lone cart available right there. Why not take that one?
I realized that the reason I had not taken that one was that I had assumed it was broken. Everyone knows that the carts that are abandoned are the broken ones, right? The front wheels are wonky, the back wheels don’t move, the whole thing wobbles and creaks the moment you touch it.
But did I know it had been abandoned? Or did I just assume that?
And did I assume that because it was just too hard to believe the thing I wanted could be so easily within my reach? Anything that available, that accessible, that ready forme just had to be broken in some way. Right?
But what if that assumption was totally wrong? Couldn’t it be that sometimes the things that are accessible to us are also, in fact, perfect for us? Couldn’t it be that sometimes the thing within our reach is also, actually, exactly right?
I made one last attempt with a cart from the tightly packed row. Then I tried the lone cart.
And guess what. No wonky wheels, no shaking frame. It worked just fine.
I turned back to give those cold, unyielding, jammed-together carts a mean scowl. Then I grabbed my sweet, available little cart, and headed into the market.
You’ve probably caught onto the fact that there is a metaphor here, friends. Maybe it’s about relationships. Maybe it’s about finding love. Probably it’s about lit-mag publishing. Possibly it’s about all three. I’ll let you mull it over and decide for yourselves.
In the meantime, we have another pressing matter to attend to!
It is the last weekend of the month and many of you know what that means. The last weekend of each month is dedicated to all of you—your passion, your hard work, your commitment to your craft and your overall awesome razzle dazzle pizzazz.
Please, dear ones, tell us where you published work this past month. Share the links!
How did you find the magazine?
Did you revise the piece as you submitted it or was it published in its original form?
How many places did you submit to? How long did it take to get picked up?
Are you pleased with the finish product?
Take us behind the scenes and tell us all about your lit-magnificent accomplishments!
January has been a banner month and a solid start to 2024, and thank you Becky for this opportunity to find out what other writers are doing, enjoy their success, and read their work. It also helps me keep track of the previous month since I am not the world's best record keeper (it's good to be married to someone who is!)
I just had a new short story accepted within a few days after submission by the editor of Mensa's magazine Calliope. It will be out next winter.
Witcraft (great title!) accepted a micro story of mine for next month.
My essay on a childhood encounter with a famous Rembrandt was accepted within weeks by an editor I admire at Braided Way, a magazine that publishes about many things including creativity. It will be out in a few months.
A piece I saw the proof of, back in September, for a new Jewish online zine called Yafeh Zine, was in limbo when the first issue never appeared. I heard from the new editor that they will be moving forward and she apologized for the delay.
Sugarsugarsalt lit mag took a reprint of a personal essay I published near the beginning of the pandemic about navigating a different landscape at my gym after surgery.
In November I taught a master class in personal essay writing for Rochester Writers in Michigan. We ended the session working on in-class micro essays, some serious, some fun. I joined in, and a revised version of the one I started in class, "Russian Regrets," was published by Corvus at the beginning of the month, starting the year off just right: https://writewithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/From-Corvus-Review.pdf
And while it's not Lit Mag-ish, my co-authored childrens'/parents' book on bullying and self-esteem has now also been published in Chinese!
I think that by this Spring or Summer, I'll have close to 70 essay pubs (including reprints) + 4 short story pubs since the pandemic was at its peak. I'd like to finish a novel that would be my 28th book, but essay and story ideas keep popping up, demanding to be written.
I slipped off my submission and writing schedule last year, being wrecked by the unexpected death of my brother's daughter and dealing with my mother's decline (dementia). My brother is Mom's principle caretaker, and it was super tough watching him wrestle with grief and his role as her carer. Of course, when I don't write or submit, I don't get acceptances—what a surprise. Also, losing the momentum makes you kinda question your passion.
So, I have nothing to report about acceptances this month. BUT I did receive an unexpected nomination to Best Small Fictions 2024 by The Woolf (https://thewoolfx.com/barely-keeping-abreast-by-meredith-wadley/). #the_woolfx is an international online mag published out of Switzerland. The editors are friendly and supportive and active on Insta and FB. They're looking for fiction and creative non-fiction <2.5k and prose poetry <300 words. No fee! Check them out!
Here's to 2024, everyone. Wishing everyone a screaming good year of writing and publishing! And thank you Becky @LitMagNews for providing us this space!
This has been an amazing month for me! My poetry manuscript "Mudman" has been accepted for publication by Able Muse Press and, if all goes well, it will come out in early September. In October my manuscript placed third in their poetry book contest judged by poet David Yezzi. Occasionally they publish the 2nd and 3rd place winners, but when I didn't hear anything for almost four months I had given up on that avenue to publication, so I was completely surprised when I received an email from the Able Muse editor on January 3rd offering to publish it. It's a manuscript I put together two years ago and started sending out and I've been revising and rearranging it ever since. A week later I received my contributor's copies of the winter issue of The Southern Review which includes two poems from the manuscript: "Late October in a Bird Sanctuary" and "The Used Harpsichord."
An editor who published a story of mine in Jabberwock Review in 2022 recently solicited and accepted a new story for Washington Square Review. Sooo that's awesome!
Crazy to think about how she was still thinking about that one little story two years later. It was very weird, about mermaids and wind turbine men. The new one is also weird, about gremlins in Sevilla.
As of last week, I've had work published /pending in 187 lit mags in 15 countries, with the last 3 being Israel, Italy and Croatia--all far more than this old writer ever expected in his 8th decade. But what I feel I've accomplished the most is a 'mini-memoir' I wrote about the worst--and most meaningful day in my life when I nearly drowned in the Winooski River at Montpleier, Vermont in 1971. I describe the NDE I had then in 'The Day I Remembered My Soul' and how it destroyed my former faith in materialism, the idea that only matter has reality. I finally decided to share this with the world 1/2 a century later because the world is more dangerous than it has ever been, and that includes the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 15 and for a week it seemed WWIII might really go off. Even so, I'm surprised it has been published the past 18 months online/in print by a dozen lit mags, and in an anthology on suicide.
When one sees this world, this mortal lifetime as being the only existence, then it's easier to fall into that miasma of subtle despair (as evidenced in increasing rates of anxiety, depression, divorce, addictions, alcoholism, crime, suicide, and senseless killings ) spreading everywhere it seems--- unless you really think people are getting happier....
I've never been published. I'm currently taking Advanced Fiction Writing after taking the Intro class last term. Boldly, I submitted six flash fiction stories (I had to look up what that was) this month to our community college's literary magazine. Crossing my fingers that maybe one will get the nod? We'll see!
I have no news to share at the moment, nothing to brag about except that I am still alive and making marks on paper. There is something that needs to be written about the times of silence, of no acceptance, no worldly success, and how you can see it as a time to go nuts revising things and submitting everywhere out of desperation or a time to get serious about that "big thing," the hard work that's been waiting for you to pay attention to it. So no, I have no news. But your story about the cart was beautiful and reminded me why I like you and this Substack so much.
I was awarded the 2023 Joy Harjo Prize in Poetry which will be published in Cutthroat later this year. (AND...I’ve been “awarded” notices for 12 rejections in Submittable cue so far in 2024!)
January came with a bang. On the second I received in the mail Broad River Review containing my story Deportation Papers, finalist on the Rash Award. You can check it out here: https://lvocem.com/deportation-papers/
Also a story that got rejected about 48 times, then I switched it from third person to first, got rejected another 17 times, then accepted in Tint Journal and another story made it to Bellingham Review. That makes it nine stories from my novel have been published. So it has been a great year so far and I think is going to get even better.
Pros: Acceptance was in 20 days. The editors are pleasant. There is no fee to submit. Variety Pack became a paying market between acceptance and publication, so I promptly received a surprise $10 last week.
Cons: It took over a year and a half from acceptance to publication. (Note: This probably will not happen if your piece is accepted for regular publication. My piece was accepted as part of a "Minipack," which is an off-cycle issue highlighting a small number of poets or fiction writers.)Also, they use Issuu, which is not my favorite publication format.
Happy Saturday. :)
P.S. Becky, I would totally have bypassed the lone cart as well!
I have been waiting and waiting to brag! I love reading about other people's adventures in lit mag publishing. Here's mine: I received the first rejection of this essay in August 2022. After 6 more rejections, it was accepted at Fourth Genre (online) in May 2023 and then I withdrew it from 7 journals. They didn't ask for any revisions. I was feeling a bit gloomy about whether they would publish it, but I didn't write to them. It came out in December, but since they didn't tell me, I only noticed it in January! Never mind. I'm very pleased that it's out in the world. Here it is https://fourthgenre.org/craft-essay/middling/ It's a craft essay about teaching the middle of the essay. I retired from teaching writing in 2021. Part of the fun of writing this was to revisit teaching.
In January, submitted to eight reviews (Beloit, Black Warrior, Naugatuck, Only Poems, Rockvale, Sheila, S. Humanities and The Mackinaw), results are still outstanding. I had poems accepted from pre-Jan submissions in Streetlight, Delta Poetry Rev. Poetry Breakfast, and The Prose Poem Verse-Virtual published two of my poems in their January issue
https://www.verse-virtual.org/2024/January/grossman-gary-2024-january.html , and MacQueen's Quinterly published a poem in issue 21 http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ21/Grossman-One-Degree.aspx . I had poems rejected from Last Stanza and San Pedro River. I submit to a mix of aspirational, new and previously published in reviews, almost always to reviews that accept simultaneous submissions. The only exceptions are the few reviews that guarantee a less than two week turnaround. Other than aspirational journals I limit my submissions to places that say they make decisions within two months. I check out Chill Subs to find new places to submit, as well as FB posts from friends whose work I admire and who are publishing in journals I haven't submitted to. I always submit to highly visible reviews that repeatedly publish my work. In this batch of accepted/published poems there were three editors who wanted very minor changes and I agreed with all of them. I don't know how common this is, but these are all reviews that I have published in repeatedly. The Mackinaw is a new journal that specializes in prose poems, if that's your thing. Write on!
So I saw this concert... https://www.lindaevediamond.com/art-of-listening I've never written anything quite like this before. Shortly after writing it, I sent it to The Ekphrastic Review. No simultaneous submissions as I couldn't think of a better home for it, so I was thrilled when they accepted it! I've had other pieces published there, too, and it's always a great experience. 😊💕 (Sent in September, accepted in January, published today.)
Becky, I so enjoyed the metaphor of the carts...I wonder if I would have completely anthropomorphized the poor thing had it been broken and taken it under my care for a clumsy shop.
I had no publications this month, but after a long dry spell for acceptances (accompanying a particularly exciting, prolific, and enjoyable period of writing time), I had three out of six poems accepted for my favorite children's magazine (Babybug), and for adults, three poems for an anthology, two from Loch Raven Review, and one for the Jewish Writing Project. I especially appreciated an editorial comment from LRR which celebrated the imagery and emotion of aging captured in the work.
The year is off to a slow start as far as acceptances go; however, I did manage the following publications this month and seeing my poems in print always makes me happy!
After the five pieces accepted in December I thought things could not be better. Yet...they could! Seven so far in January, including (all to be published) Bare Back Magazine – The Night She Remembers, Juste Magazine – Circle of Life, The Hooghly Review - "Holy Guacamole," 101 words - Gloria, The Tales My Grandmother Told Me – Writers Workout “Tales” anthology and Antipodean SF – The Leap. And the drum roll... I have just finished my novel! Finished, edited, re-edited and re-edited. Now, the hard part - find someone to publish it. Best of luck to everyone
My story "Man Bun" was published in Stanchion Issue 14 (print only). I had to mention it because I submitted this piece there almost entirely because of your newsletter on sexy material in lit mags and Jeff's Twitter response to that question, so hat tip to you, Becky! I also just had a short, raw, very experimental piece called "No One is Coming to Save You" published in Phoebe (https://phoebejournal.com/no-one-is-coming-to-save-you/). They were wonderful people to work with, very clear communication and offered some helpful micro-edits without making me feel pressured to change anything.
The first was the lone cart. Took me a week and was accepted at the only place I sent it. I am thinking about writing more like this. The team at Candid was very responsive and encouraging.
This was the stuck cart. It took me a year to get right, lots of old rejections, but Smoke Long summer was a huge help - maybe if someone can lend hand the carts are easier to unstick. Viridian is open for one more issue so nows a good time to submit.
Another flash from a SmokeLong workshop - To an Athlete Dying Young - appeared in the print version of In Parentheses. The poem that the title is taken from was one of the first I memorized. I struggled this fall with getting flashes published and this one of the few things that made it. More stuck carts! https://inparentheses.art/
Like everything, it went through a number of drafts, aided by a friend I have in the USA who also happens to be a poet and editor.
Cajun Mutt Press published my poem “Riders of the Setting Sun” in the second issue of its new print magazine, Night Owl Narrative. The poem is based on a photo of silhouetted riders on the skyline in El Rocío in southern Spain. My original version was rejected, so I adapted it to an American setting, making them the riders who were preparing to chase the Devil’s herd across the sky as in the song. Cajun Mutt has also scheduled “Conscience” for February 9 online. The poem is based on a true event. Impspired, the pubisher who released my collection “Musings” has taken three of my poems, “Acquainted with the Morning” (after Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night), “View from the Summit”, and “River of No Return” for publication on February 1. The two latter poems reflect my feelings about being in the final stage of life. In addition, Impspired has scheduled a piece of flash fiction, “How to Spin a Yarn” for June 1 online, and in print for September. This is a story I have revised and submitted umpteen times with different titles and it had always been rejected, so I was delighted when Steve Cawte of Impspired enjoyed it.
I just found out this morning that a gritty little war story has been accepted for the "Hunger" anthology coming out from Urban Pigs Press. All proceeds go to a local English food charity. Another short in my "Gunselle" series about a 1940s hitwoman will be coming out soon in Guilty Crime Magazine, and yet another "Gunselle" will be coming out online with Revolution John. It's a decent start to the year. And I really enjoy reading the posts you provide.
Hi everyone, Thank you for sharing where and what you have published. I enjoy reading your work!!
It's been a few months since I posted here so I am reaching back to November. My poem, "Blame it on the Heat Dome" was published in The Bayou Review Fall 2023 edition: https://www.bayoureview.org/current-issue-spring-2022.
I was in a class with Kathryn Kulpa and she provided a prompt that could lead us to submit to the Flash Frontier - Bird-themed December issue. I submitted what I wrote and it was accepted. You can find it here: https://flashfrontier.com/december-2023-manu-bird/. It is "Ghosts of the Forest".
And, related, I am working out final details to offer a Crow Collective workshop this summer that offers simple movement practices to facilitate creative flow!
My short story "Frances Awakes," about a woman hiding on a WWOOF farm on an island with her two young kids, that I submitted to The Heartland Review in January 2023 was finally published this January, print edition only. They have free open calls in fiction & creative nonfiction twice a year. The guidelines can be found here: https://elizabethtown.kctcs.edu/community/theheartlandreviewpress/index.aspx
Also, I was a finalist in the North Carolina Literary Review Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
Then a story which had been rejected 34 times was accepted not once but twice. It’s a real love of mine so I’m delirious to have the validation after so many rejections. And finally, another story that had looking for a home since 2016 and been rejected a whooping 54 times was accepted by a staff and editor who wrote me the kind of acceptance letter that I will use as balm for the, no doubt, months of new rejections that are coming.
I was invited to do a guest post for Ladies of Mystery. Their guests are mostly cozy mystery writers, so my contribution was slightly different as I talked about writing short fiction and why it's such a benefit to vary pleasures between long and short form. Here's the link: https://ladiesofmystery.com/2024/01/20/guest-blogger-m-e-proctor/
Grande Dame Literary published one of my "strange" stories - It's called "Pillow Candy" - link here: https://www.grandedameliterary.com/post/pillow-candy - This one took a long time to appear: acceptance in August, supposed to be up 2 weeks later. I sent a question earlier this month, wondering, and now it's up. It's a little weird, first time I ask a publication: hey, where's that post? I'm glad I did...
On January 17, Amethyst Review, a literary magazine focused on spirituality, published my poem “Offerings.” The poem concerns a visit that my husband and I made to the shrine of San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, Arizona in 2000. I had been trying to publish this poem for twenty-four years. I’m glad that editor Sarah Law appreciated my work. The link to my poem is https://amethystmagazine.org/
Hashtags are #sisterhood #poetry #VirginMary #offerings #Amerindians #worship
My writers' group helped me to revise the poem, so I am grateful for my colleagues' advice. I'm also grateful to Lit Mag News because other writers mentioned Amethyst Review in their monthly brags. I had never heard of this journal based in England before.
In general, I think that many literary journals are biased against spiritual poetry and prose. I find this prejudice annoying. When I edited Primavera (no longer publishing, unfortunately), we tried to avoid limiting authors' topics and approaches. Instead, we editors focused on a manuscript's literary quality and originality. I am not trying to convert anyone when I write a poem from my Jewish perspective. I'm just writing about an important spiritual element in my life and worldview. Why do editors decide to exclude such viewpoints? I find this very narrow-minded.
Best wishes for 2024!
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).
Thank you for this space and the insightful supermarket cart metaphor, Becky.
My mindset on writing rejections was reframed this month and I'm feeling really excited about the year ahead. Shoutout to Kristen Renee Miller for her tips on tiered submissions and brilliant advice, including: "Writing is your art - that's personal. Submissions are like a job - that's not personal." I also received the kindest and most encouraging rejection from Anne Cummings at 34 Orchard.
It was published in its original format, submitted 13 times, short-listed once, rejected twice. There were a few hiccups with the editor during the publication process, but it all worked out in the end. I'm really proud of this important poem about the war in P@les-tine, and it was the first time I had to withdraw a piece from multiple mags, which is a testament to my recent commitment to simultaneous submissions.
I got 2 acceptances for poems in Duck Duck Mongoose Magazine and Swim Press monthly writing prompt, forthcoming soon.
I submitted 9 pieces (poems and flash fiction) and got 8 rejections in January, so far.
Hello everyone and congratulations on all the publications!
My essay "How to Triumph with Only One Shoe" was published in Esoterica https://esotericamag.com/how-to-triumph-with-only-one-shoe/. I submitted the piece to 2 magazines on the same day and within a week Esoterica accepted it. The editor had just a few—but important—edits to suggest, and the published work looks beautiful on the website. Very happy working with this lit mag!
Also - my essay "Grand Obsessions" won second place for nonfiction in The Hal Prize. Was slated to be in print sometime in January in the "8142 Review." Things must be delayed...
January's been good. My essay, "The Yiddish Learner," appeared in Jewish Literary Journal on Jan. 1. I only sent it to this journal. The editor asked me to modify the last line, and I did. I publish fairly regularly in this journal.
My short story, "The Newcomer," was accepted by Folio, the lit mag of American University. I sent it out as a 7,000-word story under the title, "Displaced," to eleven mags. Rejected by all. I then recast it to 4,000 words, working with a developmental editor, and renamed it. I don't have a pub date yet. I sent the revision to eight lit mags, rejected by four and I withdraw from three upon Folio's acceptance.
My essay, "A Tasting Menu, Belgian Style," found acceptance with Manifest Station, which has published two of my food-related essays before. I sent this piece to four other lit mags--Sequestrum sent a form rejection and Agni rejected but with a note to try them again. I withdrew from The Common and Hippocampus. I don't have a pub date yet.
Not a publication, but the Colorado Poets Center has invited me to read from my third collection, IN FROM FOREVER, at the famed Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado on February 20 -- invitation arriving on the heels of the completion of my six-week poetry workshop "The Art of it All" for Poets House New York. Did manage to fling a dozen or so submissions into the faces of a number of beleaguered editors during January though. Can't let them sit idle ...
I wrote the poem in October during a review workshop run by John Sibley Williams (he runs this kind of workshop regularly, and offers other classes--he puts together a great packet for the topical classes, e.g. "Nocturne" or "Ode" collections. https://www.johnsibleywilliams.com/). JSW is one of the editors of the Inflectionist Review, and he invited me to submit my poem. He and co-editor A. Molotkov gave some light but thoughtful feedback. I adopted all but one of their suggestions, and they were happy with the final poem and said it would appear in winter, exact date tbd. In early January they sent an update to look for the proofs, and soon after sent a private link to review the title page and my poem, inviting copy-edits within two weeks. Then one week later it went live! I'm really pleased with the experience, and glad to be included--I admire the perspective, style, and quality of the poems they publish, and my experience working with the editors was great.
Cyberwit, the publishers of my first collection, “Afterthoughts”, have just now informed me that my poem “March 1958” has appeared in the December issue of The Taj Mahal Review. The poem is an interpretation of a photograph of a group of students, including me, with a Professor on an excursion to Las Batuecas in the south of the province of Salamanca, one of the poorest regions in Spain at the time. The poem evokes the glorious career that lies ahead for one of the students post-Franco, while using the icy climate apparent in the photo to convey how the mission assigned to me by the organization that had awarded me the post, that is to introduce my fellow Spanish students to “the British way of life”, was frozen out by the College authorities.
My first publication of the year came in the form of my contributor's copy of Poet Lore, Vol 118. The guest editor, Ruben Quesada, chose my poem as part of the folio on traditional forms. I'm so honored! I don't have a link as it is only in print.
I ended 2023 with an unexpected hospital stay & began 2024 with a prolonged case of COVID, which has slowed down my usual pace of writing & submitting. However, in January, I still had my prose poem "Nightall in a Fenced Arcadia" published in Issue #9 of "Exist Otherwise", a poetry /prose journal. My 4th consecutive publication in this journal. This was a revised reprint, & I felt it aptly reflected the theme of "Love & the Solar System", so I didn't submit it anywhere else. It's a paying publication.
I also received an acceptance for my dark fabulist flash fiction "The Dream of Fly Agaric" in "Crow & Cross Keys", a British journal I discovered via Twitter last year. Longlisted for an anthology in June 2023, my flash sadly didn't make the final line-up, & it then clocked up about 5 more rejections. This editor took a few moments in the acceptance email to compliment it, calling it "stunning", which I really appreciated after all the "no's". It's scheduled for publication in April 2024. No payment, but the work is lovingly presented.
Congrats, everyone for their acceptances, awards & other auspicious accolades! You're all *stars*!
I published nothing in January, but worked a lot at revising, rewriting, or resurrecting (with wing of bat and tongue of shoe --or something) stories and essays that Refuse to Get Published and yet Will Not Die. (And writing some brand new things too). I got it in my mind that I should have 30 of these revenants out by the end of the month, and I made it. Go forth, my creatures.
I had an interesting publishing event this month involving a Facebook posting. The posting came from a new adventure I am having with my teeth – they have begun to squeak. I asked my FB friends if any of them were familiar with this, and the ensuing responses were so hilarious I submitted the incident to a humor lit mag, Jokes Review. They found it hilarious too and published it within a week of submission.
Ironically, this all happened simultaneously with an argument I was having with the editor of another lit mag about the ineligibility of such postings for their publication. Based on their side of the argument, I would never have submitted to them anyway, as they have no humor at all.
I haven't published anything in a few years, so it was gratifying to get a story I've been sending out and working on for maybe four years published at a nice mag. It was published in the latest issue of Cagibi (Issue 20): https://cagibilit.com/the-next-nearest-star/
It's a flash piece. They asked only for a few minor revisions. I'd sent it out to about 10 places before it got picked up here. I'm very excited to have it online. The print edition comes out in a few weeks, I believe.
Not a publication, but I was invited by the Colorado Poets Center to do a reading from my third collection, IN FROM FOREVER, at the famed Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado -- invitation arriving at the completion of my six-week poetry workshop, "The Art of it All" for Poets House New York. I did manage to fling about a dozen or so submissions into the face of beleaguered editors during January though ... can't let them idle.
Two poems published this month: One I wrote last spring, "Arthritis," appears in the January issue of "Kaleidoscope," https://www.udsakron.org/wp-content/uploads/K88-FINAL_with-links.pdf. (It's on page 31 if you'd like to see it.) This was an experimental piece for me, with jagged line positions and spacing to mimic how living with arthritis often feels. A newer piece, "Bubbee & Zaydee, 1959," was featured yesterday on Silver Birch Press https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/bubbee-zaydee-1959-by-cynthia-bernard-spices-seasonings-series/?fbclid=IwAR1_kD703m57_UqHdFy6-7MSSFYVrC1V9paT3ExKKpMDyAAfiPjEEXMoBqM. I'm really pleased that my poem "The Gift" has been accepted for inclusion in The Jewish Writing Project and will appear there in April. I've also begun writing flash fiction and essays in the last couple of months, and one piece, "Okay, so my foot didn’t fit into that tiny slipper, so what?" has been accepted by Witcraft and will be published there on February 10th. Thanks for this chance to share news and have another moment of gratitude. It's been a creaky, clunky. s-l-o-w writing time for me lately... sigh...
I had a piece come out in ARCPoetry as their monthly "Award of Awesomeness."
The piece is a prose poem, The Neurologist. It's from a series of surrealist prose poems about Dr's office visits that have been a bit challenging to place.
The neatest thing about this journal, besides that they pay, is when you win, they send you a mystery doodad and ask you to take a picture with you and the doodad. It's a fun way to make your photo more personal to the journal and I'm looking forward to having fun with mine this week.
This month started with a bang. I saw on Duotrope that Cosmic Daffodil had a theme of the 7 deadly sins, and I had a piece in the bin for that which got accepted, so that will appear next month.
My short story "Help Wanted" appears in the latest issue of The Dawn Review: https://www.thedawnreview.com/issue-4. I'm so honored to be included in such a new, interesting magazine.
My poem "Imaginary Play on the I-5" was published in Variant Literature's January issue (my first official poetry acceptance and a dream publication for me!) https://variantlit.com/imaginary-play-on-the-i-5/
I wrote this piece in an Orion Magazine workshop last year and submitted it to ~50 publications from June through December last year, and was just at the point where I was thinking it might need revisiting/edits when Variant Lit accepted it. Felt very validating and also like while there is a lot of value in editing and workshopping pieces, there is also a chance it just hasn't found the right home yet!
Delighted to have new flash fiction this month in Stanchion (Issue 14, print only) and microfiction published/shortlisted in the Welkin Mini (https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize/shortlist-24#story-hour)!
January has been a banner month and a solid start to 2024, and thank you Becky for this opportunity to find out what other writers are doing, enjoy their success, and read their work. It also helps me keep track of the previous month since I am not the world's best record keeper (it's good to be married to someone who is!)
I just had a new short story accepted within a few days after submission by the editor of Mensa's magazine Calliope. It will be out next winter.
Witcraft (great title!) accepted a micro story of mine for next month.
My essay on a childhood encounter with a famous Rembrandt was accepted within weeks by an editor I admire at Braided Way, a magazine that publishes about many things including creativity. It will be out in a few months.
A piece I saw the proof of, back in September, for a new Jewish online zine called Yafeh Zine, was in limbo when the first issue never appeared. I heard from the new editor that they will be moving forward and she apologized for the delay.
Sugarsugarsalt lit mag took a reprint of a personal essay I published near the beginning of the pandemic about navigating a different landscape at my gym after surgery.
In November I taught a master class in personal essay writing for Rochester Writers in Michigan. We ended the session working on in-class micro essays, some serious, some fun. I joined in, and a revised version of the one I started in class, "Russian Regrets," was published by Corvus at the beginning of the month, starting the year off just right: https://writewithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/From-Corvus-Review.pdf
And I forgot to mention in the December Lit Mag Brag that last month I received the October volume Whispers of the World which had my essay "Writing Queer Mysteries Changed My Life." Here's a PDF from my author website: https://writewithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Writing-Queer-Mysteries-Changed-My-Life.pdf It slipped my mind that it was due. I've been that busy writing and editing.
And while it's not Lit Mag-ish, my co-authored childrens'/parents' book on bullying and self-esteem has now also been published in Chinese!
I think that by this Spring or Summer, I'll have close to 70 essay pubs (including reprints) + 4 short story pubs since the pandemic was at its peak. I'd like to finish a novel that would be my 28th book, but essay and story ideas keep popping up, demanding to be written.
I slipped off my submission and writing schedule last year, being wrecked by the unexpected death of my brother's daughter and dealing with my mother's decline (dementia). My brother is Mom's principle caretaker, and it was super tough watching him wrestle with grief and his role as her carer. Of course, when I don't write or submit, I don't get acceptances—what a surprise. Also, losing the momentum makes you kinda question your passion.
So, I have nothing to report about acceptances this month. BUT I did receive an unexpected nomination to Best Small Fictions 2024 by The Woolf (https://thewoolfx.com/barely-keeping-abreast-by-meredith-wadley/). #the_woolfx is an international online mag published out of Switzerland. The editors are friendly and supportive and active on Insta and FB. They're looking for fiction and creative non-fiction <2.5k and prose poetry <300 words. No fee! Check them out!
Here's to 2024, everyone. Wishing everyone a screaming good year of writing and publishing! And thank you Becky @LitMagNews for providing us this space!
This has been an amazing month for me! My poetry manuscript "Mudman" has been accepted for publication by Able Muse Press and, if all goes well, it will come out in early September. In October my manuscript placed third in their poetry book contest judged by poet David Yezzi. Occasionally they publish the 2nd and 3rd place winners, but when I didn't hear anything for almost four months I had given up on that avenue to publication, so I was completely surprised when I received an email from the Able Muse editor on January 3rd offering to publish it. It's a manuscript I put together two years ago and started sending out and I've been revising and rearranging it ever since. A week later I received my contributor's copies of the winter issue of The Southern Review which includes two poems from the manuscript: "Late October in a Bird Sanctuary" and "The Used Harpsichord."
An editor who published a story of mine in Jabberwock Review in 2022 recently solicited and accepted a new story for Washington Square Review. Sooo that's awesome!
Crazy to think about how she was still thinking about that one little story two years later. It was very weird, about mermaids and wind turbine men. The new one is also weird, about gremlins in Sevilla.
As of last week, I've had work published /pending in 187 lit mags in 15 countries, with the last 3 being Israel, Italy and Croatia--all far more than this old writer ever expected in his 8th decade. But what I feel I've accomplished the most is a 'mini-memoir' I wrote about the worst--and most meaningful day in my life when I nearly drowned in the Winooski River at Montpleier, Vermont in 1971. I describe the NDE I had then in 'The Day I Remembered My Soul' and how it destroyed my former faith in materialism, the idea that only matter has reality. I finally decided to share this with the world 1/2 a century later because the world is more dangerous than it has ever been, and that includes the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 15 and for a week it seemed WWIII might really go off. Even so, I'm surprised it has been published the past 18 months online/in print by a dozen lit mags, and in an anthology on suicide.
When one sees this world, this mortal lifetime as being the only existence, then it's easier to fall into that miasma of subtle despair (as evidenced in increasing rates of anxiety, depression, divorce, addictions, alcoholism, crime, suicide, and senseless killings ) spreading everywhere it seems--- unless you really think people are getting happier....
I've never been published. I'm currently taking Advanced Fiction Writing after taking the Intro class last term. Boldly, I submitted six flash fiction stories (I had to look up what that was) this month to our community college's literary magazine. Crossing my fingers that maybe one will get the nod? We'll see!
I have no news to share at the moment, nothing to brag about except that I am still alive and making marks on paper. There is something that needs to be written about the times of silence, of no acceptance, no worldly success, and how you can see it as a time to go nuts revising things and submitting everywhere out of desperation or a time to get serious about that "big thing," the hard work that's been waiting for you to pay attention to it. So no, I have no news. But your story about the cart was beautiful and reminded me why I like you and this Substack so much.
I was awarded the 2023 Joy Harjo Prize in Poetry which will be published in Cutthroat later this year. (AND...I’ve been “awarded” notices for 12 rejections in Submittable cue so far in 2024!)
January came with a bang. On the second I received in the mail Broad River Review containing my story Deportation Papers, finalist on the Rash Award. You can check it out here: https://lvocem.com/deportation-papers/
Also a story that got rejected about 48 times, then I switched it from third person to first, got rejected another 17 times, then accepted in Tint Journal and another story made it to Bellingham Review. That makes it nine stories from my novel have been published. So it has been a great year so far and I think is going to get even better.
Good morning all. I have a poem out in Variety Pack ("Prayer, Upon Learning that NASA Is Contemplating a Visit to Uranus"). Link below (see page 5):https://issuu.com/varietypackzine/docs/minipack_january2024
Pros: Acceptance was in 20 days. The editors are pleasant. There is no fee to submit. Variety Pack became a paying market between acceptance and publication, so I promptly received a surprise $10 last week.
Cons: It took over a year and a half from acceptance to publication. (Note: This probably will not happen if your piece is accepted for regular publication. My piece was accepted as part of a "Minipack," which is an off-cycle issue highlighting a small number of poets or fiction writers.)Also, they use Issuu, which is not my favorite publication format.
Happy Saturday. :)
P.S. Becky, I would totally have bypassed the lone cart as well!
I have been waiting and waiting to brag! I love reading about other people's adventures in lit mag publishing. Here's mine: I received the first rejection of this essay in August 2022. After 6 more rejections, it was accepted at Fourth Genre (online) in May 2023 and then I withdrew it from 7 journals. They didn't ask for any revisions. I was feeling a bit gloomy about whether they would publish it, but I didn't write to them. It came out in December, but since they didn't tell me, I only noticed it in January! Never mind. I'm very pleased that it's out in the world. Here it is https://fourthgenre.org/craft-essay/middling/ It's a craft essay about teaching the middle of the essay. I retired from teaching writing in 2021. Part of the fun of writing this was to revisit teaching.
In January, submitted to eight reviews (Beloit, Black Warrior, Naugatuck, Only Poems, Rockvale, Sheila, S. Humanities and The Mackinaw), results are still outstanding. I had poems accepted from pre-Jan submissions in Streetlight, Delta Poetry Rev. Poetry Breakfast, and The Prose Poem Verse-Virtual published two of my poems in their January issue
https://www.verse-virtual.org/2024/January/grossman-gary-2024-january.html , and MacQueen's Quinterly published a poem in issue 21 http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ21/Grossman-One-Degree.aspx . I had poems rejected from Last Stanza and San Pedro River. I submit to a mix of aspirational, new and previously published in reviews, almost always to reviews that accept simultaneous submissions. The only exceptions are the few reviews that guarantee a less than two week turnaround. Other than aspirational journals I limit my submissions to places that say they make decisions within two months. I check out Chill Subs to find new places to submit, as well as FB posts from friends whose work I admire and who are publishing in journals I haven't submitted to. I always submit to highly visible reviews that repeatedly publish my work. In this batch of accepted/published poems there were three editors who wanted very minor changes and I agreed with all of them. I don't know how common this is, but these are all reviews that I have published in repeatedly. The Mackinaw is a new journal that specializes in prose poems, if that's your thing. Write on!
So I saw this concert... https://www.lindaevediamond.com/art-of-listening I've never written anything quite like this before. Shortly after writing it, I sent it to The Ekphrastic Review. No simultaneous submissions as I couldn't think of a better home for it, so I was thrilled when they accepted it! I've had other pieces published there, too, and it's always a great experience. 😊💕 (Sent in September, accepted in January, published today.)
Becky, I so enjoyed the metaphor of the carts...I wonder if I would have completely anthropomorphized the poor thing had it been broken and taken it under my care for a clumsy shop.
I had no publications this month, but after a long dry spell for acceptances (accompanying a particularly exciting, prolific, and enjoyable period of writing time), I had three out of six poems accepted for my favorite children's magazine (Babybug), and for adults, three poems for an anthology, two from Loch Raven Review, and one for the Jewish Writing Project. I especially appreciated an editorial comment from LRR which celebrated the imagery and emotion of aging captured in the work.
The year is off to a slow start as far as acceptances go; however, I did manage the following publications this month and seeing my poems in print always makes me happy!
https://uppagus.com/poems/johnson-bone/
https://www.alteredrealitymag.com/the-beggar-wretch-by-julie-allyn-johnson/
https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/an-ultraviolet-tang-by-julie-allyn-johnson-spices-seasonings-series/
After the five pieces accepted in December I thought things could not be better. Yet...they could! Seven so far in January, including (all to be published) Bare Back Magazine – The Night She Remembers, Juste Magazine – Circle of Life, The Hooghly Review - "Holy Guacamole," 101 words - Gloria, The Tales My Grandmother Told Me – Writers Workout “Tales” anthology and Antipodean SF – The Leap. And the drum roll... I have just finished my novel! Finished, edited, re-edited and re-edited. Now, the hard part - find someone to publish it. Best of luck to everyone
My story "Man Bun" was published in Stanchion Issue 14 (print only). I had to mention it because I submitted this piece there almost entirely because of your newsletter on sexy material in lit mags and Jeff's Twitter response to that question, so hat tip to you, Becky! I also just had a short, raw, very experimental piece called "No One is Coming to Save You" published in Phoebe (https://phoebejournal.com/no-one-is-coming-to-save-you/). They were wonderful people to work with, very clear communication and offered some helpful micro-edits without making me feel pressured to change anything.
I had three pieces published this month.
The first was the lone cart. Took me a week and was accepted at the only place I sent it. I am thinking about writing more like this. The team at Candid was very responsive and encouraging.
https://thecandidreview.org/gassires-lute-forever-sings/
This was the stuck cart. It took me a year to get right, lots of old rejections, but Smoke Long summer was a huge help - maybe if someone can lend hand the carts are easier to unstick. Viridian is open for one more issue so nows a good time to submit.
https://theviridiandoor.wixsite.com/main
(I’m in issue 4)
Another flash from a SmokeLong workshop - To an Athlete Dying Young - appeared in the print version of In Parentheses. The poem that the title is taken from was one of the first I memorized. I struggled this fall with getting flashes published and this one of the few things that made it. More stuck carts! https://inparentheses.art/
January has been reasonably good to me. Lothlorien published my flash fiction piece: “The Night Before Christmas”. It can be found here:
https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-night-before-christmas-flash.html
Like everything, it went through a number of drafts, aided by a friend I have in the USA who also happens to be a poet and editor.
Cajun Mutt Press published my poem “Riders of the Setting Sun” in the second issue of its new print magazine, Night Owl Narrative. The poem is based on a photo of silhouetted riders on the skyline in El Rocío in southern Spain. My original version was rejected, so I adapted it to an American setting, making them the riders who were preparing to chase the Devil’s herd across the sky as in the song. Cajun Mutt has also scheduled “Conscience” for February 9 online. The poem is based on a true event. Impspired, the pubisher who released my collection “Musings” has taken three of my poems, “Acquainted with the Morning” (after Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night), “View from the Summit”, and “River of No Return” for publication on February 1. The two latter poems reflect my feelings about being in the final stage of life. In addition, Impspired has scheduled a piece of flash fiction, “How to Spin a Yarn” for June 1 online, and in print for September. This is a story I have revised and submitted umpteen times with different titles and it had always been rejected, so I was delighted when Steve Cawte of Impspired enjoyed it.
I just found out this morning that a gritty little war story has been accepted for the "Hunger" anthology coming out from Urban Pigs Press. All proceeds go to a local English food charity. Another short in my "Gunselle" series about a 1940s hitwoman will be coming out soon in Guilty Crime Magazine, and yet another "Gunselle" will be coming out online with Revolution John. It's a decent start to the year. And I really enjoy reading the posts you provide.
Hi everyone, Thank you for sharing where and what you have published. I enjoy reading your work!!
It's been a few months since I posted here so I am reaching back to November. My poem, "Blame it on the Heat Dome" was published in The Bayou Review Fall 2023 edition: https://www.bayoureview.org/current-issue-spring-2022.
I was in a class with Kathryn Kulpa and she provided a prompt that could lead us to submit to the Flash Frontier - Bird-themed December issue. I submitted what I wrote and it was accepted. You can find it here: https://flashfrontier.com/december-2023-manu-bird/. It is "Ghosts of the Forest".
I wrote an Ekphrastic poem using a photograph called "Rest Stop". The artist published it on her website here: https://melodylocke.com/2023/12/06/rest-stop-on-the-road-again/.
Finally, my poem "Chateau Couchebout" was published on Panoply: https://panoplyzine.com/chateau-couchebout-by-kathi-crawford/.
I had a piece exploring writing resistance, neuroscience, and movement published on Brevity Blog
https://brevity.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/moving-beyond-resistance/
And, related, I am working out final details to offer a Crow Collective workshop this summer that offers simple movement practices to facilitate creative flow!
My short story "Frances Awakes," about a woman hiding on a WWOOF farm on an island with her two young kids, that I submitted to The Heartland Review in January 2023 was finally published this January, print edition only. They have free open calls in fiction & creative nonfiction twice a year. The guidelines can be found here: https://elizabethtown.kctcs.edu/community/theheartlandreviewpress/index.aspx
Also, I was a finalist in the North Carolina Literary Review Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
I cannot complain about my January. At all. First, my story “Survival Skills” literally opened the year at MacQueen’s Quinterly. (http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ21/Rosen-Survival-Skills.aspx).
Then a story which had been rejected 34 times was accepted not once but twice. It’s a real love of mine so I’m delirious to have the validation after so many rejections. And finally, another story that had looking for a home since 2016 and been rejected a whooping 54 times was accepted by a staff and editor who wrote me the kind of acceptance letter that I will use as balm for the, no doubt, months of new rejections that are coming.
I was invited to do a guest post for Ladies of Mystery. Their guests are mostly cozy mystery writers, so my contribution was slightly different as I talked about writing short fiction and why it's such a benefit to vary pleasures between long and short form. Here's the link: https://ladiesofmystery.com/2024/01/20/guest-blogger-m-e-proctor/
Grande Dame Literary published one of my "strange" stories - It's called "Pillow Candy" - link here: https://www.grandedameliterary.com/post/pillow-candy - This one took a long time to appear: acceptance in August, supposed to be up 2 weeks later. I sent a question earlier this month, wondering, and now it's up. It's a little weird, first time I ask a publication: hey, where's that post? I'm glad I did...
Dear Friends,
On January 17, Amethyst Review, a literary magazine focused on spirituality, published my poem “Offerings.” The poem concerns a visit that my husband and I made to the shrine of San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, Arizona in 2000. I had been trying to publish this poem for twenty-four years. I’m glad that editor Sarah Law appreciated my work. The link to my poem is https://amethystmagazine.org/
Hashtags are #sisterhood #poetry #VirginMary #offerings #Amerindians #worship
My writers' group helped me to revise the poem, so I am grateful for my colleagues' advice. I'm also grateful to Lit Mag News because other writers mentioned Amethyst Review in their monthly brags. I had never heard of this journal based in England before.
In general, I think that many literary journals are biased against spiritual poetry and prose. I find this prejudice annoying. When I edited Primavera (no longer publishing, unfortunately), we tried to avoid limiting authors' topics and approaches. Instead, we editors focused on a manuscript's literary quality and originality. I am not trying to convert anyone when I write a poem from my Jewish perspective. I'm just writing about an important spiritual element in my life and worldview. Why do editors decide to exclude such viewpoints? I find this very narrow-minded.
Best wishes for 2024!
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/
Thank you for this space and the insightful supermarket cart metaphor, Becky.
My mindset on writing rejections was reframed this month and I'm feeling really excited about the year ahead. Shoutout to Kristen Renee Miller for her tips on tiered submissions and brilliant advice, including: "Writing is your art - that's personal. Submissions are like a job - that's not personal." I also received the kindest and most encouraging rejection from Anne Cummings at 34 Orchard.
January highlights: My poem 'Bethlehem Cancelled Christmas' was published on The Insurgence substack: https://insurgence.substack.com/p/bethlehem-cancelled-christmas
It was published in its original format, submitted 13 times, short-listed once, rejected twice. There were a few hiccups with the editor during the publication process, but it all worked out in the end. I'm really proud of this important poem about the war in P@les-tine, and it was the first time I had to withdraw a piece from multiple mags, which is a testament to my recent commitment to simultaneous submissions.
I got 2 acceptances for poems in Duck Duck Mongoose Magazine and Swim Press monthly writing prompt, forthcoming soon.
I submitted 9 pieces (poems and flash fiction) and got 8 rejections in January, so far.
Hello everyone and congratulations on all the publications!
My essay "How to Triumph with Only One Shoe" was published in Esoterica https://esotericamag.com/how-to-triumph-with-only-one-shoe/. I submitted the piece to 2 magazines on the same day and within a week Esoterica accepted it. The editor had just a few—but important—edits to suggest, and the published work looks beautiful on the website. Very happy working with this lit mag!
Also - my essay "Grand Obsessions" won second place for nonfiction in The Hal Prize. Was slated to be in print sometime in January in the "8142 Review." Things must be delayed...
January's been good. My essay, "The Yiddish Learner," appeared in Jewish Literary Journal on Jan. 1. I only sent it to this journal. The editor asked me to modify the last line, and I did. I publish fairly regularly in this journal.
https://jewishliteraryjournal.com/creative-non-fiction/the-yiddish-learner-barbara-krasner/
My short story, "The Newcomer," was accepted by Folio, the lit mag of American University. I sent it out as a 7,000-word story under the title, "Displaced," to eleven mags. Rejected by all. I then recast it to 4,000 words, working with a developmental editor, and renamed it. I don't have a pub date yet. I sent the revision to eight lit mags, rejected by four and I withdraw from three upon Folio's acceptance.
My essay, "A Tasting Menu, Belgian Style," found acceptance with Manifest Station, which has published two of my food-related essays before. I sent this piece to four other lit mags--Sequestrum sent a form rejection and Agni rejected but with a note to try them again. I withdrew from The Common and Hippocampus. I don't have a pub date yet.
Not a publication, but the Colorado Poets Center has invited me to read from my third collection, IN FROM FOREVER, at the famed Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado on February 20 -- invitation arriving on the heels of the completion of my six-week poetry workshop "The Art of it All" for Poets House New York. Did manage to fling a dozen or so submissions into the faces of a number of beleaguered editors during January though. Can't let them sit idle ...
My poem "Testament in Harvest Season" was published to day in The Inflectionist Review. https://www.inflectionism.com/17-caitlin-palo-testament-in-harvest-season
I wrote the poem in October during a review workshop run by John Sibley Williams (he runs this kind of workshop regularly, and offers other classes--he puts together a great packet for the topical classes, e.g. "Nocturne" or "Ode" collections. https://www.johnsibleywilliams.com/). JSW is one of the editors of the Inflectionist Review, and he invited me to submit my poem. He and co-editor A. Molotkov gave some light but thoughtful feedback. I adopted all but one of their suggestions, and they were happy with the final poem and said it would appear in winter, exact date tbd. In early January they sent an update to look for the proofs, and soon after sent a private link to review the title page and my poem, inviting copy-edits within two weeks. Then one week later it went live! I'm really pleased with the experience, and glad to be included--I admire the perspective, style, and quality of the poems they publish, and my experience working with the editors was great.
Cyberwit, the publishers of my first collection, “Afterthoughts”, have just now informed me that my poem “March 1958” has appeared in the December issue of The Taj Mahal Review. The poem is an interpretation of a photograph of a group of students, including me, with a Professor on an excursion to Las Batuecas in the south of the province of Salamanca, one of the poorest regions in Spain at the time. The poem evokes the glorious career that lies ahead for one of the students post-Franco, while using the icy climate apparent in the photo to convey how the mission assigned to me by the organization that had awarded me the post, that is to introduce my fellow Spanish students to “the British way of life”, was frozen out by the College authorities.
My first publication of the year came in the form of my contributor's copy of Poet Lore, Vol 118. The guest editor, Ruben Quesada, chose my poem as part of the folio on traditional forms. I'm so honored! I don't have a link as it is only in print.
I ended 2023 with an unexpected hospital stay & began 2024 with a prolonged case of COVID, which has slowed down my usual pace of writing & submitting. However, in January, I still had my prose poem "Nightall in a Fenced Arcadia" published in Issue #9 of "Exist Otherwise", a poetry /prose journal. My 4th consecutive publication in this journal. This was a revised reprint, & I felt it aptly reflected the theme of "Love & the Solar System", so I didn't submit it anywhere else. It's a paying publication.
https://existotherwise.cc/nightfall-in-a-fenced-arcadia/
I also received an acceptance for my dark fabulist flash fiction "The Dream of Fly Agaric" in "Crow & Cross Keys", a British journal I discovered via Twitter last year. Longlisted for an anthology in June 2023, my flash sadly didn't make the final line-up, & it then clocked up about 5 more rejections. This editor took a few moments in the acceptance email to compliment it, calling it "stunning", which I really appreciated after all the "no's". It's scheduled for publication in April 2024. No payment, but the work is lovingly presented.
Congrats, everyone for their acceptances, awards & other auspicious accolades! You're all *stars*!
I published nothing in January, but worked a lot at revising, rewriting, or resurrecting (with wing of bat and tongue of shoe --or something) stories and essays that Refuse to Get Published and yet Will Not Die. (And writing some brand new things too). I got it in my mind that I should have 30 of these revenants out by the end of the month, and I made it. Go forth, my creatures.
Richard LeBlond
I had an interesting publishing event this month involving a Facebook posting. The posting came from a new adventure I am having with my teeth – they have begun to squeak. I asked my FB friends if any of them were familiar with this, and the ensuing responses were so hilarious I submitted the incident to a humor lit mag, Jokes Review. They found it hilarious too and published it within a week of submission.
https://jokesjournal.substack.com/p/squeaky-teeth
Ironically, this all happened simultaneously with an argument I was having with the editor of another lit mag about the ineligibility of such postings for their publication. Based on their side of the argument, I would never have submitted to them anyway, as they have no humor at all.
I haven't published anything in a few years, so it was gratifying to get a story I've been sending out and working on for maybe four years published at a nice mag. It was published in the latest issue of Cagibi (Issue 20): https://cagibilit.com/the-next-nearest-star/
I had a story published in phoebe journal yesterday! https://phoebejournal.com/stray-bullets/
It's a flash piece. They asked only for a few minor revisions. I'd sent it out to about 10 places before it got picked up here. I'm very excited to have it online. The print edition comes out in a few weeks, I believe.
Delighted to have my essay about my writing group published in "Write or Die" magazine.
https://www.chillsubs.com/writeordie/essays/what-really-matters-on-the-value-of-writing-groups
Oh, and my first “acceptance” (how I despise the nomenclature!) this year - a Rattle Poets Respond poem on tap for tomorrow.
Not a publication, but I was invited by the Colorado Poets Center to do a reading from my third collection, IN FROM FOREVER, at the famed Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado -- invitation arriving at the completion of my six-week poetry workshop, "The Art of it All" for Poets House New York. I did manage to fling about a dozen or so submissions into the face of beleaguered editors during January though ... can't let them idle.
Very pleased to share my first published piece of the year, a flash fiction called Lumpy Mashed Potatoes published in Writing in a Woman's Voice. This story had been making the rounds, so I was thrilled it found such a good home. https://writinginawomansvoice2.blogspot.com/2024/01/lumpy-mashed-potatoes-by-jeanne-lyet.html
Two poems published this month: One I wrote last spring, "Arthritis," appears in the January issue of "Kaleidoscope," https://www.udsakron.org/wp-content/uploads/K88-FINAL_with-links.pdf. (It's on page 31 if you'd like to see it.) This was an experimental piece for me, with jagged line positions and spacing to mimic how living with arthritis often feels. A newer piece, "Bubbee & Zaydee, 1959," was featured yesterday on Silver Birch Press https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/bubbee-zaydee-1959-by-cynthia-bernard-spices-seasonings-series/?fbclid=IwAR1_kD703m57_UqHdFy6-7MSSFYVrC1V9paT3ExKKpMDyAAfiPjEEXMoBqM. I'm really pleased that my poem "The Gift" has been accepted for inclusion in The Jewish Writing Project and will appear there in April. I've also begun writing flash fiction and essays in the last couple of months, and one piece, "Okay, so my foot didn’t fit into that tiny slipper, so what?" has been accepted by Witcraft and will be published there on February 10th. Thanks for this chance to share news and have another moment of gratitude. It's been a creaky, clunky. s-l-o-w writing time for me lately... sigh...
My poem "Emigrant West" just got published in Poet Lore in their print issue 118 1/2 Summer/Fall. Page 24. https://www.poetlore.com/
I found Poet Lore through their social media page. They're the oldest poetry journal in the US. Founded in 1889. Very cool!
I'm new here! I had a personal essay published in Viridian Door. Do I need to link it here?
I'm new to this whole thing and would love to follow everybody on Twitter/Instagram too!
I had a piece come out in ARCPoetry as their monthly "Award of Awesomeness."
The piece is a prose poem, The Neurologist. It's from a series of surrealist prose poems about Dr's office visits that have been a bit challenging to place.
The neatest thing about this journal, besides that they pay, is when you win, they send you a mystery doodad and ask you to take a picture with you and the doodad. It's a fun way to make your photo more personal to the journal and I'm looking forward to having fun with mine this week.
https://arcpoetry.ca/editorials/coach-neurologist-christa-fairbrother/
This month started with a bang. I saw on Duotrope that Cosmic Daffodil had a theme of the 7 deadly sins, and I had a piece in the bin for that which got accepted, so that will appear next month.
Quantum Shorts has a really interesting contest that looks for poetry that incorporates theories of quantum mechanics. Wish me luck! They posted my entry here: https://shorts.quantumlah.org/entry/project-genesis-or-gospel-according-mark?fbclid=IwAR2RV_Tr6XTJ0RTs5b-KKzauyQhK5HfHlXIFOlPoh-xd9ciOm10a0Qj4Keo
I have said before that I LOVE Five Minutes. They just published my Flash CNF piece "Used Balloons" which you can see here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C17GwYNO44O/?fbclid=IwAR0Y1yAKL2kfG09xyDM1cnVW5KmC2lEDR5syTwgizdCaEtnAEYkdHZMlJU8
Last of all, I am very excited that Variant Lit published three of my flash CNF pieces: https://variantlit.com/three-micros/
You can read all of these and more on my website:https://www.markhendricksonpoetry.com
Thanks for letting me brag a little!
My short story "Help Wanted" appears in the latest issue of The Dawn Review: https://www.thedawnreview.com/issue-4. I'm so honored to be included in such a new, interesting magazine.
My poem "Imaginary Play on the I-5" was published in Variant Literature's January issue (my first official poetry acceptance and a dream publication for me!) https://variantlit.com/imaginary-play-on-the-i-5/
I wrote this piece in an Orion Magazine workshop last year and submitted it to ~50 publications from June through December last year, and was just at the point where I was thinking it might need revisiting/edits when Variant Lit accepted it. Felt very validating and also like while there is a lot of value in editing and workshopping pieces, there is also a chance it just hasn't found the right home yet!