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!
Great micro-fiction, Laura. I love the surface playfulness, with the more serious subtext underneath around memory. dysfunction. And congrats on your shortlisting.
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.
Thanks for sharing all these links! Looking forward to reading your mysteries. Loved reading about them. When I saw that you had grown up not quite speaking Russian, I thought -- oh so that's why he's such a charming writer.
The mysteries have always felt like a vacation to me since I went back to a favorite place, mythical Michiganapolis, and some favorite characters. That's the joy of doing a series.
Congrats on your multi-faceted achievements, Lev! I love all things to do with art, so I look forward to reading the "Rembrandt recollection" in Braided Way when it comes out. Funny, I just saw them listed as a journal somewhere in the last two weeks of Covid brain-blur. :D
Thanks, Melissa! The editor is great and I'll post the link when it's like in, I think, April. One of the first personal essays I published during the pandemic was online and then in print: https://glreview.org/cold-marble-hot-memories/ I have a new one circulating that blend art, music, and writing. Fingers crossed.
Yes, that was gratifying to see and I loved their comment. 'There are so few lit journals that embrace and lift up the lighter side of lit, including puns, and I for one am grateful to see a new journal focused on that.'
Thanks! It was so much fun writing with the group! I often did the same thing with in-class writing at Michigan State University when I taught creative writing.
Congratulations, Lev! I don't know how you find time to write all these pieces to say nothing of getting them published. It's inspiring! I enjoyed reading both the pieces you shared.
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!
Congrats on your nomination, Meredith. I recall reading that moving story when you first posted it. Our writing life achievements can really give us glimmers of affirmation amongst our difficult life experiences. It reminds us that, no matter what's happening, our voice is still alive & "singing".
My mom died in May, after having suffered for years with dementia. It has taken me a while to get back into submitting--little spurts here and there, whereas before I was very disciplined and diligent. I think I am starting to make my way back, expecting to fall apart again when the 1 year anniversary of her death comes along. All of this is to say I get it, and I send you good wishes.
My heartfelt condolences about your loss, Christine. And thank you for your kind words and good wishes. Good luck with your writing and submitting—as well as facing the first anniversary.
Congratulations on the publication and nomination! Wishing you a return to writing and restored momentum. (I've been there, too, with the parent situation. So hard.)
Really loved 'Barely Keeping Abreast' - congratulations on the nomination! Be kind to yourself and don't rush it. You're allowed to feel your grief and it doesn't diminish your status as a writer. It will come when you're ready. Big hugs xx
Congratulations, Meredith. There are times when you need to spend all your energy dealing with life itself. It must be so difficult to witness a parent with dementia . So sorry about your brother's daughter. Your writing routine and discipline will eventually return and you'll have gained something in the process. Take care of yourself.
Thank you so much for such kind, supportive words, Jane. I'm making progress getting back into my routine. But I wouldn't wish the gains of my 2023 experiences on my worst enemy—but who gets to choose that, right? :)
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."
Congratulations - what a win for your poetry collection. And I love those 2 poem titles, Jane. Your comments encourage me to not abandon my first attempt at a chapbook. I think the theme is sound, but would I arrange it differently a year later / cull certain pieces / include new ones now with journal credits - absolutely! Hope its release goes well!
Thanks very much, Melissa! This is my second poetry collection. The first was published in 2011. I spent a lot of time putting that one together as well, but it had one main forcus and this new collection has more than one. The poem "Mudman" is about my father and now begins the middle section of five in the book. Essentially I had many more poems than I needed for the book so I had to let go of some that I was very attached to, including a sequence of poems based on walks in a woodland preserve over the course of a single year, beginning the day before Hurricane Sandy hit. While that sequence mirrored the poems in the rest of the book, it diluted their strength. I found that the more poems I cut, the stronger the manuscript became. The "Mudman" section, which contains poems about my father during WWII, was originally the first section. Now there are two sections introducing the speaker of the poems. By the way, the original title of "Late October in a Bird Sanctuary" was simply "Late October," but including the bird sanctuary in the title allowed me to get rid of a couple lines of the poem. Keep on going! I'm finally learning how important perseverance is. Until two years ago I hadn't been systematically submitting poems to journals. It may have been Becky Tuch who recommended aiming for 100 rejection per year. That way you know you're getting your work out there. It has definitely worked for me. The first year I had mostly rejections, but this year, as I've become smarter about what to send where, I've had some very nice acceptances.
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.
What a tribute! I once had an editor at a publishing house in New York call me ans ask if I had a book of essays for him. I was blown away, and in fact I did. It was published as Writing a Jewish Life: https://www.levraphael.com/sgWAJL.html
They sound deliciously weird indeed ... but the first must also have been well-executed to have your editor thinking about it 2 years later. I've started to think it's our willingness to let our "weird" roam wild on the page - and not censoring it - that truly starts making our writerly voice unique.
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....
Wonderful! I have a mini-memoir I've been wanting to write for a long time. It doesn't work as a sequence of poems. I've tried. It's from an intense, 5-month period when I was 20. I think when I've finally written it, I'll feel the same sense of accomplishment that you've felt with yours. Keep writing!
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.
Even when we're not putting words on paper or a screen, we're still writing. Something is always percolating somewhere and will surprise us. I don't think writers' brains ever truly relax.
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!)
Wow ... congrats on the Joy Harjo prize - what an honour. And well done, too on the 12 other "awards" - it shows you're getting your work out there & are well and truly in the submitting game. :)
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.
L., this is a great story! The dad is a fascinating character. Are you developing this into a book? Methinks you should! This whole dynamic with his work is so interesting, while there is also so much warmth and also friction within the family, and the threat of deportation looms.
Also, that glass ripping through the garbage bag while waiting tables has totally happened to me! I still have a scar on my finger. Great opening image!
Thanks. I am sending out as a short story collection stories about when they arrived in the US from the little brother, then the narrator of this story buying a house (here in the States), and the little brother being on the middle of a coup in South America (while stoned). That one story has not been published but the other ones have.
It's so important to keep submitting, changing voice or details, if we feel the need to, but believing in the work. I don't remember now what it was but last year an essay that was rejected 24 times was grabbed by an editor who was totally simpatico.
Persistence is part of the game ... and being willing to experiement with revisions can also change a rejected piece into an acceptance. I've found this, too. Well done!
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!
omg this title alone made me laugh, Colette! Great poem. Humor and a splash of heartbreak at the end, with lovely planetary knowledge throughout. Well done! (Will the word "Uranus" ever not be funny?)
I forgot to mention that I, too, am not a huge fan of Issuu. But the presentation for Colette's poem looks very good. Gary, I don't like it because it adds more work for the reader, and I find it completely pointless. Online reading is a distinct thing; we don't need websites to pretend to be books or magazines. But that's just my own subjective feeling, and journals may have perfectly good reasons for using this format.
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.
I so enjoyed your essay. It has been many years since I read EB White--happy to know folks are still assigning, reading, discussing that essay of his! Congratulations! (I hope this ends up in an anthology for writing professors.)
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!
Gary, I've been on the road and didn't have a chance to read your Macqueen's poem until now. So good. Is it based on a true story? If so, such an interesting one!
Prose poems are so my thing, Gary - so thanks for mentioning Mackinaw. However, it does kind of concern me that a journal charges $5 per sub, but then says it doesn't pay authors. $2 - $3 to cover Submittable, fees, I understand ... but that seems excessive. What are your thoughts on that? I still may submit (but only reprints, methinks), because I have SO MANY prose poems, & got so excited to discover this is a journal dedicated to the form.
I enjoyed your "fishy" poem & the way you managed to weave so many threads through it! And congrats on all the acceptances. I have a prose poem in an antho co-edited by Clare (via "The Ekphrastic Review"), so MacQueens is on my list to submit to.PS: Do they pay? Couldn't see either way in the very long sub guidelines!
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.)
Isn't it lovely to branch out into something new? These past few years I've written micro essays, travel essays, and other types of essays that were not in my wheelhouse before.
A wonderful piece! I felt like I was there. I aspire to have something published in this lit mag. I spent today in NYC at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for inspiration.
Thank you so much, Barbara! I'm so happy to hear that. 💖 Great that you got to spend the day in such an inspiring place! Best of luck to you with The Ekphrastic Review. I hope to see your byline there! 😊
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.
Congratulations! I've been published twice by Loch Raven Review, one of my favorite online journals. I look forward to reading your poems when they are published!
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
Congratulations on finishing your novel. Finding agents and/or publishers, writing query letters, and coming up with the perfect elevator pitch can be daunting work.
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 have this feeling every day: "We looked at all the others who stayed, who kept going to work and coming home and eating dinner and tucking their kids into bed like none of this was happening..." Congratulations on a great piece!
I love this piece, No One is Coming to Save You! The feelings it brings up in me are familiar, thought the details are different--and you also made me laugh a few times. Thank you for bragging and sharing!
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/
Dave, the Candid Review piece is beautiful. I love how it turns to look at the writer at the end. I remember one of the editors I interviewed awhile back talking about "self-implication" in personal essays, and this seems to hit that note perfectly. Nice job weaving in the literary analysis too.
And I love referring to magazines as your "lone cart" and "stuck cart." Perfect!
Dave, congrats, too, on your Gassires Lute piece! The seduction of immortality screams through one of my favorite Hans Christian Andersen tales, The Little Mermaid. Also, I love your words on summarizing and your ending question. Great essay!
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.
Thanks Christine, but it's only January! I don't think I can afford to put my feet up for the rest of the year. At my age, I have to make the most of every moment. :-)
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.
Well done Liz! I teared up a little bit reading 'Survival Skills'. Do you ever give up or make significant edits after a certain number of rejections? Or is it just a matter of finding the right home for your work?
Aw, thanks, Nitika. To answer your question, I'm really still trying to find the right balance between obstreperousness and confidence about my own writing. In one case, where the story was out over thirty times, I made some minor-ish revisions, but that was a story I felt in my bones was good and which I felt an unreasonable attachment to in the the shape it was originally created in. The other story, which was out over fifty times, I did revise some, but I have a feeling it was a matter of finding the right home for it, because while I was shopping it, the comments would come back with contradictory advice about how to revise, along with generally positive comments. That made it really hard to know how to revise, anyway. It may be that, while I didn't particularly write to it, the story was reading somehow Southern-ish, because, in the end, the journal that took it was a Southern one. I wish I could figure these things out; it certainly would make submitting easier.
Yes I feel you! It is quite tricky sometimes, when I feel so confident that the vibe of the magazine/ publisher and the pieces they've published match mine, but then get rejected. A recent rejection I received was really helpful in explaining that it wasn't a reflection of the quality of my work, but so many other factors like how my piece fits with other ones they've already accepted for the same issue, whether it's too similar to something they've published previously, budget, space, etc. I've set a goal to collect 50 rejections this year and made little bingo for myself to ease the sting haha :)
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).
Congratulations, Janet! Glad your poem has a home, and how lovely that Brag Your Litmag helped you find it! Have you considered "Beautiful Things" for a publication? Prose, not poetry, however.
Lisa, thank you for your comment, support, and recommendation. I do write both spiritual poetry and prose. I have never tried Beautiful Things, so I will have to research this journal and the ones that Nolo Segundo mentions in his comment. I have published work in many Jewish magazines, but I have had no success with Tiferet, Image, and other more general spiritual publications. Best wishes for your own creative writing! Janet
You're right Janet about many of the secular minded editors being against spiritual or even metaphysical writing; it is I believe as I commented earlier here, a materialist world view that is as narrow as any fundamentalist thinking-- for those who think they can define the Divine Being are as naive as those who deny even the possibility of God, 2 sides of the same coin. Perhaps it's because we humans crave certainty, but very little is certain in this world, or in any life.
But there are places open to the soul-- like Braided Way, Heart of Flesh, Spirit Fire Review, Sybil, Ekstasis, Piker Press, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Time of Singing, Lothrorien. Even my book publisher, Cyberwit, let me include my memoir in the 3rd collection, 'Soul Songs', about the NDE I had when I tried to drown myself to end the suffering of a clinical depression over 50 years ago.
Keep up the good work, Janet and send your soul out to this most spiritually famished world as much as possible... that is the essence of God's work, is it not?
Thank you, Nolo, for your support! And thank you for the list of other journals for me to try with my more spiritual poetry. I did find WordTech Editions open to publishing my poetry book Exodus (2014), which is a collection of poems modernizing the characters and stories in the Bible (exegesis and midrashim). And Fictive Press published my middle-grade fiction about sibling rivalry The Passover Surprise (2015, 2016; note that this publisher is no longer in business).
I'm sorry to hear about your depression when you were younger. Many of us writers are sensitive people, and our society is hard on people who have any vulnerabilities. I'm sure that your writing helps you to deal with a harsh world and understand yourself better.
Best wishes for your own creative writing in 2024!
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.
It was published in its original format, submitted 3 times and rejected twice. I wrote this piece for another competition back in Feb 2023, and left it floating after 2 rejections. Then gave it another shot in mid-December 2023, got accepted in 6 days, and now she's published! Smooth editing process and the EIC, Jen A. Minotti was a pleasure to work with. :)
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.
Wow! 'Testament in Harvest Season' is a beautiful and powerful poem. Well done, Caitlin! Thank you for sharing the editing proccess too, glad you enjoyed the experience.
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.
Ah, but print is grand, isn't it Anne-- it was winning a place in a print anthology 6 years ago that gave me the impetus to send my wayward children out into the would!
I just read your poem and I just love it. I love the call and response in each stanza. A refraction or mirroring of what has been said. Remind me again the poetic form you used?
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*!
Congratulations on "Nightfall..."! I admire the contrasts of containment and liberation. Among my favorite lines: "...back to earth like Icarus, back into my body ..." Congrats, too, on your upcoming pub in April!
Thanks, Lisa. Yes, those contrasting dynamics weren't even particularly conscious. I think so far into Lockdown & a 5 km travel limit & a nightly curfew in Melbourne, the tension between them was ever-present!
Thanks, Nolo. Still not quite back to firing on all cylinders. I've been running into your work in my journal explorations. Think I saw you most recently in "Glint"? Took me a while to work out where I knew your name from!
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.
Lacy, it's a very good story, very well crafted. Is it fiction or memoir? Such strong characterizations of the father and the substitute driver, accomplished via subtext. I relate very strongly to the father...
Thank you for reading it, Cynthia! It's fiction but based on something that happened in my childhood. I wonder what emotions the father brings up for you to make it so resonant...?
Lacy, the father's wish that he could have been the driver when that little girl chased after the cupcake, his feeling that he might have been able to prevent the tragedy - and the longing to have done so. Very powerful impact on me. Thank you.
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...
Hang in there, kid [I'm 77 so I see everyone younger as a kid]-- can relate to the arthritis, it's like fighting a guerrilla war--now a bad flare up in my feet.
Btw, you might want to check out The Deronda Review-- I had a poem published in it and last week they sent me an author's copy all the way from Israel!
Thanks, Nolo. I've found that a supplement extracted from avocado oil and soybean oil, called Piascledine, helps a lot to reduce my arthritis pain. Some days I'm pain-free, or close to it, while without this supplement I had a lot of discomfort. It is widely used in Europe and has been for 15+ years. No "side-effects" or safety concerns. I get it from amazon.
I have arthritis (including stenosis) also, Cynthia Bernard. My physical therapist has taught me many exercises that reduce the pain. I do these exercises every morning. I don't know whether such exercises will help you, but they might. Best wishes for 2024! Janet
Yay! The essay is at the link below on page 69 (printed page numbers). It's called "Belonging"! I'm a new writer. I'd love to connect with you all and start learning more about this community!
Ohh it's so fun seeing you on here! I read your piece maybe a week ago, and I think I commented on your Twitter post! Still trying to figure out how this Substack world works though.
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.
Mark, love your three flash pieces in Variant Lit! Looking forward to reading the others, too. I only recently discovered Five Minutes and like that publication very much. Congratulations on all!
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!
Hannah, I really like this poem, especially the ending. Very evocative and strong. I'm flabbergasted that so many editors turned it down, and I'm glad for you that it found a good home.
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)!
Laura, I love the playful absurdity of this! Well done.
Heartening and forgiving. Recently learned of that competition and just love the results. Congratulations, Laura!
Great micro-fiction, Laura. I love the surface playfulness, with the more serious subtext underneath around memory. dysfunction. And congrats on your shortlisting.
Story Hour! LOVE!
So sweet. I love this. 😊 Congratulations!
playful and mysterious. lovely.
Congrats, Laura! Short and sweet!
Dear Laura, that was beautiful.
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.
Hi Lev. Nice micro-essay! I love the way you capture the parents talking over the child's head in another language.
The link to your essay in Roi Fainéant doesn't work, fyi.
Thanks for sharing all these links! Looking forward to reading your mysteries. Loved reading about them. When I saw that you had grown up not quite speaking Russian, I thought -- oh so that's why he's such a charming writer.
The mysteries have always felt like a vacation to me since I went back to a favorite place, mythical Michiganapolis, and some favorite characters. That's the joy of doing a series.
Congrats on your multi-faceted achievements, Lev! I love all things to do with art, so I look forward to reading the "Rembrandt recollection" in Braided Way when it comes out. Funny, I just saw them listed as a journal somewhere in the last two weeks of Covid brain-blur. :D
Thanks, Melissa! The editor is great and I'll post the link when it's like in, I think, April. One of the first personal essays I published during the pandemic was online and then in print: https://glreview.org/cold-marble-hot-memories/ I have a new one circulating that blend art, music, and writing. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the shout-out to Witcraft, Lev.
Doug, I saw Wittcraft had a mention in a recent "Authors Publish" sub call listing. :)
Yes, that was gratifying to see and I loved their comment. 'There are so few lit journals that embrace and lift up the lighter side of lit, including puns, and I for one am grateful to see a new journal focused on that.'
Congratulations on all of these wonderful publications and events!
Thanks! Every time I think I'm done writing CNF, a new diea crops up, so my novel is still on hold.
Well done, you! Keep this up.
Thanks! And I love that British phrase.
Great micro-essay, Lev!
Thanks! It was so much fun writing with the group! I often did the same thing with in-class writing at Michigan State University when I taught creative writing.
My God! Enjoyed both essays, Lev.
Congratulations, Lev! I don't know how you find time to write all these pieces to say nothing of getting them published. It's inspiring! I enjoyed reading both the pieces you shared.
Wonderful to hear of your successes!
Wow - that is quite a start to 2024! Congrats on all your publications - I look forward to reading your work
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!
Congrats on your nomination, Meredith. I recall reading that moving story when you first posted it. Our writing life achievements can really give us glimmers of affirmation amongst our difficult life experiences. It reminds us that, no matter what's happening, our voice is still alive & "singing".
How beautifully put, Melissa. Thank you. And thank you that you found my piece moving and memorable.
My mom died in May, after having suffered for years with dementia. It has taken me a while to get back into submitting--little spurts here and there, whereas before I was very disciplined and diligent. I think I am starting to make my way back, expecting to fall apart again when the 1 year anniversary of her death comes along. All of this is to say I get it, and I send you good wishes.
My heartfelt condolences about your loss, Christine. And thank you for your kind words and good wishes. Good luck with your writing and submitting—as well as facing the first anniversary.
Thank you!
Congratulations on the publication and nomination! Wishing you a return to writing and restored momentum. (I've been there, too, with the parent situation. So hard.)
Thanks so much, Lisa.
Really loved 'Barely Keeping Abreast' - congratulations on the nomination! Be kind to yourself and don't rush it. You're allowed to feel your grief and it doesn't diminish your status as a writer. It will come when you're ready. Big hugs xx
Such kind, wise words. Thanks, Nitika! And thanks for reading my piece!
Sorry to hear about your mother. Mine had multi-infarct dementia and it was a long tragic nine years.
Thanks, Lev. It’s tough, tough, tough. Sorry about your experience.
So sorry to hear about this.
And congrats on the award. It's so good to see all of these supportive comments from the lit mag community.
Thanks so much, Shifra. The support here is wonderful, isn't it!
Congratulations, Meredith. There are times when you need to spend all your energy dealing with life itself. It must be so difficult to witness a parent with dementia . So sorry about your brother's daughter. Your writing routine and discipline will eventually return and you'll have gained something in the process. Take care of yourself.
Thank you so much for such kind, supportive words, Jane. I'm making progress getting back into my routine. But I wouldn't wish the gains of my 2023 experiences on my worst enemy—but who gets to choose that, right? :)
A beautiful piece. And it's found a beautiful home. Congratulations!
Wishing you well as you weather your storms. Thanks for showing up!
Thank you so much for reading and your kind words, Meg! Wishing you well, too!
Wonderful story, Meredith. The ending is haunting...
Thank you so much for reading, Cynthia!
It was a pleasure, Meredith.
Congrats, Meredith this kept me on edge.
Thanks so much for reading, Dave!
Congrats on your BSF nomination--well-deserved! So sorry about your niece and mom.
Thanks so much, Colette.
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."
Woo hoo!!
Congratulations!
Congratulations - what a win for your poetry collection. And I love those 2 poem titles, Jane. Your comments encourage me to not abandon my first attempt at a chapbook. I think the theme is sound, but would I arrange it differently a year later / cull certain pieces / include new ones now with journal credits - absolutely! Hope its release goes well!
Thanks very much, Melissa! This is my second poetry collection. The first was published in 2011. I spent a lot of time putting that one together as well, but it had one main forcus and this new collection has more than one. The poem "Mudman" is about my father and now begins the middle section of five in the book. Essentially I had many more poems than I needed for the book so I had to let go of some that I was very attached to, including a sequence of poems based on walks in a woodland preserve over the course of a single year, beginning the day before Hurricane Sandy hit. While that sequence mirrored the poems in the rest of the book, it diluted their strength. I found that the more poems I cut, the stronger the manuscript became. The "Mudman" section, which contains poems about my father during WWII, was originally the first section. Now there are two sections introducing the speaker of the poems. By the way, the original title of "Late October in a Bird Sanctuary" was simply "Late October," but including the bird sanctuary in the title allowed me to get rid of a couple lines of the poem. Keep on going! I'm finally learning how important perseverance is. Until two years ago I hadn't been systematically submitting poems to journals. It may have been Becky Tuch who recommended aiming for 100 rejection per year. That way you know you're getting your work out there. It has definitely worked for me. The first year I had mostly rejections, but this year, as I've become smarter about what to send where, I've had some very nice acceptances.
Fabulous, fabulous news. Good things come in threes.
Thanks very much, Lev!
Yay, congrats!
What a great month you've had -- after a lot of work! Congratulations!
Thanks very much, Meg!
Great news! Congratulations!
Thank you, Christine!
Congrats!! :)
Thanks, Nitika!
That is so amazing; well done.
Thank you so much, Jolanta!
Yes, an amazing month,. What fun. Congrats!
Thanks, Polly!
Congrats!!
Thanks, Meredith!
WooHOO! Good stuff, Jane. I'm happy for you!
Thanks so much, Julie!
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.
What a tribute! I once had an editor at a publishing house in New York call me ans ask if I had a book of essays for him. I was blown away, and in fact I did. It was published as Writing a Jewish Life: https://www.levraphael.com/sgWAJL.html
They sound deliciously weird indeed ... but the first must also have been well-executed to have your editor thinking about it 2 years later. I've started to think it's our willingness to let our "weird" roam wild on the page - and not censoring it - that truly starts making our writerly voice unique.
What a great story about the editor! Thanks for sharing and congratulations! And gremlins in Sevilla sounds so interesting!
Oooh congrats! And they both sound weird and wonderful :)
Congrats!
That is awesome, Denise! Congrats!
Mermaids and gremlins--congrats!
It must be so exciting to have an editor solicit a story! Congratulations!! Well done!
What a tribute. Congratulations!
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....
Wow! 187 lit mags in 15 countries! That's amazing! Congratulations on that and on writing the mini-memoir!
Thank you, Jane-- even my book publisher let me include it at the end of the 3rd collection of 60 poems titled 'Soul Songs'.
Wonderful! I have a mini-memoir I've been wanting to write for a long time. It doesn't work as a sequence of poems. I've tried. It's from an intense, 5-month period when I was 20. I think when I've finally written it, I'll feel the same sense of accomplishment that you've felt with yours. Keep writing!
Very impressive! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Holy smokes! Work in 187 lit mags. That's incredible. You are a writing/submitting fiend. Congrats.
This is absolutely amazing! well done!
Congratulations on all of your successes, and especially on your mini-memoir getting wide print!
Thanks Christine-- I intend to send it out as much as I can. My publisher was good enough to let me include it in my 3rd poetry book, 'Soul Songs'.
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!
Yay! How exciting, Kristy!
Wishing you luck!
Kudos to you, Kristy! "Boldly" is very good!
Rooting for you!
All the digits are crossed!!
Way to go, Kristy!
What a very kind and welcoming group. Thank you!
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.
Even when we're not putting words on paper or a screen, we're still writing. Something is always percolating somewhere and will surprise us. I don't think writers' brains ever truly relax.
Being alive and making marks on paper is really the most important!
I believe deeply in times of "silence".
They are fruitful times. Silence and stillness, like seeds waiting under the moist earth.
Yes.
Precisely! the work goes on...
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!)
Wow ... congrats on the Joy Harjo prize - what an honour. And well done, too on the 12 other "awards" - it shows you're getting your work out there & are well and truly in the submitting game. :)
That's a huge honor! Congratulations!
Huge congratulations on the award!
Congratulations on the award! And impressive work on the submissions
What an honor! Congratulations, Dick!
Congratulations!
Congratulations on the Joy Harjo Prize! What a tremendous honor! As for the rejections, just keep submitting!
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.
L., this is a great story! The dad is a fascinating character. Are you developing this into a book? Methinks you should! This whole dynamic with his work is so interesting, while there is also so much warmth and also friction within the family, and the threat of deportation looms.
Also, that glass ripping through the garbage bag while waiting tables has totally happened to me! I still have a scar on my finger. Great opening image!
Thanks. I am sending out as a short story collection stories about when they arrived in the US from the little brother, then the narrator of this story buying a house (here in the States), and the little brother being on the middle of a coup in South America (while stoned). That one story has not been published but the other ones have.
"the little brother being on the middle of a coup in South America (while stoned)"...I love that so much.
It's so important to keep submitting, changing voice or details, if we feel the need to, but believing in the work. I don't remember now what it was but last year an essay that was rejected 24 times was grabbed by an editor who was totally simpatico.
Absolutely!
Perseverance pays! Congratulations! Broad River Review is one of my favorites because (of course) they have published my poetry in the past! :)
That is so awesome. The publication is so well put together and I love the quality of the other stories. Congratulations on your end.
Persistence is part of the game ... and being willing to experiement with revisions can also change a rejected piece into an acceptance. I've found this, too. Well done!
“What’s next, mangos in a supermarket?” Enjoyed your pacing and tension. Congrats!
Well, that's an encouraging story, especially including the number of rejections you weathered to get there! Congrats!
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!
omg this title alone made me laugh, Colette! Great poem. Humor and a splash of heartbreak at the end, with lovely planetary knowledge throughout. Well done! (Will the word "Uranus" ever not be funny?)
Even when people carefully pronounce it *Your*-ah-nus, I still hear the other pronunciation. :-)
Thanks so much, Becky! And yes, saying "Uranus" will always be funny!
What fun! I love the sprinkling of scientific facts and your gut-punch of an ending.
Thanks so much, Cynthia!
Love the diction choices! Congratulations, Colette!
Thank you Lisa!
LOVE your poem, Colette! The title is so much fun, and the poem is such a treat of seriousness, playfulness, and a little snark. Congratulations!
Thank you Christine! I really appreciate your kind comments.
I liked this so much, Colette. Funny and poignant. Congratulations!
Thanks so much, Donna!
Congrats Colette! Funny and touching. I’m with you on Issuu
Thanks Dave, and I'm glad I'm not the only one (re Issuu)!
Love it, Colette! I'd beg to take the long way, too.
Thank you Meredith! Yes, the long route is definitely the way to go! :)
Delightful! Congratulations on 'ur' Variety Pack acceptance!
Clever! Thank you!
Love the planetary poem! First time I've seen Issuu, interesting format, what don't you like about it beside the small print?
I forgot to mention that I, too, am not a huge fan of Issuu. But the presentation for Colette's poem looks very good. Gary, I don't like it because it adds more work for the reader, and I find it completely pointless. Online reading is a distinct thing; we don't need websites to pretend to be books or magazines. But that's just my own subjective feeling, and journals may have perfectly good reasons for using this format.
Thanks Gary! As for Issuu, what Becky said--"it adds more work for the reader."
Well, it gave you something to look forward to maybe?
Lol.
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.
I so enjoyed your essay. It has been many years since I read EB White--happy to know folks are still assigning, reading, discussing that essay of his! Congratulations! (I hope this ends up in an anthology for writing professors.)
Thanks so much!
I like how you began in the middle of things. Congrats, Shifra!
Thanks so much!!
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!
We’re issue-mates in Macqueen’s Quinterly, Gary!
I'll check out your work, assuming there aren't many Lizes (how do you spell that <g>).
Gary, I've been on the road and didn't have a chance to read your Macqueen's poem until now. So good. Is it based on a true story? If so, such an interesting one!
Yes, all true. Nick was a good friend and colleague. What a tragic family.
Elizabeth Rosen
Wow, what a story, bravo. I think we all wonder what we would do in such circumstances.
Thank you.
Prose poems are so my thing, Gary - so thanks for mentioning Mackinaw. However, it does kind of concern me that a journal charges $5 per sub, but then says it doesn't pay authors. $2 - $3 to cover Submittable, fees, I understand ... but that seems excessive. What are your thoughts on that? I still may submit (but only reprints, methinks), because I have SO MANY prose poems, & got so excited to discover this is a journal dedicated to the form.
I enjoyed your "fishy" poem & the way you managed to weave so many threads through it! And congrats on all the acceptances. I have a prose poem in an antho co-edited by Clare (via "The Ekphrastic Review"), so MacQueens is on my list to submit to.PS: Do they pay? Couldn't see either way in the very long sub guidelines!
Thanks for the tip about Mackinaw! Congratulations on your acceptances and publications!
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.)
Congratulations, Linda (I loved Chagall's horse eating the violin!)
Thanks, Donna!! 😊 (I love that Ferlinghetti poem, "Don't Let That Horse..." so much. It was fun to get it in there!)
Isn't it lovely to branch out into something new? These past few years I've written micro essays, travel essays, and other types of essays that were not in my wheelhouse before.
That's fantastic! Yes, it's always such fun to try new things.😊
A wonderful piece! I felt like I was there. I aspire to have something published in this lit mag. I spent today in NYC at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for inspiration.
Thank you so much, Barbara! I'm so happy to hear that. 💖 Great that you got to spend the day in such an inspiring place! Best of luck to you with The Ekphrastic Review. I hope to see your byline there! 😊
Congratulations, Linda!
Thank you so much, Nolo! :)
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.
Congratulations! I've been published twice by Loch Raven Review, one of my favorite online journals. I look forward to reading your poems when they are published!
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/
I enjoyed the unexpected rhymes in bone woman and ultraviolet carried me away. Congrats!
THANKING YOU!!
Congrats! I especially enjoy an ultraviolet tang!
Thank you so much!! Glad you liked it.
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
Congrats on your acceptances, pubs, and completed MS. Good luck selling the MS!
Congrats on all the acceptances and pubs, but mostly for finishing a novel!!!
Congratulations on finishing your novel. Finding agents and/or publishers, writing query letters, and coming up with the perfect elevator pitch can be daunting work.
Congratulations! Sounds like a fantastic January.
Amazing month, Jolanta! Congrats on finishing your novel and good luck on the hard part
Awesome!
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.
Sarah, this piece in Phoebe is brilliant. Absurd, true, and haunting. So nicely done. I love the shrinking house and the final wall disappearing.
Also, fantastic that that post on sexy material turned into a publication for you! That is so GREAT.
Aww, thanks so much!
Hi Sarah! I'm in this issue of phoebe, too! And I loved your story. Congrats!
“Until one day we find ourselves fluorescing....” Congrats, Sarah!
I have this feeling every day: "We looked at all the others who stayed, who kept going to work and coming home and eating dinner and tucking their kids into bed like none of this was happening..." Congratulations on a great piece!
Aww, thank you so much. It's wonderful to feel that this is resonating with people, even though I still have no clue what to do about this feeling!
I love this piece, No One is Coming to Save You! The feelings it brings up in me are familiar, thought the details are different--and you also made me laugh a few times. Thank you for bragging and sharing!
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/
Dave, the Candid Review piece is beautiful. I love how it turns to look at the writer at the end. I remember one of the editors I interviewed awhile back talking about "self-implication" in personal essays, and this seems to hit that note perfectly. Nice job weaving in the literary analysis too.
And I love referring to magazines as your "lone cart" and "stuck cart." Perfect!
Thanks, Becky!
Dave, congrats, too, on your Gassires Lute piece! The seduction of immortality screams through one of my favorite Hans Christian Andersen tales, The Little Mermaid. Also, I love your words on summarizing and your ending question. Great essay!
Thanks, Lisa. Glad you read and enjoyed!
“Together they sang of elusive characters, fractured love, situations in dime stores and bus stations.” Yes!
Thanks, Lisa!
Congrats, Dave! I particularly enjoyed "The Road Home/Escape Routes"!
Thanks, Colette!
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.
Tony, the Christmas piece is really funny!! Nicely done.
Thank you for your kind words about the Night Before Christmas. Glad you enjoyed it.
Wow! 2024 is really your year! Congratulations!
Thanks Christine, but it's only January! I don't think I can afford to put my feet up for the rest of the year. At my age, I have to make the most of every moment. :-)
"The Night Before Christmas" was a joy to read. Humorous and topical. Well done!
Thank you very much, Kristy. Your comment has given me a nice warm feeling. :-)
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.
Congrats on the great start to your year! I love being in anthologies where the $ goes to worthy nonprofits.
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/.
Enjoyed "Ghosts of the Forest" particularly for its broad expanse. Congratulations!
Thank you so much, Lisa!
Great pieces! I especially love the end of "Blame It on the Heat Dome"--great sounds!
Thanks, Christine!!
Congratulations, Kathi! I really enjoyed your piece, especially the closing line, in Flash Frontier (a lovely journal.)
Thank you so much, Donna!!
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!
Congratulations on your Brevity Blog piece! Movement is key for me and I look forward to the read.
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.
Congrats!
Thanks!
Congratulations!
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.
Amazing, Liz. Good on ya for persevering with these pieces!
Congrats. Love a strong woman being a woman story.
Well done Liz! I teared up a little bit reading 'Survival Skills'. Do you ever give up or make significant edits after a certain number of rejections? Or is it just a matter of finding the right home for your work?
Aw, thanks, Nitika. To answer your question, I'm really still trying to find the right balance between obstreperousness and confidence about my own writing. In one case, where the story was out over thirty times, I made some minor-ish revisions, but that was a story I felt in my bones was good and which I felt an unreasonable attachment to in the the shape it was originally created in. The other story, which was out over fifty times, I did revise some, but I have a feeling it was a matter of finding the right home for it, because while I was shopping it, the comments would come back with contradictory advice about how to revise, along with generally positive comments. That made it really hard to know how to revise, anyway. It may be that, while I didn't particularly write to it, the story was reading somehow Southern-ish, because, in the end, the journal that took it was a Southern one. I wish I could figure these things out; it certainly would make submitting easier.
Yes I feel you! It is quite tricky sometimes, when I feel so confident that the vibe of the magazine/ publisher and the pieces they've published match mine, but then get rejected. A recent rejection I received was really helpful in explaining that it wasn't a reflection of the quality of my work, but so many other factors like how my piece fits with other ones they've already accepted for the same issue, whether it's too similar to something they've published previously, budget, space, etc. I've set a goal to collect 50 rejections this year and made little bingo for myself to ease the sting haha :)
Good luck!
Survival Skills! Congrats, Liz!
Thank you!
Survival Skills is wonderful--glad it found a home! Congrats!
Thank you!
Just finished "Survival Skills"--great story!
Thank you!
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...
You are so right! I've often talked to my students of various kinds about the importance of variety in terms of length when they're writing.
I like your essay very much! Congrats!
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/
Congratulations, Janet! Glad your poem has a home, and how lovely that Brag Your Litmag helped you find it! Have you considered "Beautiful Things" for a publication? Prose, not poetry, however.
Lisa, thank you for your comment, support, and recommendation. I do write both spiritual poetry and prose. I have never tried Beautiful Things, so I will have to research this journal and the ones that Nolo Segundo mentions in his comment. I have published work in many Jewish magazines, but I have had no success with Tiferet, Image, and other more general spiritual publications. Best wishes for your own creative writing! Janet
Thanks for the good wishes. By the way, Beautiful Things is connected to River Teeth.
You're right Janet about many of the secular minded editors being against spiritual or even metaphysical writing; it is I believe as I commented earlier here, a materialist world view that is as narrow as any fundamentalist thinking-- for those who think they can define the Divine Being are as naive as those who deny even the possibility of God, 2 sides of the same coin. Perhaps it's because we humans crave certainty, but very little is certain in this world, or in any life.
But there are places open to the soul-- like Braided Way, Heart of Flesh, Spirit Fire Review, Sybil, Ekstasis, Piker Press, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Time of Singing, Lothrorien. Even my book publisher, Cyberwit, let me include my memoir in the 3rd collection, 'Soul Songs', about the NDE I had when I tried to drown myself to end the suffering of a clinical depression over 50 years ago.
Keep up the good work, Janet and send your soul out to this most spiritually famished world as much as possible... that is the essence of God's work, is it not?
Thank you, Nolo, for your support! And thank you for the list of other journals for me to try with my more spiritual poetry. I did find WordTech Editions open to publishing my poetry book Exodus (2014), which is a collection of poems modernizing the characters and stories in the Bible (exegesis and midrashim). And Fictive Press published my middle-grade fiction about sibling rivalry The Passover Surprise (2015, 2016; note that this publisher is no longer in business).
I'm sorry to hear about your depression when you were younger. Many of us writers are sensitive people, and our society is hard on people who have any vulnerabilities. I'm sure that your writing helps you to deal with a harsh world and understand yourself better.
Best wishes for your own creative writing in 2024!
Sincerely,
Janet
Fantastic poem! Thanks for sharing!
Christine, thank you for your kind comment! After waiting 24 years, I am very happy to have this poem in print. Best wishes to you for 2024! Janet
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.
Really strong piece. Thank you for sharing
Thank you Britanny!
Just found out today that my flash fiction piece 'She's a Wildflower' got published by Journal of Expressive Writing: https://www.journalofexpressivewriting.com/post/she-s-a-wildflower
It was published in its original format, submitted 3 times and rejected twice. I wrote this piece for another competition back in Feb 2023, and left it floating after 2 rejections. Then gave it another shot in mid-December 2023, got accepted in 6 days, and now she's published! Smooth editing process and the EIC, Jen A. Minotti was a pleasure to work with. :)
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...
Congrats, Nancy on the prize and triumphing with one shoe!
Thank you!
Yea for the Hal Prize win! Congratulations!
Thank you!
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.
You might want to check out The Deronda Review-- they published a poem of mine and last week sent me a complementary copy all the way from Israel!
Very engaging essay, Barbara. I'm glad to hear that Yiddish isn't being allowed to die out.
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 ...
Nice! Congratulations!
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.
Congratulations!
Thank you Christine!
Thank you Nikita!
Wow! 'Testament in Harvest Season' is a beautiful and powerful poem. Well done, Caitlin! Thank you for sharing the editing proccess too, glad you enjoyed the experience.
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.
Ah, but print is grand, isn't it Anne-- it was winning a place in a print anthology 6 years ago that gave me the impetus to send my wayward children out into the would!
Awesome Anne, our poems are in the same Poet Lore issue together! Congrats on the selection from Ruben. Mine is on pg 24. What page is yours on?
Congrats to you too! Mine is on pg 8!
I just read your poem and I just love it. I love the call and response in each stanza. A refraction or mirroring of what has been said. Remind me again the poetic form you used?
Thanks for reading Brittany! I've read yours too and love the Midwest imagery (I grew up in Kansas).
My poem is in the duplex form which was invented by Jericho Brown.
Thank you! I love Jericho Brown. The Tradition is such a wonderful collection.
Love Poet Lore and just became aware of Ruben Quesada at last year's AWP--he seems to be a very cool guy. Congratulations!
Thank you!
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*!
Congratulations on "Nightfall..."! I admire the contrasts of containment and liberation. Among my favorite lines: "...back to earth like Icarus, back into my body ..." Congrats, too, on your upcoming pub in April!
Thanks, Lisa. Yes, those contrasting dynamics weren't even particularly conscious. I think so far into Lockdown & a 5 km travel limit & a nightly curfew in Melbourne, the tension between them was ever-present!
And so are you, Melissa [and good fortune fighting off Covid-- my wife and I got it last October, even with 9 [!] vacs between us.
Thanks, Nolo. Still not quite back to firing on all cylinders. I've been running into your work in my journal explorations. Think I saw you most recently in "Glint"? Took me a while to work out where I knew your name from!
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.
January sounds to have been productive! Congratulations on work accomplished.
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.
Oh Richard, this is so weird and delightful and funny! Nicely done.
What fun! Glad you found a home for your STD piece!
Very funny! Congratulations!
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/
Beautifully lyrical, Brian. Congrats!
Meredith, thank you so much! I appreciate you taking the time to read it!!
Congratulations!
Thank you, Christine!
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.
Congratulations on your story, Lacy! I admire the prominent power a past character wields over the present.
Lacy, it's a very good story, very well crafted. Is it fiction or memoir? Such strong characterizations of the father and the substitute driver, accomplished via subtext. I relate very strongly to the father...
Thank you for reading it, Cynthia! It's fiction but based on something that happened in my childhood. I wonder what emotions the father brings up for you to make it so resonant...?
Lacy, the father's wish that he could have been the driver when that little girl chased after the cupcake, his feeling that he might have been able to prevent the tragedy - and the longing to have done so. Very powerful impact on me. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing, Cynthia. I think a lot about that too--the small ways life turns that change everything.
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.
I read the daily Rattle poems and it’s great to see you in there! You had me at the title- A Skeptic’s Guide to Relationship Science
Thanks so much, Dave. It's a new form for me and was great fun to write!
Awesome, congrats!
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
Congrats!
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...
Hang in there, kid [I'm 77 so I see everyone younger as a kid]-- can relate to the arthritis, it's like fighting a guerrilla war--now a bad flare up in my feet.
Btw, you might want to check out The Deronda Review-- I had a poem published in it and last week they sent me an author's copy all the way from Israel!
Thanks, Nolo. I've found that a supplement extracted from avocado oil and soybean oil, called Piascledine, helps a lot to reduce my arthritis pain. Some days I'm pain-free, or close to it, while without this supplement I had a lot of discomfort. It is widely used in Europe and has been for 15+ years. No "side-effects" or safety concerns. I get it from amazon.
I have arthritis (including stenosis) also, Cynthia Bernard. My physical therapist has taught me many exercises that reduce the pain. I do these exercises every morning. I don't know whether such exercises will help you, but they might. Best wishes for 2024! Janet
Thank you, Janet. Best wishes to you, too.
I love arthritis poems. Great job as an almost anti love poem.
Thank you, Christa.
Those are both excellent, Cynthia! Congrats!
Thank you, Colette. :-)
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!
Welcome, Mona! If you would like to link to your publication, you are welcome to.
Yay! The essay is at the link below on page 69 (printed page numbers). It's called "Belonging"! I'm a new writer. I'd love to connect with you all and start learning more about this community!
https://be96ec23-2e7a-41a4-82af-edf178d90c6e.filesusr.com/ugd/7f31e1_26dfa916252641a2bcb4efeea593a9ed.pdf
Excited to appear in the same issue as you, Mona! Swooped-up by the movement in your piece.
https://be96ec23-2e7a-41a4-82af-edf178d90c6e.filesusr.com/ugd/7f31e1_26dfa916252641a2bcb4efeea593a9ed.pdf
Ohh it's so fun seeing you on here! I read your piece maybe a week ago, and I think I commented on your Twitter post! Still trying to figure out how this Substack world works though.
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!
Mark, I think "The Hymn" is particularly wonderful. Congrats on your recent publications & acceptances.
Thank you so much!
Mark, love your three flash pieces in Variant Lit! Looking forward to reading the others, too. I only recently discovered Five Minutes and like that publication very much. Congratulations on all!
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.
Katie, I enjoyed your story. Fun! Gloria is such a character. I wanted to read more about her and the narrator's friendship.
Thanks for the kind words, Cynthia.
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!
Hannah, I really like this poem, especially the ending. Very evocative and strong. I'm flabbergasted that so many editors turned it down, and I'm glad for you that it found a good home.
Thank you so much!