This month my short story The Queue was published in Stand magazine. It's a dystopian tale set in a future where all employment revolves around a talent show. I didn't revise it after acceptance and the magazine will be around for 3 months
“Best Microfiction 2024” was published this month. It was a joy to hold my copy and see one of my stories in there. In editor Grant Faulkner’s introductory essay, “The Art of Microfiction,” he likens tiny stories to a “firefly’s light” illuminating darkness. Love that!
Donna, this is a wonderful accomplishment! Eager to read your piece (Which one?) and have put the anthology on my list for my next bookstore visit. Congratulations!
Oh, I remember this delightful piece and happily just read it again, yawping aloud (You must have heard me!) at "rat." Best Microfiction 2024--a well-deserved honor.
Thank you so much, Lisa, for reading and for your lovely comment. It was fun, in a grim kind of way, to see poor Marie-Antoinette’s severed head singing during the Paris opening ceremonies!
Good morning and welcome back, Becky! Love the pics, and I'm so glad your ordeal has (almost) ended. Although I'm primarily a flash/prose poem type, every once in a while a short story emerges. My piece "Connected" (which is primarily a comedy) was recently published in great weather for MEDIA, an annual print anthology out of New York. I highly recommend them. It's free to submit (although there's a tip jar option), they've been around since 2012, U.S. contributors receive payment, all contributors receive a free copy of the anthology, they respond within three months, and they nominate for prizes (I think they've had Pushcart success with poetry). Also, I had the pleasure of meeting the editors in person at the NYC Poetry Festival earlier this month, and they are lovely. The next submission window opens on October 15, 2024, and they accept poetry, fiction, and CNF. Here's the link the the website:
Thank you for the recommendation, Colette! I feel I often miss anthology opportunities, so if you want to share thoughts on how you found/ chose this one, I'd be grateful. If not, please just accept my warmest congratulations.
Hi Lisa, and thank you! I discovered them on Duotrope back in 2021. I'm not sure exactly what caught my eye, but I was inspired to purchase a back issue from Amazon. I really enjoyed the issue, and made it my mission to get in. :) This was actually my fourth attempt. The first time I submitted, I sent two flash pieces that were quickly accepted elsewhere. When I withdrew from great weather for MEDIA, they emailed me to say that they enjoyed the flash pieces and asked me to submit something else. I did--twice--without success. Apparently this short story was the charm. ln case anyone is wondering about their acceptance rate, right now Duotrope says that of 11 tracked fiction submissions, 1 was accepted, and of 11 tracked poetry submissions, none were accepted. Chillsubs puts their acceptance rate (across all genres) at 4.55%. Hope this is helpful!
Welcome back, Becky and thanks as always for the chance to post our publications!
This month “Lovelight Out at Home” became the third short story of mine published in The Twin Bill, the baseball lit mag. Many years ago—let’s round it off and call it 35— I started a novel about a kid who gets to play briefly in the major leagues during World War II, and this story was planned as the first chapter. At some point I made some changes to make it work as a stand-alone. I’d sent it out periodically over the years without any luck, but glad it finally found the right venue.
Coincidently (or not), earlier in the month another story from that novel-that-never-was, “To War,” which features the baseball player’s sister’s first days and nights off the family farm and working at a naval shipyard near Boston, was published by Portrait of New England. I’m pretty sure I learned about this lit mag on one of these monthly postings of published work here at Lit Mag News. Like the other story, “Lovelight,” I’d sent this one out every once in a while without success. (The link is to the pdf of the whole issue.)
And I had a micro-fiction appear in The Odd Magazine / Oddity #28, a publication out of India. I had re-written and reduced “Oh, You Kid(s)” from a flash piece. To shake things up/out/every which way I wrote it out in separate sentences, decided to stop at eight lines, recalled this was an octave, made three of them, titled them, sent it first to one of those absurd three minute Had calls, and when that didn’t connect, found Odd, which seemed a good match. Sometimes even a blind pig, etc. (The link is to the “Odd Shorts” for the issue; my piece is the second one in.)
Congratulations! Could your novel be calling you? Or maybe telling you "I will not be ignored?" I always wonder about the life of the characters that linger...god knows I have too many of them. ;-)
Really enjoyed your Twinbill story, Jon, and look forward to reading more of your work there Many years ago, I wrote a baseball story (flash, and also with a Boston and Detroit connection) for a now-defunct literary journal called Fan. It was republished in June in Bulb Culture Collective (see https://www.bulbculturecollective.com/read/baseball-1971-andrew-careaga ).
Man that brings me back, with Yaz there forever, and forever not quite getting to the promised land. Nice remembrance of the game and the father son dynamic. I went to my first Fenway games in ‘67. Thanks for giving my Twin Bill stuff a read. The one “Local Heroes” is connected to “Lovelight” and the other one is more if a Twilight Zone thing.
Nice! Will read. My husband lives for baseball and I've tried to write something for Twinbill, but my one baseball piece got picked up somewhere else. This all sounds great on your end.
Ha! It wasn't a sports magazine at all. Since it was about my husband, it was published in an anthology "Marriage" published by Pure Slush out of Australia. I doubt I could write a credible baseball story, actually. Yours was great.
My story "F-I-N-E"--set in the 70s before Roe v. Wade--won the Iron Horse Literary Review long story contest and appeared online this month. Even if you don't read the story, check out the layout with old-time 70s ads geared to women...they tell a whole story too. Saw my friend (who previously won) promote this contest on social media last year...and entered. (Twitter proves itself useful!) https://issuu.com/ironhorsereview/docs/ihlr_2024_long_story
I promise to read your story but just flipped through those '70s ad & now I realize (as a girl growing up in the 1970s) what was fed to me!! Holy mother of advertisement!! Congrats on winning the contest!!
Congratulations. I remember being in high school in the Chicago area 1971 and an acquaintance needing an abortion and flying to London to get it. I guess she was 18. I love hearing how your story evolved.
Not much action this month (except a steady stream of rejections). Two poetry acceptances in the biweekly Ekphrastic Review Challenges: "Progress," in response to George Bellows' "Rain in the River," and "Dreams of Death on a Daily Basis," in response to Marie Spartali Stillman's "Antigone Giving Burial Rites to the Body of Her Brother Polynices." Only submitted these to the respective challenges. No revisions.
Thanks so much! I love the way these challenges challenge me! On July 14, the lit mag hosted a day-long marathon on Facebook to generate 14 drafts from an offering of some 30 images. Great fun!
So cool! Congratulations! I’ve been combing through Ekphrastic Review because I just submitted my story about Flaming June (fingers crossed). The more I read EJ, the more I love it. Barbara, your poems really stood out to me—I love the way “debouches” in the beginning of your Progress poem echoes the word “drumbeat” at the end.
Jessica, thanks so much! OMG! I love "Flaming June." I saw it at the Frick a while back and then again this past January at the Met. I have a poem about her in my work-in-progress poetry ms. I'm pursuing a World Art History certificate at Smithsonian Associates to learn more about art before I respond to paintings.
I'll look forward to reading about the acceptance of your "Flaming June" story in Lit Mag News!
Congratulations, Barbara! I'm going to check out both—they're both enticing works of art. I missed seeing them in the last few weeks, but glad you did!
I force myself to respond, even if I don't think I've got a response. I'm always surprised what emerges. Looking for more lit mags that accept ekphrastic work.
Two accepted pieces will be published later this year.
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Epater who wanted to publish The Curious Drone. (A about a drone named Henry whose curiousity about what a dark garage holds got the better of him) Y'all, this story had racked up an impressive number of submits (pushing 40) and rejects (25) so I am excited it found a home.
Bigger news (to me) and a HUGE HUGE ego boost is that Pulp Lit is buying (as in HOLY SHIT SOMEONE IS PAYING ME FOR MY WORDS?!) My Back Rooms. That story I just started submitting so I'm thrilled it found a home so quickly but y'all! This is the first paying piece I've had.
Just click on my profile picture and then on the Notes. But the short answer to your question is he is full of shit and will (maybe but probably not) regret what he said
I agree with you. I sincerely hope that Vance will regret what he said. Statistically, one in nine heterosexual couples has trouble conceiving children. That is a large percentage of any country's population. In addition, any person has the right to choose not to bear children. I also don't like Vance's comparing women to animals, even though I like cats. How would Vance feel if I compared him to a mad dog? He also thinks that women should stay in marriages even if the spouse is violent. Yech! Such patriarchal ideas seem medieval to me. In general, he does not seem to believe that women should have any right to make choices that give them autonomy and that depart from traditional family structures. Best wishes! Janet
It’s available to read or to listen while I read. Several years ago I established a relationship with the editor of Wisconsin Life and now she is very receptive to my ideas - good reminder I need to try and establish more of these relationships.
Congrats on all three, Nancy. I particularly admire your Autoethnographer essay and the way you allowed the activist to inspire you to write about yourself. Lovely piece.
I liked the form you used for your piece, divided into sections with the headings. The whole story read with a good flow to it. Don't worry about Paris - I'm sure you're meant to be where you are right now!
Oh no! So sorry to hear about her injury. Praying she heals quickly and completely. There’s so much controversy over Paris Olympics now with their sacrilegious opening ceremony. Glad your family wasn’t dragged through that even though I’m sure she wants to compete and win. Her journey is inspiring, as is your writing.
What a travel nightmare! Glad you made it back, Becky and I’m looking forward to more out mag news / reading club too.
I had two poems published this month. Although I struggled to write at the end of the month, it feels like I accomplished something. Both magazines were easy to work with. There’s always part of me that’s happy with the final product and another part that’s never satisfied - that is why I keep writing, reading, and working on my craft.
Dave, your poem “I’d Rather Fight” made me cry. “I ate her sandwich in my kitchen”— dang, that hit hard! I just lost my nephew this week, and this was all so relatable, so universal, so human. Absolutely beautiful!
"She was there, but she wasn't-" A moving line in a moving poem ("I'd Rather Fight"). I also admire its burst of color amid somber reflections. Congratulations, Dave!
My CNF essay “Fly Away” was also published yesterday. It had also been submitted, rejected, and revised twice before being accepted by Deal Jam Magazine. It’s about my 30 yr old nephew who died last Sunday. The timing of the release was like a balm in my grief. My work is on page 47.
Thanks, Polly. Some seasons are better than others. Right now I’m not writing a lot—just enjoying the fruit of the last season’s labor. I’m looking for some inspiration too! I’m reading some books on craft and hoping to find some motivation. I’m enjoying Jennifer Selig’s book “Deep Memoir”—highly recommend!
Jennifer Selig’s book “Deep Memoir.” Mine's all written--five years in the writing and revising, but I love the recommendation and will hunt it down. Thanks!
Welcome HOME, Becky! And thanks for this opportunity to showcase our own work. The Florida Review published my personal essay "Treif" this month in their fall issue https://cah.ucf.edu/floridareview/. Erik Harper Klass (Submitit) put the journal on my radar. They responded to my submission in just over two months. I revised the piece multiple times before submitting. I am thrilled with the final product flush with its French flaps and loved working with the editors. Thanks to Becky, in April, I had the rare opportunity to be part of a Zoom call featuring the editor and associate editor. At a moment when Jewish writers are finding an inhospitable environment for their work, the entire process was seamless. In fact, I was encouraged to dig deeper into my cultural heritage, so that the essay even includes a few choice Yiddish curses! This has been my most satisfying editorial experience.
This was the first piece of fiction I'd published in decades. (I focus normally on essays - op-eds and personal essays.) It was turned down by McSweeney's, and this was my second try. The editors had a few questions for me, but ended up making only a few copyediting changes.
3)"What Went Unsaid: How I Made And Lost A Friendship, Step-By-Step" at Your Tango
I realize this isn't exactly a literary magazine, but they pay ($75), and they're looking for personal essays about relationships. They were exceptionally easy to deal with. I sent a pitch email, heard back from the editor the same day, and when I passed in the piece, I again got a response from the editor the same day saying just "Wonderful. You'll hear from my colleagues So and So and So and So." They added the tag line, which I'm not thrilled with, and made a few other cosmetic changes in the piece. I will definitely try them again if I have something suitable, and I'd encourage you to try them, too. Pitch first by describing your essay and listing some samples of your published work.
Nothing published in July, but poems coming out in August or later in Salvation South, two in Verse-Virtual, three in MacQueen's #24, and a singleton in the next issue of Streetlight Magazine. Lots of rejections too. Well, well, two afternoon acceptances, one from Panoplyzine and another from MacQueen's #25
My flash fiction piece "Salisbury Confederate Prison, North Carolina, 1864" was published in Flash Fiction Online. Working with the editor was truly a pleasure.
This story was published a few years back, but its one of my few submissions and one I'm proud of, so I thought I'd share here.
This story, "Running Ever Since" won the Racial Justice writing contest at Salem State University, and was subsequently published in their literary magazine, Red Skies.
We'd pay more if we could. ;-) I loved your piece so much. The graphic that went with it was taken by my husband while he watched his mother (85 y.o.) play the machines. Glad you had a good experience. Cami is the best!
Hi
This month my short story The Queue was published in Stand magazine. It's a dystopian tale set in a future where all employment revolves around a talent show. I didn't revise it after acceptance and the magazine will be around for 3 months
Great premise--congratulations!
Congratulations!
Congratulations, Sarada!
Sounds like a great story! Congratulations.
“Best Microfiction 2024” was published this month. It was a joy to hold my copy and see one of my stories in there. In editor Grant Faulkner’s introductory essay, “The Art of Microfiction,” he likens tiny stories to a “firefly’s light” illuminating darkness. Love that!
Many are nominated, few get in... congrats on this!
Thank you, Jon! It was a huge surprise.
Congrats Donna!
Thank you, Colette!
Congratulations, Donna!
Thank you, Marina!
Congrats, beautiful news!!!!
Thanks so much, Andrea!
Congrats, Donna. That's a big deal.
Thank you, Liz!
So cool! Must get hold of that book.
Thank you, Kresha. It's an intriguing collection.
That's quite an impressive accomplishment, Donna. Good going!
Thank you, Belinda!
Donna, this is a wonderful accomplishment! Eager to read your piece (Which one?) and have put the anthology on my list for my next bookstore visit. Congratulations!
Thanks so much, Lisa! The anthology is a fascinating collection. My story is “Marie-Antoinette’s Nose” and you can still read it on MacQueen’s Quinterly’s website here: http://www.macqueensquinterly.com/MacQ19/Shanley-MA-Nose.aspx
Oh, I remember this delightful piece and happily just read it again, yawping aloud (You must have heard me!) at "rat." Best Microfiction 2024--a well-deserved honor.
Thank you so much, Lisa, for reading and for your lovely comment. It was fun, in a grim kind of way, to see poor Marie-Antoinette’s severed head singing during the Paris opening ceremonies!
That story was so inventive & well written -- certainly deserving of a spot in this publication! Congrats!
Thank you so much for reading it, Anne, and for your kind words!
Wow, that’s amazing! Congrats!
Thanks, Tracie!
Big congrats, Donna!
Thank you, Dave!
Congratulations, Donna!
Thank you, Carol!
Congratulations. Awesome!
Thank you, Ann!
Good morning and welcome back, Becky! Love the pics, and I'm so glad your ordeal has (almost) ended. Although I'm primarily a flash/prose poem type, every once in a while a short story emerges. My piece "Connected" (which is primarily a comedy) was recently published in great weather for MEDIA, an annual print anthology out of New York. I highly recommend them. It's free to submit (although there's a tip jar option), they've been around since 2012, U.S. contributors receive payment, all contributors receive a free copy of the anthology, they respond within three months, and they nominate for prizes (I think they've had Pushcart success with poetry). Also, I had the pleasure of meeting the editors in person at the NYC Poetry Festival earlier this month, and they are lovely. The next submission window opens on October 15, 2024, and they accept poetry, fiction, and CNF. Here's the link the the website:
https://www.greatweatherformedia.com
Congrats! The anthology opportunities are always worth looking into. I hadn't heard of this one, thanks for the tip!
Thanks Jon!
Mazel tov!!
Thank you Debbie!
Thank you for the recommendation, Colette! I feel I often miss anthology opportunities, so if you want to share thoughts on how you found/ chose this one, I'd be grateful. If not, please just accept my warmest congratulations.
Hi Lisa, and thank you! I discovered them on Duotrope back in 2021. I'm not sure exactly what caught my eye, but I was inspired to purchase a back issue from Amazon. I really enjoyed the issue, and made it my mission to get in. :) This was actually my fourth attempt. The first time I submitted, I sent two flash pieces that were quickly accepted elsewhere. When I withdrew from great weather for MEDIA, they emailed me to say that they enjoyed the flash pieces and asked me to submit something else. I did--twice--without success. Apparently this short story was the charm. ln case anyone is wondering about their acceptance rate, right now Duotrope says that of 11 tracked fiction submissions, 1 was accepted, and of 11 tracked poetry submissions, none were accepted. Chillsubs puts their acceptance rate (across all genres) at 4.55%. Hope this is helpful!
Thank you, Colette. Such a lovely progression; glad for "the charm"!
Congratulations, Colette, and thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks Karen, and you're most welcome!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Congrats and thanks for the link!
Thanks and you're most welcome!
Congratulations, Colette!
Thanks Donna!
Congrats, Colette!
Thank you Dave!
Thanks for the info about MEDIA
You're most welcome!
Congratulations, Colette!
Thanks Liz!
You’re welcome, Colette!
Welcome back, Becky and thanks as always for the chance to post our publications!
This month “Lovelight Out at Home” became the third short story of mine published in The Twin Bill, the baseball lit mag. Many years ago—let’s round it off and call it 35— I started a novel about a kid who gets to play briefly in the major leagues during World War II, and this story was planned as the first chapter. At some point I made some changes to make it work as a stand-alone. I’d sent it out periodically over the years without any luck, but glad it finally found the right venue.
https://thetwinbill.com/lovelight-out-at-home/
Coincidently (or not), earlier in the month another story from that novel-that-never-was, “To War,” which features the baseball player’s sister’s first days and nights off the family farm and working at a naval shipyard near Boston, was published by Portrait of New England. I’m pretty sure I learned about this lit mag on one of these monthly postings of published work here at Lit Mag News. Like the other story, “Lovelight,” I’d sent this one out every once in a while without success. (The link is to the pdf of the whole issue.)
https://portraitne.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/volume-5_summer-2024_final-2.pdf
And I had a micro-fiction appear in The Odd Magazine / Oddity #28, a publication out of India. I had re-written and reduced “Oh, You Kid(s)” from a flash piece. To shake things up/out/every which way I wrote it out in separate sentences, decided to stop at eight lines, recalled this was an octave, made three of them, titled them, sent it first to one of those absurd three minute Had calls, and when that didn’t connect, found Odd, which seemed a good match. Sometimes even a blind pig, etc. (The link is to the “Odd Shorts” for the issue; my piece is the second one in.)
https://theoddmagazine.wixsite.com/oddity28/odd-shorts
Odd Magazine is great. More people should be aware of it.
I just discovered it, and agree.
Congratulations! Could your novel be calling you? Or maybe telling you "I will not be ignored?" I always wonder about the life of the characters that linger...god knows I have too many of them. ;-)
Really enjoyed your Twinbill story, Jon, and look forward to reading more of your work there Many years ago, I wrote a baseball story (flash, and also with a Boston and Detroit connection) for a now-defunct literary journal called Fan. It was republished in June in Bulb Culture Collective (see https://www.bulbculturecollective.com/read/baseball-1971-andrew-careaga ).
Man that brings me back, with Yaz there forever, and forever not quite getting to the promised land. Nice remembrance of the game and the father son dynamic. I went to my first Fenway games in ‘67. Thanks for giving my Twin Bill stuff a read. The one “Local Heroes” is connected to “Lovelight” and the other one is more if a Twilight Zone thing.
Congrats, Jon, and thanks for introducing me to Odd!
I’ve found more than one possible market on these monthly posts.
Nice! Will read. My husband lives for baseball and I've tried to write something for Twinbill, but my one baseball piece got picked up somewhere else. This all sounds great on your end.
Thanks, as I noted, my third story at TB. Check ‘em all out! Curious about what mag took your baseball story.
Ha! It wasn't a sports magazine at all. Since it was about my husband, it was published in an anthology "Marriage" published by Pure Slush out of Australia. I doubt I could write a credible baseball story, actually. Yours was great.
Thanks for giving it a read, I appreciate it.
Congratulations, Jon! I love hearing the stories behind the stories, too!
Congratulations, Jon!
My story "F-I-N-E"--set in the 70s before Roe v. Wade--won the Iron Horse Literary Review long story contest and appeared online this month. Even if you don't read the story, check out the layout with old-time 70s ads geared to women...they tell a whole story too. Saw my friend (who previously won) promote this contest on social media last year...and entered. (Twitter proves itself useful!) https://issuu.com/ironhorsereview/docs/ihlr_2024_long_story
I love stories set in the '70s. I write them, too! I'm definitely reading. Congrats!
Thank you...it's such an evocative time period, isn't it??
I agree! It is for me, anyway. :)
I promise to read your story but just flipped through those '70s ad & now I realize (as a girl growing up in the 1970s) what was fed to me!! Holy mother of advertisement!! Congrats on winning the contest!!
Thank you! And yes, those ads...!! Hard to believe this was all just fine!
Congratulations. I remember being in high school in the Chicago area 1971 and an acquaintance needing an abortion and flying to London to get it. I guess she was 18. I love hearing how your story evolved.
How we thought that was a thing of the past...ugh. Thanks for reading my story!
Congratulations--I checked out the ads--yep, see their story--and look forward to reading! Did you choose them?
No...the journal did all that. Loved the care they put into the presentation.
Congratulations! Will definitely check it out!
Not much action this month (except a steady stream of rejections). Two poetry acceptances in the biweekly Ekphrastic Review Challenges: "Progress," in response to George Bellows' "Rain in the River," and "Dreams of Death on a Daily Basis," in response to Marie Spartali Stillman's "Antigone Giving Burial Rites to the Body of Her Brother Polynices." Only submitted these to the respective challenges. No revisions.
Congrats, Barbara! The Ekphrastic Review is a lovely magazine. I'm looking forward to reading your pieces when they're published.
Hi, Donna. These two poems are published at: https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-challenges.
You have to scroll down and find me.
Thanks, Barbara! In “Progress,” I love the image of the small umbrella, brave but ineffectual against time.
In “Dreams of Death,” I admire the way the poem melds past and possible future. The last stanza is chilling!
Thanks so much! I love the way these challenges challenge me! On July 14, the lit mag hosted a day-long marathon on Facebook to generate 14 drafts from an offering of some 30 images. Great fun!
Wow! A challenge indeed!
So cool! Congratulations! I’ve been combing through Ekphrastic Review because I just submitted my story about Flaming June (fingers crossed). The more I read EJ, the more I love it. Barbara, your poems really stood out to me—I love the way “debouches” in the beginning of your Progress poem echoes the word “drumbeat” at the end.
Jessica, thanks so much! OMG! I love "Flaming June." I saw it at the Frick a while back and then again this past January at the Met. I have a poem about her in my work-in-progress poetry ms. I'm pursuing a World Art History certificate at Smithsonian Associates to learn more about art before I respond to paintings.
I'll look forward to reading about the acceptance of your "Flaming June" story in Lit Mag News!
Congratulations, Barbara! I'm going to check out both—they're both enticing works of art. I missed seeing them in the last few weeks, but glad you did!
I force myself to respond, even if I don't think I've got a response. I'm always surprised what emerges. Looking for more lit mags that accept ekphrastic work.
Here's a few:
The Maier Museum of Art Journal of Ekphrastic Poetry
https://maiermuseum.org/journal/
EKPHRASIS MAGAZINE - Home
https://www.ekphrasismagazine.com/
Long Exposure
https://longexposuremagazine.com/about/submissions/
OROTONE: A Journal of Ekphrastic Poetry
https://www.orotone.org/
the light ekphrastic
https://thelightekphrastic.com › submissions-2
Wow, Anne, that's great! Thanks so much!
Barbara, "MacQueen's Quinterly" accepts ekphrastic work.
Thanks, Donna!
I’m looking too!
Jessica, "MacQueen's Quinterly" accepts ekphrastic work.
Thank you, Donna!
If you find any, please give a shout!
Oooh, that's interesting! I tend to struggle with explicit prompts, so I'm glad to hear this challenge works for you.
Two accepted pieces will be published later this year.
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Epater who wanted to publish The Curious Drone. (A about a drone named Henry whose curiousity about what a dark garage holds got the better of him) Y'all, this story had racked up an impressive number of submits (pushing 40) and rejects (25) so I am excited it found a home.
Bigger news (to me) and a HUGE HUGE ego boost is that Pulp Lit is buying (as in HOLY SHIT SOMEONE IS PAYING ME FOR MY WORDS?!) My Back Rooms. That story I just started submitting so I'm thrilled it found a home so quickly but y'all! This is the first paying piece I've had.
What do you think about J. D. Vance's comments about cat women? I'm just curious. Best wishes! Janet
Go look through my Notes. That should answer your question. :P
I do not know how to access your notes. How can I do this? Janet
Just click on my profile picture and then on the Notes. But the short answer to your question is he is full of shit and will (maybe but probably not) regret what he said
I agree with you. I sincerely hope that Vance will regret what he said. Statistically, one in nine heterosexual couples has trouble conceiving children. That is a large percentage of any country's population. In addition, any person has the right to choose not to bear children. I also don't like Vance's comparing women to animals, even though I like cats. How would Vance feel if I compared him to a mad dog? He also thinks that women should stay in marriages even if the spouse is violent. Yech! Such patriarchal ideas seem medieval to me. In general, he does not seem to believe that women should have any right to make choices that give them autonomy and that depart from traditional family structures. Best wishes! Janet
Wonderful!
What a travel fiasco! And it sounds like this was a bad one all over the world.
Back in the writing world, after a publishing drought, three of my essays were published in July.
Wisconsin Public Radio bought and published my essay “Parent Playbook for the Unplanned Olympian.” https://wisconsinlife.org/story/raising-a-gold-medalist-a-parents-playbook-for-the-unplanned-olympian/
It’s available to read or to listen while I read. Several years ago I established a relationship with the editor of Wisconsin Life and now she is very receptive to my ideas - good reminder I need to try and establish more of these relationships.
The Autoethnographer published my essay “Astonishing Truth: Abortion is Everyone’s Bees Wax.” https://theautoethnographer.com/astonishing-truth-abortion-is-everyones-beeswax/ They told me a year ago what the publication date would be and then followed through. They also promised $25 and paid promptly.
The Under Review published my CNF “Domestique.” https://www.underreviewlit.com/issue-10-summer-2024-1/domestique This is a sports related journal and a pleasure to work with.
The Under Review is a great mag, congrats on that and the others!
Thank you!
Congrats! I haven't had a chance to read the others yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Olympian essay.
Thank you. I appreciate that!
Congrats on all three, Nancy. I particularly admire your Autoethnographer essay and the way you allowed the activist to inspire you to write about yourself. Lovely piece.
Thanks for reading and I appreciate the feedback.
Congratulations on all three!
Thank you
Thank you and congrats! Have just forwarded your story to a friend who's presently in Paris to watch her daughter play for the French hockey team!
Thanks for reading. We had hoped to be in Paris this year too but it wasn’t in the cards.
I liked the form you used for your piece, divided into sections with the headings. The whole story read with a good flow to it. Don't worry about Paris - I'm sure you're meant to be where you are right now!
Always appreciate feedback - good to hear the format worked for you!
Reading about your Olympian daughter is so fascinating. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for reading! She missed qualifying for Paris this year and then this week broke her collarbone ☹️
Oh no! So sorry to hear about her injury. Praying she heals quickly and completely. There’s so much controversy over Paris Olympics now with their sacrilegious opening ceremony. Glad your family wasn’t dragged through that even though I’m sure she wants to compete and win. Her journey is inspiring, as is your writing.
Congratulations, Nancy!
Thank you.
You're welcome.
What a travel nightmare! Glad you made it back, Becky and I’m looking forward to more out mag news / reading club too.
I had two poems published this month. Although I struggled to write at the end of the month, it feels like I accomplished something. Both magazines were easy to work with. There’s always part of me that’s happy with the final product and another part that’s never satisfied - that is why I keep writing, reading, and working on my craft.
Landslide - Poor Ezra’s Almanac (nice background!)
https://x.com/davenashlit1/status/1810806023361355815?s=46
I’d rather fight - Blue Lake Review
https://bluelakereview.weebly.com/id-rather-fight.html
Dave, your poem “I’d Rather Fight” made me cry. “I ate her sandwich in my kitchen”— dang, that hit hard! I just lost my nephew this week, and this was all so relatable, so universal, so human. Absolutely beautiful!
Thanks, Tracie! Appreciate it!
Congrats, Dave! I was especially moved by "I'd Rather Fight."
Thanks, Colette!
"She was there, but she wasn't-" A moving line in a moving poem ("I'd Rather Fight"). I also admire its burst of color amid somber reflections. Congratulations, Dave!
Thanks, Lisa!
Congratulations!
I know that hospice room. Well done!
Congratulations, Dave!
July has been a frenzy of acceptances, publications, and of course a steady stream of rejections.
Yesterday my essay “Your Turn in the Game of Life” appeared in The Lunar Journal. I had submitted it to several other mags with no luck.
https://www.thelunarjournal.org/tracie-adams.html
My CNF essay “Fly Away” was also published yesterday. It had also been submitted, rejected, and revised twice before being accepted by Deal Jam Magazine. It’s about my 30 yr old nephew who died last Sunday. The timing of the release was like a balm in my grief. My work is on page 47.
https://www.dealjammagazine.com/ourwork
My essay “I Loved Him Then” was published by Discretionary Love earlier this month. It’s my love story, which is ever evolving.
https://www.discretionarylove.com/i-loved-him-then/
Also earlier this month, I had a fun CNF piece published in Corvus Review. The editor was great to work with.
My essay is “Sound Advice from Your Favorite Pants”.
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/611fabd3-8220-45e3-bf9d-d2a394260000/downloads/Corvus%20Summer%202024%20Issue%2022.pdf?ver=1719786191009
"I Loved Him Then" gave me goosebumps, I must say. Beautiful language, beautiful love story. Congrats!
Thanks for reading and encouraging me! I love this thread every month because I get to read so much excellent writing.
Yes, what a great month. Congrats! You inspire me. I need a kick in the pants to get working like you do!
Thanks, Polly. Some seasons are better than others. Right now I’m not writing a lot—just enjoying the fruit of the last season’s labor. I’m looking for some inspiration too! I’m reading some books on craft and hoping to find some motivation. I’m enjoying Jennifer Selig’s book “Deep Memoir”—highly recommend!
Jennifer Selig’s book “Deep Memoir.” Mine's all written--five years in the writing and revising, but I love the recommendation and will hunt it down. Thanks!
A great month! Congratulations!
Thanks, Carol!
I enjoyed these essays, Tracie. Congrats on an impressive month!
Thank you for reading!
Welcome HOME, Becky! And thanks for this opportunity to showcase our own work. The Florida Review published my personal essay "Treif" this month in their fall issue https://cah.ucf.edu/floridareview/. Erik Harper Klass (Submitit) put the journal on my radar. They responded to my submission in just over two months. I revised the piece multiple times before submitting. I am thrilled with the final product flush with its French flaps and loved working with the editors. Thanks to Becky, in April, I had the rare opportunity to be part of a Zoom call featuring the editor and associate editor. At a moment when Jewish writers are finding an inhospitable environment for their work, the entire process was seamless. In fact, I was encouraged to dig deeper into my cultural heritage, so that the essay even includes a few choice Yiddish curses! This has been my most satisfying editorial experience.
Congrats, Alberta! I loved the spring issue we read in the LMRC, I will check out the fall. Wonderful to hear about your process.
Alberta, that's heartening to hear! Erik also put that lit mag in a list of recommendations for me, too. I can't wait to read your piece.
Barbara, I wish you luck! You won’t be disappointed. They only feature a few pieces of CNF, but they also receive fewer submissions in the genre.
Thanks, yes, my piece submitted there is CNF.
That is good news!
Hi everyone,
I was traveling the last weekend of May and June, so I hope it's OK to "catch up" with news of what I've published since early May.
1) "Confidentially" in The Manifest Station https://www.themanifeststation.net/2024/05/02/confidentially/
This is a profile of a very close friend, discussing an ethical dilemma concerning her.
This piece had been turned down at five other places. They did no editing.
2)"Found on Mary Lou Krakelheimer’s Hard Disk" in Flash Fiction Magazine
https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2024/07/25/found-on-mary-lou-krakelheimers-hard-disk/
This was the first piece of fiction I'd published in decades. (I focus normally on essays - op-eds and personal essays.) It was turned down by McSweeney's, and this was my second try. The editors had a few questions for me, but ended up making only a few copyediting changes.
3)"What Went Unsaid: How I Made And Lost A Friendship, Step-By-Step" at Your Tango
https://www.yourtango.com/self/what-went-unsaid-made-lost-friendship
I realize this isn't exactly a literary magazine, but they pay ($75), and they're looking for personal essays about relationships. They were exceptionally easy to deal with. I sent a pitch email, heard back from the editor the same day, and when I passed in the piece, I again got a response from the editor the same day saying just "Wonderful. You'll hear from my colleagues So and So and So and So." They added the tag line, which I'm not thrilled with, and made a few other cosmetic changes in the piece. I will definitely try them again if I have something suitable, and I'd encourage you to try them, too. Pitch first by describing your essay and listing some samples of your published work.
Congrats on all these! The Your Tango piece was great!
Excellent pieces! "Found on Mary Lou..." was hysterical.
Congratulations, and thanks for the recommendation!
Nothing published in July, but poems coming out in August or later in Salvation South, two in Verse-Virtual, three in MacQueen's #24, and a singleton in the next issue of Streetlight Magazine. Lots of rejections too. Well, well, two afternoon acceptances, one from Panoplyzine and another from MacQueen's #25
My flash fiction piece "Salisbury Confederate Prison, North Carolina, 1864" was published in Flash Fiction Online. Working with the editor was truly a pleasure.
Looking forward to reading—congratulations!
Congratulations, Tess!
Congratulations!🎉
Cheating a little here:
This story was published a few years back, but its one of my few submissions and one I'm proud of, so I thought I'd share here.
This story, "Running Ever Since" won the Racial Justice writing contest at Salem State University, and was subsequently published in their literary magazine, Red Skies.
Thank you in advance for reading!
https://redskiesmagazinessu.wordpress.com/2020/12/08/running-ever-since-grad-award-in-racial-justice-writing-competition/
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Congratulations, Evan!
https://www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/ann-graham
My story published in July with Does It Have Pockets? Wonderful to work with and was paid $10. It really is the thought that counts.
We'd pay more if we could. ;-) I loved your piece so much. The graphic that went with it was taken by my husband while he watched his mother (85 y.o.) play the machines. Glad you had a good experience. Cami is the best!
I love the history behind the photo. So awesome. Such a great and fun journal. Important ideas written in many different styles.
Congratulations!
They are a tough nut to crack, as I've submitted a number of stories to them with nothing but rejects. Congrats!