Friends, like a candy-starved toddler fueled by an entire pumpkin’s worth of Reece’s Pieces, racing through the neighborhood and zapping every single doorbell with a neon Star Wars taser while shouting, “Tricky tweet! Tricky tweet!,” we have, once again, sped head-long into the end of another month.
What I’m saying is, it’s time to do some lit mag bragging.
This is it. Here we are. Tell us.
Where did you publish your writing this past month?
How did you find out about the venue(s)?
Did you submit to lots of places before this piece found its wonderful home? Did it take a long time to get published?
Did you revise as you submitted or was the piece one and done?
Did the editors work with you on revisions?
Are you happy with the presentation?
Do not be shy. This weekend is all about you—celebrating your success, your hard work, your dedication, your passion and your perseverance.
It's not exactly a new publication, but this month I was excited to see my name in the Notables list in "Best American Essays 2023," for essays published in 2022. The chosen essay was called "Interlude:1941," and was originally published in Under the Sun, a wonderful magazine. It is linked at my website: www.lizbirdwrites.com.
I have some other things accepted, but they are not out yet.
For a long time I've been reading Off Assignment, a beautiful journal that publishes deeply personal travel narratives. I knew I wanted to place my essay, "A Miracle for Breakfast" there and I did not submit it anywhere else. The essay combines commentary about Elizabeth Bishop with narratives about family, loss, the creative process, and a magical writing retreat in Greece. That's a lot to pack in! The shrewd and insightful editors at Off Assignment guided me through a painstaking 10-month process of expanding my ideas and pulling the pieces together. The essay is posted here: https://www.offassignment.com/undertheinfluence/jackie-craven
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
This October was probably my best publishing month ever. Five poems published in Medusa's Kitchen, a poem in Delta Review of Poetry, two poems in Poetry Breakfast, a poem in Salvation South, and a poem in Last Stanza Poetry Journal. I've published in all of these reviews before, except Poetry Breakfast. All of these are online so you can check them out if you're interested. I didn't want to clutter up the post with a bunch of html links. Finally, my graphic memoir was republished by Impspired Press and is available here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915819571? . Congrats to others who also had success this month.
My flash CNF piece about traveling in Italy after my son's death, "Waves," was accepted by Rockvale Review for their November issue--this was about the 30th submission, and after a few revisions, it finally found a home.
Lots of rejections in October, but also some awesome news. I got 5 acceptances in places as far-flung as Croatia and India, but at the top of the list is the 1st place in the International Human Rights Arts Movement literary contest. The contest received 1050 entries from 97 countries and it also had a cash prize. It was the first time I sent the story, and it won immediately. But other stories keep coming back time and time again, so I guess it is a question of finding the right venue. Keep writing, and all the best.
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
Earlier this month the online poetry journal, ONE ART, published five of my poems online. I wrote about this earlier. I had submitted twice before without any luck and was surprised that the editor wanted to publish four of the five poems I submitted. In my email thanking him, I offered an additional poem which fit in with two of the other poems, and he accepted it. A week or so ago, the Baltimore Review accepted one of my poems. It will come out in their fall issue.
My flash CNF in The Citron Review had lived in a file of random notes for years. Once I found the form and voice, it was accepted the first time it was submitted and was not under consideration elsewhere. https://citronreview.com/2023/10/01/how-i-lose-him-before-i-lose-him/ I had been reading that litmag for a long time and their CNF resonated with me. Editors asked for no changes and I learned about CNF Editor Ronit Plank’s podcast series, Let’s Talk Memoir https://ronitplank.com/podcast-series/ All around, a great experience.
Peach Fuzz Magazine accepted a story of mine I thought would never see the light of day. I didn't know about them until ChillSubs. And Hunger Mountain--who, according to submittable, is the first journal I ever submitted to over a decade ago as a teenager--accepted a story too.
It's not a lit mag, so this probably doesn't count here, but an essay of mine from my book High Heel was included in an art show at the University of Connecticut Contemporary Art Galleries. I really like thinking about a representation of my work as visual art https://www.awritersnotebook.org/p/and-all-that-remained-was-her-beauty
Delighted to have this flash fiction piece, “The Reefer,” in the new issue of LEON Literary Review: https://leonliteraryreview.com/issue-22-laura-nagle/ It’s in more of a comic vein than most of what I’ve submitted to lit mags, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was one of the quickest acceptances I’ve ever received.
I lost track of the other pubs/acceptances since it's been a very busy month otherwise, but after close to 60 lit mag and journal publications in a bit over two years, I'm down to just two essays circulating. My Submittable Active page looks a bit bare. :-)
I have two flash essays in The Citron Review's fall issue. I was surprised that they were accepted to be published together, though I was glad that they were.
I wrote these three years ago. Back then, I submitted them to maybe 1-2 places and was rejected. I got serious about submitting work again earlier this year. These are just my 3rd and 4th pieces to be published. My first was out in September. It's been an exciting couple months!
Experiencing a bit of a drought right now. Nothing but rejections for more than two months!! Thank goodness for a few publications going live in October. That makes me happy!
My Poem "anatomy of a daydreamer" was published in Issue 2 of The Expressionsist Literary Magazine and "tHe cOwGiRL" was published in the debut issue of Wireworm.
I had had a poem called 'Widow’s Might' (sometimes 'Widow’s Mite') rejected multiple times by various online sites no matter how many times I tried to improve it. Eventually, I sent it to Lighten Up Online. Jerome Betts, the editor, took the poem by the scruff of the neck, shook it, suggested editorial changes, and gave it a new title: 'Ash to Cash: A Cautionary Tale'. So, thanks to Jerome, it will appear in the December issue of Lighten Up Online.
Earlier in the month, my wife and I went to see Martha Graham’s Dance Company perform at the Maestranza Theatre in Seville. The dancers were sublime, spurring me to write a poem about the experience: 'A Memorable Performance.' I am happy to say that my recording of the poem will appear in the Syndic Literary Journal on 2 November.
CNF is publishing on a rolling basis - send us your best!
Two flashes of mine appeared in miniMag.
One I took from a short story that wasn’t working despite my yearlong efforts and the other I wrote over a weekend.
miniMag is great to work with they accepted changes I made after submitting. They added some great visuals. It was a thrill to have two pieces in two separate issues. They have an email list which might be a better route. Highly recommended! I like their aesthetic too.
My third flash appeared in the Hooghly Review - a visually stunning online issue. They were wonderful to work with. I made changes to my sub after acceptance, and they were good about accepting them. They did a lot of promotion. Coincidentally, they are based in India and the river in my flash is named after an explorer looking for passage to India. Henry didn’t make it, but my flash did!
I’m pleased my story There’s a Teacher in the Room was published in the first issue of Teach. Write. The editor, Katie Winkler, was quite helpful encouraging me to expand on a flash memoir. Congratulations to everyone on your publications.
After a year-long acceptance drought, two acceptances this month. (Phew!). A poem I wrote for my mother-in-law's 95th birthday -- an invented expanded sonnet form I called "Double Inside-Out Sonnet +4") will be published in a local (Marin Poetry Center, Marin County, CA) "con/form"-themed anthology later this fall. And Quartet Journal (an online poetry journal featuring work by women fifty and over) has accepted a narrative/ekphrastic poem for their winter issue, to be published Jan. 1. Fifth try for that poem, third for the other.
VERY excited to see my CNF essay "One Side of This World" appear in the just-released quarterly issue of Grain (the journal of eclectic writing). My essay is about dreams, mysteries of existence, and my longtime friendship with Irene, a clairvoyant medium. I hope some of you will get a chance to read it! https://grainmagazine.ca/shop-and-support/current-issue
Grain is a beautiful, Canadian print journal curated by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. They are a paying market with free submissions (with monthly caps). Patience is a must -- my submission was accepted after 207 days -- totally worth the wait! My experience with them was absolutely smooth like glass. I'm so, so proud of this one!
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
Decline count for the year so far, 67, with 25 things out. My "Smart Refrigerator" flash with drawing was accepted by Star 82 for November. This piece has been sent around perhaps twenty times; my essay "MHW" (a first prize winner in their non-fiction competition of 2020) will appear in a print anthology of writings about Brooklyn from Brooklyn Film Arts--date to be announced; (the prize and being anthologized was a surprise, after ten or more rejections for this essay); a sizable excerpt of my novella with drawings, "Paper Play" will appear in Quarter Press (date to be announced); (portions of this collage-like work---a series of stand-alone episodes with drawings--have been published alone, or in combinations of three or four in literary journals, but this is the first time the run-through narrative has been preserved, so I'm really happy). Again, multiple tries, rejections, piecemeal acceptances. I've sort of lost count. Finally, this is not small press, but sort of related: a drawing show of about 30 to 50 small drawings, "Paper Play" has been accepted for early '24 by a local arts center in Madison, Art and Literature Lab. The drawings were an outgrowth of the stories in the above mentioned "Paper Play" novella, (drawings triggered stories, stories triggered drawings). I've sent this proposal out to about ten exhibition venues here. I think I've sent four or five proposals to Art and Literature Lab too.
A poem that was very important for me to write and send into the world, "Dirty Laundry," was published in Heimat Review. (Content Warning: Violence, Child Abuse) https://www.heimatreview.com/dirty-laundry.html. I love this journal and have appeared in every issue except the first one, which is where I discovered them (via a link on Twitter). The editor, Hannah Orsag, is collaborative and supportive, and I think she does a fine job of curating each issue.
I learned an important lesson with "Dirty Laundry." I asked for feedback from many people, and then I revised and revised based on what people said. I set the piece aside for a while, a couple of months, and when I looked at it again, I realized it wasn't my poem any more at all... I did a lot of un-revising and brought it back into my own voice. (Lesson learned.)
What each of these journals has in common is that they include a lot of artwork and are beautifully laid out. They have a less "cutting edge" vibe than many to whom I submit. I don't write in a particularly hip voice and write a lot about issues of aging and mortality which doesn't appeal to all.
Two essays about submission have me really thinking this week. One was Bethany's on this substack about the snowball effect which she's utilized. The other is this morning's Brevity Blog, which takes a different POV: https://brevity.wordpress.com/
I get most of my submission ideas from Duotrope and Chill Subs, though Moss Piglet seems to like my work so I send them something several times a year.
My micro-story “Perhaps somewhere in Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave” is in The Citron Review’s Fall issue. Citron is one of the magazines I particularly admire, so I was delighted when they accepted this story.
Congrats to all the October published! A poem I wrote in 2020 finally found a home in the Literary Forest. It had been rejected 13 times, I'd made a few edits over that time, but it's basically the same as the first version. The Literary Forest editor responded a month after submission, she sent me proofs for review, and Issue Five is supposed to be live this weekend. I love the originality of the issue's layout. https://literaryforestmagazineonline.wordpress.com/
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
Happily, this month saw the publication of "El bosque rosa eléctrico" in El BeiSMan, one of the few Spanish language Lit Mags in the United States. The Spanish writer María Mínguez Arias is the Editor there and she did work with me on the piece, wanting to cut six words from the last sentence. We negotiated and I ended up cutting three. If this story is published elsewhere, I will leave those three words as they were in my original version, but I was cool with compromising. Her view was that there was redundancy to eliminate; my view was that I liked the rhythm of the sentence as it was. I am glad we came to an agreement, because, while I've published in Mexico, this was my first Spanish language story published in the U.S.
An acceptance not yet published came 24 hours after submitting from Consequence Forum who will be publishing the first chapter of a great novel from Colombia that I am translating. My hope is that publishing houses will see this chapter and demonstrate interest in seeing the rest of the novel. Fingers crossed!
It has been a very exciting month for me! I was nominated for Best of the Net by Honeyguide Magazine for my poem "it comes in waves"; I got my Halloween poem "Who Will Tend the Roses" accepted by Penumbra; and my work of flash creative non-fiction, "Summer Mission, (Haiti, 1982)"-- along with an accompanying interview--will be published by Prose Online! It was also great to receive my print version of Swing Magazine which included my poem "Pinball Wizard." Wow, what a month!
My haiku “White Locust Petals” appeared in the Akitsu Quarterly (Fall/Winter 2023). I had been trying to publish this poem for many years. The editor of this journal is Robin White.
My essay Vanitas (memoir/faux stage play? about the grief and losses incurred by a childhood of frequent international moves) was published in Blood Orange Review this month. It's my third ever publication! This piece had been declined by two other lit mags, one with a personal rejection. I found Blood Orange Review on Submittable, looking for hybid/experimental venues.
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
A poem was published in the inaugural issue of SWING, the new print pub. from The Porch in Nashville, and subs are open for issue #2: https://www.porchtn.org/swing
I worked closely on editing with editor Leigh Ann Couch after sending the poem around to several places before it was accepted there.
The Raven's Perch. They accept simultaneous submissions but they let you know about acceptances virtually when they publish it. It didn't cause any trouble for me but I could see how it potentially could have caused trouble. They also have a voting system. That's great when you have a lot of supporters of your work, but they do need to understand tech otherwise, beloved friends give you one stars :)) https://theravensperch.com/chile-women-by-christa-fairbrother/
And Honeyguide, whose new issue comes out tomorrow. They are very visually art forward and did a great job with the design.
I just got an email from Sky Island Journal accepting 2 of my poems (I got a rejection earlier today, so it all balanced out). I have 3 poems in the anthology, Playing Authors, by Old Iron Press in Indianapolis. I highly recommend this indy press--the communication is great, it is a fun and quirky organization, and the anthology is beautiful (I just received my copy). There are no calls for submissions right now, but put them on your list--they are very author-friendly! They do literary trivia on Instagram each month on the month's first Tuesday (I did the questions for December's game!). And they do a lot in Indianapolis, so if you are in that area of the world, check them out! And congratulations to everyone on the publications! I am desperately trying to meet all of the OCT 31/NOV 1 deadlines, but will return to click on links and read!
I have two new stories out in October, "The Disgrace of the Commodore" in Asimov's Science Fiction, and "How We Became Forest Creatures" in The Cosmic Background (https://www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/marguerite-sheffer-how-we-became-forest-creatures). Both are slipstream flash. The first of those stories had been rejected five times before it was ultimately accepted. I'm thrilled by both! Both are paying venues and didn't charge to submit.
YES!!! My story, Magic in the Digital Age, was published online in Idle Ink on 10/7. I found the publication on Duotrope, and it was the sixth submission that won. Thanks to my short story critique group, The Retro Writers, for their assistance with revisions. You can read it at this link: https://patriciabowen.com/writings/.
I had a piece scheduled for October 10 in Dream Pop. When it didn’t appear I contacted the magazine but got no answer. They seem to have removed any submission opportunities. And haven’t published new pieces since august. But it seems a note to accepted authors should have been sent, whatever the reason for not publishing. Anyone know anything about this publication?
Oct 29, 2023·edited Oct 29, 2023Liked by Becky Tuch
1. "Police Blotter," a poem to be included in a forthcoming anthology ("Am Yisrael Chai: Essays, Prayers, and Poems for Israel")
2. "Fortune Cookie," a poem to be included in the November issue of "One Sentence Poems" (this online publication is discontinuing its longtime poem-a-day format)
3. "Why I Write Poems," a poem published recently by Poetry Trapper Keeper in the "Hot People Cause Chaos" edition of PTK's series of online zines
I'm still waiting for publication of my flash fiction piece, Wolves, that won third place in the Flash Fiction Magazine competition. I'm crossing all that it makes the print anthology. I sent this piece out to nine journals before it made the cut at FFM.
After exactly 50 rejections, my short story, What's Left, made its way into print this month in Bridge House Publishing's latest anthology, Gifted now available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gifted-Multiple/dp/1914199502/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1698595117&sr=1-1. I worked and reworked the story with a substantial revision in 2018 (yep, I never give up). Very happy to have it among the varied approaches to the idea of being "gifted" that make up this new book.
I'm excited to share that Brevity Blog accepted a craft piece co-written by me and Diane Kraynak, my wife. It's an intentionally humorous piece about how to be a successful literary couple which stresses the necessity of complete agreement about the Oxford comma. Allison K. Williams says it should be up sometime mid-November.
A month ago, I bragged about the magazine Full Stop and my experience with an editor at their site. This Quarterly was founded in 2011.
I worked diligently with my review of Nors’s A Line in the World, (as translated from the Danish) but midway through allowed creepy negatives to sit on my shoulders telling me, in all kinds of ways, why I could never write a satisfactory review of this book. After receiving the first edits from the reviews editor I was convinced I couldn’t meet the requirements. I felt, from all his edits, which on re-reading I saw to be quite minimal, that I wouldn’t succeed with this. Suddenly this editor had taken the form of a kind of literary god, quite large and seated well above most literary scribes. But since I’d invested quite a bit of time in reading of the book, and more time in reviewing it, I pushed myself.
My images of the editor were figments of my imagination. To proceed I had to reduce him to a small size. (These were internal constructs.) I submitted my second draft to which he responded, “We’re almost there.” I’m happy my review will appear online on Dec. 5.
Meanwhile, I continue reading poetry of some of the renowned poets i.e. Merwin, Octavio Paz, Eliot, and Louise Glueck. And I’m beginning, at last, The Aeneid, for which I’ve been taking notes for the past month; this while I continue to evaluate poems submitted to the journal I serve.
I'm pleased to report that my glosa "Circuit Breaker" appeared at https://panoplyzine.com/ in their autumn issue. This was my first attempt at a glosa poem and was accepted within the first five submission attempts.
Even more exciting is that my first poetry book Tethers End is now available from Shanti Arts https://shantiarts.co/uploads/files/jkl/LESINSKI_TETHERS.html. Christine Cote at Shanti Arts is a dream to work with. I'd had work accepted her Still Point Arts Quarterly prior to submitting my book manuscript to the book publishing arm of the same company. Fifty percent of the poems in Tethers End were first published in literary journals, so the conventional wisdom of submitting to journals as a means to further later book publication seems to hold true here.
A little late to the party this month, but congratulations to everyone! I like how the Lit Mag News Crew took over the recent edition of The Citron Review, a great market, with multiple people getting their work in there.
My story "Stats Are For Lovers" is in the Fall 2023 issue of Green Silk Journal, which is in its 18th year of publishing poetry and fiction. I'd been sending the story out since I finished it in March, with 11 rejections before they took it. My initial target was W&S (Words and Sports) part of the HAD empire. Here's where it found a home: https://www.thegsj.com/stories-3-fall-2023.html
A 100 word micro of mine was a prize winner for the second time. I wrote "Between Wilshire and West 6th" for a contest at Storytwigs back in 2021; the theme was "Pitch." The story, set at the La Brea Tar Pits, came in third. It received an honorable mention this month in the inaugural Scribes Prize sponsored by Scribes Microfiction. All the winners can be found here in their Issue 34: https://www.fairfieldscribes.com/issue-34.html
My flash memoir Luscious was published in the October issue of Third Street Review. https://third-street-review.org/nonfiction/. I was happy to send this out a few months ago after some revision suggestions from my writing group (and the title suggestion from Andrea Lewis). I shared the link with a poet/editor friend several days ago and she pointed out an odd copy editing error. It was corrected (within hours,, once I notified the editor, Rina Palumbo). Somehow the word “mascaraed” had been changed at the very last minute to “massacred” (after I reviewed what I thought would be published). It did make me realize the benefit of online publishing (but also the trials and errors of a new publication and the necessity of carefully reading/okaying a final proof.
Poem published in Antithesis Journal in School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Time Travel Grammar. They are currently having tech issues with their site.
Thanks, Lisa! Yes, Interlude was my first, although I've published several since then. I would be honored if you'd subscribe to my website (which I made myself so it's much more basic!). I only email subscribers when I publish something new, so it's not often! I plan to keep up with your work too, although I couldn't find a subscribe on yours. Anyway, mine is www.lizbirdwrites.com
And I just finished your "Ghost Stories, Master Race", so powerful and something everyone should read because this went on in so many places. Shalom, g2 p.s. a mockernut is a very common hickory found in GA.
It's not exactly a new publication, but this month I was excited to see my name in the Notables list in "Best American Essays 2023," for essays published in 2022. The chosen essay was called "Interlude:1941," and was originally published in Under the Sun, a wonderful magazine. It is linked at my website: www.lizbirdwrites.com.
I have some other things accepted, but they are not out yet.
For a long time I've been reading Off Assignment, a beautiful journal that publishes deeply personal travel narratives. I knew I wanted to place my essay, "A Miracle for Breakfast" there and I did not submit it anywhere else. The essay combines commentary about Elizabeth Bishop with narratives about family, loss, the creative process, and a magical writing retreat in Greece. That's a lot to pack in! The shrewd and insightful editors at Off Assignment guided me through a painstaking 10-month process of expanding my ideas and pulling the pieces together. The essay is posted here: https://www.offassignment.com/undertheinfluence/jackie-craven
This October was probably my best publishing month ever. Five poems published in Medusa's Kitchen, a poem in Delta Review of Poetry, two poems in Poetry Breakfast, a poem in Salvation South, and a poem in Last Stanza Poetry Journal. I've published in all of these reviews before, except Poetry Breakfast. All of these are online so you can check them out if you're interested. I didn't want to clutter up the post with a bunch of html links. Finally, my graphic memoir was republished by Impspired Press and is available here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915819571? . Congrats to others who also had success this month.
My flash CNF piece about traveling in Italy after my son's death, "Waves," was accepted by Rockvale Review for their November issue--this was about the 30th submission, and after a few revisions, it finally found a home.
Lots of rejections in October, but also some awesome news. I got 5 acceptances in places as far-flung as Croatia and India, but at the top of the list is the 1st place in the International Human Rights Arts Movement literary contest. The contest received 1050 entries from 97 countries and it also had a cash prize. It was the first time I sent the story, and it won immediately. But other stories keep coming back time and time again, so I guess it is a question of finding the right venue. Keep writing, and all the best.
Earlier this month the online poetry journal, ONE ART, published five of my poems online. I wrote about this earlier. I had submitted twice before without any luck and was surprised that the editor wanted to publish four of the five poems I submitted. In my email thanking him, I offered an additional poem which fit in with two of the other poems, and he accepted it. A week or so ago, the Baltimore Review accepted one of my poems. It will come out in their fall issue.
Here's the link to ONE ART:
https://oneartpoetry.com/2023/10/01/five-poems-jane-mckinley/
My flash CNF in The Citron Review had lived in a file of random notes for years. Once I found the form and voice, it was accepted the first time it was submitted and was not under consideration elsewhere. https://citronreview.com/2023/10/01/how-i-lose-him-before-i-lose-him/ I had been reading that litmag for a long time and their CNF resonated with me. Editors asked for no changes and I learned about CNF Editor Ronit Plank’s podcast series, Let’s Talk Memoir https://ronitplank.com/podcast-series/ All around, a great experience.
Peach Fuzz Magazine accepted a story of mine I thought would never see the light of day. I didn't know about them until ChillSubs. And Hunger Mountain--who, according to submittable, is the first journal I ever submitted to over a decade ago as a teenager--accepted a story too.
It's not a lit mag, so this probably doesn't count here, but an essay of mine from my book High Heel was included in an art show at the University of Connecticut Contemporary Art Galleries. I really like thinking about a representation of my work as visual art https://www.awritersnotebook.org/p/and-all-that-remained-was-her-beauty
Delighted to have this flash fiction piece, “The Reefer,” in the new issue of LEON Literary Review: https://leonliteraryreview.com/issue-22-laura-nagle/ It’s in more of a comic vein than most of what I’ve submitted to lit mags, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was one of the quickest acceptances I’ve ever received.
I placed my personal essay about a freak highway accident, "Boom!" at Verdant after many rejections and readers can find the essay at my substack or here: https://verdantjournal1.wixsite.com/verdant-journal/lev-raphael
I lost track of the other pubs/acceptances since it's been a very busy month otherwise, but after close to 60 lit mag and journal publications in a bit over two years, I'm down to just two essays circulating. My Submittable Active page looks a bit bare. :-)
I picked Verdant based on their Duotrope page.
I have a poem “Celestial Goddess” published in Mayari Literature--a litmag on substack!
I have two flash essays in The Citron Review's fall issue. I was surprised that they were accepted to be published together, though I was glad that they were.
How to Eat a Plum: https://citronreview.com/2023/10/01/how-to-eat-a-plum/
A Dahlia or Something: https://citronreview.com/2023/10/01/a-dahlia-or-something/
I wrote these three years ago. Back then, I submitted them to maybe 1-2 places and was rejected. I got serious about submitting work again earlier this year. These are just my 3rd and 4th pieces to be published. My first was out in September. It's been an exciting couple months!
Congrats everyone! I’m thrilled to have a poem published in the current issue of Gulf Coast online (CW: suicide): https://gulfcoastmag.org/online/36.1-summer/fall-2023/anything-sharp/
Experiencing a bit of a drought right now. Nothing but rejections for more than two months!! Thank goodness for a few publications going live in October. That makes me happy!
My Poem "anatomy of a daydreamer" was published in Issue 2 of The Expressionsist Literary Magazine and "tHe cOwGiRL" was published in the debut issue of Wireworm.
I had had a poem called 'Widow’s Might' (sometimes 'Widow’s Mite') rejected multiple times by various online sites no matter how many times I tried to improve it. Eventually, I sent it to Lighten Up Online. Jerome Betts, the editor, took the poem by the scruff of the neck, shook it, suggested editorial changes, and gave it a new title: 'Ash to Cash: A Cautionary Tale'. So, thanks to Jerome, it will appear in the December issue of Lighten Up Online.
Earlier in the month, my wife and I went to see Martha Graham’s Dance Company perform at the Maestranza Theatre in Seville. The dancers were sublime, spurring me to write a poem about the experience: 'A Memorable Performance.' I am happy to say that my recording of the poem will appear in the Syndic Literary Journal on 2 November.
I had three flash pieces published this month.
Also I’m the non-fiction editor at Five South and we got great engagement on this fantastic piece by Wendy Newbury that we published on Thursday.
https://www.fivesouth.net/post/black-sheep-eulogy-by-wendy-newbury
CNF is publishing on a rolling basis - send us your best!
Two flashes of mine appeared in miniMag.
One I took from a short story that wasn’t working despite my yearlong efforts and the other I wrote over a weekend.
miniMag is great to work with they accepted changes I made after submitting. They added some great visuals. It was a thrill to have two pieces in two separate issues. They have an email list which might be a better route. Highly recommended! I like their aesthetic too.
I’m in issue 68 and 66.
https://minimag.space/
My third flash appeared in the Hooghly Review - a visually stunning online issue. They were wonderful to work with. I made changes to my sub after acceptance, and they were good about accepting them. They did a lot of promotion. Coincidentally, they are based in India and the river in my flash is named after an explorer looking for passage to India. Henry didn’t make it, but my flash did!
https://x.com/davenashlit1/status/1713616608227164265?s=46
Here’s the mag link
https://www.thehooghlyreview.com/issues/issue-2-october-2023
I got an acceptance this week for a CNF piece that I’m thrilled about and should have another flash for November!
This week has been a bit of struggle so it’s nice to brag :)
I’m pleased my story There’s a Teacher in the Room was published in the first issue of Teach. Write. The editor, Katie Winkler, was quite helpful encouraging me to expand on a flash memoir. Congratulations to everyone on your publications.
After a year-long acceptance drought, two acceptances this month. (Phew!). A poem I wrote for my mother-in-law's 95th birthday -- an invented expanded sonnet form I called "Double Inside-Out Sonnet +4") will be published in a local (Marin Poetry Center, Marin County, CA) "con/form"-themed anthology later this fall. And Quartet Journal (an online poetry journal featuring work by women fifty and over) has accepted a narrative/ekphrastic poem for their winter issue, to be published Jan. 1. Fifth try for that poem, third for the other.
VERY excited to see my CNF essay "One Side of This World" appear in the just-released quarterly issue of Grain (the journal of eclectic writing). My essay is about dreams, mysteries of existence, and my longtime friendship with Irene, a clairvoyant medium. I hope some of you will get a chance to read it! https://grainmagazine.ca/shop-and-support/current-issue
Grain is a beautiful, Canadian print journal curated by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. They are a paying market with free submissions (with monthly caps). Patience is a must -- my submission was accepted after 207 days -- totally worth the wait! My experience with them was absolutely smooth like glass. I'm so, so proud of this one!
Decline count for the year so far, 67, with 25 things out. My "Smart Refrigerator" flash with drawing was accepted by Star 82 for November. This piece has been sent around perhaps twenty times; my essay "MHW" (a first prize winner in their non-fiction competition of 2020) will appear in a print anthology of writings about Brooklyn from Brooklyn Film Arts--date to be announced; (the prize and being anthologized was a surprise, after ten or more rejections for this essay); a sizable excerpt of my novella with drawings, "Paper Play" will appear in Quarter Press (date to be announced); (portions of this collage-like work---a series of stand-alone episodes with drawings--have been published alone, or in combinations of three or four in literary journals, but this is the first time the run-through narrative has been preserved, so I'm really happy). Again, multiple tries, rejections, piecemeal acceptances. I've sort of lost count. Finally, this is not small press, but sort of related: a drawing show of about 30 to 50 small drawings, "Paper Play" has been accepted for early '24 by a local arts center in Madison, Art and Literature Lab. The drawings were an outgrowth of the stories in the above mentioned "Paper Play" novella, (drawings triggered stories, stories triggered drawings). I've sent this proposal out to about ten exhibition venues here. I think I've sent four or five proposals to Art and Literature Lab too.
Three of my poems were reprinted on Orenaug Mountain Poetry Journal, a triolet, a villanelle, and one in free verse. https://www.orenaugmountainpublishing.com/search/label/Cynthia%20Bernard?&max-results=9. This journal is actively seeking new contributors, they are friendly and easy to work with, and they accept previously published work.
A poem that was very important for me to write and send into the world, "Dirty Laundry," was published in Heimat Review. (Content Warning: Violence, Child Abuse) https://www.heimatreview.com/dirty-laundry.html. I love this journal and have appeared in every issue except the first one, which is where I discovered them (via a link on Twitter). The editor, Hannah Orsag, is collaborative and supportive, and I think she does a fine job of curating each issue.
I learned an important lesson with "Dirty Laundry." I asked for feedback from many people, and then I revised and revised based on what people said. I set the piece aside for a while, a couple of months, and when I looked at it again, I realized it wasn't my poem any more at all... I did a lot of un-revising and brought it back into my own voice. (Lesson learned.)
No new fiction this month, but a guest post on Kings River Life, musings on writing advice and Ray Bradbury, a light, fun read: https://kingsriverlife.com/10/18/the-eternal-wisdom-and-solid-common-sense-of-ray-bradbury/
Fiction Kitchen Berlin published an anthology of their online flash stories from 2019 to 2022. My science fiction spy story "Defector" is in it: https://www.amazon.com/Fiction-Kitchen-Berlin-Anthology-Wonderful-ebook/dp/B0CJNX6ZMM/
I had two pieces in old fav New World Writing:
https://newworldwriting.net/julie-benesh-zuihitsu/
https://newworldwriting.net/julie-benesh-say/
And my chapbook was favorably reviewed in Litstack:
https://www.litstack.com/about-time-julie-benesh/
It's been a fairly slow year, but October was good to me:
Two pieces that I've submitted several places (and each of whichhad a personal, positive rejection previously) were accepted:
https://monthstoyears.org/the-ballad-of-my-cousin/ (Months to Years Fall 2023 "The Ballad of My Cousin"
and https://www.flipsnack.com/remingtonreview/remington-review-fall-2023.html (Remington Review, Fall 2023 "Fading Roses.)
An essay I wrote during the Smokelong summer, which was a single submission, https://www.flipsnack.com/5AF6ABFF8D6/moss-piglet-october-2023/full-view.html (Moss Piglet, October 2023, "Fear of Falling").
What each of these journals has in common is that they include a lot of artwork and are beautifully laid out. They have a less "cutting edge" vibe than many to whom I submit. I don't write in a particularly hip voice and write a lot about issues of aging and mortality which doesn't appeal to all.
Two essays about submission have me really thinking this week. One was Bethany's on this substack about the snowball effect which she's utilized. The other is this morning's Brevity Blog, which takes a different POV: https://brevity.wordpress.com/
I get most of my submission ideas from Duotrope and Chill Subs, though Moss Piglet seems to like my work so I send them something several times a year.
My micro-story “Perhaps somewhere in Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave” is in The Citron Review’s Fall issue. Citron is one of the magazines I particularly admire, so I was delighted when they accepted this story.
https://citronreview.com/2023/10/01/perhaps-somewhere-in-chauvet-pont-darc-cave/
Congrats to all the October published! A poem I wrote in 2020 finally found a home in the Literary Forest. It had been rejected 13 times, I'd made a few edits over that time, but it's basically the same as the first version. The Literary Forest editor responded a month after submission, she sent me proofs for review, and Issue Five is supposed to be live this weekend. I love the originality of the issue's layout. https://literaryforestmagazineonline.wordpress.com/
Happily, this month saw the publication of "El bosque rosa eléctrico" in El BeiSMan, one of the few Spanish language Lit Mags in the United States. The Spanish writer María Mínguez Arias is the Editor there and she did work with me on the piece, wanting to cut six words from the last sentence. We negotiated and I ended up cutting three. If this story is published elsewhere, I will leave those three words as they were in my original version, but I was cool with compromising. Her view was that there was redundancy to eliminate; my view was that I liked the rhythm of the sentence as it was. I am glad we came to an agreement, because, while I've published in Mexico, this was my first Spanish language story published in the U.S.
An acceptance not yet published came 24 hours after submitting from Consequence Forum who will be publishing the first chapter of a great novel from Colombia that I am translating. My hope is that publishing houses will see this chapter and demonstrate interest in seeing the rest of the novel. Fingers crossed!
It has been a very exciting month for me! I was nominated for Best of the Net by Honeyguide Magazine for my poem "it comes in waves"; I got my Halloween poem "Who Will Tend the Roses" accepted by Penumbra; and my work of flash creative non-fiction, "Summer Mission, (Haiti, 1982)"-- along with an accompanying interview--will be published by Prose Online! It was also great to receive my print version of Swing Magazine which included my poem "Pinball Wizard." Wow, what a month!
My haiku “White Locust Petals” appeared in the Akitsu Quarterly (Fall/Winter 2023). I had been trying to publish this poem for many years. The editor of this journal is Robin White.
Best wishes!
Janet Ruth Heller
My website is https://www.janetruthheller.com/
My essay Vanitas (memoir/faux stage play? about the grief and losses incurred by a childhood of frequent international moves) was published in Blood Orange Review this month. It's my third ever publication! This piece had been declined by two other lit mags, one with a personal rejection. I found Blood Orange Review on Submittable, looking for hybid/experimental venues.
https://bloodorangereview.com/nonfiction/vanitas/
A poem was published in the inaugural issue of SWING, the new print pub. from The Porch in Nashville, and subs are open for issue #2: https://www.porchtn.org/swing
I worked closely on editing with editor Leigh Ann Couch after sending the poem around to several places before it was accepted there.
I had three pieces come out this month.
Hearth & Coffin was super easy to work with. https://www.hearthandcoffin.com/post/art-history
The Raven's Perch. They accept simultaneous submissions but they let you know about acceptances virtually when they publish it. It didn't cause any trouble for me but I could see how it potentially could have caused trouble. They also have a voting system. That's great when you have a lot of supporters of your work, but they do need to understand tech otherwise, beloved friends give you one stars :)) https://theravensperch.com/chile-women-by-christa-fairbrother/
And Honeyguide, whose new issue comes out tomorrow. They are very visually art forward and did a great job with the design.
I just got an email from Sky Island Journal accepting 2 of my poems (I got a rejection earlier today, so it all balanced out). I have 3 poems in the anthology, Playing Authors, by Old Iron Press in Indianapolis. I highly recommend this indy press--the communication is great, it is a fun and quirky organization, and the anthology is beautiful (I just received my copy). There are no calls for submissions right now, but put them on your list--they are very author-friendly! They do literary trivia on Instagram each month on the month's first Tuesday (I did the questions for December's game!). And they do a lot in Indianapolis, so if you are in that area of the world, check them out! And congratulations to everyone on the publications! I am desperately trying to meet all of the OCT 31/NOV 1 deadlines, but will return to click on links and read!
I have two new stories out in October, "The Disgrace of the Commodore" in Asimov's Science Fiction, and "How We Became Forest Creatures" in The Cosmic Background (https://www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/marguerite-sheffer-how-we-became-forest-creatures). Both are slipstream flash. The first of those stories had been rejected five times before it was ultimately accepted. I'm thrilled by both! Both are paying venues and didn't charge to submit.
YES!!! My story, Magic in the Digital Age, was published online in Idle Ink on 10/7. I found the publication on Duotrope, and it was the sixth submission that won. Thanks to my short story critique group, The Retro Writers, for their assistance with revisions. You can read it at this link: https://patriciabowen.com/writings/.
I had a piece scheduled for October 10 in Dream Pop. When it didn’t appear I contacted the magazine but got no answer. They seem to have removed any submission opportunities. And haven’t published new pieces since august. But it seems a note to accepted authors should have been sent, whatever the reason for not publishing. Anyone know anything about this publication?
1. "Police Blotter," a poem to be included in a forthcoming anthology ("Am Yisrael Chai: Essays, Prayers, and Poems for Israel")
2. "Fortune Cookie," a poem to be included in the November issue of "One Sentence Poems" (this online publication is discontinuing its longtime poem-a-day format)
3. "Why I Write Poems," a poem published recently by Poetry Trapper Keeper in the "Hot People Cause Chaos" edition of PTK's series of online zines
https://www.poetrytrapperkeeper.com/p/hot-people-cause-chaos
Waiting to hear whether one or two poems will be accepted or rejected by Taco Bell Quarterly ; )
I'm still waiting for publication of my flash fiction piece, Wolves, that won third place in the Flash Fiction Magazine competition. I'm crossing all that it makes the print anthology. I sent this piece out to nine journals before it made the cut at FFM.
After exactly 50 rejections, my short story, What's Left, made its way into print this month in Bridge House Publishing's latest anthology, Gifted now available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gifted-Multiple/dp/1914199502/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1698595117&sr=1-1. I worked and reworked the story with a substantial revision in 2018 (yep, I never give up). Very happy to have it among the varied approaches to the idea of being "gifted" that make up this new book.
I'm excited to share that Brevity Blog accepted a craft piece co-written by me and Diane Kraynak, my wife. It's an intentionally humorous piece about how to be a successful literary couple which stresses the necessity of complete agreement about the Oxford comma. Allison K. Williams says it should be up sometime mid-November.
Dear Becky and Lit Maggers,
A month ago, I bragged about the magazine Full Stop and my experience with an editor at their site. This Quarterly was founded in 2011.
I worked diligently with my review of Nors’s A Line in the World, (as translated from the Danish) but midway through allowed creepy negatives to sit on my shoulders telling me, in all kinds of ways, why I could never write a satisfactory review of this book. After receiving the first edits from the reviews editor I was convinced I couldn’t meet the requirements. I felt, from all his edits, which on re-reading I saw to be quite minimal, that I wouldn’t succeed with this. Suddenly this editor had taken the form of a kind of literary god, quite large and seated well above most literary scribes. But since I’d invested quite a bit of time in reading of the book, and more time in reviewing it, I pushed myself.
My images of the editor were figments of my imagination. To proceed I had to reduce him to a small size. (These were internal constructs.) I submitted my second draft to which he responded, “We’re almost there.” I’m happy my review will appear online on Dec. 5.
Meanwhile, I continue reading poetry of some of the renowned poets i.e. Merwin, Octavio Paz, Eliot, and Louise Glueck. And I’m beginning, at last, The Aeneid, for which I’ve been taking notes for the past month; this while I continue to evaluate poems submitted to the journal I serve.
Congrats to all for your achievements. Mine for this month include:
- A microfiction included in the Bad Day Book Volume 1
- A poem published in BarBar
- A short fiction in Flash Frontier in New Zealand
- A poem published in Last Stanza
- A poem in the Gorko Gazette https://thegorkogazette.com/2023/10/11/fing-freddie-by-doug-jacquier/
- A short story accepted by CC and D
- A poem accepted by Instant Noodles
- A story accepted in the wonderful Syncopation magazine in Australia, who have published 3 of my pieces now.
I'm pleased to report that my glosa "Circuit Breaker" appeared at https://panoplyzine.com/ in their autumn issue. This was my first attempt at a glosa poem and was accepted within the first five submission attempts.
Even more exciting is that my first poetry book Tethers End is now available from Shanti Arts https://shantiarts.co/uploads/files/jkl/LESINSKI_TETHERS.html. Christine Cote at Shanti Arts is a dream to work with. I'd had work accepted her Still Point Arts Quarterly prior to submitting my book manuscript to the book publishing arm of the same company. Fifty percent of the poems in Tethers End were first published in literary journals, so the conventional wisdom of submitting to journals as a means to further later book publication seems to hold true here.
A little late to the party this month, but congratulations to everyone! I like how the Lit Mag News Crew took over the recent edition of The Citron Review, a great market, with multiple people getting their work in there.
My story "Stats Are For Lovers" is in the Fall 2023 issue of Green Silk Journal, which is in its 18th year of publishing poetry and fiction. I'd been sending the story out since I finished it in March, with 11 rejections before they took it. My initial target was W&S (Words and Sports) part of the HAD empire. Here's where it found a home: https://www.thegsj.com/stories-3-fall-2023.html
A 100 word micro of mine was a prize winner for the second time. I wrote "Between Wilshire and West 6th" for a contest at Storytwigs back in 2021; the theme was "Pitch." The story, set at the La Brea Tar Pits, came in third. It received an honorable mention this month in the inaugural Scribes Prize sponsored by Scribes Microfiction. All the winners can be found here in their Issue 34: https://www.fairfieldscribes.com/issue-34.html
My flash memoir Luscious was published in the October issue of Third Street Review. https://third-street-review.org/nonfiction/. I was happy to send this out a few months ago after some revision suggestions from my writing group (and the title suggestion from Andrea Lewis). I shared the link with a poet/editor friend several days ago and she pointed out an odd copy editing error. It was corrected (within hours,, once I notified the editor, Rina Palumbo). Somehow the word “mascaraed” had been changed at the very last minute to “massacred” (after I reviewed what I thought would be published). It did make me realize the benefit of online publishing (but also the trials and errors of a new publication and the necessity of carefully reading/okaying a final proof.
Poem published in Antithesis Journal in School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Time Travel Grammar. They are currently having tech issues with their site.
https://antithesis-journal.squarespace.com/
Thanks, Lisa! Yes, Interlude was my first, although I've published several since then. I would be honored if you'd subscribe to my website (which I made myself so it's much more basic!). I only email subscribers when I publish something new, so it's not often! I plan to keep up with your work too, although I couldn't find a subscribe on yours. Anyway, mine is www.lizbirdwrites.com
And I just finished your "Ghost Stories, Master Race", so powerful and something everyone should read because this went on in so many places. Shalom, g2 p.s. a mockernut is a very common hickory found in GA.
Thanks so much Scott. I haven't had a chance to read your story yet but will tomorrow. Let's stay in touch. Gdgrossman at gmail dot com