October lit mag brag!
"Come on out and brag your lit mag."
Welcome to our weekend conversation!
Last night I was at a Halloween party at my daughter’s school. I got to talking to another parent and somehow the fact that I am a writer came up.
“Oh wow!” she said. “You’re a writer?!”
Her response was so genuinely enthusiastic that I must have smiled at her for ten minutes straight. No doubt like many of you, I’m accustomed to being met with a friendly nod or vague bafflement when I tell people I’m a writer. I might as well be saying I mine for exotic minerals on another planet. Oh…that’s nice…What kind of minerals do you, er, mine for…?
But this mom was so excited! There were tears in her eyes. She had just that morning declared to herself that she wanted to do more creative writing.
In fact recently she’d been looking at one of her journals from when she was a child. That child had loved creative writing, had written freely and without inhibition.
“What happened to that girl?” she had begun to wonder. She told me, “I need to find her.”
Then there were tears in my eyes too.
We talked and talked and talked. And throughout our conversation, I thought of all of you. You writers. You who already made that decision to begin. You who already declared yourself a writer, if not necessarily out loud then at least in your private work. You who write. And you who, of course, do all the rest of it—revise, submit, endure rejection, improve your work, study your craft. But simply, you write.
I thought too of our weekend discussion recently about those intangible wins, the ones that cannot be quantified, cannot be shown to others, but are wins all the same. I truly believe that if you’ve made the commitment to write—daily, once a week, or whenever you have time—then you are winning already.
Yeah, yeah, The Paris Review isn’t knocking on your door. And you haven’t yet gotten your Topptiy Tier Best American McGenius Grant. I know. There is work left to do.
But the decision to write. The act of writing. The pledge to yourself, as often as you can, that you know there is a being inside you that wants desperately to share its voice, and you will find it, you will let it, you will write, this, my dear friends, is the most massive win of all.
Keep going.
So, now, speaking of wins, it’s the end of the month!
Those of you longtime Lit Mag News readers know what this means. For those of you who are new here, welcome!
This is the space where we share the wins we’ve had this past month. This is a time to celebrate you—your work, your labor, your commitment, your perseverance, and the lovely little lit mags that gave your words a home.
I’m pleased to share a story of my own. This one got a whopping 27 rejections. (Ouch, my heart!)
At some point I began working with Erik Harper Klass of Submitit. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Erik is a phenomenal editor. He trimmed, he re-formatted, he shared geeky obscure grammatical rules, he made me laugh. He sent the story out to a bunch more places on my behalf.
It landed at New Pop Lit. And I am so happy it did!
Editor Karl Wenclas responded quickly and was communicative throughout the process. He even posted a short intro to the piece, explaining why the editors chose it and how the piece fits into the magazine’s overall vision.
The piece is on the long side. (As I submitted I had two versions, one that was 7,500 words, and one that was 7,000, since so many journals cap stories at 7k words.) But it’s got art & museums & Pittsburgh & a pandemic & SEX! I do hope you enjoy.
Read the editor’s intro and story here.
All righty, enough about me and my musings on life.
Tell me now!
Where did you have work published this past month?
How many places did you submit to before your piece found its lovely little home?
Did you revise as you submitted or was it done and out the door?
How did you find out about the journal?
Don’t be shy now. Step right up! Come on out and take us into your world. Share your process, share your links!
It’s time to brag your lit mag!
Thrilled that my short story "We Were the Ambers" appears in the current issue of North American Review (print only: https://northamericanreview.org/issue/3093-fall-2024)!
Appearing this month:
Caesura, “Night Shade”
Last Leaves Magazine, “The Cat”
ONE ART, My Mother Could Write Lines for Fortune Cookies.”
https://oneartpoetry.com/2024/10/19/my-mother-could-write-lines-for-fortune-cookies-by-barbara-krasner/
The Ekphrastic Review, “We, the Immigrants” and “My Grandfather's Arrival, 1899”
https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/two-after-george-bellows-by-barbara-krasner
Ekphrastic Review Challenge: “Sacred Hoop” and “Interior Design”
Accepted this month:
Vita Poetica, “In the Shtetl, G-d Does Not Only”
First time my work has been featured in these lit mags except for Last Leaves and the ekphrasis ones. No revisions made except for the last two lines in the “Mother” poem.
Rejections keep pouring in. YTD stats: 231 subs made, mostly poetry with upwards of 30 percent acceptance.