by Ramona Pilar
With August gone and September already begun, we’ve reached the time of year for Women Who Submit’s annual SUBMISSION BLITZ (*pewpew*)! For the fourth year in a row, women across the country – nay, all over the world – are encouraged to flood top-tier journals with their fiction and nonfiction prose and poems.
The annual Submission Blitz is one of a plethora of actions Women Who Submit takes to work towards equity in the publishing world. These in-person gatherings give us a chance to celebrate each other and our commitment to our work, and ourselves because writing is hard. And discipline is hard. Staying the course against outer and inner obstacles is hard. So what better way to honor making it another whole trip around the sun as a writer, than to get together around food and drink, and WOO-HOO each other as we send out best work out to the mero-meros, the crème de la crème, the top-tier journals and shake up their slush pile!
Here are five tier 1 journals with current open readings. Be sure to check out their guidelines:
Paris Review (ground mail only)
For more places to submit check out this Entropy list
But rest assured, there are WOO-HOOs abound no matter where you send your work as long as you advocate for yourself and hit send! Are there some residency deadlines coming up soon? SEND! Is there a chapbook or manuscript contest coming up? SEND! Maybe a freelance gig or pitch deadline on the horizon? SEND!
Each year we strive to create workshops and events based on the interest and feedback from our regular (and potential) members. New this year, WWS-LA will be having a Submission Strategies workshop this Saturday, September 9, 2017, one week prior to the official Submission Blitz. Led by Tammy Delatorre, this workshop will focus on crafting a stellar submission packet to prep for the big blitz on Saturday, September 16, 2017. Ms. Delatorre will dispense tips on putting together a strong, competitive cover letter, formatting for the packet, and other helpful hints to make your submission shine!
The following Saturday is go-time for those fabulous submission packets! We hold a virtual Submission Blitz from 12:01am to 11:59pm. Let us know where you submit your work with via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and we will give a robust WOO-HOO shout out to you!
For those of you in the Los Angeles area, we will be meeting for the in-person Submission Blitz at Coffee Table in Eagle Rock from 2:30pm – 5:30pm. You can feel free to just show up. Just let us know if you’ll be coming via the Facebook invite so we have a good idea of headcount.
We love having a reason to celebrate each other and to have focused, dedicated action towards building community and promoting women’s voices in publishing.
To see how representation has changed over the years, be sure to check out the recent VIDA Count, the survey that inspired this whole venture.
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What: Submission Blitz
When: Saturday, September 16, 2017
(Online: 12:00am – 11:59pm; In-person: 2:30pm-5:30pm)
Location: Online and The Coffee Table
Parking: Meter parking on Colorado Blvd., Street Parking available on some side streets surrounding the venue.