December 2019 – Women Who Submit

December 31, 2019

A WWS Publication Roundup for December

A laptop computer with an article titled "Submissions Made Simple" on the screen and a stack of literary journals sits on top of the laptop base, titles facing out

Happy New Year and congratulations to everyone who was published in 2019! Cheers to these writers whose work was published in December.

From “Vanishing Twin Syndrome” by Rachael Rifkin at Pulp:

IVF produced three embryos and my doctor implanted one, leaving two on ice.

When that one didn’t take, I took a couple month break from fertility treatments. I let myself become so used to the appearance of single lines, I wondered if my body could ever overcome my disbelief. I let myself believe I wasn’t a person concerned with getting pregnant, and for a couple months I was.

Congratulations to Ashunda Norris who had four poems published at Dreginald! From “My Therapist Says I’m Mourning the Loss of An Undead Sister:”

& the grief wrecks me a bride of caskets stabbing
heated cotton fields my sister’s manic curses slice through
my father’s prayers mid request & what else is there for god to do

From Helena Lipstadt‘s “All By Myself,” at Glint:

I am having an affair
with you

you don’t care
you don’t know
ty lubie

From Soleil David‘s “Last Transit of Venus This Century Draws Stargazers Around the World” at Sinking City:

High noon & I trek out to a Gangnam playground with you,
sit on a swing, trace larger & larger arcs & you fit
your face over the pinhole projector you made, staring into
the haloed reflection of a sun as yet unblemished. Around me

Also from Soleil, “Mt. Mayon” at Mary:

It is not Pompeii yet.
Not the stew of magma
& rainwater.

Congratulations to Romaine Washington whose poem, “1. Nuzzle and 2. Shrinking,” was published in Is It Hot In Here or Is It Just Me?: Women Over Forty Write on Aging!

Congratulations to Li Yun Alvarado whose essay, “Literatura, Música, y (Huracán) María: A Puerto Rican Poet’s Reflection After the Storm,” was published in Boricua en la Luna, a collection of work written by Puerto Rican authors!

Congratulations to Lituo Huang whose chapbook, This Long Clot of Love, was published this month!

December 24, 2019January 22, 2020

Breathe and Push: 5 Ways for Writers to Celebrate

One of the things I love most about our Women Who Submit community is the way we celebrate. We clap-up every submission and query at our parties and acknowledge our passes and publications in our virtual spaces. So during this season of celebration, let’s think about all of the ways we can close out the year celebrating our work and our risks and all the choices we make that move our creative work into the world. Here are five ways we can celebrate our writing lives this holiday season.

Celebrate the words. Maybe it’s a line in a draft of a poem, or a nice holiday note. Maybe it’s a turn in a story, or maybe even a whole paragraph or chapter that works exactly the way we want. In those small, sacred moments when we feel like we actually get the words right, let’s celebrate them, even if we are the only ones reading them (so far).
Celebrate brilliance in the works we read. Look at all of the amazing final drafts in the world! I am sometimes overwhelmed when I first walk into a bookstore or library. There are so many books, and I wonder where my own voice fits within all of the noise. Instead of hanging my head, I’m thankful for all of the books, and all of the poetry and essay collections I’ve read this year. These books have so much to teach if I read and learn from them. Instead of concerning myself with where my voice fits, I can celebrate books and know I am working to make space for more voices.
Celebrate gifts of words. This holiday season, like most others, I gift favorite books that I’ve read in the past year and hope to talk with loved ones about them. Maybe it’s a personalized note or card aiming to thank or communicate an important thought. The written word allows us to connect with friends and family beyond the social media share or text message. Talking about ideas and stories allows for a different level of connection, the kind I strive for but struggle to create with even my dearest family and friends.
Celebrate the accomplishments and write them down. All of the submissions, readings, conferences, residencies, late nights, early mornings, time at drafting, revising, editing, researching, responding, and risk-taking. It all takes so much, and most of us do this work while working and caretaking and living full and busy lives. So celebrate all of those ways we put our work and our words out there. For every reading or lecture we attended, for every opportunity or conversation we said yes to, or all of those times when we supported other writers and then grew as writers ourselves, cheers to all of that.
Celebrate growth across time. It’s the end of a year and of a decade. There are best-of-lists for all things artistic and creative all around us, and it’s easy to get lost making sense of everyone else’s reflections. But this looking back doesn’t need to be public, it doesn’t need to be shared or written about, but it is worthwhile. You will see just how much work you have done over the past months and over the years. Celebrate it. Celebrate you and your artistry, and then let’s look forward to all you are becoming in 2020 and into this next decade.

Happy holidays to you all. I look forward to celebrating with you all in the new year and decade.

Noriko Nakada writes, blogs, tweets, parents, and teaches middle school in Los Angeles. She is committed to writing thought-provoking creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. Publications include: Through Eyes Like Mine (2010), Overdue Apologies (2012), and I Tried (2019). Excerpts, essays, and poetry have appeared in Catapult, Meridian, Kartika, Hippocampus, Compose, Linden Avenue and elsewhere.

December 11, 2019December 10, 2019

Cheers to 2019!

three women of color holding beers and standing in front of a graphic black and white mural

Dearest Writers,

As we come to the end of another year (and decade), I like to look back at all we’ve accomplished this year, and congratulate everyone for continuing to thrive when too many want us to disappear.

Firsts the firsts. The Kit Reed Travel Fund, thanks to a donation from Kit Reed’s surviving family members, made it possible for WWS to sponsor three writers of color to attend a workshop, residency, or conference of their choice with a small $340 grant meant to offset travel costs. In the spirit of Kit Reed’s prolific work and adventurous spirit, Sakae Manning attended the Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers in Oregon, Grace Lee attended Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Vermont, and Sibylla Nash attended Joya: AiR in Spain. We look forward to offering more grants in 2020.

Thanks to the tireless work of managing editors, Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera and Rachael Warecki, we had our first anthology, ACCOLADES, made it through it’s open call, selection process, and design, and will be ready for release in spring 2020. ACCOLADES was made possible by CCI Arts Investing in Tomorrow grant and is a celebration of our writers’ publications and awards over the last few years.

Another first in 2019 was our WWS Happy Hour at AWP hosted by our friends at Nucleus Portland where we featured 10 readers to a jovial crowd drinking beer and wine. Be sure to be on the look out for our 2020 AWP event, the ACCOLADES, a WWS Anthologly, Release Party on March 5th at La Botanica from 4pm-7pm .

We ended the year strong with one last first, our first crowd funding campaign, and thanks to the work and leadership of Lauren Eggert-Crowe and Ashley Perez we surpassed our funding goal! These funds were needed to match funds from a CAC Local Impact grant we received in 2019.

In 2019 we also hosted the following workshops and panels:

February: You Need a Website! A Practical Guide to the What, Why, and How of Building (or Strategically Updating) Your Author Website with Li Yun Alvarado

April: Poetry Submission Panel with Muriel Leung & Vickie Vertiz and moderated by Lauren Eggert-Crowe

June: Finding an Agent and What I Never Knew Until It Happened with Natashia Deón

August: Tier One Submission Strategies with Désirée Zamorano

October: Pay attention: attending and collaborating at the end slash beginning of the world with Rachel McLeod Kaminer and Rocío Carlos

But let’s not forget other highlights such a the 6th Annual Submission Blitz in September, where we encouraged our members to submit to tier one journals, an action inspired by Vida and the Vida count. We also made our 4th appearance at Lit Crawl LA, with “It’s a Book Party!” featuring new titles from members Jenise Miller, Carla Sameth, Colette Sartor, Micelle Brittan Rosado, and Noriko Nakada, and we featured at the Los Angeles reading series, Roar Shack, hosted by David Rocklin with readers Sakae Manning, Grace Lee, Sibylla Nash, Ryane Granados, Lituo Huang, Andy Anderegg, and Ann Faison.

And last but not least we can’t forget the 125 publications and awards celebrated on the WWS Publication Round Up in 2019, a list curated each month by the brilliant and tireless, Laura K. Warrell.

So with that, I thank you for all you did this year. I thank you for sharing space with me, and for continuing to champion your work and the work of other writers in our community. We do this together, and I look forward to another year of submission parties and publications with you!

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Director of Women Who Submit

December 4, 2019December 11, 2019

Writing on a Budget: Gratitude at the End of the Decade

By Lisbeth Coiman

As the end of the decade approaches, and in the spirit of the past Thanksgiving, I express gratitude for the gifts I enjoy and the people who have helped me in the process of setting roots in Los Angeles. When I count my gifts, I claim sanity, employment, community, and dancing.

manual typewriter and iPad with stickers and pins

Since I have battled with suicide ideation throughout my adult life mostly through medication and therapy, I am grateful every day I find the strength and motivation to pursue my goals. Staying alive requires the help of a therapist who speaks my native language and has patiently held my hand when separating from the man I have loved with wild passion and madness felt like peeling the skin off of my body.

Los Angeles, this crazy city of traffic jams, evictions, and homelessness, gave me a job I cherish serving a population I respect and admire. As an adult ESL teacher I have the privilege to introduce new immigrants to the English language and to the US culture – with all its wonders and dark chapters. Aware that this job does not pay my bills entirely, I have also found the support of NAMI LAC to employ me as an In Our Own Voice presenter, a program that fights the stigma against those of us who suffer from mental disorders. When that was not enough to provide for myself and my family in my homeland, I have also been fortunate to rely on my native language to further supplement my income with private tutoring. My work week extends to 50-60 hours, and yes, it feels like too much. Yet I am grateful for Mondays. when I know there is another full week ahead to continue my growth as a self-sustained woman in her mid 50s.

In La La La land I have been audience and participant of extraordinary literary events. Most of the people I come across in those events, with their “hmms” after a line of poetry, or a suggestion to submit, or encouragement, have paved the way for my growth as a writer. The World Stage, La Palabra, Rapp Saloon, Roar Shack, Why There Are Words, LA Expressions, The Exhibition Park Regional Library, Other Books LA, Libro Mobile, and Drunken Masters, and all the amazing writers and hosts of this great community have nourished my artistic spirit.

The South Bay Writing Group, a small and eclectic ensemble of women writers who meet once a week in a coffee shop in Redondo Beach, have become my sisters in writing. I look forward to meeting them once a week, when we briefly catch up on our lives, and fiercely critique each other’s work. They have seen me through divorce and depression, as I have seen them through death of parents, parental worries, and lately through cancer. I love them dearly and cannot be grateful enough for their support.

No other community has had a more significant impact in my development as an writer in the last five years than Women Who Submit. I met them on my first week in LA in the summer of 2014 and have been involved with them ever since. Despite my limited participation in this organization, Women Who Submit has become a great resource to find potential publication for my writing. I am not only grateful, but also proud to know the extraordinary founders and the leadership team.

But what brings me joy is dancing. When I dance, I smile and in doing so my brain produces the endorphins I need to feel good. I have danced since I was a child, but never paid attention to style or form. LA Salsa dancing scene is glamorous and flamboyant, and it’s been hard to learn so much sophistication. But I have talented and patient instructors, who celebrate my life’s events even when I still cannot gather enough friends for a party. They offer me so much fun on the hours I steal from my many responsibilities.

With only a few weeks left to the end of the year, I just wish that one day not far into the future, I can shed some of my financial constraints and dedicate myself entirely to pursue a career as a writer. And when I do so, I will do it as a part of the South Bay Writing Group, Women Who Submit, and the LA writing community as a whole. Then I will dance of joy.