The summer has not slowed down the members of Women Who Submit who have accumulated yet another impressive list of literary awards and publication acceptances.
Lauren Eggert-Crowe had three poems published in Angels Flight Literary West. From “Never Shop Thirsty:”
My heart is a hole I want
to stuff with bread
so I go to our Trader
Joe’s for the first time
since you left. Rearranged
shelves are enough to bring it on.
The first time I saw Aya was during graduate school at Antioch University Los Angeles. I noticed her immediately because she’s taller than most (while I’m shorter than most), and she has beautiful, long dreadlocks. Her intelligence, however (she’s a Harvard graduate), was the attribute that would remind me of who she was once we left campus and communicated from our respective locations for the rest of the semester. (Ours was a “low-residency” program.) During online conferences I’d read her posts and think: Oh yeah, that’s Aya, the really smart woman.
Continue reading “Claps and Cheers: Aya de Leon interviewed by Toni Ann Johnson”
Women Who Submit stands in solidarity with the #blacklivesmatter movement as we work for equality and visibility of not just women writers but all marginalized people. As we each individually and as a collective search for ways to help the movement, we share the following collection of articles, interviews, poems and videos that we have found helpful in this dark time. We hope you find them helpful too. Continue reading “Women Who Submit Stands with #BlackLivesMatter: Resources for Awareness, Unity and Healing”
The summer has gotten off to a pub-tastic start! Congratulations to all the women who have had work accepted or published in June.
From Alana Saltz‘s “How ASMR Videos Help Me Cope with My Anxiety” on Bustle:
Until six months ago, I’d never heard of ASMR. All I knew was that I had a fondness for particular sounds and voices. When people spoke to me kindly and softly, it eased some of the symptoms that came with my anxiety disorder. Certain accents and tones made my body feel tingly and calm.
by Hong-My Basrai
When we finally left communist Vietnam, my father said: “Never look back.” His words had a finality to them. They stuck in my twenty-two-year-old mind, and so I began my never looking back process, starting with learning to communicate predominantly in English.
The acquisition and manipulation of languages were second nature to me. I had been doing it all my life—soaking up Vietnamese in the cradle, French in kindergarten, Chinese from classmates, English to survive, and Gujarati because I had married into a Gujarati Indian family.
Basic English had come to me easily enough. It was just a small step from uttering my first “thank you” to verbal fluency, then progressing fast from ESL writing class to English 1A composition. What was harder was learning to elevate my writing proficiency to a level suitable for a public audience. Since I had picked up English on the go, learning it by imitation, like a baby, with most words borrowed from my prior knowledge of French, I had to pay extra attention to spelling of similar words, particularly homophones like address and adresse, envelope and enveloppe, May and mai; false cognates, words that have similar spelling but different meanings, like infant and enfant, anniversary and anniversaire, song and son; and words of Latin and Greek roots like destroy and détruire, or abnormal and anormal, etc. Continue reading “Writing English as a Polyglot”
By Lisbeth Coiman
Here is our submission call list for May. Today I bring you five deadlines and five open calls all but one under $15. Polish your piece, submit, and track. Find support in your community to celebrate each other’s success, but make time to hold your writing buddies through rejections. Keep writing. Submit hard.
1.Gloom Cupboard
Deadline: May 15, 2016
Submission Guidelines:
http://gloomcupboard.com/https://gloomcupboard.com/submission-guidelines/
Reading fee: $3 Continue reading “May Submission Deadlines: 9 under $15”
by Melissa Chadburn and Lauren Eggert-Crowe
One December night in Culver City, I, Melissa Chadburn, was talking to Lauren Eggert-Crowe about Kate Gale’s Huff Po missive about AWP’s inclusion and Carol Muske-Dukes’ defense of said article. Lauren said she’d wanted to write a response but it takes her time to write these things. I suggested we collaborate on a response to be read aloud at a Red Hen Press event. So on Thursday April 7th, rather than read the essay that Red Hen published in the Los Angeles Review, I read this:
MC:
I used to live in a group home. I used to wander the streets looking into people’s dining rooms with the worst kind of ache. I used to stand around with teenage boys on the street corner waiting for the stoplight to change color. I used to hitch rides through the Palisades to go to my group home for girls by the ocean. I used to worry about gonorrhea and feel like I was the worst piece of shit alive. I used to pat my mother’s hair between my hands like hamburger meat. I used to practice kissing girls by kissing the back of my hand or kissing my own shoulder just to see what my skin tasted like. I used to do graffiti on government issued desks waiting for my name to be called. I used to long to belong to a world of the ordinary.
By Lisbeth Coiman
As if you didn’t gather enough information at the AWP, here is a bit more, a short list of publications to send your best work to. This time I rounded up ten small presses names with their contact information and a short review. They all have open reading periods. They all do exceptional work at bringing emergent voices on print.
1. 2Leaf Press
Reading Period: Opening date January 1.
Submission Guidelines
What They Like: NY-based nonprofit that promotes literature and literacy. They look for new voices, and produce quality work in a wide variety of genres by culturally diverse authors. Focus on literary fiction and cultural non-fiction.
2. Alternative Book Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
What they like: They are looking for work that can stand time, not just for a sale hit.
3. Cinco Puntos Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
What They Like: Although they have a focus on the US / Mexico border region, they also publish great writers from other parts of the countries with stories located in other settings. Submission starts with a phone call.
4. C&R Press
Reading Period: Now accepting
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $25
What They Like: They are interested in supporting authors whose thoughtful and imaginative contribution to contemporary literature deserved recognition and support.
5. Diversion Press
Reading Period: Opens May 1
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: 0
What They Like: Academic non-fiction, slice of life, how-to, history, and other non-fiction works. They also publish a poetry anthology and sponsor a poetry contest.
6. Outpost19
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: 0
What They Like: Looks for innovative projects and provocative reading. Uses submittable.
7. Pink Fish Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Try to destroy the stigma of “poor quality work” that accompanies independent authors. They believe in talented voices, and gifted writers are the forefront of popular culture. Isn’t that nice?
8. Red Hen Press
Reading Period: Open till September
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $20
What They Like: Red Hen Press is committed to publishing work of literary excellence, supporting diversity, and promoting literacy in our local schools. They seek a community of readers and writers who are actively engaged in the essential human practice known as literature.
9. Wild Embers Press
Reading Period: Not listed
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Looking for experimental stories of love and liberation from marginalized place in all genres, fiction, creative non fiction, and poetry. Welcomes art included with narratives. Query via email at wildemberseditor@gmail.com. Only PDF files.
10. Willowbooks
Reading Period: Open from April 1 to September 1
Submission Guidelines
Reading fee: $0
What They Like: Their mission is to develop, publish, and promote writers typically underrepresented in the market, and the reading period is open to all writers from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual writer standing (unbalanced) on a blurred line between fiction and memoir. She has wandered the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada, to the US, and now lives in Oakland. Her upcoming memoir The Shattered Mirror celebrates friendship among women and draws attention on child abuse and mental illness. She also writes short fiction and poetry, and blogs “irregularly” at www.gingerbreadwoman.org
by Li Yun Alvarado
“PhD by 33”
Those were the words I scrawled on a yellow post-it note shortly after beginning my doctoral coursework. At the time, the fact that the phrase rhymed felt significant, as if the rhyming meant my five year deadline was somehow meant to be.
I was twenty-eight when I began, and even though five years to complete the coursework, comprehensive exams, a proposal and dissertation was an ambitious goal, I believed it was attainable, so I wrote “PhD by 33” on that post-it and stuck it prominently above my desk. That post-it was only the first of a collection of messages that decorated the area I came to call my “dissertation station.”
“Shitty First Draft!” proclaimed another post-it, making reference to Anne Lamott’s advice that all great writing begins with a shitty first draft.
“What Must Get Done Will Get Done” — a mantra I picked up from a high school friend also made an appearance on my wall. I had used that phrase for over a decade to psyche myself up before long nights of paper writing during high school, college, and graduate school.
After reading Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker, I posted several quotes from that book on my wall as well:
“Living (and writing) well is the best revenge”
“First you make a mess, then you clean it up”
“Not every single word of this can be garbage”
“Writing is probably the best cure for a scared writer”
“Create and Care for Your Writing Addiction”
“Don’t cry over spilt milk, or unwritten pages”
“Write one day at a time”
“WRITE FIRST!”
“The best dissertation is a DONE dissertation”
One of my favorite post-its came from an unexpected source: the last line from Cristina Yang’s final monologue on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy: “Assume it will be Brilliant.”
I’m not unique in my use of post-its to motivate and inspire. On the TV show Being Mary Jane, Gabrielle Union’s character Mary Jane displays meaningful quotes and affirmations on yellow post-its all over her home—even on her head board.
Chicana feminist-poet-scholar Gloria Anzaldúa wrote her ambitions on “candle affirmations,” circular pieces of paper on which she wrote personal, professional, spiritual, and writing aspirations. Presumably after writing these affirmations, she’d place a candle on top of the paper, set her intention, and light the candle. You can find Anzaldúa’s candle affirmations at her archive at UT Austin (Box 5 Folder 5).
Most recently, a page full of affirmations were found in one of novelist Octavia Butler’s notebooks. “I shall be a bestselling writer,” she begins. “This is my life. I write bestselling novels,” she continues. Her aspirations are not limited to her own success either. She affirms, “I will help poor black youngsters broaden their horizons. I will help poor black youngsters go to college.” One powerful phrase that she repeats is: “So be it! See to it!”
News of Butler’s page of affirmations circulated like wildfire among my friends’ FB pages. Her words alongside her successful career acted as an example of the power of clear and precise envisioning. As the title of one Blavity article proclaims, “Octavia Butler’s Personal Journal Shows the Author Literally Wrote Her Life Into Existence.” I think it is that idea of writing oneself into existence that resonated so powerfully with us writers because so many of us are trying to do exactly that.
Butler’s affirmations reminded me of another post-it I stuck on the wall above my desk while dissertating: “Dr. Alvarado.” I wrote the title “Dr.” beside my name long before my dissertation was done as if to say, “So be it! See to it!”
These examples, combined with my own experiences creating vision boards and posting advice and affirmations around my home, have made me a true believer in the power of the post-it, or, more accurately, the power of clearly articulated aspirations, affirmations, and images posted prominently in our living and working spaces. I’ve come to believe that these post-its, lists, candle affirmations, and vision boards can function as powerful aids in attaining our hearts’ deepest desires—as writers, artists, and even as human beings.
So, did I achieve my goal of “PhD by 33”? No. That was a crazy goal!
But by my 34th birthday in October of 2014, my committee and I had agreed that I would be ready to defend my dissertation that spring — the first person in my cohort to do so. Having the “PhD by 33” stretch goal made me stay focused on making steady progress on my doctoral work even when life got in the way (losing a friend and a grandparent; having my brother, sister-in-law, and infant/toddler nephew as roommates; finding a (benign) tumor on my breast; teaching and grading (ugh!); embracing a long distance romance turned cross-country move turned marriage; planning a wedding in Puerto Rico from California; and buying a first home—to name just a few examples). During those six years, I pushed myself and pushed my committee to support me on my forward progress, so that I could not only finish, but finish quickly.
When it became obvious that “PhD by 33” wasn’t going to happen, I let myself off the hook. I crossed out 33 and wrote in 34. Finishing by 33 was never the point; finishing was the point. By pushing myself to make that 33 “deadline,” I was a lot closer to the ultimate goal by my 34th birthday than I might have been otherwise.
Post-PhD, my writing related post-its remain above my desk, along with some new additions, like a picture of Idris Elba asking “Shouldn’t you be writing?” Yes, Idris, yes I should be.
The post-it that replaced “PhD by 33”?
“5 Books & 2 Babies by 45!”
I’m giving myself ten years to focus my efforts on “Books & Babies.” I even created one of my elaborate vision boards filled with cut-outs from Poets and Writers and parenting magazines evoking the parent/writer life.
Will I make these things happen? Sure. Why not? I don’t know. What I do know is that if I don’t try to make them happen, then they most certainly won’t.
A few months after writing “5 Books & 2 Babies by 45!” on a post-it, a poetry manuscript I’ve played around with and submitted in various forms for about nine years was finally picked up. That chapbook, Words or Water, is now available for pre-order from Finishing Line Press (book #1). The summer after I earned that PhD, I wrote a picture book manuscript, submitted it to a contest with Lee & Low Books and won second place. I have faith that it will be published one day (book #2). As we speak, I’m compiling poems for a full-length manuscript I hope to start submitting next fall (book #3). My husband and I are enjoying trying for baby #1. I’d say that’s not too shabby for my first year of “5 Books and 2 Babies by 45.”
In the end, clearly articulating what I really want—in writing— helps keep me focused and striving. I write towards those goals, and I submit towards those hopes, and I think of new projects with those aspirations in mind, and I make love open to those dreams. And I move forward. And I write my life into existence.
Li Yun Alvarado is the author of Words or Water and Nuyorico, CA. A poet and scholar, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education; The Acentos Review; and PMS Poemmemoirstory among others. She recently received the Lee & Low New Voices Honor, and in 2012 she received an honorable mention for The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She is currently the Senior Poetry Editor for Kweli Journal and is an alumna of VONA/Voices Writing Workshop and AROHO. She holds a BA in Spanish and sociology from Yale University and an MA and PhD in English from Fordham University. Li Yun is a native New Yorker living in Long Beach, California who takes frequent trips to Salinas, Puerto Rico to visit la familia. You can order her new book and learn more about Li Yun on Facebook and at www.liyunalvarado.com.
By Lisbeth Coiman
As part of our ongoing effort to encourage women to submit to top tier literary journals, Women Who Submit has put together a monthly submission call round up, hoping women writers find it useful and come back to it again and again. For our first list, we have included 19 publications with under $20 submission fees, and one publication with a slightly higher fee.
General
Reading Period: Opening date not listed – March 10
What They Like: They’ve received a ton of stories about cancer, so he could do without seeing any of those for a while and would prefer to see stuff that’s “different.”
Deadline: March 31
Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction
Rotating Editors
Blind reading
Reading Period: January 15 – March 31
What They Like: Emerging fiction from new writers. They run year-round New Voices online editions and additional contests judged by the magazine editors and other writers.
Reading Period: August 15 – April 16
What They Like: Realistic fiction, some humorous pieces
Responses: One submission, one form rejection
Deadline: for issue 39.4 : April 30
Cost: $0
Featured: Sookfong Lee and Betsy Warland
Editor: Chelene Knight
Canadian publication. Recommended to read a couple of issues to get the feel of what they publish @ www.roommagazine.com/magazine. They are interested in poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction by women. They pay from CA$ 50 up to CA$120 depending on the number of pages. They accept one submission per genre per quarter and publish 80 to 100 pieces from a 2000 submissions slush pile.
Deadline: Open Call
Cost: $5
Hardcopy submissions only sent to
Editorial Department
The Sun
107 N. Roberson St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
They publish personal essays although they also accept interviews, fiction and poetry. Your immaculate personal essay competes against thousands of other great essays in the slush pile every month. They take up to six months to reply. The nicely printed rejection letters make for a good keepsake too. They pay from $100-200 for poetry up to $2000 for interviews. SASE required.
It is highly recommended to read at least a couple of issues to get a feel for the magazine content and what the editors expect.
Deadline: Open Call
Cost: $3
Genre: Fiction, Poetry, Non-fiction, drama, and blog
Query before submitting. Online submission only.
Deadline: Open Call
Genre: Poetry, prose, and art for events and for the magazine.
Editor: Jennifer Lewis
Submit to: Jennifer@redlight.com also
Oakland based reading series and quarterly journal since 2013 publishes emerging writers and artists who delve in the senses with sophistication, humor, and wit.
Short Fiction Only
Reading Period: All year, but do not accept more than four submissions per year
Submission guidelines
What They Like: They seem a fair bit eclectic
10. The Atlantic
Reading Period: All year
Submission guidelines
What They Like: I’ve seen a little bit of everything, but they seem to prefer realism
11. The New Yorker
Reading Period: All year
Submission Guidelines: http://www.newyorker.com/about/contact
What They Like: I’ve seen a little bit of everything, from realism to magical realism to a few other types of fiction, but not too much “genre”
Responses; If you haven’t heard from them within three months, you’re just supposed to assume you’re rejected
Reading Period: Open year-round, but with general submissions in January, May, and September
What They Like: Rural stories, coming-of-age stories
Reading Period: Open year-round
What They Like: I’ve read everything from the fantastical to the dystopic to the realistic to the WTF-how-did-this-get-published, so they seem rather eclectic
Reading Period: Open year-round, as far as I can tell, but don’t quote me on that
What They Like: I haven’t been overly impressed with what I’ve read, but they seem to like realistic, rural, small-scale stories
Anthologies
First Annual Articulated Press Short Story Anthology
Deadline: March 31
Cost: $0
Editors: Nora Boxer and Kelly Luce
Chosen contributors receive $100, publication, and two hardcovers, two softcovers, and an eBook edition.
Procyon Science Fiction Anthology
Deadline: March 31
Cost: $0
Editor: Jeanne Thornton
Chosen contributors receive $100, publication, and two hardcovers, two softcovers, and an eBook edition.
Where is My Tiara? Anthology
Deadline: March 31
Genre: Short fiction
Theme: Stories that feature multilayered female protagonist that illuminate and celebrate the many facets and complexities of being a woman
Selected stories will receive a copy of the anthology and a stipend of $100.00
Anthology Volume V
Deadline: March 31
Cost: $20
Genre: Fiction, literary non-fiction (7000 words)
Prize: $500
This yearly anthology is composed of 10 stories by emergent writers. Last year, the Masters Review won the Silver Medal for Best Short Story Collection through the INDIEFAB Awards. (Among the past judges: Lauren Groff and Lev Grossman; current judge is Amy Hempel.)
Contests
Deadline: March 15, 2016
Submission guidelines
Cost: $33
Genre: Fiction (novels) only.
Prize:
Submit to: James Jones First Novel Fellowship
c/o M.A./M.F.A. in Creative Writing
Wilkes University
84 West South St.
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766
Our most expensive publication on the list. This contest is seeking emergent fiction writers who have yet to publish a novel. The award honors the cultural and social values exemplified by late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity. Contestants can’t have previously published novels, but are eligible with published short fiction and non-fiction work.
Word by Word – WCSC Short Fiction Contest
Deadline: March 31
Cost: CAN$15
US$20
Judge: Literary Agent, Hilary McMahon of Westwood Creative Artists
Award: Publication on WCSC website and
Solstice is a tri-quarterly magazine, with a response time of two to four months. It publishes fiction, non-fiction (essays and memoirs), poetry, and photography. It publishes both emergent and established writers of diverse backgrounds.
Solstice Annual Literary Contest
Deadline: April 20, 2016
Cost: $18
$500 Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry
Judge: Richard Blanco
$1000 Fiction Prize
Judge: Celeste Ng.
$500 Non-Fiction Prize
Judge: Michael Steinberg
Winners will be published in the Summer Award Issue in early August.
This is all for now. Hope to see you back next month, when we will try to compile another list of journals with plenty of details to help you plan and budget your submissions.
Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual writer standing (unbalanced) on a blurred line between fiction and memoir. She has wandered the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada, to the US, and now lives in Oakland. Her upcoming memoir The Shattered Mirror celebrates friendship among women and draws attention on child abuse and mental illness. She also writes short fiction and poetry, and blogs “irregularly” at www.gingerbreadwoman.org
