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Breathe and Push: When Just Breathing Is Enough

By Noriko Nakada

I’m showing up today, y’all, but I’m exhausted. From working my own day job. From parenting my two kids. From breathing on the flames of a writing career I’m hoping will someday generate more than a couple of flickers from hot coals. I’m exhausted from the news. The devastating bad news. The possibly good news. The potential for what might come soon, might come later, might not come at all.

Knock on wood if you’re with me.

I’ve been watching lots of tv to escape and see the world right now. One of my late-summer guilty pleasures is Hard Knocks. It’s an HBO Sports production following an NFL camp throughout the preseason. I’ve been watching for years, even though I’ve written off the NFL #IStandWithKap. This season, Coach Gruden of the Raiders does this thing where he says, “Knock on wood if you’re with me.” When he says this, the players rap on the tables around them and it’s a cosign for whatever he’s said.

I started using this in my classes. “So, the author here is clearly unreliable. Knock on wood if you’re with me.” It works. My middle school students knock on wood. Or they don’t, but at least a few do and it always wakes up the room for a few seconds.

Knock on wood if you’re with me.

So, tonight I’m going to breathe. On this warm fall night that still feels like summer, I’ll put a few words on the page, close my eyes to the news cycles spinning, kiss my kids goodnight, and breathe. In the morning there will be a fresh day, a new page to write, new headlines to unpack, another school day for my students and my children, and sometimes it is enough to just breathe. And the next day, the next week, the next month there will be endless opportunities to push, but tonight, breathing is all I’ve got.

via GIPHY

Knock on wood if you’re with me.

Noriko NakadaNoriko Nakada is the editor of the Breathe and Push column. She writes, blogs, tweets, and parents in Los Angeles. She is committed to writing thought-provoking creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.

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Reportback from the sixth annual Submission Blitz

The Blitz is a nationwide virtual celebration of Women Who Submit’s work. It’s a day when we invite women and non-binary writers to submit to at least one Tier 1 journal. The idea is to have a coordinated effort on one day in which the slush piles of Tier 1 journals get flooded with submission by underrepresented writers. Anyone can join from anywhere!

What is a Tier 1 journal, you may ask? While the title *can* be a little subjective, and the definitions can be slippery, in general, Tier 1 means the journal pays its contributors, has a wide distribution, often features writing that gets nominated for awards, holds contests, and is widely known. We have more information about submitting to Tier 1 here in this blog post written by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo.

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Building Our Community

A woman standing before a room of women writers speaking.

By Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

Let me begin by saying that we currently have an IndieGoGo Campaign to raise funds for our 2020 programming. Please consider donating and help us fight for gender parity in publishing. For those new to WWS, allow me to share some of our history and how we’ve arrived at our first ever fundraising drive.

In June 2011, Alyss Dixson and Ashaki M. Jackson invited me to help plan and host our first submission party. Our mission was to empower women writers to submit to journals in hopes of changing the gender disparity recorded by the first Vida Count. At this first party, I made quiche to share, we created a lending library of journals, and we set up a moving office with printer, paper, envelopes, and stamps. About six women met that day to set goals and submit work. Every time a person submitted the room cheered. With the exception of the moving office (since most journals now accept online submissions), these details have become the essential characteristics of any Women Who Submit event.

Over the years we continued to meet. One year we met about an average of once a season, and at one meeting we only had three participants, but we never stopped meeting.

In the summer of 2014, Writ Large Press launched their first #90for90 series, where they hosted 90 literary events in 90 days. Excited by the series, I reached out to then WLP partner, Jessica Ceballos and asked if there was room for a Women Who Submit event. She said yes, and we decided to host a panel on publishing a first book called “It’s a Book!” with author of Remedy for a Broken Angel, Toni Ann Johnson, author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corazón, Iris de Anda, author of Harrowgate, Kate Maruyama, author of Spent, Antonia Crane, and hosted by Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera. This was our first official public event.

That same summer Tisha, Ashaki, Ramona Gonzales, and myself got together to write our first grant proposal. We had several meetings where we parsed out duties and fined-tuned our narrative. In that grant we proposed a professional development workshop series. We weren’t awarded the grant, but since we’d done the work to create the program, we decided to move forward with implementing it.

In 2016 I invited small group of writers to create a leadership team, along with those already involved to help manage our growing community.

Over the last few years we’ve had workshops on contest strategies, mothering and writing, building a website, finding an agent, self-care, applying to workshops, residencies and fellowships, writing an essay, and so forth. We went from hosting events at different literary and cultural spaces around Los Angeles to now having an ongoing residency at the Exposition Park Regional Library, thanks to literary community advocate and librarian Eugene Owens. And we’ve presented at AWP, Binder Con, Lambda Lit Fest, Macondo Writers Workshop, among others.

In 2017 we were awarded our first programming grant from CCI Arts, which allowed us to make our workshops a regular bimonthly event, pay our guest speakers, gift small grants to our members to offset submission fees, livestream workshops for accessibility, and publish our first anthology (to be released at AWP 2020).

In 2019, thanks to a generous donation from Kit Reed’s family, we were able to offer three writers travel grants to attend writing workshops out of state, and we were awarded our second grant, a matching Local Impact grant from the California Arts Council.

To have this community continue we need your help! All this programming is offered for free, and it’s part of our mission to continue to offer impactful resources to women and non-binary writers for free, but it’s not free to build and manage.

Check out our IndieGoGo campaign, and help us empower writers submit and fight for gender parity in publishing.

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Writing on a Budget: Compensating Circumstances Letter

By Lisbeth Coiman

There have been times in my life when I have gone through more than my heart could take. So much has happened to me. But I chose to brag about what saves me. In times of difficulties, I rely only on the moral support of friends and acquaintances who have expressed their encouragement to me. I take their words of wisdom, even a sympathetic smile, as the driving force to continue moving forward.

Continue reading “Writing on a Budget: Compensating Circumstances Letter”
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A WWS Publication Roundup for August

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

The summer has come to an end but that hasn’t stopped Women Who Submit writers from getting their words into the world! Congrats to everyone who had work published in August.

From Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo‘s “Ghost Interview with a Soldier in the Peach Orchard” at Rivard Report:

Gettysburg National Military Park

In your final moments, whom did you think of?
Was this someone waiting for you to return? 
I worry I will never find that someone waiting

behind a thick front door of a home we made together. 

From Désirée Zamorano‘s “Memento Mori: On Angel Luis Colón’s ‘Hell Chose Me‘” at Los Angeles Review of Books:

Set in contemporary Bronx, moving between the past and the present, it’s a tense and intriguing thrill ride. Sure, we’ve met mordant, conflicted assassins before, like Lawrence Block’s Keller, Barry Eisler’s John Rain, or Bill Hader’s Barry. In Colón’s hands, Walsh hits familiar notes, but in a key all his own…

From Kate Maruyama‘s “Traces” at Magnolia Review:

Seven months after we lost our father to cancer, we were meeting again, Roger, Janey and I, to sort through the arrangements for our mother’s funeral. Who loses both of their parents so close together? Who loses both of their parents so young? I thought they’d at least be around to see a grandkid or two.

From an interview with Carla Sameth about her debut memoir One Day on the Gold Line at Points:

I think that writing as a family member of those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction (both my wife and son are in recovery) provides a unique perspective. I write a lot about the process I went through understanding addiction as a disease, and looking at my own shit (including addictive behavior) and how I interacted with my son who struggled with alcohol and drug addiction in his teens.

Read an excerpt of Carla‘s memoir at Angels Flight Literary West!

From Danielle Mitchell‘s “Not Wolf” at Poets Reading the News:

Not red, not Mexican, not lowland.
                      No bonnet, no white-tailed, bighorn.

Forget black foot, leave the beach
                      the brow-antlered, San Joaquin, San

Miguel, no woodland, no salt marsh.

From “Visit to Makon” by Bo Hwang at wildness:

After a winter of droughts, my childhood friend—my only kind of sweetheart—moves back to Makon. The city we grew up in; the city we all left. She’s there now, in a house with twelve women, only one her age, a high school teacher from another island, the rest are medical students.

“Seven balconies,” she boasts. “You can see the hospital.”

From Liz Harmer‘s “Right to Grapple” at the Malahat Review:

Let me give you an idea of the sorts of discussions we get into here. On the first Sunday afternoon, just after the little blue VW bug scraped out of here on the gravel road with my mom inside it, I managed to get into an argument about rocks. I was standing near this old tetherball post with my three sacks—my backpack, my rolled-up sleeping bag, and my garbage bag full of clothes—waiting for one of the H______s to escort me to my cabin and halfheartedly hitting the ball. Blam. Blam. Blam in one direction, blam in the other. Then this guy whose real name I cannot reveal comes up to me. 

From Cori Bratby-Rudd‘s “Puppyelectric” at Nailed:

I want Indian food, urgently, intensely, the cream of the tikka masala, the flaked fluffed naan, and so I order it because I remember desperation and I refuse to feel it again. I don’t just order it, I order it delivered and I feel something like royalty, for wanting something and then for having it. Strange to want and then get, as though desires can actually happen for someone like me.

From Li Yun Alvarado‘s “Poe Park” at Aster(ix) Journal:

From this cottage,
where he heard
his young cousin
bride, Virginia

Congratulations to Tanya Ko Hong whose poem, “The Crying Game” was published at Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea!

Congratulations to Amanda L. Andrei whose script, Waiting for a Birthday, was published in The First Five Years Anthology from Thinking in Full Color!

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Strategies for Submitting to Tier One Journals

Eight women with laptops sit on either side of a long table, smiling at the camera

by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

The 6th Annual WWS Submission Blitz on Saturday, September 14th is when we call on women and nonbinary writers across the country (and world) to submit to tier one journals en masse as an annual call to action for gender parity in literary publishing. Though we find it important to support and empower each writer in finding her/their own submission and publication goals, sending work to whichever publications, contests, workshops, residencies, and the like are fitting to the individual, we ask our communities to join us in submitting to top tier journals on this one day of the year in honor of WWS’s history and mission and our shared fight for equitable representation, pay, and career opportunities.

In 2009, Vida, Women in Literary Arts counted how many women were published in tier one journals in comparison to how many men. The numbers of the first Vida Count showed unequivocal evidence of a great gender disparity in these publications. When the organization began asking the editors of these journals why the numbers were so, the most common answer from editors was that women don’t submit as often or resubmit as aggressively as men. 

In 2011, Women Who Submit was created in response to this conversation. WWS cofounder, Alyss Dixson, who worked with Vida at the time, had the idea to create a submission party–a co-working space for women to share resources, journals, and food, and to submit in real time–to help skew the numbers. 

With many barriers to consider when submitting to tier one journals, the following five steps are shared with your success in mind. And remember, the act of sending your work into the world is its own success.

STEP ONE: PREPARE A PIECE TO SUBMIT

FAQ: How do I know what to send? 

One of the first workshops WWS hosted was in early 2016 on contest strategies with Tammy De La Torre. Her strategy is to choose work that is an absolute favorite, work that you as the writer want to see in the world. Contests and tier one journals are similar in that they are highly competitive. Sometimes you may write a new piece and choose to submit it to a couple of journals as a way of throwing it against the wall to see what sticks. When submitting to tier one, it’s best to pick pieces that have been tested and fine-tuned. If not that, then pieces that are personally urgent or essential.  

FAQ: How do I know when it’s ready?

For most writers, it’s normal to find elements to tweak or fix even after publication. A piece may never be “perfect,” but it’s your job as a writer to send your best work. You can do this through revisions and by utilizing friends and colleagues for first and second read throughs. It’s not always easy to find someone with time or interest to read your work, so invite another writer to do an exchange. This way you’re both benefitting as well as building bonds with a peer. In general, avoid sending work before having another set of eyes on it. 

STEP TWO: SELECT A JOURNAL

FAQ: How do I know where to send? 

For this project, WWS encourages women and nonbinary writers to submit to tier one journals in honor of the VIDA Count and the creation of the first Submission Party in 2011. A tier one journal typically has large distribution and readership, many awards, and pays its readers. Check out the Clifford Garstang blog for annual lists of tier one journals in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Below is a list top tier journals with current open submissions curated by Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera (find links and descriptions for each on our FB page):

Poetry

Kenyon Review

American Poetry Journal

Threepenny Review

New England Review

Southern Review

Gettysburg Review

Ploughshares

The Sun

One Story

Conjunctions

Paris Review

Ecotone

American Short Fiction

Georgia Review

Granta

New Letters

Agni

Almagundi

The Point

Fourth Genre

FAQ: What if I can’t buy all the magazines?

Every magazine will ask you to read past issues before submitting to ensure your work is a good fit. Reading the issue will also help with adding one specific detail about the journal in your cover letter. This is important for building communication and relationships with editors. But print journals are expensive, so pull resources with friends. Swap old copies. Share subscriptions. Or find past issues in libraries and in the creative writing departments on college campuses.

STEP THREE: WRITE A COVER LETTER

FAQ: What should I put in a cover letter? 

  1. Address the editor directly by finding specific editors’ names on the journal masthead. The easiest way to find the masthead is to Google “[journal name] masthead.” If you still can’t find the editor’s name, address the letter as “Dear [specific genre] editors.”
  2. Name the title of your piece or pieces
  3. Give one reason why you have chosen to send your work to this particular journal. This is where you can let the editor know you’ve done your homework by reading past issues. Make it short. Make it specific. 
  4. Write a short bio with your related credits. 

For an example, check out “Your Perfect Cover Letter” at the review review.

FAQ: What if I have no credits?

If you haven’t been published, it’s ok to say so. You can also include writing classes, workshops, or memberships, but don’t make up credits, and don’t fill space with cuties details. 

STEP FOUR: HIT SEND

FAQ: How important are guidelines?

The quickest way to be rejected is to not follow a journal’s guidelines. Thoroughly read the guidelines and be sure your submission is adhering to what the journal asks for. Every journal is different, so do one last check before you send. 

FAQ: Can I send the same work to multiple places?

If a journal does not specify otherwise, the answer is yes. Be sure to track (see step five) where you’re sending work because if a journal accepts a piece (YAY!), it’s your job to notify the other journals and withdraw. If a journal says they don’t take “simultaneous submissions” follow the guidelines and decide if you want to submit knowing they may not respond for a long stretch of time.

 FAQ: Who will help me celebrate when I hit send?

WWS will be submitting en masse to tier one journals on Saturday, September 14th from 12am-11:59pm. No matter where in the country (or world) you live, we encourage you to gather a few friends and have your own submission party. A typical WWS submission party will include shared copies of journals, wifi, computers, and plenty of snacks. And of course, don’t forget to audibly cheer anytime anyone hits send! 

If you are unable to gather with others, be sure to @womenwhosubmit on Twitter or Instagram, and we’ll send you plenty of claps and cheers from afar. 

If you’re in Los Angeles, you can meet us at The Faculty (707 N Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, California 90029) with your laptop on September 14th from 12:30pm-4pm. 

STEP FIVE: TRACK SUBMISSIONS

FAQ: What do I do after I “hit send”? 

Once you’ve celebrated, be sure to record the submission in your submission tracker. A tracker is a spreadsheet with columns for journal name, date submitted, title of piece submitted, etc. No two trackers are the same, but what’s most important is for you to know who has your work and for how long. This will help with building relationships with journals and self-advocating. 

FAQ: How long should I wait before sending a query?

Many journals will tell you how long to wait before checking in, and what they say should be followed. Some journals may respond within two months, but for many of the larger journals a reply can take 6-12 months. If a journal doesn’t specify, I typically wait six months before querying, but it’s not uncommon to wait two or three.

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Writing on a Budget: Freedom to Write

By Lisbeth Coiman

Freedom
To dissent
to speak for those
Without a voice
Caged tortured
Bargaining chips
Of bipartisan and geopolitics
Games

Freedom
To stand up tall
A palm tree
Bending to the strong
Santa Ana winds
Resisting
Racism intolerance bigotry

Freedom
To raise my voice
Through the bars
Of my own prison
syllabi lesson plans
meetings and PDs
paying for the luxury
of writing while living in LA
eyes heavy on keyboard
adding pectin to this substance
a thick jam
Made of Priuses and Ferraris
Seasoned with jacaranda flowers
Slowing my pace
Through the traps
Abundant in this jungle
Mired in cyberspace’s
Slush of algorithms.

To speak for those
who can’t dissent
I must earn my own
Freedom

The following publications are seeking work by emerging writers:

1. JuxtaProse
Word limit: 5 to 7000 words
Genre: Fiction
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2019
Submission Fee: $13-18
Submission Guidelines

2. Chronically Lit
Word limit: ?
Genre: Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reviews
Deadline: First day of each month
Submission Fees: first 100 submissions free. Then tip jar.
Submission Guidelines

3. Orca. Cover Letter Contest
Word limit: Under 300 words
Genre: flash fiction, flash non-fiction
Deadline: Aug. 31, 2019
Submission Fees: $5
Price: 1st. $200, 2nd. $75, 3rd. $50
Submission Guidelines

Writer Lisbeth Coiman from the shoulders up, standing in front of a flower bush
Lisbeh Coiman is an emerging bilingual writer wandering standing at the intersection between immigration and mental health. Her work has been published in Entropy, Nailed, Rabid Oak, Hipmama and other online magazines, and several anthologies. Her self-published memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron, (2017) explores issues of child abuse, immigration, and mental health. She lives in Los Angeles, and teaches at Harbor Occupational Center.
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A WWS Publication Roundup for July

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

July has been one of the most prolific months for WWS writers with a long list of publications. Congrats to all!

Congratulations to Carla Sameth whose memoir, One Day on the Gold Line, was released this July! Check out this interview of Carla in LitFest Pasadena!

From “I Bow to the Lessor Teacher” by Thea Pueschel at Medium:

I’ve noticed a tendency in life at studios and online of this idea that some teachers are more worthy of students, of classes or calling themselves a teacher. This little box has been around since I can remember. We’ve all heard the dismissive tone “oh, that’s not yoga” or “they’re not a real teacher.”

From “A Quarrel with the Village of My Birth” by Helena Lipstadt at Porter House Review:

which is not a village but
a shivering capital
of Europe, may she rot and be
reborn with heart. Even her
birthday song is martial. Even
her avenues are lined with
pikes. 

From Jacquelyn Stolos‘ “Wide-Shot” at Bodega:

There’s been something going on with the cat’s left eye for about a week now, this cloudy gray ooze leaking out of her tear duct. I’ve been swabbing it away with a cotton ball, once in the morning before I leave for work and once in the evening when I get home. She doesn’t let Owen do it. We’ve been trying to hold off on another trip to the vet. Poor thing is already on five daily medications, and at some point you’ve just got to consider quality of life.

From Noriko Nakada‘s “Threatened Abortion” at SFWP:

I didn’t realize I was pregnant until we were moving out of the duplex and into our new condo. After a long day of hauling boxes, I collapsed on the new hardwood floors and tried to understand my exhaustion. It was a new kind of tired—like I couldn’t get up off the floor—and I tried to remember the last time I had my period. That was when I asked my partner to pick up a test. It was New Year’s Eve. The test came up positive.

From Lituo Huang‘s “Lemonade” at Bethlehem Writers Roundtable:

Lanie looked over the table at her little sister. Cherie was having a fit, ripping her pink sundress, stomping her bare feet on the grass, pulling her frizzy braid. “I hate chocolate cake!”

From Deirdre Hennings‘ “Making Her Night” at Pulse:

In Central Park twilight,
we drop our holiday mood
like a heavy sweater in the heat
when that call sends us reeling
as leukemia sucks us
into its bell jar, rings
    our ears, jangles
          minds, reverberates 
              into bone.

Congratulations to Natalie Smith Parra whose essay “Eviction Blues,” Sakae Manning whose poem “Oakland” and Jenise Miller whose poem “Ode to the Mamas Who Make Language Beautiful” were all published in Dryland!

Congratulations to Sabrina Im who had 3 poems – “Love Letter for a Lotus,” Body Memory,” and “An August Musing” – published in Angel City Review!

Congratulations to Victoria Lynne McCoy whose poem “Dispatched from Home” was published in Tahoma Literary Review!

Congratulations to Gerda Govine Ituarte whose poem “Temple of Courage Chance Change” was featured in the Bahvna Mehta exhibit catalog!

And, finally, congratulations to Arielle Silver who launched Tidal Journal!

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Breathe and Push: Stay Cool and Keep Writing

photograph of protest signs reading "End Family Separation" and "We should never separate kids from their families" along with paper cranes.

By Noriko Nakada

It’s summer again, and I’m doing my best to keep writing. I imagine we all are.

It’s summer again; three years since police killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. I was wrecked that summer, and had to do something, so I marched through the streets of Los Angeles with Black Lives Matter and learned to say their names. 

It’s summer again; two years since white nationalists marched in Charlottesville leaving me speechless, unsure of what to tell my young children, my nieces and nephews, and my students about people who hate them.

It’s summer again; a year since the faces of children separated from their families showed up on my feed, and the voices of children in cages transformed my dreams into night terrors.

This summer, my daughter and I stood at another protest of concentration camps for children separated at the border, and she looked up to me and asked, “They’re still doing it? They’re still keeping kids in cages?”

There have been rough news cycles during other seasons, but these past few summers have felt particularly tough. As we breathe in another heat wave in America, I urge you to keep pushing. Push your stories and voices of humanity into conversations crowded with hate and vitriol. Here are a few spaces where editors look to give voice to our times.

The Rising Phoenix Review published an issue Disarm: A Themed issue Responding to Mass Shootings in America. Regarding their publishing philosophy: “Our team is deeply committed to curating a diverse publication. We encourage writers from marginalized communities to submit to Rising Phoenix Review. Our team earnestly desires to breakdown barriers for writers and readers in marginalized communities.  We strive to make our platform a safe space for all. Our publication is open to all poets, regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, or religious affiliation.”

The Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly published an abortion ban protest issue this month and they are champions of “books, writing, and writers. With over 35 titles published since 2005, we’ve unflinchingly adapted to the changing world of publishing and we challenge the norms by embracing short stories, novellas, translations, reprints, and the avante garde. We maintain two exciting imprints – Alan Squire Publishing, specializing in boutique books and poetry, and 2040 Books, a press devoted to featuring ethnic authors and promoting diverse literature.”

Queen Mob’s Tea House published a special issue titled: “Where Are the Children” responding to the border crisis and treatment of refugee families. They are “an international online literary journal dedicated to writing, art, criticism—weird, serious, gorgeous, cross genre, spell conjuring, rant inducing work. We’re committed to creating an online platform that melds the social with the creative. A platform that speaks to your cravings, fantasies and heartbreaks; your daydreams from your lunch break; your good and bad choices; your contradictions; your process.”

Stay cool out there, writers, and keep submitting.

Noriko Nakada is the editor of the Breathe and Push column. She writes, blogs, tweets, and parents in Los Angeles. She is committed to writing thought-provoking creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.

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Behind The Editor’s Desk: Brandi Wells

The Los Angeles area is rife with independent presses. One of those is Gold Line Press, housed in the University of Southern California. Both Gold Line and its sibling press, Ricochet Editions, are independent presses run by students and alumni of USC’s PhD Creative Writing Program. When WWS organizer Tisha Reichle-Aguilera became one of the Ricochet Editions editors, she suggested I reach out to Brandi Wells, Editor in Chief of Gold Line Editions.

Women Who Submit members should know that neither Gold Line nor Ricochet accept unsolicited submissions. But Gold Line is currently accepting submissions for their annual chapbook competition, and we encourage all of you who have chapbook length work to submit!  The deadline is August 1st.

Brandi Wells answered my questions over email.

Continue reading “Behind The Editor’s Desk: Brandi Wells”