Women Who Submit

November 30, 2018December 3, 2018

A WWS Publication Roundup for November

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

November was another banner month for Women Who Submit publications! Congratulations to all the writers.

From Ryane Nicole Granados‘ “Helping Out in L.A.” at L.A. Parent:

My children have taught me that, if you look close enough, you’ll see tiny flowers breaking through their concrete and waving their tenacious petals in the breeze. That’s the beauty of children: they can see brilliance in the bleakest situations. With guidance, they can also harness their vision and use their innocence to change the world. As we embark on these holiday season, here are some family-friendly organizations making a difference…

From Désirée Zamorano‘s “Austin” at Moria:

After two weeks of a dull rage, the rage turned into despair, then confusion, then transformed gloriously into a plan.
Things made no sense, they made no sense, and sometimes it was up to the individual to turn the inside out all right side out again. That’s what Austin would do.
Make it all right. Continue reading “A WWS Publication Roundup for November”

November 29, 2018December 3, 2018

Breathe and Push: Why LAUSD Teachers Might Strike

By Noriko Nakada

Union Sign

Like most fall weekends, this past one was busy. There was a Friday night festival at my child’s school, there was a homecoming football game; there were soccer games and birthday parties.

But this weekend was not like all the others, because I’m an LAUSD public school teacher, and like every other year, I had many papers to grade and many students on my mind as I made my way through the weekend, but unlike other years, this year held an added stress. All weekend I carried the weight of a looming work stoppage, and very public contract negotiations that put my public school colleagues and me in the crosshairs of public conversation on the sidelines of sporting events or gathered around a table waiting for the cake to come out.

And in all of my interactions this weekend, I had to gauge, fairly quickly, where friends, old and new, stood when it came to public education. What did they already think about our public schools and what were they willing to learn? Did they ask me about what was happening with the teacher strike? Did they want to hear my perspective? Or, did they know nothing about this issue, because their kid goes to a charter, or a private school, or they don’t have kids, or upon hearing I teach in a public school they want to explain to me why community public schools just don’t work? Continue reading “Breathe and Push: Why LAUSD Teachers Might Strike”

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018

Behind the Editor’s Desk: Tisha Reichle

Note: This interview is a repost that originally appeared in January, 2017.

by Lauren Eggert-Crowe

On my first visit to a Women Who Submit submission party in 2015, I ended up sitting across from Tisha Reichle, who was deliberating on a hiring announcement from BorderSenses. They were looking for a Fiction Editor. Even with her busy schedule, she decided to take a shot. It was a perfect example of the WWS spirit. She has now been Fiction Editor for a year.

From their website: “BorderSenses is a non-profit organization located in El Paso, dedicated to promoting the literary arts through various community projects and an annual print journal publication. Our mission is to provide a voice to visual artists and writers of this region and beyond and to promote cross-border exchange in the arts. We provide a venue for artistic growth that helps improve the quality of life for our communities.” Continue reading “Behind the Editor’s Desk: Tisha Reichle”

November 1, 2018December 3, 2018

A WWS Publication Roundup for October

Happy Halloween and Happy publications! Congratulations to all the Women Who Submit who were published in October.

From Arielle Silver‘s “Mother” at Matador Review:

Mother: [Noun] a woman who has borne a child.

1. First came love.

Father: Spring break she took a road trip down from Georgia for the weekend. Ended up at my frat party.

                                   Where are you from? I asked.
                                   New York, she said.
                                   Your name sounds Jewish, I said.
                                   I am, she said.
What’s that on your finger? I asked.
                                   I’m engaged, she said.
                                   Why don’t you break up with your fiancé and go out with me, I said.

2. Then came marriage.

From Arlene Schindler‘s “The Night I Became a Gift from Cary Grant to One of His Friends” at Purple Clover:

The party was in a fancy restaurant in New York City attended by 75 rich and famous types. The entertainment preceding me were five different -grams. I had to follow a singing Yankee Gram, a gift from party guest George Steinbrenner. Shortly after I got into my costume, a guest who was an infamous nasty person—Roy Cohn—walked up to me and said, “If you are not funny, kid, your friend loses her job.” No pressure there. Continue reading “A WWS Publication Roundup for October”

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018

Won’t You Be My Neighbor: A Call to Action in Trump’s America

By Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

Fred Rogers spent decades asking children each day, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” It was an invitation to engage and understand. It was an offering of friendship and a call to build community. These are values lost on Donald Trump.

Within a month of the Trump Administration announcing its “zero tolerance” policy on May 7, 2018, Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez was shot in the head and murdered by a Border Patrol agent in Rio Bravo, Texas, Trans woman, Roxana Hernandez, died while in ICE custody, Marco Antonio Muñoz, committed suicide while in custody after being separated from his wife and three year-old son, and an estimated 1,300 (the number grew to 2,500) children seeking asylum were forcibly separated from parents and guardians at the border and placed in makeshift government detention centers, one being a desert camp in Tornillo, Texas reminiscent of a WWII Japanese detention center.

Though Trump ended forcible separation after a country-wide outcry on June 20^th, a September 13^th report from USA Today counts 416 children are still separated, and an October 3^rd article in The Guardian, reports the Tornillo detention center has not only not shut down as expected, but continues to grow, currently detaining an estimated 2000 minors. Continue reading “Won’t You Be My Neighbor: A Call to Action in Trump’s America”

October 3, 2018September 1, 2019

Writing on a Budget: Time Management

By Lisbeth Coiman

The first hard truth I learned as an emerging writer is that it will take years of dedication and hard work before I can live off my writing. Whether through my established career as a teacher, or through a series of small gigs, as an emerging writer I must make a living outside of writing, while seeking every opportunity to write and submit my work. Therefore, effective time management stands out in my writing tool box.

Continue reading “Writing on a Budget: Time Management”

September 30, 2018October 7, 2018

A WWS Publication Roundup for September

The September roundup is one of the biggest yet for Women Who Submit members. Congratulations to all!

From Lisa Cheby‘s “War Lessons from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spoilage” at the Rising Phoenix Review:

He didn’t mean to suggest
the harvest would be easy.

We have to get all the skeletons out
of the graves.

From Soleil David‘s “Book of Transnational Feminist Prayer: On Barbara Jane Reyes’ Invocation to Daughter” at Post No Ills:

Barbara Jane Reyes’ fifth poetry collection Invocation to Daughters (City Lights, 2017) is a missal for Filipino women, one that uses Western poetic forms to utter an unapologetically transnational feminist poetics. In this collection, Reyes pushes against Spanish and American influences, the two patriarchs that have kept the Philippines abject for much of its history. The poems subvert Western tradition through the use of those same Western traditions, all while bringing in multiple languages, as well as ruminations on Filipino and Filipino-American culture.

From Arlene Schindler‘s “I Chose a Career Over Babies” at Living the Second Act:

I don’t have regrets about not bearing children. It was a conscious decision. Some parents may see my life as empty, unfruitful, or even immature.

From Désirée Zamorano‘s “Adelanto” at Cultural Weekly:

It starts with pain and outrage.

You’re out of the country when you hear about a Supreme Court Justice stepping down, and the caged children. You want to keen and wail, but you don’t. You want to never return to your country of origin, but you do. You return to daily life at home. Continue reading “A WWS Publication Roundup for September”

September 26, 2018October 3, 2018

Breathe and Push: Moving in LA: Before and After

By Noriko Nakada

Before: Hyde Park Homework

UMFoC. Upwardly Mobile Family of Color: pronounced, “um, fuck.” This is what I kept saying to myself as my family and I prepared to move from one recently gentrified neighborhood and into another.

I moved to Los Angeles over two decades ago. It started with a studio apartment in Eagle Rock: pre-Colorado-Street-gentrification. Then, there was a Ladera Heights condo, after Magic opened his Starbucks. After that, it was a Highland Park casita where our front fence housed bullets from Avenues, before Mr. T died and his alley was restored. Next was a Mar Vista condo pre-Starbucks and road diet. Now, we would make Hyde Park our home: pre-stadium and Crenshaw line. Continue reading “Breathe and Push: Moving in LA: Before and After”

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018

Reportback from the 5th Annual Submission Blitz

On Saturday, September 15th, WWS held our 5th 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!

We also host a local Blitz meetup in Los Angeles, because what would Women Who Submit be without a party? Our first WWS Submission Blitz was in September 2014 at Hermosillo Bar in Highland Park. This year, we gathered at The Faculty Bar in East Hollywood at 12:30, with plenty of food and drinks to fuel our furious fingers as we typed away! (There was even a beer on tap called Submission.)