Women Who Submit – Page 7 – Women Who Submit

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.

Lisbeth Coiman is an emerging, bilingual writer wandering the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada to the US. She has performed any available job from maid to college administrator, and adult teacher. Her work has been published in Hip Mama, the Literary Kitchen, YAY LA, Nailed Magazine, Entropy, and RabidOak. She was also featured in the Listen to Your Mother Show in 2015. In her self-published memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron (Nov 2017), Coiman celebrates female friendship while exploring issues of child abuse, mental disorder, and her own journey as an immigrant.

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019

Writing on a Budget: Put on Your Oxygen Mask First

By Lisbeth Coiman

Most writers I know, including myself, are activists or behind-the-scenes supporters of several causes. When the political conjuncture we are living through in America threatens everybody’s sanity, writers struggle to focus before stepping up. Facing a myriad of social issues hurts these writers both emotionally and financially.

Vintage typewriter next to an iPad covered with pins and stickers from different social and political causes

Creativity dilutes in the stream of information/petitions/demonstrations, and the ordinary responsibilities of work. I can’t even come close to imagine what it is like to live through these times with children to take care of. The emotional load seems to grow by the minute. The writer feels like borrowing a “welder’s mask” to look at the blinding reality without hurting, without revealing tears.

With the emotional burden of political activism comes the added weight of financial demands. Bills can pile up easily on top of donations and contributions. The line between urgency and necessary disappears in the mists of a stream of crisis. We wake up to news of mass shootings, racial violence, and sexual violations of immigrant minors in detention. At work, fundraisers and pot-lucks drain the bank account. Add to that a humanitarian crisis in a homeland and you wish going to sleep on the eighth day of the month and wake up on payday.

When my budget became unbalanced, like a flight attendant, I told myself, “put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, even your family.” My livelihood depends on my mental health. Without money, I can’t write. Since writing is therapeutic for me, my sanity is at risk.

That’s when I jumped at the opportunity to take a scholarship for a social consciousness poetry class online, Poetry for Survival taught by Xochitl Bermejo. Through this class, I’m learning that I can’t see the page through tears. By detaching myself emotionally from the issues dearest to me – Venezuela and immigration – I hope to bring my unique perspective of the devastating reality of which I’m both a witness and a subject.

Perhaps the only advise I have for my readers tonight is to take a social consciousness vacation before taking a stand. Disconnect, put the check book in a locked box and forget where you hide the key. Go for an extended walk by the beach. Only then, your voice will sound clear.

This month, the short list includes some free submission opportunities.

1.The Booklist – seeking reviewers of diverse backgrounds
The Booklist is part of the American Library Association.
Genre: All
Languages: English and Spanish
Application Fee: $0
Submission Guidelines

2. Green Linden Press
Genre: Poetry, interviews and reviews
Submission fee: Up to $12.50
Deadline: March 20, 2019
Submission Guidelines

3. Catapult
Tiny Nightmares: An Anthology of Short Horror Fiction
Genre:                         Short Horror Fiction
Payment:                    $100
Submission fee:      0
Deadline:                    May 1, 2019
Word count:              Under 1200 words
Submission Guidelines

4. Ripples in Space: Flash Fiction for Weekly Podcast
Gener:                         Flash Fiction
Submission fee:     $6
Deadline:                   Open
Word count:             Max 1500 words
Submission Guidelines

5. Dusk and Shiver Magazine
Genre:                         Fiction, Poetry, Artwork
Submission fee:     $0
Deadline:                   April 13, 2019
Word count:    5,000 to 7,000 words (Fiction)
Submission Guidelines

Writer Lisbeth Coiman from the shoulders up, standing in front of a flower bush

Lisbeth Coiman is an emerging, bilingual writer wandering the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada to the US. She has performed any available job from maid to college administrator, and adult teacher. Her work has been published in Hip Mama, the Literary Kitchen, YAY LA, Nailed Magazine, Entropy, and RabidOak. She was also featured in the Listen to Your Mother Show in 2015. In her self-published memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron (Nov 2017), Coiman celebrates female friendship while exploring issues of child abuse, mental disorder, and her own journey as an immigrant.
She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches at Harbor Occupational Center and speaks for NAMI about living with a mental disorder.

January 2, 2019March 6, 2019

Writing on a Budget: Support Fellow Writers

By Lisbeth Coiman

For a cost-conscious person, I have little self-control when it comes to books. I browse bookstores inhaling the sweet aroma of the unread pages; then, I bring out my credit card at the counter to pay for two or three books. At literary readings, I listen to the writers carefully, and then choose one or two books to bring home with me. It’s my way to support fellow writers, but also a form of self-indulgence. As the cost of my rent increases, and the stack of unread books keeps piling up on my bedside table, I am aware that I need to do something about my book-buying habit.

Because it is that time of the year when we set goals and decide, mostly without success, to break old habits, I’ve resolved to find a solution to this conundrum: how to support emerging writers while minding my small writing budget. Observing my peers at readings and bookstores, I noted some writers using one of the following three strategies

1. Request and borrow books from the library.

My friend Shelly never buys books despite expressing a life long love for words and all things lit. I used to see her at readings, in the city where we met, her eyes closed to recreate in her mind the stories or poems she heard. She took time to chat with the writers, and then left without spending a cent.

“It’s not for you. We must support each other,” I told her once.

“I don’t have space, and I move frequently. Instead of buying, I request the book at the local library, then borrow it.”

“Clever and inexpensive,” I admitted.

2. Exchange books with fellow writers

At one particular reading, I observed another friend, Cruz, approach another writer and ask if she was interested in exchanging books. “What a creative notion,” I thought. Both women are well-known and respected in their own communities and were interested in reading each other’s work. They signed copies, promised to read, and presented their business cards. The whole experience lasted a few minutes, with pleasantries and all. And they saved at least $20

3. Look out for review requests

Mary never buys books either. She browses FB groups searching for review opportunities. Mary submits the reviews to magazines and journals. When she can not land a submission, she posts a shorter version of her review in Goodreads, and Amazon, helping the writer with the promoting efforts. Not a bad idea if the reader is also trying to build her own name.

Submission Calls
The new year is bursting with submission opportunities. These are only a few for writers on a budget.

1. Waxwing Magazine
Genre: Poetry, short fiction, literary essays, translation of poetry or prose, and art.
No payment
Submission Fee: 0
Deadline: May 1
Word count: up to five poems, 3 short-shorts, or micro-essays, up to three images
Submission Guidelines

2. Brain Mill Press: 2018 Driftless Unsolicited Novella Contest
Genre: Fiction
Prize: $250 and Publication
Submission fee: $0, but they appreciate $12 will give the writer a copy of the winning novella.
Deadline: 01/23/19
Word count: 20 to 45,000 novella or novella-length collection of short stories.
Submission Guidelines

3. City Lights Booksellers and Publishers
Genre: Memoir
Submission fee: $0
Word count: Sample of 10-20 pages, book proposal, outline and table of contents, letter with summary and resume.
Submission Guidelines

Writer Lisbeth Coiman from the shoulders up, standing in front of a flower bush

headshot of Lisbeth Coiman Lisbeth Coiman is an author, poet, educator, cultural worker, and rezandera born in Venezuela. Coiman’s wanderlust spirit landed her to three countries—from her birthplace to Canada, and finally the USA, where she self-published her first book, I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017). She dedicated her bilingual poetry collection, Uprising / Alzamiento, Finishing Line Press( Sept. 2021) to her homeland, Venezuela. An avid hiker, and teacher of English as a Second Language, Coiman lives in Los Angeles, CA.

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”

February 5, 2017March 7, 2018

WWS at AWP17

Are you feeling anxious just yet about this year’s AWP conference? Not to worry because we have a guide to all events where you can find the happy, shining faces of Women Who Submit and friends. And while you are combing the bookfair, be sure to find us at booth 975 with Roar Feminist Magazine and Dandelion Review to pick up an “I submitted!” button and to add your name to the WWS daily giveaway. It will include one WWS tote with books, chapbooks, and zines from our members including copies of Posada: Offerings of Wintess and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016) by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Gent/Re Place Ing (Write Large Press 2016) by Jessica Ceballos Campbell, Surveillance (Write Large Press 2016) by Ashaki M. Jackson, Cake Time (Red Hen Press 2017) by Siel Ju, Excavation (Future Tense Books 2014) by Wendy C. Ortiz, Wrestling Alligators (Martin Brown Publishers 2016) by Diane Sherlock, Traci Traci Love Fest, a collection of poems from L.A. poets writing in support of poet, performer and community activist Traci Kato Kiriyama as she battles breast cancer and more!

Plus, don’t forget to reread this piece by Lauren Eggert-Crowe for reminders on how to stay happy and healthy over the next week, and we recommend checking out Entropy’s guide if you are looking for avenues of resistance and action. Continue reading “WWS at AWP17”

October 19, 2016

Claps and Cheers: When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears

by Jesse Bliss

Mentorship is an integral part of developing as an artist. We can be mentored officially, through mentorship programs or by merely engaging and asking a respected professional for guidance. And there are unofficial mentors who come into our lives when we most need the encouragement of someone who’s embarked on a journey we’ve just begun. They are powerful presences who impact the course of our lives and we cherish them for as long as we can.

Writer, educator, and mentor Jesse Bliss recently lost her mentor Linda Lowry. This Claps and Cheers is Bliss’s homage to her late mentor. – Ramona Pilar, Ed.

* * *

It was a typically windy, cold to-the-bone yet electric San Francisco night. I was a 20 year-old walking up Market Street around the corner from the Tenderloin District where I lived next door to a Thai restaurant. Next to that was a known location for sex solicitation. I often cruised toward the train gripping the handle of a knife. The danger in that hood was not gangs, but unpredictable drug-induced violence. I had just left Sacramento and all that was trying to keep me from my dreams, and had shown up in the Golden Gate city with nothing more than a bag and a friend, ready to discover my soul as a professional artist.

Continue reading “Claps and Cheers: When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears”

September 5, 2016

The WWS Fall Workshop Series

Women Who Submit is excited to hold its first workshop series with three LA-based professional poets and writers who will share personal writing and accountability tools for success in order to help writers craft their next poem, essay, or story and build confidence in their own process. This workshop series offers an opportunity for people of all genders, genres and skill levels to gain practical take-aways from three of Los Angeles’ most fresh and exciting WWS authors and work with an organization dedicated to growing a socially conscious and diverse community focused on supporting women and nonbinary writers in the pursuit of equal representation in publishing and writing programs.

The Women Who Submit Fall Workshop Series, in partnership with PEN Center USA and Avenue 50 Studios, is a not-for-profit event created as a fundraiser for future WWS programming, events, and conference presentations. It is open to people of all genders, orientations, and creeds.

On Silence in Poetry with Ashaki M. Jackson
Saturday, October 1, 2016
10am-1pm at PEN Center USA
Tickets: $80 regular / $60 WWS & PEN

On Writing and Movement with Jay O’Shea
Saturday, November 5, 2016
10am-1pm at PEN Center USA
Tickets: $80 regular / $60 WWS & PEN

From Public Notebook to Book with Wendy C. Ortiz
Saturday, December 3, 2016
10am-1pm at PEN Center USA
Tickets: $80 regular / $60 WWS & PEN

Each workshop, led by a WWS member, leans into their own particular approach to developing work from inception to execution. A $200 ($150 for PEN and WWS members) discount is available for purchasing all three workshops.
Continue reading “The WWS Fall Workshop Series”

May 6, 2016

May Submission Deadlines: 9 under $15

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”

April 13, 2016

Submitting on a Budget: Network

by Lisbeth Coiman

Where writing has become a self-employment enterprise, tracking expenses is vital for the emergent writer struggling to build her brand. Conferences, books, subscriptions, writing courses, memberships, tracking sites, and submission fees all add up quickly to a limited writing budget.

Arguably, artists can create great work without ever attending conferences, reading peers’ books, or participating in workshops, but writing great pieces is only one step in the process of getting published. Unless the emergent writer enjoys the benefit of a well-connected literary circle, a consistent flow of submissions to literary journals, contests, and online magazines is the only road to publication. Gaining access to information about submission calls takes up most of the money set aside to submit work. For that reason, submitting to publications on a regular basis on a shoestring requires a well thought submission plan.

Continue reading “Submitting on a Budget: Network”