30 Litmags in 30 Days: Create Your Own Submission Bonanza!

August 2, 2013February 25, 2022 Jaclyn72 Comments

I did it! I completed my self-imposed challenge, Submission Bonanza! During the month of July, I submitted poetry, creative nonfiction, short stories, and flash fiction to 30 litmags. I’m not going to lie, it took work and it took time. After so many years not submitting any work and not focusing on my writing, this was definitely a challenge for me. But I can certainly say it was well worth it. I would highly recommend that anyone looking to grow as a writer think about setting their own Submission Bonanza! I’ve grown and learned so many things over the past month and I am excited to share them all with you.

You can see my halfway post, Notches on the Bedpost, to see some of the benefits I’ve gained and ways I’ve been developing by doing this exercise. There are so many ways in which I have grown. I’ve become a better reader. I’ve started editing more seriously. I’ve learned so much more about contemporary writers and writing. I feel like I am getting familiar with literary magazines in way I wasn’t before. Most importantly, I’ve been motivated to write more than I ever have before.

Also (spoiler alert!) I have received a few replies already and it’s not just rejections I am racking up.

Because I felt like this exercise was so successful in my growth and motivation as a writer, I am planning on doing it again for the month of September and I would love for anyone who is interested to join me.

All this month, I will be posting a practical guide on how to create your own Submission Bonanza! Once you lay the groundwork (finding magazines, choosing your pieces, writing your cover letter) this month, you will be ready by September 1^st to start submitting to the many, many litmags which will be opening their mailboxes for submissions.

After I did the prep work of looking for magazines, editing my work, and writing a template of my cover letter and bio, it took me about an hour to submit to each magazine. Decide for yourself a reasonable goal for your Submission Bonanza! I am fortunate to have an hour a day to submit to magazines and also still have time for my writing. What kind of time can you make for it? Can you do an hour a week? Three hours a week? An hour a day? Three hours a day? You want to challenge yourself, sure. But you also want to make a Submission Bonanza! that you can stick to.

I am really excited about doing this again and getting into gear for another flurry of submissions. If you’re excited too, let me know! I would love to share lessons learned, tricks and things to consider, and just general motivation and support with anyone who’s game!

Call for Submissions: Places to Stand

July 24, 2013February 25, 2022 JaclynLeave a comment

Saw Palm, the University of South Florida’s literary magazine, is calling for submissions for its series Places to Stand.

I found this call for submissions while working on my Submission Bonanza!, an attempt to submit work to thirty literary magazines in the month of July.

Since a huge part of my interest in writing and words is place-based, I am in love with this project and I wanted to share it with you all and encourage you to submit too!

Even if you don’t have writing about Florida, it’s a really lovely prompt.

What Is It?

Places to Stand is a literary map of Florida, using words instead of photos. Each pushpin marks a point where a contributor has written a short nonfiction piece about what it’s like to stand at that particular place at a particular moment in time. Some of the Places to Stand pieces are memories. Some are written on the spot. Some are written as poetry. Click on the pushpins and take a literary tour through Florida time and space!

Places to Stand in Florida (appears on sawpalm.org)
Please tell us what it’s like to stand at a specific place in Florida at a specific time of day in 500 words or less. While we enjoy the unusual, locations should be public and accessible (so not your bathroom!) Please include GPS coordinates.

Unlike other categories, current or recent USF students and faculty are welcome to submit pieces for the Places to Stand series.

Poems submitted as part of the Places to Stand series are welcome but should be justified left and otherwise not have complex formatting and spacing. This is due to technical limitations in Google Earth.

You can submit here!

Notches on the Bedpost: Unexpected Lessons Learned from Submitting Writing to LitMags Every Day

July 17, 2013February 25, 2022 Jaclyn70 Comments

Notches on the bedpost - scratches on the back.

Earlier this summer, I was inspired by the devilish number 66 on a list of The 100 Best Ways to Become a Better Writer. Rack up rejections. The phrasing and sentiment behind the idea played over and over in my mind and I was captivated by it. I started imagining pieces of my writing marching out into the world dressed to the nines in their Saturday night best, and returning home (accepted or not) to put another notch on the bedpost. Perhaps they would have short-lived flirts with editors who didn’t want to take them home, or one night stands with litmags where they weren’t accepted but, hey, at least they were being read, even if only ephemerally. Or maybe they’ll find the editors of their dreams and fall in love together, being read again and again, put into print to show the permanence of their mutual devotion. In any case, they were going out, having a good time, and meeting some new people.

So, I encouraged myself to bring these absurd reveries to fruition by setting a challenge for myself. In the month of July, I would submit work to one literary magazine every day. I called it Submission Bonanza! (and yes, the exclamation point is quintessential – I’ll take it as one of my five) because it was by far the most submitting I’ve done, ever. I’m a little more than halfway through my challenge and I’ve learned quite a bit from it. I’ve learned some basic, practical, and incredibly necessary skills, like how to write a cover letter for my work or what to include in my author’s bio (look out for posts on these in the future). But I’ve also learned some things that I didn’t quite expect to learn.

1. I’ve been introduced to more contemporary writers and magazines.

In trying to decide which pieces to send to which magazines, I’ve been doing a lot of reading. In this digital age, a lot of literary magazines have either full issues or teaser bits and pieces of issues on their websites. Thankfully, I’ve not had to buy year-long subscriptions of every magazine I’ve submitted to (I am a poor grad-student-to-be, after all) in order to see what kinds of writing might be a good fit for the magazines. The interesting thing about all of the reading I’ve been doing is that it is very contemporary. It’s very now. Though I love me some Pablo Neruda or Sylvia Plath, they have become quite canonized. It’s incredibly interesting to read what people are writing now. It’s also really useful to get to know the magazines and publishers that are working with these things. You can see the magazines I’ve been submitting to at the original post about the challenge and read what they’ve been publishing.

2. I’ve become a better reader.

All of these pieces I’ve been reading, I’ve been reading incredibly closely and critically. I don’t think “Gee, that poem makes me feel… (warm, angry, fuzzy, whatever).” Because I am reading to find out what editors might like in my own writing, I have to ask myself a myriad of questions about everything I read. What did the editors like about that piece? What does it have in common with the other pieces that were chosen? How does it compare to pieces I’ve written? Reading critically like this has forced me to turn the same discerning eye back on my own writing, which brings me to…

3. I’ve been motivated to edit more.

We’ve all heard the mantra again and again about how important editing is. And yeah, I know it’s important. But usually when I write, I become inspired and it takes off on it’s own. It’s like I’m being filled with some spirit that’s vomiting words on the page that are beautiful and make me cry and the muse has me speaking in tongues and finally when I finish I am exhausted. I feel good, sure. But I also feel done. Reading the works published in some of the magazines I’ve read feel so polished, though, so purposeful. In some ways very different than the literary upchuck that I produce in my frenzied first drafts. Don’t get me wrong, I love my writing as if it were my little children, but children need to be raised and tended, nurtured and loved.

4. I feel part of the writing community.

Ok, I know. My work is not being published alongside Billy Collins and I am not sharing martinis and discussing themes of displacement in literature with Salman Rushdie (yet). But there’s something about just having your writing out in the world (even if it’s not being published – just having it out), that makes me feel like I am part of the community of authors trying to make sense of the world in words. If all literature is in conversation, I feel like just by submitting work to magazines, I am becoming part of the conversation.

5. I am more inspired to write.

Perhaps most importantly, the more I read and submit, the more I want to write. In this exercise of trying to get something out there every day, I find myself wanting more writing that I can put out there. It’s been like a soaring spiral on updrafts of wind. I am reading more, I am editing more, I am thinking more, and I am writing more.

I haven’t heard back from the literary magazines yet. That should come as no surprise as some of them have reading periods of up to six months and so far, it’s been a measly seventeen days since my first submission. So, I don’t know yet if this Submission Bonanza! will be a successful endeavor in terms of getting published. But I do know it has been incredibly successful in furthering my development as a writer.

And to think, I’m only halfway through.

Thanks so much to http://debitch.tumblr.com/ for the incredibly apropos photo.

Submission Bonanza!: Racking up Rejections, or 30 LitMags in 31 Days

July 3, 2013February 1, 2022 Jaclyn122 Comments

I found this thought-provoking post the other day about The 100 Best Ways to Becoming a Better Writer on thecopybot.com. Some of them are interesting ways to meet characters, such as “74. Sell insurance, cars or newspapers face-to-face for two months.” A lot of them are imaginative and funny. Some of them are just things you know you need to do, like “3. Write over a thousand words a day.”

But the one that really stood out to me and inspired me most was Number 66.

Rack up Rejections.

I haven’t been doing a lot of this. I haven’t really been doing any of it. In the past 10 years, I’ve maybe submitted work to 5 literary magazines. At this rate, all my writing will sit quietly on my computer and collect digital dust until I die or my computer dies, and either way it will be lost forever. (Note to self: remember to back up hard drive.)

That’s not really how I’d like it to go.

I write because I care about inspiring people, about connecting with people in a more meaningful way than normal day-to-day conversation allows. That’s not gonna happen if everything I write remains for-my-eyes-only-on-my-measly-little-laptop.

So, I’m challenging myself to rack up rejections this month.

So, self:

Put yourself out there, knowing that you will get lots of rejections. Not everyone likes to read what you like to write and that’s ok. Think of each rejection as a battle scar, a symbol that you’re fighting the good fight, getting closer to being who you want to be.

So here’s the plan: I’ll be submitting work to 30 LitMags this month, one for each day (with one day off, just to make the number round!). To try to keep myself honest, I’ll be posting them here as I go. Feel free to join me!

Aaaaaaaand, we’re off!

1: Fourteen Hills

2: Flash Frontier

3: The Round

4: Bat City Review

5. Swine Magazine

6. The Minetta Review

7. Camroc Press Review

8. Black Warrior Review

9. smoking glue gun

10. The Journal

11. The McNeese Review

12. Mid-American Review

13. Front Porch Journal

14. Exegesis

15. Columbia

16. Yemassee

17. Clarion

18. The Southeast Review

19. Silk Road

20. The Portland Review

21. Reed Magazine

22. The Louisville Review

23. The Coachella Review

24. Rio Grande Review

25. Saw Palm

26. Switchback

27. Camera Obscura

28. Northwind Magazine

29. Slice Magazine

30. Post Road Magazine

Writing Challenge: When the Goddesses Come Out

May 2, 2013 Jaclyn12 Comments

Nymphs, goddesses, apsaras, maenads! It’s May. There’s a fresh exhilaration in the air. Mother’s Day is coming up. I have been incredibly inspired by all those bloggers who did the A-Z blogging challenge in April. These things all fit together nicely in a little challenge that I am setting for myself. This month, I am endeavoring to write about 26 strong, creative women from mythology. So, the goal is to write 26 short stories, one based on a female mythological figure for each letter of the alphabet. Feel free to join me, or to set your own goal for this month. New growth and new beginnings are in the air!

A special Creative-Commons “Thanks!” to itjournalist from flickr for the photo!

Inspiration:Cat exploded? Make good art.

May 23, 2012 JaclynLeave a comment

Here is a really lovely commencement speech that Neil Gaiman recently gave. It is quite thought-provoking, a little funny, and amazingly inspirational. It got me writing for the first time in a month. I hope it does the same for you!

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/42372767 w=400&h=300]

These are a few of my favorite one-liners. They are all the more poignant in context.

If you don’t know it’s impossible, it’s easier to do.

I learned to write by writing.

I tended to do anything that felt like an adventure, and stop when it felt like work, which meant life did not feel like work.

A life in the arts is like putting messages in bottles on a desert island and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it and put something in a bottle that will find its way back to you.

The things I did because I was excited and wanted to see them exist in reality have never let me down.

Sometimes life is hard… when things get tough, this is what you should do: Make. Good. Art… Cat Exploded? Make good art.

The moment that you feel that just possibly you’re walking down the street naked… showing too much of yourself, that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.

Make interesting mistakes. Make amazing mistakes. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art.

Inspiration: A Vessel for Genius

March 5, 2012 Jaclyn37 Comments

As I begin to think about writing as a larger part of my life, I realize that I need to think about it differently. In the past, I’ve written only when it is bursting out of me. Only when there is that feeling in my chest that if I don’t put pen to paper I might explode. Only when I am inspired.

But this seems to happen only on days when the honeysuckle moves just an inch to the right and the sun is at a 40 degree angle to the horizon except on even numbered days when the scent of decay is coming from the northeast. Or, hardly ever.

In the last month, I’ve been making an (mostly, but not completely successful) attempt to write every day. I’ve found that if I sit down and force myself to write, if I am actively searching for words and my muse, it shows up. I don’t need to wait around until I feel like the scene from Alien is going to happen and creativity and words are going to splatter all over the keyboard. I just need to write.

And yes, we’ve all been there. There are some days when just showing up to write is incredibly painful. On days like that, this talk by Elizabeth Gilbert is incredibly helpful. Your role in the creative process is to show up – to put in the work. If you show up and put in the work and your genius doesn’t show up, that’s your genius’s fault. You can show up and try again tomorrow. But if you don’t show up at all…

Well, I will let her tell you.

And yes, it’s another TED Talk, but really, they don’t get old.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA&w=560&h=315]

switching on your own electricity (from Make Believe Boutique)

March 4, 2012 JaclynLeave a comment

As I write this, I am sitting by the rooftop pool overlooking downtown Bangkok. It strikes me in this moment that even the dense, urban hive of this city feels calm and tranquil on a Sunday morning. It’s the kind of peaceful that still feels alive with possibility, the kind of gentle breeze that holds secrets of inspiration, the kind of quiet that pulls gratitude from somewhere deep in your chest. There’s something quite special about Sunday mornings.

This kind of tranquil, introspective mood makes me want to share. And today, I’d like to share something from someone to whom I am quite grateful. In Blue, from http://makebelieveboutique.com/, who is a fellow manatee-lover (!), nominated me for the Sunshine Award last week.

I feel quite honored, seeing as her blog is incredibly soulful and introspective. Each one of her posts is a tiny morsel of food for thought, that leaves your tongue rolling over the thoughts again and again so that you can grok the fullness of her words.

Here is one I particularly like, pasted from http://makebelieveboutique.com/2012/02/12/1162/.

Enjoy!

switching on your own electricity

Posted on February 12, 2012

to fly or not to fly

Attempts to unravel the labyrinthian dynamics of art’s propulsion according to the categories of the reasoning mind will never replace the mystery with an explanation. The phenomenon simply exists. According to Jung, ‘the bird is flown’ when we attempt to explain the mystery….Shaun McNiff

Art Making & the Shadows of Your Work….

the strange shadows over treetops sometime between dark & dawn (always a miracle)

little baby feet curled around themselves

that peculiar letting go just before sleep (knowing it’s already gone)

the distance felt in a room full of beloved friends, like a dream

looking in night windows; glow & mist & warmth

walking with hands in pockets, filled with treasures; pinecones, stones, feathers

opening a book to the perfect poem

a song flies you back to a time of converse sneakers & blue nail polish

cold hands find a warm teacup & the world is perfect

suddenly aware that you’re being & not doing (oh, that’s so rare & good)

In our night-time, there’s always the electricity switched on, we watch ourselves, we get it all in the head, really. You’ve got to lapse out before you can know what sensual reality is, lapse into unknowingness, & give up your volition. You’ve got to learn not-to-be before you can come into being…..D.H. Lawrence

there can be no doubt when you tiptoe through your own life gently…

Paper Angels, by Olive Twist

February 26, 2012February 1, 2022 JaclynLeave a comment

In my years living in Bangkok, I have found it difficult to meet others who also write in English (my Thai is not nearly good enough for Poetry) and are looking for a community in which they can work on writing. One of the things I love already about blogging is the immediate sense of community and camaraderie I feel with others who are also on here sharing their words with the world. It amazes me that this seems to happen so organically and easily on WordPress. In only a month or so of blogging, I have already met some inspiring, beautiful people who have encouraged me to write more and more.

One of these people is Sister Olive, at http://olivetwist.wordpress.com/. Her ‘twist’ on spirituality and delicate words bring beauty and emotion to heavy situations. Olive nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award, which really warms my heart. I feel so appreciative, especially since I am new to this whole realm.

Not being a rule follower myself, I am not going to bombard you with facts about me or with a giant list of other blogs I like. Instead, I am going to take this opportunity to slowly share some of the amazing writing I’ve found floating out here in cyberspace. Check back on Sundays for writers who are making me smile.

This Sunday is dedicated to Olive. Thank you, Olive, for really making me feel welcome in the WordPress community and also for encouraging me.

Here is one of my favorite gems from Olive’s blog.

Enjoy!

Paper Angels

http://olivetwist.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/paper-angels/

by Olive Twist at http://olivetwist.wordpress.com/

(The Iris Diaries)

The wind began sending messengers to Iris when she was very young. Wandering artisans always surrounded her, giving her poems and art and stories. One day as she sat in a café filled with smoke and laughter, a man with faded denim pants and a worn plaid shirt approached her. He had a familiar mystical flame about his brow, and his reddish hair was curly and matted.

Iris had been inking a picture of a snake climbing up a tree in her sketchbook when he approached her, pointed at her drawing, and said, “Get rid of that snake.” Then he handed her a piece of dirty folded up paper and went out into the street, as the wind blew open the door. She unfolded the paper and found these words written in blue ballpoint pen:

So long on this road back to the wall,

I’d pray I’d die before I’d fall;

Death wish in a land of hell,

Don’t want to cry, search for the well

That gives to me the truth of truth;

In it’s sweet light (don’t need no proof).

Walking middle ground

I found my song in a silent sound

Where eyes don’t hide behind

Masks that make you laugh when you should have cried,

That let you live when you should have died.

So long on this road but I hear the call,

I see the truth and with it walk tall.

It aint the stand I’m afraid to make,

It’s the illusion the world wants me to take

That sees the light and clouds the truth

With its lack of faith and search for proof.[1]

She could feel soft flowing air and a rustle of wings. There was something comforting and kind about the man.

A mysterious long-haired lady with wintery eyes handed her a poem scribbled on aged brown parchment:

The one who weaves the wind

Stood grey before me.

The woods were dawn-grey

Dripping, soft, and so quiet.

The wind-weaver

Was catching shadows and mist

For her loom…[2]

A young man wearing a purple tie-dyed shirt gave her a little poem as he passed her one day, and she sensed that protective spirit again:

Love is the vine

Given mankind

To help him find

His home divine.[3]

One breezy morning while she sat upon a squeaky porch in the ghetto, a man with soft green eyes and glasses approached her and offered her a poem:

The flowers open

At thy feet

Beads of

Dew

Wonderful and new

Angel of light

How many dawns

Have I drunk from your cup?[4]

The affection that the Iris evoked from strangers was disconcerting. Why did poets pop up like flowers wherever she went? Why did they all speak of spiritual things? She felt that someone was calling for her and wanted to be her friend.

A young man handed her this poem on a small piece of white paper with only his name “Sunrise” on the bottom:

The princess in purple

Carrying her guitar…

She shares her music

With all who’ll listen

Her gentle ways could be an inspiration to all

If only they would take time.

Even her ring is purple.

I’ve seen her on the streets

I’ve seen her in the parks

Always ready to share her music

And her heart…[5]

Iris knew that people were drawn to her, but she wondered why all of the writings were spiritual in some way. Did people see something that she could not see at the time?

Now she can see how the wind loved her long before she knew him. He had been loyal to her in a sorrowful land, and had filled her life with meaning.

One morning she talked to a man in the donut shop where she worked. He wore glasses and had curly blonde hair and a beard. She told him of her dream of meeting Christ in an elevator. A few days later he visited and as she was cleaning the counter, she found a story written which he tucked under his napkin:

Immediately and noisily the doors opened, a mild shock far exceeded by the presence of a man, dressed in a loose white robe, staring directly at her out of the elevator—so directly as to imply he knew in advance where she would be standing…And so it was, and the surrounding city with it, corners dissolving into a blizzardy whiteness, glowing brilliant for a moment and then fading, edgeless as the voice of this prophet, into gray, into black, into liquid- no light, no sound, no scent, no feel, no taste- only absence, vacancy, and peace: only the consciousness of a smile, the smile of God.[6]

[1] “Back to the Wall” by Jude

[2] “The Weaver of the Wind” by Margaret

[3] By Kelly

[4] From Michael

[5] By Sunrise

[6] By Al

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