Today my flash fiction piece “The Bad Like” became my first published short story of the new year. It was published by the literary humor magazine Witcraft. My thanks to Witcraft editor Doug Jacquier for accepting this story.
Image via Pexels
Category: literary magazines
The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for
The year in writing, recognition, loss, and life
If nothing else, 2024 for me was a year of transition and disruption. And — I hope — a year I learned to be more grateful and empathetic.
After 40 years of full-time work, much of it in academia, I entered a new phase of life last January. Some call it retirement, but it has hardly been that. My pursuit of creative writing and some freelance work has kept me busy enough. In addition, my wife and I and our cat had a couple of health scares that made us reevaluate our values and gave us greater insight into the workings of the U.S. health care system, the good, bad, and ugly of it. We also mourned the passing of a few friends from our church family and continue to honor their memory.
In other words, a lot of life happened in 2024. Here are some highlights from the year:
Continue reading “The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for”‘Lower Strata’ nominated for Spillwords’ Publication of the Month
At the risk of turning this blog into one long series of brag posts, I’m happy to share that my short story “Lower Strata” is in the running for Spillwords‘ Publication of the Month. The story is one of sixteen nominees, each selected, according to the literary magazine, “100% based on the popularity within the last 30 days.”
Now, the decision to decide which publication earns this distinction falls to the readers, who can cast their votes here. (To vote, you’ll need to sign up for Spillwords. But it’s a fine little literary magazine, and unlike other publications, the Spillwords folks don’t pelt you with emails, so signing up won’t burden you much and will help the magazine grow its audience.)
Continue reading “‘Lower Strata’ nominated for Spillwords’ Publication of the Month”Two bits of good news
About a recent short story publication and an online interview
We interrupt this month of writing-focused activity to bring you a couple of happy updates from my weekend:
- My short story “Lower Strata” was published by the literary magazine Spillwords. This story, which went live Sunday (November 17, 2024), was something I’d written 25 years ago, probably, and shoved away after a few revisions. I reworked it over the summer a few times then sent it on to Spillwords, and last month they let me know they were going to publish it. This was one of those rare occasions in which the one and only litmag I’d submitted a story to accepted it. Like a lot of writers, especially unknowns like me, our stories encounter many rejections before they find a home. (It’s part of the gig. There are a lot of very good writers out there, and only so many places for our work.) So I guess this one hit a responsive chord with an editor or two there. I hope you also like it. I’d love for you to give it a read and share your thoughts. I’m always looking for ways to improve!
- I was “spotlighted” by another literary magazine, Bulb Culture Collective. This litmag specializes in republishing pieces that have been published previously by magazines that are no longer in operation. Such was the case with my flash fiction piece, “Baseball 1971,” which I’ve discussed here previously. BCC also selects writers for their “Shine a Light” series of features, and they reached out to me a couple of months ago inviting me to be a part of it. Their e-interview with me went live also Sunday, November 17, 2024.
So that’s the news from these-here parts. If you’re interested in reading some good stuff, I recommend you add Spillwords and Bulb Culture Collective to your reading list.
Image via Spillwords.
What literary magazines are open for submission? That Book Chikka has the answer
Like a lot of writers who seek to get their work published in literary magazines, I go to several sources for intel, including Duosuma, Poets & Writers‘ list, Submittable, and of course my own, ever-expanding compilation of literary magazines on X/Twitter, Litmags, etc. (now up to 314 different litmags and litmag-adjacent accounts).
But my go-to source lately has become Jessica Kusisto’s weekly compilation of literary magazines that are open for submission.
Continue reading “What literary magazines are open for submission? That Book Chikka has the answer”