THE SUBMISSION MISSION

TO JOIN THE GROUP, click HERE.

The Submission Mission Live Chat

First Friday of the Month at 3pm ET (Noon PT)

Instructions for Live Chats: http://www.shewrites.com/page/live-chats

Instigating Topics:

MAY 6: Developing Submission Habits

 READ about tips: http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/tips-for-developing-submission-4

JUNE 3: Where To Submit

READ about resources: http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/where-to-submit

JULY 1: Poetry, Stories, Essays, Etc.—Genre & Submissions

 READ IDEAS FOR SUMMER: http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/the-submission-mission-idea-1and http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/the-submission-mission-idea-2

AUGUST 5: Contests, Grants, Fellowships, Residencies with Guest Host Erika Dreifus

SEPTEMBER 2: Agents, Self-Publishing, Other Options, Etc.

OCTOBER 7: Print/Online, Envelopes/Submishmash, Etc.

A PROJECT STATEMENT

In February, I got riled up. Word leaked out that gender disparity existed in literary publishing. This wasn’t news, but we finally saw the numbers. VIDA: Women in Literary Arts released a report that pie-charted top literary venues, including Granta, Harper’s, and Poetry. Darn those editors, I thought, for ignoring good writing by women.

But then, editors started responding. Tin House pointed out that the gender disparity in what they publish represents the gender disparity in submissions. Let’s submit, I thought. I put a call for “A Submission Movement” on Facebook and SheWrites.

I challenged every woman writer to send out a dozen submissions by the end of February, which gave us two weeks. Sending the same story or poems to twelve different venues was fine. The point was to let a dozen editors see my work and, on the larger scale, to change the submissions numbers. I didn’t want editors to blame women writers for their own lack of representation in The Threepenny Review or anywhere else. I didn’t want to reject myself from The New Yorker by not even sending them a poem.

Several women thanked me. One said my call just the kick in the pants she needed, and another received acceptances within a couple of weeks. It worked!

Except I didn’t send out a dozen submissions myself. I sent out three, but they were applications to residencies, not getting my work into the hands of editors. I rationalized that these applications took more time. I let myself off the hook. Another month went by.

Finally, in the last ten days of March, I submitted work to eight literary journals.

What took me so long? Why haven’t I sent a dozen submissions out in the last seven weeks? When I did submit, how did I decide where? How did I decide what piece(s) of writing to submit where? How did submitting encroach upon or fuel my writing time?

These are questions I hope will energize a wider discussion. When I posted that nudge, a friend wrote that a dozen submissions was too much. She thought a regular habit of submitting was more important to cultivate, and she’s right.

That’s why I formed a SheWrites group today and why I want to gather once every month, on the cusp of each first weekend. Let’s talk about why we submit and don’t submit, share strategies for making submitting a regular habit, and point each other to venues for our writing. Let’s set reasonable goals for getting our work into the hands of editors, and let’s achieve those goals! And when we fall short or receive rejections, let’s not give up!

TO JOIN THE GROUP, click HERE.