In case you missed it, my first pub of the year went live at Hex Literary - I hope you check out “The Mongoose.” I want to say thank you to Dan Miller for accepting it and promoting the hell out of it on the site that shall not be named or as I call it twitter.

This story segues into my discussion about my overall submission strategy. Hex was my 35th submission for this story. I first submitted it in March 2021 and have been trying to find a place for it ever since. For stories that I love and I want to get published, I just keep trying until it finds the perfect home. So that’s one sub strategy.

Over the years, I have continued to challenge myself by submitting to “higher” tiered literary magazines, even though my chances are slim. When Shome Dasgupta posts on twitter about the lit mags opening for submissions every month, I bookmark it and add them to my list, noting deadlines and possible fees.

I did kind of slow my roll for December (and it seems January as well lol) and didn’t submit as feverishly as I usually do so my submittable is at about 16 subs but that includes multiple micros/flash per sub as well as my flash collection.

Now, for where to sub certain pieces… that one is tricky because I sometimes write in a way that may not be appreciated by some, but I still think it’s important that it be written and out in the world, so I will submit my work to places to challenge their status quo or to places that I feel like lack certain voices.

I think it’s important to read the lit mag that you are submitting to if you can. You need to get the mag’s vibe. If you can’t afford it (looking at you print lit mags with no access online), don’t pay a submission fee if you feel your work might be a fit and what to submit anyway.

I will usually do submission sprees when I am feeling like it, especially after I receive a lot of rejections in one day (I got five the other day). I go through my pub list and my sub list and find the stories that may fit.

I do have to give one caveat though… I have been in continuous workshop for almost two years with SLQ (since I am a Submissions Editor, I receive access to it for free which is a wonderful boon), so I am constantly producing new work that I can submit as I go. Currently, I am writing a minimum of one new piece a week but in some of the iterations of the workshop, I had been producing one new piece every day.

Finally, contests… I went through submitting and no submitting phases in the last 9 (?!?) years to these because they cost too much and feel like a scam, but I have come to realize that my work is good enough to win, and if I got paid for publishing my work, then I think of it as a way of giving back to the lit mags, because sometimes these contests help support the mag for the year. If I can get a lit mag subscription for it, even better, BUT I only submit if I have money in my Paypal account. I figured that keeps me from spending too much.

I feel like I have rambled on long enough and I also feel like I might need to rethink some of my strategy but this is kind of how I do it, for now.

I have a full day of teaching 15 year olds so I hope that you are having a wonderful day. Sending light, love and creativity. So damn glad it’s Friday (for me).