One of the things I’ve come to understand about artistic pursuits, or at least about mine, is that they are anything but linear. Sometimes one needs to push the limits only to retrace origins and vice versa. So it is that I began exploring seemingly oppositional forces at play in art in general, and subsequently, in written mediums.
On the faces of my students when I suggest they submit their work for publication: flattery, confusion. And I get it—no one taught me how to submit, how to find journals I admire, how to know when a piece is ready. The prospect can be daunting when you’re starting out.
The English language is a system, albeit a wonky and sometimes counterintuitive one. Writers can certainly choose to break the rules of that system, but it helps for us to first be aware of the rules from which we’re departing.
What if I get rejected? What if a journal accepts a poem, and then five years down the road I am ashamed to see it out in the world?
Check out our submission statistics for 2013