3 Takeaways from our Guest Authors: Literary Submissions and Publishing Workshop 1 of 3

In last night's first session of this 3-part series on Literary Submissions and Publishing, we heard from three guest authors about their process towards publication of memoir, craft, YA, fiction, and poetry.

Suzanne Roberts started off the workshop with her story of how she found her editor and publisher through University of Nebraska Press. Almost Somewhere: 28 Days on the John Muir Trail was published by Bison Books. She talked with the editors about how they could represent more feminist authors in their line of books offered. Ten years later, she has brilliantly re-released this memoir with a new Afterward, Discussion Questions for book clubs, and more photographs of her original  hike. Her tip is to consider a University Press and seek out one that publishes the niche of your manuscript.

 Lindsay Wilson presented a rundown of the nitty gritty for submitting work to literary magazines. As an editor himself of a few different magazines, and currently editor of The Meadow, he shared the editor's eye view of submissions: "Keep a love for the process of writing separate from publishing. Ultimately, it's about the craft."  The Meadow's reading period is August 15 - Jan 15 each year, accepting poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

Our evening closed with the warmth of Kim Culbertson talking about her path to publication of YA novels, an adult novel, a few other creative projects, and her latest craft book 100 Word Stories: A Short Form for Expansive Writing. She asked us "what book would bring you joy to write?" Kim is a teacher at heart, and calls the 100 word short stories "small, bright things". 

Pick up a copy of these writers' books and feel good about being a citizen of literature. On February 13th, we have our next session of the Literary Submissions and Publication workshop series. You can read the details here and email me to sign up at tangledrootswriting@gmail.com