Apparently you have been sitting inside my head listening to me! Only difference is I'm 65 (eek!) and a little bit closer to the title of this column. Eek again.
hahah oof well I want to be writing and reading someone’s rambling on Substack when I’m 65! definitely not what people of this age in my side of the world do, sadly. here it’s more like “give up on yourself and do nothing while waiting to die”. I’ve been to the US twice and it amazed me how many older people were just enjoying themselves at the rock festivals haha (of course a lot of this has to do with our overall progress being about 30 years behind haha and that pension is joke here). and recently my husband found an awesome tool for developers and realized that an 80 year old woman is maintaining it! badass haha. so go you, Leslie!
Dec 1, 2023·edited Dec 1, 2023Liked by Karina Kupp
Keep at it! I'm close to your age, Leslie, and still writing and submitting and in the process getting to be a better more discerning writer. As you can see, I've had some ups and downs, but I keep plugging away.
Hi Belinda! I have also have some ups and downs. Have had a few modest successes. But been in a dry spell of doubting lately. I too will keep plugging away!
Good for you and congrats on those successes! No need to minimize them. I know how that goes! It's too easy to engage in negative self-talk, turn my attention to other things and let writing fall by the wayside. I've been attending a local Emeritus continuing ed writing class and weekly prompt sessions to keep my creative juices flowing, my self-editing to a minimum and my hand moving across the page.
Nov 30, 2023·edited Dec 1, 2023Liked by Karina Kupp
This is excellent. I agree in so many ways.
"...but this dude seems like an asshole" lolol
This sticks out, too, as an example of something I completely agree with:
"This one won't have a URL for my story, and I won't send people to read page 62."
Relatedly, it's why I'm not a fan of journals using ISSUU (or similar) or having a downloadable PDF.
It's just not an ideal way to share and it feels like you're asking people to jump through way too many hoops when they can so easily just click on the next thing in their feed.
I'm working on an essay/post from the position of writers speaking to editor's about submission guidelines and how guidelines should be, in short, as writer-friendly as possible. Hopefully out in the not too distant future.
thanks, Mark! yes to all of this! I’ve seen some magazines do a combination of ISSUU/PDF and website publication with individual links (where you can browse the pieces but also download the issue pdf) which is awesome but I understand that’s a lot of work for the editors. So I’d rather prefer just a neat collection posted on the website
and writer-friendly submission guidelines is what we want to see more of haha. that’s also why we want to make our listing pages so cool that they could serve as an example of how the guidelines should be presented
Nov 30, 2023·edited Nov 30, 2023Liked by Karina Kupp
This is just the tip of the iceberg. I had a CRN piece accepted by a reputable journal, held for publication nearly a year, then finally signed a contract and less than a month later was informed they'd voided my contract and were relinquishing my piece. Huh? No wonder we hesitate to submit work to journals if we're treated so callously.
hahah always happens. I think I only ever saw one theme where I really felt like my piece fit there, it was a music themed issue. most of the other times it’s like...ehhh? they’re always so abstract hahah. or oddly specific. like hey, we’re looking for your writing about mold! inspiring mold! mold that you look that and think oh wow!
lol sadly I made that up after listening to a podcast by podcast producers where one of their tasks was to create an actually interesting podcast about mold. but I’m sure you’ll place it, there’s enough weird calls out there!
This is so relatable and exactly why I have never submitted anywhere. So daunting. And my self-consciousness hates me. But now that I've prematurely published a couple of stories on Substack, I regret not letting those stories sit and marinate. I could have revised them next year and, if not full of dread, maybe submitted them to wherever.
god it hurt just reading your comment lol. I know the internal struggle so well. but hey, looks like you’re doing pretty good on Substack! Ben and I just discussed this yesterday, like of course submitting and being published ticks the boxes for your CV and credibility, but we never connected to someone by getting our pieces published in the same way we did by just posting on Instagram/Medium or right here in this diary. Sucks that you constantly have to find this balance between “Oh do I want readers?” “Do I want publication history?” “Do I want agents?” and that it’s not necessary in one place. Ughhh something we definitely want to solve (or at least improve) one day
Man... "God, just one poem by this person seems better than all of my poems." and "too good for this ugly website." Are so me. Also, thank you for Chill Subs! This is my first year head-down submitting ~6 times/week since March. I've gotten 31 rejections and 5 poems accepted - taking tons of time vetting places that I'm proud to be included in. So many Friday nights of clicking in and out of different mag's profiles. I couldn't have done it without this platform! x) And, it was my goal to get published in a lit mag before turning 30 (on the last day of this year).
I was thinking on a cool catchphrase like Submission by submission! Submit to submission ? And then I was thinking it maybe wasnt the right thing but then I remember this is chill subs so submit to submit!
Also the lesson learned is that maybe Chill subs is the perfect place for your posts. I always dreamed to wear a cool company shirt that says “look at me I work at Stroogle” or “Im a Nasal employee” but life has different paths and opportunities for us, and I learned maybe I can wear a tshirt of an unknown company and make it grow to the point I go “look at me, I not only work here I build it, and Im in charge of the restrooms because hell yeah profits”
Just add a link, if noone clicks it its cool, if you get cold feet just add an april fools doodle, but you need to push the publish button. The only way to fix things is to do them to know where it goes wrong. thats a bit of wisdom from the Comiclab guys.
also, this is some good stuff thank you for sharing
Omg, Karina - I love you (in a non-creepy way)! Methinks you are a WRITER who writes super-relatable stuff. I'll buy whatever magazine you're published in. And I don't usually read literary magazines. Because of all the stuff you said. :-)
inspiring. i think, who has time to "know" where they're sending their work at the outset? i just load up the cannon and blammo. you can learn a lot from the patterns of projectiles in their targets. god, now i sound like a gun nut. this comment is a persona poem from the perspective of dick "dick" cheney
hahah for real. I do want to know if my work belongs though so I read at least an issue of each mag before I decide to submit, and sometimes I wish I cared juuuust a little less lol
Mark Danowsky: "This one won't have a URL for my story. I won't send people to read page 62."
Mark: "Relatedly, it's why I'm not a fan of journals using ISSUU (or similar) or having a downloadable PDF."
Thank you, Mark! Totally agree! :-)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Karina, I'm a poet who submits every day. Every single day, even on weekends. And I've been doing this for years. And when you submit every day, you have to keep generating new poems.
And your poems must keep getting better.
How?
Best way to do that: join a poetry critique group in your genre [literary / speculative / horror, etc.].
I ran a Spec-Po Critique Group for 3 years.
Thanks to that group, one newbie poet got his first chapbook published within 1 year.
What's my track record like?
In the past 15 months, I've had three poetry collections accepted by two indie presses and one university press.
In the past 15 months, I've led two poet colleagues (both of whom were in poetry critique groups) to two publishers (Wipf & Stock and a newer indie imprint); thanks to my market knowledge, each poet got a manuscript accepted on the first try.
Karina, you don't improve solely by "submitting."
You improve by having colleagues critique you and expose you to new ideas.
Hey LindaAnn, thank you! Oh I know that you don’t improve solely by submitting hah. That’s not a part of writing. But it is a part of the game if you want to publish something, and that’s a daunting part for me mostly because of how many magazines exist. It was easier for me when we only listed 75, but 3000? Woof. And I do read each magazine before deciding if my work belongs there, at least one issue, cause I can’t just blindly send my work to 20 places at once. So it always feels like A LOT to me. I just overthink stuff too much. But I agree that a support group or even just one writer friend makes it way easier. Here I have Ben :)
Karina, yes, lots of magazine exist. That's why it's crucial to find YOUR niche, be your own matchmaker, and corral just a few dozen that "speak to you" & help define your "brand." The sooner you define your "brand," submitting becomes far less daunting.
The faster you are building a book ms vs getting zine credits, your submissions narrow.
In addition to defining your "brand," a writer must stake out a new realm for each book, especially if you're setting out to conquer new territory.
I see very little written about defining a "brand" - - yet this is the key to being productive in an efficient way for a poet like myself.
Apparently you have been sitting inside my head listening to me! Only difference is I'm 65 (eek!) and a little bit closer to the title of this column. Eek again.
hahah oof well I want to be writing and reading someone’s rambling on Substack when I’m 65! definitely not what people of this age in my side of the world do, sadly. here it’s more like “give up on yourself and do nothing while waiting to die”. I’ve been to the US twice and it amazed me how many older people were just enjoying themselves at the rock festivals haha (of course a lot of this has to do with our overall progress being about 30 years behind haha and that pension is joke here). and recently my husband found an awesome tool for developers and realized that an 80 year old woman is maintaining it! badass haha. so go you, Leslie!
Aw thanks, Karina! That made my day!
Keep at it! I'm close to your age, Leslie, and still writing and submitting and in the process getting to be a better more discerning writer. As you can see, I've had some ups and downs, but I keep plugging away.
I admire you both <3
Hi Belinda! I have also have some ups and downs. Have had a few modest successes. But been in a dry spell of doubting lately. I too will keep plugging away!
Good for you and congrats on those successes! No need to minimize them. I know how that goes! It's too easy to engage in negative self-talk, turn my attention to other things and let writing fall by the wayside. I've been attending a local Emeritus continuing ed writing class and weekly prompt sessions to keep my creative juices flowing, my self-editing to a minimum and my hand moving across the page.
This is excellent. I agree in so many ways.
"...but this dude seems like an asshole" lolol
This sticks out, too, as an example of something I completely agree with:
"This one won't have a URL for my story, and I won't send people to read page 62."
Relatedly, it's why I'm not a fan of journals using ISSUU (or similar) or having a downloadable PDF.
It's just not an ideal way to share and it feels like you're asking people to jump through way too many hoops when they can so easily just click on the next thing in their feed.
I'm working on an essay/post from the position of writers speaking to editor's about submission guidelines and how guidelines should be, in short, as writer-friendly as possible. Hopefully out in the not too distant future.
thanks, Mark! yes to all of this! I’ve seen some magazines do a combination of ISSUU/PDF and website publication with individual links (where you can browse the pieces but also download the issue pdf) which is awesome but I understand that’s a lot of work for the editors. So I’d rather prefer just a neat collection posted on the website
and writer-friendly submission guidelines is what we want to see more of haha. that’s also why we want to make our listing pages so cool that they could serve as an example of how the guidelines should be presented
Mark, Dipity Lit accepted my 3 short poems & made an image video from my lines.
EIC Jazz Marie aka Vevna Forrow does a unique artistic collage for each poet she selects.
I've never seen an editor shower her poets with so much appreciation as Vevna.
I'm spoiled now. (big smile)
LINK: https://www.dipitylitmag.com/post/3-poems-by-lindaann-loschiavo
Very cool!
This is just the tip of the iceberg. I had a CRN piece accepted by a reputable journal, held for publication nearly a year, then finally signed a contract and less than a month later was informed they'd voided my contract and were relinquishing my piece. Huh? No wonder we hesitate to submit work to journals if we're treated so callously.
oh gosh, and after all this you’re supposed to submit somewhere else and wait like another 6 months for an unknown outcome🫠 sending you a hug!
Thanks for the virtual hug!
The theme call thing is getting ridiculous at this point. What the hell is “luminous light” supposed to be??
hahah always happens. I think I only ever saw one theme where I really felt like my piece fit there, it was a music themed issue. most of the other times it’s like...ehhh? they’re always so abstract hahah. or oddly specific. like hey, we’re looking for your writing about mold! inspiring mold! mold that you look that and think oh wow!
do you remember that mold call for submissions because I have an actual story about mold
lol sadly I made that up after listening to a podcast by podcast producers where one of their tasks was to create an actually interesting podcast about mold. but I’m sure you’ll place it, there’s enough weird calls out there!
😅 to mold or not to mold
Hilarious, insightful and so close to the bone it hurts. btw you can write. :-)
haha thanks Doug!
This is so relatable and exactly why I have never submitted anywhere. So daunting. And my self-consciousness hates me. But now that I've prematurely published a couple of stories on Substack, I regret not letting those stories sit and marinate. I could have revised them next year and, if not full of dread, maybe submitted them to wherever.
god it hurt just reading your comment lol. I know the internal struggle so well. but hey, looks like you’re doing pretty good on Substack! Ben and I just discussed this yesterday, like of course submitting and being published ticks the boxes for your CV and credibility, but we never connected to someone by getting our pieces published in the same way we did by just posting on Instagram/Medium or right here in this diary. Sucks that you constantly have to find this balance between “Oh do I want readers?” “Do I want publication history?” “Do I want agents?” and that it’s not necessary in one place. Ughhh something we definitely want to solve (or at least improve) one day
After you define your "brand," your goals are clarified.
I've never felt more seen 🤣😭😂
🫠🫠
Man... "God, just one poem by this person seems better than all of my poems." and "too good for this ugly website." Are so me. Also, thank you for Chill Subs! This is my first year head-down submitting ~6 times/week since March. I've gotten 31 rejections and 5 poems accepted - taking tons of time vetting places that I'm proud to be included in. So many Friday nights of clicking in and out of different mag's profiles. I couldn't have done it without this platform! x) And, it was my goal to get published in a lit mag before turning 30 (on the last day of this year).
lol thank YOU for using Chill Subs! sounds like you're on the right track🙃 I hope to actually submit something by the end of the year too haha
Love this so much. Thank you for starting my day with a laugh, and encouragement...as I wait for a dozen blue buttons to turn green (pray for me;)
yaay happy it made a good start of the day! thank you <3 and yes, some of those buttons are about to turn green! and if not, you no where to vent haha
I was thinking on a cool catchphrase like Submission by submission! Submit to submission ? And then I was thinking it maybe wasnt the right thing but then I remember this is chill subs so submit to submit!
Also the lesson learned is that maybe Chill subs is the perfect place for your posts. I always dreamed to wear a cool company shirt that says “look at me I work at Stroogle” or “Im a Nasal employee” but life has different paths and opportunities for us, and I learned maybe I can wear a tshirt of an unknown company and make it grow to the point I go “look at me, I not only work here I build it, and Im in charge of the restrooms because hell yeah profits”
Just add a link, if noone clicks it its cool, if you get cold feet just add an april fools doodle, but you need to push the publish button. The only way to fix things is to do them to know where it goes wrong. thats a bit of wisdom from the Comiclab guys.
also, this is some good stuff thank you for sharing
haha thanks Cookie! yeah it’s really so enjoyable to write for our diary. so glad I finally got my shit together and started writing for it haha
and yes this is very wise
Omg, Karina - I love you (in a non-creepy way)! Methinks you are a WRITER who writes super-relatable stuff. I'll buy whatever magazine you're published in. And I don't usually read literary magazines. Because of all the stuff you said. :-)
haha love you too, and I like your dog. thank you, this really meant a lot to my impostor head♥️
My submission thoughts to fancy journal is, ooooo moonneyyy > submit >
my poem is now your problem.
inspiring. i think, who has time to "know" where they're sending their work at the outset? i just load up the cannon and blammo. you can learn a lot from the patterns of projectiles in their targets. god, now i sound like a gun nut. this comment is a persona poem from the perspective of dick "dick" cheney
hahah for real. I do want to know if my work belongs though so I read at least an issue of each mag before I decide to submit, and sometimes I wish I cared juuuust a little less lol
new super power: not giving a fuck. that's how i wrote my novel 🤓
yeah i definitely need to learn THAT
that is something i will be learning for the rest of my life. with gratitude and gnashing of teeth.
Mark Danowsky: "This one won't have a URL for my story. I won't send people to read page 62."
Mark: "Relatedly, it's why I'm not a fan of journals using ISSUU (or similar) or having a downloadable PDF."
Thank you, Mark! Totally agree! :-)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Karina, I'm a poet who submits every day. Every single day, even on weekends. And I've been doing this for years. And when you submit every day, you have to keep generating new poems.
And your poems must keep getting better.
How?
Best way to do that: join a poetry critique group in your genre [literary / speculative / horror, etc.].
I ran a Spec-Po Critique Group for 3 years.
Thanks to that group, one newbie poet got his first chapbook published within 1 year.
What's my track record like?
In the past 15 months, I've had three poetry collections accepted by two indie presses and one university press.
In the past 15 months, I've led two poet colleagues (both of whom were in poetry critique groups) to two publishers (Wipf & Stock and a newer indie imprint); thanks to my market knowledge, each poet got a manuscript accepted on the first try.
Karina, you don't improve solely by "submitting."
You improve by having colleagues critique you and expose you to new ideas.
Think about my suggestion.
Good luck to you!
Hey LindaAnn, thank you! Oh I know that you don’t improve solely by submitting hah. That’s not a part of writing. But it is a part of the game if you want to publish something, and that’s a daunting part for me mostly because of how many magazines exist. It was easier for me when we only listed 75, but 3000? Woof. And I do read each magazine before deciding if my work belongs there, at least one issue, cause I can’t just blindly send my work to 20 places at once. So it always feels like A LOT to me. I just overthink stuff too much. But I agree that a support group or even just one writer friend makes it way easier. Here I have Ben :)
Karina, yes, lots of magazine exist. That's why it's crucial to find YOUR niche, be your own matchmaker, and corral just a few dozen that "speak to you" & help define your "brand." The sooner you define your "brand," submitting becomes far less daunting.
The faster you are building a book ms vs getting zine credits, your submissions narrow.
In addition to defining your "brand," a writer must stake out a new realm for each book, especially if you're setting out to conquer new territory.
I see very little written about defining a "brand" - - yet this is the key to being productive in an efficient way for a poet like myself.
Maybe there's an e-book in my future....? :-)
yeah basically
I've been working up the courage to submit my short story to The Fairytale Review for...9 years. :)
ohh noo haha, do it! nothing matters at this point lol