Regarding my last email about publications that do or don't respond in a timely manner to submissions, I mentioned ZYZZYVA, a San Francisco literary magazine for West Coast writers. In my experience, the editor, Howard Junker, offers the quickest turnaround time of any editor other than Wendy Lesser of the Threepenny Review. As Howard writes:
I always respond in a matter of weeks, sometimes a month and a half, but never more.
Amen to that.
Now for submission information:
• 450 words or less (July 25 deadline): Doorknobs & Bodypaint, an online journal with chutzpah and a fast turnaround time, is putting together Issue #51. The basic theme is literature that stems from the atmosphere of an intense summer heat.
The journal offers four specific challenges: 1. the Dorsal Contest, which asks writers to capture the type of claustrophobic feel of summer heat conveyed in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying via a first-person, 450-word stream-of-consciousness piece, 2. the Flash Fiction Contest of 250 words, 3. the Hayward Fault Line Contest of 450 words set in Nome, Alaska, and themed around making amends, and 4. the Cairo Room, a non-contest forum in which writers can submit any type of story of 450 words or less.
The guidelines are fun and specific, so be sure to consult them before submitting via email: doorknobs@gmail.com.
• Those who have lost their mothers (July 31 deadline): Sellingham Publishing in Albany, NY, needs poetry, eulogies or memoirs for an anthology titled When Mother Dies. Writers should submit only one piece and will be notified by Oct. 31. If their work is accepted, writers will be paid $50 three months after publication. For complete guidelines, contact editor Corlis F. Carroll, SellinghamPublishing@yahoo.com.
• U.S. and Canadian librarians needed (Aug. 30 deadline): Editor Carol Smallwood, who has put together a number of anthologies, needs articles from librarians for an American Library Association edition titled The Published Librarian: Successful Professional and Personal Writing. The how-to articles of approximately 1,000 words should offer practical, concise information about publishing — marketing, online publishing, researching, etc. — and accompany a second article of about the same length on another topic. For complete guidelines, email Carol at smallwood@tm.net.
Lest I overwhelm you, I'll stop here and post several more helpful tidbits later in the week.
Happy writing!
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