The Write, Publish, and Shine Podcast

27/08/2024

Thanks for sharing this story, Lina!

🌟 “Rejection is just part of the process.” 🌟

Lina Lau shares her journey from the slush pile to publication in X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine. Hear how persistence, community, and self-compassion helped her navigate the literary world, and why she believes in submitting again—even after rejection.

✍️ "I’ve been fortunate with personalized rejections and supportive feedback, which motivates me to keep going as an emerging writer."

https://open.substack.com/pub/litmaglove/p/how-lina-lau-published-in-x-r-a-y

For more real-life stories and advice from writers who’ve made their mark in literary magazines, follow along and stay inspired! 💌

27/08/2024

New episodes start up mid September. Until then, check out my Substack (it's free):

I’m Rachel, a literary magazine editor passionate about demystifying the world of literary magazines and helping readers find their place within it. This newsletter is my way of connecting with you, offering practical advice and encouragement. Click to read Lit Mag Love, a Substack publication. La...

27/08/2024

Thanks to Agata for sharing this story that reboots my series on how to publish in lit mags. More to come at litmaglove.substack.com!

🚀✨ Explore the realm of literary humour in this new post from Agata Antonow.

Agata’s witty short story about corporate hypocrisy (featuring Satan!) was scooped up by Defenestration. 😈

“They listed Bigfoot on their masthead. How could I resist that?”

This is the story behind her story and how she went from self-doubt to publication.

Get Agata's insights on her experience in the Newsletter:
https://open.substack.com/pub/litmaglove/p/how-i-published-in-defenestration
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(When you’re there, subscribe—it’s FREE—to get more publication stories from luminous writers!)

23/11/2021

New article on my website: Lucy Wilde shares how she published her story “The Taming of Things” with Atticus Review.
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✍ “There are two main reasons I wanted to see my work in Atticus Review, the quality of the writing and the fact that they are interested in publishing hybrid, unconventional work that pushes boundaries.”⁠
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📖 Read and learn more about how Lucy published with The Atticus Review at: ⁠rachelthompson.co/atticus
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[Image: Lucy Wilde stands in front of a wood-plank wall and has long hair and wears a turtleneck sweater in this black and white photo taken outdoors with dappling sunlight.]⁠
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19/10/2021

“Writing ebbs and flows.” Ellen Chang-Richardson
Listen to this episode of the Write, Publish, and Shine podcast at rachelthompson.co/podcast⁠/54
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[Image: Episode 54—Four writers on finding their lane and publishing in lit mags.⁠ Author Ellen Chang-Richardson wears chunky white glasses and has slightly wavy shoulder-length hair in this photo taken outdoors in front of a tree.]
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26/09/2021

In episode 52 of Write, Publish, and Shine I walk you through how and why to turn your writing outward, with the help of six other writers and editors, including Emily Wojcik of The Massachusetts Review .

Let's listen to Emily Wojcik, who has worked in non-profit publishing for more than a decade, first with Paris Press in Ashfield, MA, and now the Massachusetts Review.

The Massachusetts Review is a publication that is very interested in writing with that outward gaze. And she provides a really concrete story about how a work of writing starts about a family then finds its way into, through direct connection, a much bigger story about social and political events.

“It becomes this kind of really intricately woven meditation on mental illness and family, but also the idea of do we really know our neighbors and what are the effects of these people on both good and bad on the greater world and the ways we interact with people.

The charming and adorable story about a man learning to cook dinner for his family because his wife got a job, and that sort of thing where it doesn't feel like it's saying much beyond the family. And that's hard for us to figure out how that's going to work for our type of reader who's looking for a broader, more international, more politically engaged form of nonfiction.”

For more of our discussion, and to explore going from the intimate to the broad, the personal to the political, and how to reach out to the world with your writing, listen now: rachelthompson.co/podcast

Link in bio 👉 ⁠

[Image: Author photo of Emily Wojcik. She has short hair. She is smiling. She is holding her face with her right hand. Text: “Our type of reader is looking for a broader, more international, more politically engaged form of nonfiction.” There is a salmon-colored circle beneath Write Publish & Shine with Rachel and a grey background with a flower design. More text: Listen where you get your podcasts!]

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25/06/2021

Episode #20 Plenitude’s Rebecca Salazar on Writing with Flash AND Fire⁠
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“Poems, no matter what they are about or how they approach the world, have to need to happen.” —Rebecca Salazar, Plenitude⁠

[Image: Rebecca Salazar has dark curly hair and dark lipstick and she looks to the right in this close photo taken in front of poplar trees.]⁠
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This is a replay of a conversation I had with Rebecca Salazar of Plenitude back in 2018.⁠
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One of the reasons I’m returning to this conversation is that in my membership community, called Writerly Love, we’re exploring appropriation in writing this month—with a monthly theme of care. And I find this inner-battle when I approach appropriation in my own writing and think about writing across difference of culture, or class as I also discussed in my most recent new episode with The Temz editors.

I so want to have a formula, I want to not get it wrong. Essentially my bent for perfectionism means I want to ”get things right“ and not make a harmful mistake or, frankly, embarrass myself for being ignorant.⁠
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In this interview that covers a lot of topics like, what is CanLit, really, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and why submitting to contests isn’t always the best choice, what I appreciate most is Rebecca Salazar saying about representation and appropriation, "what matters and is just be willing to be wrong because you’re going to be wrong more than once.⁠"
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I have been wrong often, by the way, and I survived. I think it was always better for me to attempt to navigate these ethics versus ignore them. I can’t be perfect. Perfectionism really has no place in writing and in relationships and in reconciling difference.⁠
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So, with that in mind, listen to my conversation with Rebecca Salazar, Associate Poetry Editor of Plenitude. ⁠
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🎙️ Full episode transcript and show notes are up rachelthompson.co/podcast/20 👈⁠
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17/06/2021

The /tƐmz/ Review Amy Mitchell and Aaron Schneider on Good Ugliness

Hear Aaron Schneider and Amy Mitchell, the founding editors of The /tƐmz/ Review, speak about the introspection they want to see in political writing, the care and knowledge required to write about cultures, classes, and communities that you don't belong to, and taking the risk to be ugly in writing.

🎙️rachelthompson.co/podcast/51 👈

[Image: A combination of images and text. Quoted text at top reads: "We both really like having, essentially, the guts to look at not just issues in their full complexity, but also not to try to gloss over the ugliness.” —Amy Mitchell, The /tƐmz/ Review⁠. Two photographs at top left and text on the right and bottom. The top image is a headshot of Aaron Schneider who has short dark hair and glasses and is shown against a white textured wall. Below that is a photograph of Amy Mitchell sitting on a lawn chair with a dog in her lap and another dog beside her. Text at right and bottom: "Write Publish and Shine with Rachel Thompson. Listen Where You Get Your Podcasts!"]

04/06/2021

Episode #20 Plenitude’s Rebecca Salazar on Writing with Flash AND Fire⁠
⁠
“Poems, no matter what they are about or how they approach the world, have to need to happen.” —Rebecca Salazar, Plenitude⁠

[Image: Rebecca Salazar has dark curly hair and dark lipstick and she looks to the right in this close photo taken in front of poplar trees.]⁠
⁠
This is a replay of a conversation I had with Rebecca Salazar of Plenitude back in 2018.⁠
⁠
One of the reasons I’m returning to this conversation is that in my membership community, called Writerly Love, we’re exploring appropriation in writing this month—with a monthly theme of care. And I find this inner-battle when I approach appropriation in my own writing and think about writing across difference of culture, or class as I also discussed in my most recent new episode with The Temz editors.

I so want to have a formula, I want to not get it wrong. Essentially my bent for perfectionism means I want to ”get things right“ and not make a harmful mistake or, frankly, embarrass myself for being ignorant.⁠
⁠
In this interview that covers a lot of topics like, what is CanLit, really, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and why submitting to contests isn’t always the best choice, what I appreciate most is Rebecca Salazar saying about representation and appropriation, "what matters and is just be willing to be wrong because you’re going to be wrong more than once.⁠"
⁠
I have been wrong often, by the way, and I survived. I think it was always better for me to attempt to navigate these ethics versus ignore them. I can’t be perfect. Perfectionism really has no place in writing and in relationships and in reconciling difference.⁠
⁠
So, with that in mind, listen to my conversation with Rebecca Salazar, Associate Poetry Editor of Plenitude. ⁠
⁠
🎙️ Full episode transcript and show notes are up rachelthompson.co/podcast/20 👈⁠
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This episode is brought to you by the Mom Egg Review. Submissions to their “Mother Figures” issue closes on July 15.⁠⁠
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27/05/2021

So, this is the first time a story I edited was nominated for a National Magazine Award.⁠
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It was particularly special since this was for a piece in the issue.⁠
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In that issue, we got to feature writers who socialize, learn, pay attention, feel, and think outside of “normal.” ⁠
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I am so grateful to all of our writers and artists who shared their work and challenged what neurotypical readers may think they know about our experiences with autism, brain injury, ADHD, anxiety, mental illness, and all kinds of cognitive differences.⁠
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I am grateful for the brilliant team of Jessica Johns, Karmella Cen Benedito de Barrios and Angelica Poversky who made this collective and collaborative beauty with me.⁠
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Writers, artists, editors, all of these creatives came together in a beautiful way in these pages. My heart was so full when the issue came out. This nomination is an extra topping on this experience. ⁠
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You can read Erin Soros' gorgeous piece up on the Magazine Awards website (https://magazine-awards.com/). You can also get a copy of the whole issue from Room Magazine here: https://roommagazine.com/shop/neurodivergence. (Do it! It's a beauty of a read.)⁠
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Congratulations to writer Erin Soros for this nomination. I'm so honoured you trusted us with this special piece. 💗⁠
[Image: A screenshot of the story "I Do" in PDF format with the text 2021 Nominees, National Magazine Awards/Les prix du magazine canadien, Essays, I Do, Room, Erin Soros, Handling Editor: Rachel Thompson]

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20/05/2021

The /tƐmz/ Review Amy Mitchell and Aaron Schneider on Good Ugliness

"We both really like having, essentially, the guts to look at not just issues in their full complexity, but also not to try to gloss over the ugliness.” —Amy Mitchell, The /tƐmz/ Review

Hear Aaron Schneider and Amy Mitchell, the founding editors of The /tƐmz/ Review, speak about the introspection they want to see in political writing, the care and knowledge required to write about cultures, classes, and communities that you don't belong to, and taking the risk to be ugly in writing.

🎙️rachelthompson.co/podcast/51 👈

[Image: Two photographs at top left and text on the right and bottom. The top image is a headshot of Aaron Schneider who has short dark hair and glasses and is shown against a white textured wall. Below that is a photograph of Amy Mitchell sitting on a lawn chair with a dog in her lap and another dog beside her. Text: Episode # 51 // The /tƐmz/ Review Amy Mitchell and Aaron Schneider on Good Ugliness. Listen Where You Get Your Podcasts!]