Etymology Press

15/08/2024

What are you creating today?

08/08/2024

What’s the book you’ve been dying to read? How can we support you in writing it?

03/08/2024

SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN!

We are looking for poetry, prose, artwork, and more for our upcoming issue of Etymology. Every day we will be posting writing prompts to inspire and encourage your writing process. If you happen to write on one of those prompts, feel free to DM your first draft to us, or post and tag us! We can’t wait to see what you create with this prompt.

Click over to our website for the submission guidelines and form!

23/07/2024

Write with us. ✍🏽

We love local authors (*ehem* ). We’re pretty much obsessed with creating space for local authors to shine. We know how terrifying it can be to submit creative work. We’ve been there. We’ve felt the cold sweats. We’ve hovered our fingers over submit buttons. We’ve screamed into the abyss, stressing over author bios, suddenly in a crisis of identity. We’ve been rejected by journals of all shapes and sizes, and we’ve returned to submit again. At Etymology, you’re working with local authors, as a local author. Everything you submit is actually read by actual people. We offer opportunities for feedback, connections to writing groups, and deadlines for writers who, like us, need a little bit of accountability. 🤷🏽‍♂️

This is not a journal you submit to once and forget about. Etymology is a community of writers who believe that our words can change our world. We show up for each other, root for each other, and create with each other.

Yes, we uphold a standard of quality work, so, no, you can’t expect to be published just because you submit. HOWEVER, we’re the type of people that believe you can get there. Send us your worst. Send us your best. If it’s not something we can publish (yet) we will come alongside you to get it there. We want to publish you. Pinky swear.

16/07/2024

We have been working hard since the dawn of 2024 to create something magical. We are so happy with what we have created thus far, but get ready... BIG CHANGES are coming. Look forward to more writing opportunities, more feedback, more print zines....and so much more. We can't wait to show you what we have been working on. :)

08/07/2024

This week, we will be distributing free copies of our first print issue (Genus) at Little Free Libraries across Central Florida. If you would like to purchase one to have mailed to you, please use the link (and be sure to share your correct mailing address!) The cost of the issue goes towards the cost of printing, stamps, and envelopes. :)

The inaugural issue of Etymology, printed in the summer of 2024. Features work from poets Diana Alvarez-Hughes, Joseph Brunetti, Anna Cotton, Paul Corrigan, and Daniel Galef.

03/07/2024

Tackling themes of birth, rebirth, family, and legacy, our writers this month took on the theme of "Origins." Our writers tackle concepts like the origins of culture, families, and even time itself. We have loved seeing the paths these writers' have traversed to express the roots of their own life journeys. A huge thank you to our poets, essayist, and playwright who made this issue possible. Your hard work and dedication to the craft are evident and inspiring. We hope you enjoy this issue. Origins: EtymologyDownload

Tackling themes of birth, rebirth, family, and legacy, our writers this month took on the theme of “Origins.” Our writers tackle concepts like the origins of culture, families, and even…

22/06/2024

One of our recently published authors has a book coming out! Love seeing writers recognized for their hard work and talent.

I AM SO THRILLED to officially announce the acceptance of my chapbook, "How to Tie To***co" by Wild Ink Publishing LLC, a mini-collection of poems inspired by stories of my strong southern grandmothers and matriarchs of my family.

Poems you may be familiar with so far from this collection are "Caretaker Covenant" which was published in Etymology Press, "Holy Waters" published in The Freshwater Review, and "We all have Hurt our Mother at Some Point," forthcoming by Silver Birch Press.

Release Date: May 2025! 👛🥜🦚
Woot Woot!!!

12/06/2024

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Deadline extended on our July issue of Etymology.

LOOKING FOR:
1 short story, 1 essay, 3 poems, 5 images, and one miscellaneous piece (surprise us).

Write about a divide. It could be a recipe for getting through your 5th grade math class. It could be a narrative about a messy divorce, or a poem about the division of cells. It could be clever photo of sidewalk cracks, focusing on the great chasm of division between each block (at least from the ant’s perspective). Be creative. Do what you must. We love to see fresh, wild, and outrageous ideas (so long as they’re written well).

Hint: Look up the definition of “Divide.” Research the etymology. Reflect on that term in relationship to your own life, the stories you’ve read, or the pieces you’ve written and left in a drawer. Write a piece that tells that reflects the theme of “Divide,” however you interpret it.

23/05/2024

“Floridian; see also dangerous; / See also ravenous; / Native, but invasive as hell.” 🙌

Dr. Álvarez-Hughes’ poem is giving all the bad*ss Florida energy we needed this week.

Find her poem on etymologypress.org.

If you’re a poet and you’re looking for community and generative workshops, follow this author’s page for upcoming workshops and writing opportunities.

22/05/2024

Local author, Joseph Brunetti, shares about his writing process, how Central Florida influences his writing, and how his poem, The Unkindness: A Dissimulation of Birds, came to be.

21/05/2024

Anna Cotton’s poem, Pane of Glass, is a brilliant meditation on how beauty slips into our lives.

View it at etymologypress.org

20/05/2024

In his book, Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury reminds us, "...if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself. You don't even know yourself. For the first thing a writer should be is-- excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms."

In our May issue, we focus on writers that show zest through their writing. You'll find poetry that delights in the simple joys of childhood, like food fights and lemonade. You'll see zest make her way into your home by means of hospitality and gifted desserts. You'll find green. Acidic, alcoholic green that bleeds and spirals and compels. You'll see those colors reflected in the story of Clemmy and Cheryl, written with heartbreaking zest.

A huge thank you to our authors and artists that contributed to make this issue come alive. Your words embodied the theme so precisely. Thank you for sharing with us.

Subscribe on our website at etymologypress.org to have monthly micro-issues delivered to your inbox.

15/05/2024

A poem about diagraming a sentence? Our grammar-loving hearts are overjoyed.

Check out our website for more poems, stories, and essays written by local authors.

14/05/2024

You know when the coffee is so good it’s gone before you can snap a picture? We do.

Love Banker's Brew Coffee and the wonderful people that work there. Today’s encouragement: “You are doing so great! We see the hard work!”

Who is your favorite local caffeine dealer?

04/05/2024

We love Schirtzinger’s poem “Last Rites” for our Genus theme because of the history it carries. From the epigraph to the final lines, this poem embodies the stories we carry and pass on. The tension between the narrator’s desire to forget and the legacy being created in those same moments is palpable.

Check it out on our website etymologypress.org

30/04/2024

For (central Florida) local authors and creatives, submissions on the “Genus” issue of Etymology close tomorrow. You have one last day to submit your work! We are still looking for artwork to add into this issue, so please be encouraged to send all your creative works over. Submission guidelines on our website.

29/04/2024

Hazelton’s “This the Dead Land” is a brilliant narrative about a girl haunted by her experiences in the church. On each read, we find new details stand out, bringing more depth to the story. We loved this piece for the Genus theme because it explores how the systems we grow up in can be inescapable. Girl is both repelled by her past and compelled to revisit it. Her conversations with Pastor reveal the significant trauma an institution can leave on a person, even if none of the scars are visible.

23/04/2024

Local authors/creatives have one week left to submit to Etymology. Selected work will be published online & a few pieces will be featured in a print edition.

Theme: Genus. See submission guidelines at etymologypress.org.

22/04/2024

Did you catch our “Ought” issue?

We love Hayden’s poem, Caretaker Covenant, and the way it depicts the weight of obligations, how they slowly deteriorate us, even when it’s for those we love. This poem hold tension and devastation in balance with dedication and loyalty. It truly embodies the theme of “Ought.”

Visit our website or subscribe to have new issues delivered directly to your inbox.

05/04/2024

A few weeks back we published “U.S. 301” by Elizabeth Curley. If you love the poem as much as we do, you might be interested in Curley’s writing process, where she draws inspiration, and where to find more of her work. See the whole interview at Etymologypress.org.

02/04/2024

Dani Sacchi’s “For the Little Girls Who Dare to Dream” is a passionate essay representing the experience of a woman, raised in a faith community, demanding space for herself as a “nonmother.” We love this piece for the Genus theme because it ties in how we classify each other through the lens of s*x and rigid gender roles. Sacchi encourages her readers to see how harmful these roles can be, as well as the freedom one can find in allowing herself to choose a life she wants, rather than the one others would have her choose.

Read her whole essay on etymologypress.org.

01/04/2024

Nervous to send us your work? Do it anyway. We love working with local authors and creatives to get your piece where it needs to be so that we can publish it.

Not sure how to incorporate the theme? Feel free to let loose and play! Genus is all about biology, classifications, and family units. Write a scathing review of your mom’s lasagna (but how it still reminds you of home). Write a story about a llama breaking free from the local farm. Take pictures of cicadas shedding their skin, or paint one of a mythical alligator king, facing off against a vicious otter. Rant against social norms. Tell the tale of a long lost cousin found through genetic testing. The options are endless.

We select pieces that are well-written, grounded in concrete images, and communicate ideas in fresh ways. Local imagery is always a win.

Can’t wait to see what you submit!

01/04/2024

We are so very excited to publish the very first issue of Etymology: The Online Issue.

For the last few months we have been curating a collection of poems, stories, essays, and images that depict the theme of “ought” in one way or another. As we read through these pieces, we found recurring themes of identity coming to the surface. Our writers worked through questions of how we should be, what we owe this world, and each other. We found the weight of expectations, from ourselves and from our communities, and hopefully, through the writing of these pieces, we were able to liberate ourselves from some of that obligation.

I hope that as you read this collection of work, you too will feel released from the expectations of “ought.” That you find home in who you are, aside from all the obligations and pressures in this world. I hope, for a few minutes, you can just be.

Thanks for reading.

(Download the full issue for free on our website: etymology press.org)

25/03/2024

We want to publish your poem/story/artwork!

Our heart is to promote literary citizenship in Central Florida. In order to do that, we need your work to publish! The submission deadline is May 1st, meaning you have over a month to create a piece that interprets this theme. (We are happy to publish reprints, as well.)

The theme of this inaugural print issue is Genus. Explore this theme in any way you want, or check out our website for pieces we have already published on this theme.

If you’re an emerging author or artist feeling uncertain about your work, feel free to send it over with a request for editorial feedback. We would love to help you take your piece to the next level. WE WANT TO PUBLISH YOU!

23/03/2024

Corrinne Brumby’s narrative, “The Song of the Prairie,” tells the story of an endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow growing up in a sanctuary and eventually, being released into the wild. We love how this story connects to our theme by of Genus by highlighting the importance of ensuring that native species survive and thrive in their environment. Brumby touches on the role of humans in both the devastation and survival of this species, offering readers a choice. What legacy will we leave in our own ecosystems?

Read the whole story on our website (link in bio).

13/03/2024

If you’re not from Central Florida and you still want to write for Etymology, consider submitting to “The Online Issue.” We take authors from all over the world and publish a small pool of work each month in a digital zine. The first one will be released April 1st (no, this is not a joke). Can’t wait to see what you create!

12/03/2024

We fell in love with Joseph Brunetti's poem, "The Unkindness: A Dissimulation of Birds" on our very first read. We love the way his poem encapsulates the theme of Genus by responding to the biological connotation of that word. He digs into the connections between animals and this instinctual nature, one that at times, can feel so unkind, even menacing. This poem reminds us of a deeper level of compassion, the kind we offer to birds, in spite of their cruelty, because of the way it moves the world into the next day, into Spring.

04/03/2024

Elizabeth Curley’s poem, U.S. 301, gives us all the nostalgia of coming home. From the title, which sets us off on a journey, to the rural atmosphere of the town, we find that Curley captures the theme of Genus by tying identity to place. Most of us can relate to how our hometowns (or lack thereof) have shaped the way we see the world and who we became. Even when our town changes, we still carry the characteristics of that place in the time it raised us.