Stitch Now Taking Art and Lit Submissions

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am one of the founders of an online literary journal that we are creating for a class, but my group really wants it to become something ongoing.

Here is our mission statement:

Stitch is a student-run literature and art journal based out of the University of Mary Washington. Stitch will showcase works of excellent art and writing that narrate a falling apart or coming together, or which balance in the precarious space between. We take our name and our mission statement from a multifaceted word, and will feature works which illuminate the contradictions and connections of its etymology; rending and mending, as well as the humor and the hurt in those processes. We seek narrativesregardless of medium, and believe that a successful narrative leaves one richer for having experienced it, so make us feel, make us see, and help us create within ourselves.

Here are the guidelines:

During our submission period, we consider submissions of previously unpublished work across multiple mediums. Please take the time to read through this section and familiarize yourself with our submission process. We WANT to see your work! If you have any questions regarding submissions that are not answered here, feel free to email us at stitchjournal@gmail.com.

A note on “previously unpublished”: Any work that’s accessible in a public forum, such as a journal, book collection, or a website searchable via a search engine (such as DeviantART, Flickr, or YouTube) is considered “published.”

Mediums and Genres

Poetry

In all its various forms. Pieces under 1,000 words preferred.

Slam/spoken word poetry

Videos of original performed poetry, submitted with the text performed.

Short essays

Creative nonfiction essays, 1,000-5,000 words.

Short stories

Fiction, 1,000-5,000 words.

Flash fiction/flash essays

Fiction or creative nonfiction between 100 and 500 words.

(Note: the shorter your piece, the more it should read like a punch to the gut.)

Photography

Digital photography and high-quality scans of film photography.

Visual Art

High-quality photos or scanned images of art produced in traditional media (painting, drawing, collages, etc), as well as digital art. We do not consider submissions of 3D art.

We want to see your creations! If you’re having trouble with any part of the submission process, send us an email and we’ll help you figure out how to get our work to us.

To submit words, art and photos:

To submit performance poetry:You can submit performance poetry via a private YouTube video. We are open to accepting submission via other sites but would prefer you use the process below.

Submission Process

• Please email stitchjournal@gmail.com with your piece(s) included as an attachment.

• Use the following template to title the email: “Stitch Submission, [genre]” indicating the genre of your work.

• In the body of your email, include your first and last name, the title and genre of your work,  and a preferred method of contact.

• When you upload your video, select the “Private” option under “Broadcasting and Sharing Options.”

• Add “stitchjournal@gmail.com” to the box prompting you to select email addresses to share the video with. This way only we can see your video.

• Submit the text of your piece to stitchjournal@gmail.com, following the submission guidelines above.

• Keep in mind that good sound and video quality and a clean, uncluttered backdrop go a long way in a video submission. We want your performance to stand out, not where you’re filming or what you’re wearing.
  
  

I ATEN'T DEAD

I have a lot of excuses for why it's been such a long time since I updated. I've been sick. I've been in love (at least that one continues to be true). I've been writing for class. I spend a lot of time on tumblr. My dog is refusing to eat much of anything and we're getting concerned. I've been cranking out baby Jayne hats and soot sprites for my Etsy shop. My celebrity crushes get ever-more pathetic. I have a cramp in my toe. I need to wash my hair. I now have a different google account so I have to log out and log in to my old account in order blog and isn't that a pain? The stars have not aligned.

But cool things are happening, and I finally overcame my inertia sufficiently to actually post here about them. Imagine that.

- I got an A on my fiction seminar portfolio, which largely consisted of the first sixty pages of Seasons Four Behind Closed Doors. It is on hiatus for the time being while I let it simmer and tackle other projects, but I know where it's going and I am confident about this being a good start.

- I'm writing a twelve-poem cycle for a poetry seminar this semester, about the intersection of private love and public politics, and the point of the class is to produce publishable work at some point.

- My current novel-project is to go back, retcon, revamp, and extend the next Laconia book, The Raw Ghosts of Thailand. I've been procrastinating on it like whoa and I really shouldn't because it's going to be dedicated to my Khun Yai (maternal grandmother) and she's not getting any younger. I'm looking forward to either when I get this thing done or when I stop feeling guilty over it, and I think that's doing a disservice to poor Nat and Ferdinand.

- I've accomplished a bunch of ghostwriting projects on Elance writing [redacted] for a client who is hoping to [redacted] and so is paying me to [redacted]. Whee!

- When the submissions period opens, I'm going to apply for Creative Writing Honors, in which I'd read my stuff at a symposium and have a more dignified version of a gold star on my diploma.

- For yet another class, I am in a group where we are making a bona fide online literary journal. We are only required to publish one issue, but my group wants to continue this after graduation, maybe even make it something professional one day. As of the publication of this post we are not yet soliciting work, but we will be in a few weeks, so here's a link: stitchjournal.com

- I'm writing a short story about a woman who gets a heart transplant from a recently dead celebrity, and I think it's going well. I'm turning the first draft in for workshopping next Monday.

That's all for now, I think. I'll try to post more often. Whether or not that actually happens, thank you for reading this, and I love you.