Behind the Creative Curtain: Notes from a Literary Journal
Quick Download: Many moons ago, I worked at a literary magazine. I’m jotting down some of my experiences so folks know that it’s not all objective review and integrity behind the scenes.
Introduction
A long time ago, I had a job working at a literary journal. This month, I read a newsletter by Matthew Fox, who is a writer and editor. In the note, he talked about all the rejection he’s faced from literary journals — he feels he is so close to finding publication success, but the “no”s continue to flood his inbox. While reading the post, I wanted to give him a hug and shout, “I’m sure it’s not you!”, because I have been on the other side.
So, I thought I’d jot down a few examples of the wild, bizarre, and arbitrary events that went on behind the scenes of the magazine I worked at, all in service of giving perspective to writers and artists who may be internalizing industry rejection as some sort of objective perspective on their work.
Yes, you need to create really good work to get placed in journals or contests, but, Holy Toledo, behind the scenes it is very human, very messy, and very, very, subjective.*
*As a note, I try to only critique things anonymously and at a distance. While there’s great learning from bad experiences (and the…
