We’ve been busy reading over the great submissions we’ve received for Roots and Branches, our Spring issue. As I sift through these writings, I think about the women behind them. Every one of them tried to put words around an important experience. Every one of them cared enough about their writing to submit it to us. I hate having to say yes to some and no to others. It stinks to have to reject some submissions. I’ve been there, and I hate inflicting it on someone else. I wish we had the space to publish more.
At the same time, I feel a little frustrated. Why? Because it’s clear to me that a few–not many, but a few–of the women who submit, even though they want to write for Segullah, have not spent much time reading Segullah. If they had, they might have seen how their submission could be edited or reworked to fit our style more effectively.
The deadline for the Heather Campbell Personal Essay Contest and our Poetry Contest is December 31, 2007. That seems far away, but essays and poetry can take time to simmer between drafts, so now is a great time to get started. And one of the best ways to get started is to draw inspiration from our archives, which you can find here.
Choose an essay or poem, read it, and then think about how it works.
Then, go write your own. And send it to Segullah!
P.S. When you’re writing a first draft it’s important to turn off your internal editor, the little voice that says “This is awful writing, especially compared to that essay you just read! Hey, you can’t write that! That’s too personal! Stop now while you still can!” Tell the editor to shut up while you write. Use what you’ve learned from reading Segullah’s essays as inspiration; don’t let it intimidate you or prevent you from writing in the first place.
