"Well, then what are you looking for?" An Attempt at Answering a Difficult Question

You know, producing an arts magazine is mostly great. There are so many things I like about it that I really can't name them all. But there is one part of the job that is rather unfortunate but completely necessary: the declining of submissions. Sometimes, after we decline a submission, having expressed to the submitter that the piece just wasn't right for us, we will get an email response saying something along the lines of "If this isn't what you're looking for, then what are you looking for?" This is a very difficult question to answer, as submissions are chosen based on the way they make us feel more than anything else. Though I cannot really explain what we want in a submission, I will attempt to describe what we don't want in hopes of shedding some light on this elusive subject.

1. Typically, we don't like stories, poems, essays, or art that is sentimental. That being said, what is sentimental to one person may be dark and disturbing to another; however, among our staff, if one editor thinks a piece is too sentimental, chances are that when the other editors weigh in they too will think the same thing. That's largely because WAQ's editors have similar tastes and tend to pick up on the same issues (as we see them) in submissions. That's not to say we don't ever disagree about a submission. We do. But an editorial team is typically assembled with like-minded people to create a synergy (if I may be so bold as to use that new-agey term) among the ranks. If your submission is declined by us, you may send it to another journal that scoops it up right away. Every journal is loyal to its own particular point of view, which is necessary in order to create a cohesive product with a vibe that speaks of those who created it. When we put out an issue, we are, in effect, saying, "This is what we like. We hope you like it too." While pieces that are sentimental may knock the socks off another journal, we, at WAQ, prefer work in which writers or artists have built a framework for real, earned emotion. What I mean by this is that we want to have a natural emotional response to a piece of work, without the author having to include a sad cancer death bed scene or show a kitten being run over by car. Those are both extreme examples, but what I'm trying to say is that if you lay the proper framework in, say, a short story by painstakingly developing characters and plots that feel real and relatable, you will get us to feel something without having to pull sentimentality out of your bag of tricks.

2. Beware of writing about overly familiar topics. Death, divorce, disease--these things happen in real life and are very sad when they do, but on the page they often come off as boring or even stereotypical. If you are going to write about an experience that is familiar to many, you have to tell it slant, as Emily Dickinson said. Find a way to shed new light on an old topic. But also beware of creating work that is off the wall in an effort to avoid writing something familiar. It will likely come off as a contrived. So, what does one do, then? What we like at WAQ typically falls somewhere between the overly familiar storyline and the off the wall storyline. We love when writers or poets take us into a world we don't necessarily know very much about, then make that world relatable by examining the complexity of life through well-developed characters. When a story or essay or poem articulates a truth about life in a way that makes us think, I couldn't have said it better myself, then we know we have something special on our hands.

3. Endings. They are so difficult to write, and unfortunately, we writers don't always end our works in the best place or with the right words. It takes time and revision to figure out how to execute the best ending for a piece. There have been many instances when we've enjoyed a submission until we got to the end and were suddenly left feeling dissatisfied. Sometimes a piece may end too soon; sometimes it may go on for too long. Sometimes a writer has yet to find the right words that will leave us haunted by a piece long after we've read it. Often, if a submission fails to deliver, there is a turn of events near the end that doesn't feel authentic to the world of the story. Even more often, a piece will fail to shake anything up; there won't be enough that happens or changes in the world of the story. To gage if your story has one of the aforementioned issues, try having different friends read it and ask them to describe how the ending made them feel.

I hope this helps anyone who is interested in better understanding what WAQ is looking for with its submissions. We are just one journal of many, trying to be faithful to our point of view. If one piece you send us doesn't float our boat, send us more. You never know what might pique our interests. And as always, the best way to get an idea of what we like is to read the journal.


Lindsay Shadwell
Managing Editor
WomenArts Quarterly Journal
www.vivacepress.com/waq

Jennifer Tappenden on Women in the Arts at the U

Yesterday on Women in the Arts at the U, our bi-weekly radio show, letterpress maven and poet extraordinaire,  Jennifer Tappenden, was the featured guest. Jennifer does a lot of fascinating work in the St. Louis arts community, so it was really great to talk with her. Among her ventures is Architrave Press, which publishes beautiful letterpress poetry in two editions a year. But here's what makes Architrave unique: sure, you can buy an entire edition, but the poems are also sold individually like songs. I love going to her events and picking out poems--it's like collecting trading cards, but for literally nerds! As soon as I get my act together, I fully intend to frame the ones I've collected from various editions and hang them above my writing desk for inspiration. The poems are also great to give as gifts to the literary-minded.

So mosey on over to Archtrave Press and buy some poems, ok? Seriously, you'll be happy you did. And all your friends will think you're cool.

Lindsay Shadwell

Managing Editor

WomenArts Quarterly Journal

www.vivacepress.com/waq

A Worthy Event

We're busy, busy around the office today, preparing to make our final editorial decisions for our upcoming winter issue, Volume 3, Issue 1, but I wanted to take a minute to let you all in on a really great event happening next Monday, Oct. 22nd, in St. Louis. Kelli Allen, who is brilliant poet on WAQ's editorial board, is having a reading and party in honor of her new book,  Otherwise, Soft White Ash. She is the real deal, folks, so you do not want to miss this event. Click here for more info. Below, you can view a really cool trailer for the book.

Lindsay Shadwell

Managing Editor

WomenArts Quarterly Journal

www.vivacepress.com/waq

The Excitement of a New Issue . . .

There's nothing that thrills me quite like having boxes of fresh issues heaved onto my desk. Yesterday, the object of my excitement was volume 2, issue 4--the eighth offering from this little journal that could. Seeing the copies tucked snuggly inside their boxes inspires a feeling within me akin to seeing one's presents sprawled across the floor for the first time on Christmas morning. Just as I worried over the JC Penney Christmas catalog as a child, carefully circling toys I hoped to receive as gifts, I think about every upcoming issue for months before it arrives at the office. We shape it in to being--carefully reading submissions, pondering the layout, arguing (lightly) over grammar and syntax--until we are exhausted. Then, we wait. And wait. Until one day, there is a knock on the office door, and the pages are suddenly before us, crisp as new dollar bills.

In this issue, we have a thought-provoking review of the recent Francesca Woodman retrospective at the SF MOMA and Guggenheim, as well as enchanting mixed media art by  Theresa Hackett. There is also a really fantastic short story by Tin House Books author Karen Lee Boren, among other great pieces. So, make your friends jealous and pick up a copy at our website.

Have a grand day!

Lindsay Shadwell
Managing Editor
WomenArts Quarterly Journal
www.vivacepress.com/waq

What? A Women's Journal? In This Day and Age?

Yes. That's right. WAQ is a women's art journal living in a post-feminist world. Perhaps, some might think this is an antiquated thing we're doing--providing women artists with a forum solely for them. But we believe there is still a need for women to have their work read without gender prejudice. There's no denying that the publishing atmosphere today is leagues different than the one in which Gertrude Stein published, but with new times come new problems, and today we battle against preconceived notions about our work. You see, we women do quite well now in the world of art and literature; we sell books, we perform and exhibit our work in the best of venues. But one thing remains in the world of journals that doesn't sit well with us and it is the labeling of our work as "women's art" or "women's writing." Have you heard of Sex and the City? Bridget Jones's Diary? Of course you have because these works belong to the popular genre of writing often dubbed "chick lit." WAQ was created by two female artists who happen to find the term unsavory. Why can't our work just be seen as . . . well, our work? It is the belief of the founders of this journal that women shouldn't have to fight the preconceived notion that our work is about female problems that only interest females. As a fiction writer, I can tell you that I have never once written a story with a female audience in mind; I write about people--our desires, our failures, our secrets, our relationships--and my only goal is be better every day at what I do.

When composer and harpsichordist  Barbara Harbach approached me in 2010 about starting a women's art journal, I'll admit, I didn't immediately see the point of limiting submitters to one gender, but Barbara, whose decades of experience in the art world have made her far wiser than me, knew something I didn't yet know: no matter what magazine editors may say, men still get published far more often than women (exhibit A) . Add to that the problem that the work of women artists is often marketed by gender--an irritant that male artists do not have to deal with. It was with these things in mind that we decided to create a forum where women could show their work and have it be all about the work. Because we only accept submissions from women, our decisions about whether or not to accept works are solely based on craft and creativity. You could liken us to an all-girls school: take away the distraction, take away the labels, and the work becomes the focus.

All that being said, WAQ is not only for women; WAQ is for all people. We have male editors on our staff and male contributors who write about women's art. You'll never see so-called feminist rants in our pages because that's not the kind of work we accept. Our purpose is to simply provide an underrepresented group with another forum. Above all, we hope that WAQ entertains and delights you, makes you think. We hope it's good, even great--something you deem worthy of reading.

Until next time,

Lindsay Shadwell
Managing Editor
WomenArts Quarterly Journal
www.vivacepress.com/waq