Coming of Age Submission Call, Pitching 101, Editor Recs and What We Published Last Month
Write or Die Magazine Updates: March 2025
Each month, you will receive this special newsletter with a recap of what our magazine published the month prior and what our editors have been up to. If you are new here, this is a different newsletter than the one we send out weekly about our writing workshops. Keep scrolling for more! <3
A Note from the EIC
Hey writers,
It has been a while since we have done this type of monthly magazine update, but we are back! I just wanted to say a quick hello and also thank everyone who came up to us at AWP!
I had no idea what to expect when I purchased a table at the conference for Write or Die magazine. It seemed like a fun experience and a chance to get our name out there. And while it was both things, it was also a validation boost I didn’t know I needed. If you don’t know, sustaining a space like this, a literary magazine and a workshop platform, is HARD. Ask my team about the number of times I have a breakdown or an existential crisis where I feel like the magazine is “failing “ or I’m failing as its creator. It takes a lot of money to keep this going, and money is not always coming in. It's a lot of hours and manpower (actually mostly girl power), and none of us make a living from it. So it truly is a labor of love.
Being at AWP and having you recognize us was huge for me. Then to hear your accolades or to meet those of you who have contributed to our magazine or those of you who have taught a workshop for us, or the ones who said our social media presence makes them smile when it can be really hard to smile these days— well, it all was truly amazing.
Thank you for your continued love. I want Write or Die to live on and continue growing, and your support is what makes that happen.
Happy writing, friends. Keep going.
<3
Kailey, EIC
P.S. If you’ve been feeling off-track with your writing or stuck in a cycle of burnout, you’re not alone. I’m teaching a session on working with your creative rhythms at the Healing Through Writing Festival—would love to have you there! (and it’s free!) Get the details here.




Issue #3 Open Themed Call: Threshold Reckoning
We are very excited to be accepting submissions for our third issue, which is slated to be released in June! Submissions are open until Wednesday, April 30th!
We are looking for five creative nonfiction pieces that explore a coming-of-age. A turning point that redefines who we are and what we know to be true.
Pays: $50
Fee: $5 (These funds will be used to pay editors and writers!)
Guest editor: Amy Lin
Here is what she is looking for:
There are moments when reality reveals itself as something other than what we thought. I am seeking work that explores these coming-of-age thresholds—points of reckoning, revelation, or surrender, where something is irrevocably reshaped. Quiet or cataclysmic, chosen or forced, what unites them is the impossibility of return.
I invite work that lingers in these crossings, including but not limited to: the borderlands of multiraciality, the labor of assimilation, the work of grief, the rupture of faith. Whatever the moment, I am in pursuit of work that considers its texture, composition, and weight—the instant of recognition, the erosion of certainty, the moment reality redraws itself entirely.
How did you get there? What is only visible in hindsight? Where has it taken you? And what does it mean?
Other Categories We Are Currently Open For…
Fiction
Send us your short stories! We also have an expedited submission option where you can hear back within two weeks! Bonus: all fees go directly to pay our editors, who volunteer their time generously to make this magazine what it is <3
Creative Nonfiction
We are interested in essays that focus on the writing life and especially love work where the personal intersects with the critical.
Author Interviews
We accept pitches from interviewers interested in covering authors with a forthcoming or recently published book. We are especially interested in featuring books by debut authors and/or books published by indie presses.
↓ Click the button below for additional details about what we are looking for and how to submit it! ↓
Brittany Ackerman, assistant editor
I've been reading May Sarton's Journal of Solitude, and it's been a delight-- it's a deeply introspective and lyrical account of the author's year spent in solitude at her home in rural New Hampshire. Written in diary form, the book captures Sarton’s reflections on creativity, loneliness, and nature, exploring the tension between her need for reclusion and retreat in order to nurture her creative work and the longing for connection. The journal also delves into her struggles with depression, the joys of tending to her garden, and the complexities of being a woman artist in a world that often demands constant engagement with others. It's a quiet yet powerful meditation on the inner life, offering insights into the creative process and the emotional landscape of solitude. If you appreciate reflective, beautifully written books on writing and self-discovery, this one is a gem.
"Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go." (from Journal of Solitude)
Nirica Srinivasan, interviews editor
I raced through Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico’s fourth novel, Perfection, his first to be translated into English (by Sophie Hughes). Inspired by Perec’s Things: A Story of the Sixties, it’s a sharp and incisive look at our modern world: the mismatch between real and virtual life, between our values and the way we live, between the appearance of perfection and the thing itself. It’s just so good.
, editor in chief
In a continued effort to stay off my phone, I recently found the best distraction. Paint Like Frida has these beautiful paint-by-number canvases of scenes that I would actually want to hang in my home! I purchased a little table top easel from Amazon along with the Amalfi Lemons painting, and whenever I had idle time in my house, I grabbed a paintbrush. It helped me unwind after a busy day or offered me something to do with my hands while I worked out a novel scene in my head. And it actually came out pretty good for someone with no painting skills!


Pitch 101: How to Get Published in Top Magazines and Newspapers
with Elle Warren | Thursday, April 10 | 6–9 PM EST | $75
Want to see your name in HuffPost or The Cut? This 3-hour workshop breaks down everything you need to know—from writing a killer pitch to getting published in top outlets. You'll walk away with real pitch examples, a draft of your own, and the confidence to hit send.
🎥 Can't make it live? A replay will be sent to all registrants.
Essays
A Story to Tell by Al Dixon
Published: March 5
The best writers aren’t always the best teachers. That’s what they say.
The Editor by Jessica B. Sokol
Published: March 12
He seamlessly goes from being my father—listening to my stories and being concerned, even horrified—to being “The Editor.”
The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Writers’ Groups by Janel Comeau
Published: March 19
You know what’s kind of boring? Writing all the time. You know what’s not boring? Starting drama for no reason.
Author Interviews
In March, we published interviews with:
Emma Pattee
Michelle Kicherer
Eve Hill - Agnus
Patrycia Humienik
Xhenet Aliu
and Freda Epum
Features
Hiding Indoors, Rewriting Everything, and Forgetting the Book Launch — Writer Diary by Premee Mohamed
Premee Mohamed is a Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has also been a finalist numerous other awards, including the Hugo, Ignyte, Locus, British Fantasy, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Crawford. In 2024 she was the Edmonton Public Library official writer-in-residence. She is the author of the Beneath the Rising series of novels, as well as several novellas. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues and she can be found on her website at www.premeemohamed.com.
This diary represents an extremely cold week in a writer’s life who is on deadline, emotionally exhausted, and quietly navigating the strange dissonance between a major professional milestone, launching One Message Remains (!), and the private, often chaotic reality of writing life.
We also published…
Grounding Friendships, Public Speaking Anxieties and a Short Story Collection Debut — Writer Diary by Z. Hanna
33 Books We Can’t Wait to Read: April 2025 by Kim Narby
We ask our past contributors to keep in touch and let us know if they have writing or publishing news after being featured in Write or Die Magazine! We are so honored to have published these writers and their work. Here is a look at what they've been celebrating since their appearance in our mag!
Abigail Oswald
Regular Contributor
News: My essay about Angela Carter and not writing will be featured in a forthcoming anthology! IF I CAN BE HONEST features a selection of work published over four years of Autofocus Lit and I'm so happy to be included alongside so many writers I love. It's publishing on July 1 and it’s available for preorder now!
If you are a past contributor to our magazine, we want to hear from you! If you have any writing or publishing news, tell us about it via this form, and we will share it in our newsletter!
Thanks for the shoutout! I'm so happy the conference was such a rejuvenating experience for y'all and so excited to see what Write or Die has in store :) So neat to see books I loved so much in that table display!!
Love it! And thank you so much for including my essay, "The Editor." You gems are the best!