The Love That You Can't Quite Grasp Open Sub Call, Our New Writing Retreat, Help Us Out with a Vote and What We Published Last Month
Write or Die Magazine Updates: December 2024
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. Keep scrolling! <3
A Note from the EIC
Hey writers,
Happy New Year! I hope you were able to enjoy some rest and relaxation over those weird weeks of Christmas and New Year’s. I spent most of my time away from my laptop as I realized I was COMPLETELY BURNT OUT after my giant novel revision for my agent (read about that here if you are interested!) and all the other things I do here on the internet. I watched a lot of movies, read, did crossword puzzles, hung out with friends and family, and then laid around when I eventually got a winter cold. There was no writing involved, and I’m okay with that!
But now, it's a new year, and I’m ready to jump back in. I’m particularly excited for January 18th as our fiction editor,
and I are kicking off 2025 with a new kind of writing retreat! As many of you know, Tamar and I are writing partners and have written and queried our novels together. The key to our success has been accountability and so we created the Write Together Retreats to bring that connection to this community.After running over ten retreats, we have listened to your feedback and edited our schedule accordingly. On Saturday, January 18th, Tamar and I are also providing a very special craft chat where we will pull back the veil on what it truly takes to get a book done! We will get into developing writing routines, how we actually wrote multiple drafts of our novel, how we approached revision, what it's like working in a partnership, querying, and more!
This retreat also includes 2- 35 minute writing sessions over Zoom so you can crave out some real time to work on your current projects. We will hold ourselves accountable together, and when that happens, something magic occurs— you stay in the chair! You get the work done! We have seen it happen time and time again, which is why I LOVE holding these retreats. I hope you will join us— it’s going to be a fun and productive day! You can sign up here <3
Thank you so much for supporting us last year! Cheers to 2025 and writing together.
<3
Kailey, EIC
Help Us Out — Vote for your preferred experience
We could use your help! Right now, I’m torn between which workshop shopping experience would be better for you as the writer and student. I want our checkout process to be as easy as possible for you.
Right now, when you click on the Workshops & Events button on our homepage, you are taken to our workshop page, which is divided into different categories. My goal was to allow you to quickly find the type of workshops you were interested in taking or have one of the category titles catch your eye. Then, you can scroll back and forth to see what we are offering. The potential issue here is that the workshops have not been ordered by date. They are ordered by date in their category but not all all the workshops we offer.
There is, however, a button at the top of this page that takes you to the full workshop calendar, where all the workshops are ordered by date. They are also categorized in the side drop-down menu by workshop type: one-day workshop, multi-week workshop, retreat, or event.
The downside here is that they aren’t ordered or searchable by category such as “fiction,” “author brand," etc. But it does provide a potentially cleaner scrolling experience.
So as the writer and student, I’d love to know—which workshop layout is better for you. Do you prefer the sideways scroll with specific categories, or do you prefer the cleaner look with all the workshops ordered by date?
Issue #2 Open Themed Call: Elliptical Love
We are very excited to be accepting submissions for our second issue, slated to release in February! Subs open are open until Friday, January 17, 2025.
We are looking for four creative nonfiction pieces that delve into love that you can’t quite grasp— the heaviness of unspoken words, the contradiction of intimacy, and the intricate nature of a connection that remains tantalizingly out of reach.
Pays: $50
Guest editor: Ashleah Gonzales
Here is what she is looking for:
I’m interested in exploring a relationship where two people love each other, but not in the way they think they do. Their connection is shaped by misinterpretations, half-truths, and carefully curated omissions—love that remains elusive, never fully understood by either person, despite its depth. Perhaps the tension lies in how each sees the other through their own lens of assumptions, fears, or desires, making the truth of their love always distorted and just out of reach.
I’d love to explore the weight of assumptions, the paradox of closeness, and the complexity of a love that is deeply felt but never fully realized. The unspoken distance between them, the gaps that define their connection, and the emotions they leave unnamed.
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! ↓
Essays
Splinter by Kristine Langley Mahler
Published: December 4
The splinter doesn’t exactly hurt, but it’s noticeable. It’s still present. I train myself to get used to the feeling.
The Return, In Three Acts by Katelyn Phillips
Published: December 11
I want to believe there’s a reason why I went through what I did, and that I emerged through the other side changed for the better.
Crazy Nice: On Confronting My Stalker by Megan Pinto
Published December 18
Why does my desire to be nice outweigh my desire to assert my own needs?
Author Interviews
This month, we published interviews with Stephanie Anderson, Brittany Rogers, Jeff Alessandrelli and Anna Mantzaris, Ella Baxter and Frances Badalamenti!
Features
Write or Die Magazine's Staff and Contributor Book Picks of 2024
We also published…
Post-Honeymoon Haze, Creative Deadlines, and Literary Readings — A Writer’s Diary by Alana Saab
Should You Get on TikTok to Promote Your Writing? by Erin Karbuczky
A Prolific Poet’s Creative Routine Mirrors Sobriety— Writer Diary by Darren C. Demaree
Should You Finally Do the Artist’s Way? by Erin Karbuczky
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: I wrote yet another essay about finding meaning in movies over at Bright Wall/Dark Room! "13 Ways of Looking at The Mothman Prophecies" explores an iconic cryptid legend and learning how to live with mysteries.
Author of “Writing in a Zigzag,” published on October 9, 2024
News: My debut memoir ALSO HERE: LOVE, LITERACY, AND THE LEGACY OF THE HOLOCAUST is now out and available for purchase.
Thanks for the shoutout! Excited to see what 2025 holds for Write or Die <3