I’m happy to announce that a flash fiction piece I wrote will be published in This Is What America Looks Like, a print anthology by the Washington Writers’ Publishing House due for release in February 2021!
This is my first time being traditionally published in print and y’all weren’t joking about how exciting it is to see proof pages. The typeface and page design look beautiful–I can’t wait to get my copy of the book.
This themed anthology is about exploring how America is and what it should be. I saw the call for submissions in the Facebook group for my local writer’s association and wrote a piece catering to it based on the principles of armature that I learned from the You Are a Storyteller podcast. It worked enough for the piece to be accepted, so definitely listen to Brian McDonald explain armature and give it a shot!
For my fellow writers who are querying/submitting: the process I went through was pretty straight forward. Read the submission guidelines and follow them exactly. But a couple interesting things were unique about this opportunity. We had to also submit a short bio and a brief explanation of our piece, why we were inspired to submit to the anthology, and how the piece fits into the theme. I haven’t submitted to anthologies before, so I’m not sure if this is a common practice, but it’s interesting and not something I’ve come across in publishing advice to be prepared for!
When I got the acceptance notice from the editor, she said she’d accept it pending revisions and notes. Thankfully, I nailed the revisions!
As these things go, I received the notice that my piece had been accepted during an extremely difficult time I went through over the summer. I really needed that win in that moment.
My piece is short so there isn’t much I can say about it without giving it away. It’s about water in some ways and America in other ways. I think it’ll read differently when once it’s published compared to when I wrote it given the outcome of the presidential election.
I have no idea what other pieces will be in the anthology, but I’m looking forward to reading them. The publisher is planning some launch events and readings, so I’ll certainly announce any of my appearances!
Once the anthology comes out, I’ll host an Instagram (@taylorrama) livestream where I read this piece and the short story that recently was a finalist in the BSFS Amatuer Writing Contest. Although I didn’t place, I was pleasantly surprised to be a finalist at all and it tempts me to make a novel out of the concept. There’ll be some Q&A time, too, so come hang out and hear some stories!