Writing Companions
Brody Bo Beau is back!
When I started my Substack in December 2024, I posted a photo of my dog, Brody, each week. After I moved to Friday Nonfiction Submission Calls, Brody was omitted from the list. Several subscribers have sent messages asking about Brody and saying they miss his weekly photo. Since he’s my writing companion, it doesn’t seem right not to include him, so he’s back!
I typically write weekdays early in the morning for two hours before my day job at the university. Then Brody and I go for a 30-minute walk, where my best ideas start popping into my head. I either stop to make a note on my phone or hope I have time to jot my thoughts down when I return. Brody truly is my writing companion.
Do you have a writing companion? If so, please share a photo!
Submission List # 53 Themed
Conjunctions–15K +followers
Deadline: July 5th
Theme: Rights of Passage
Fee: $4
Pay: Up to $150
Genre: Nonfiction
Word Count: None
Medium: Digital and Print
Guidelines/Submission: Submittable
F(r)iction–10K + followers
Deadline: July 15th
Theme: AI Artificial Intelligence
Fee: $2.50
Pay: $25
Genre: Nonfiction
Word Count: up to 6500
Medium: Digital
Guidelines/Submission: Submittable
Cosmic Daffodil Journal–1.5K +followers
Deadline: July 15th
Theme: Dawn/Dusk
Fee: No
Pay: No
Genre: Nonfiction
Word Count:
Medium: Digital
Guidelines/Submission: Duosuma
Sequestrum–10K +followers
Deadline: July 15th
Theme: Place
Fee: $20
Pay: $6.35
Genre: Nonfiction
Word Count: up to 12,000
Medium: Digital
Guidelines/Submission: Submittable
Inside Notes
Conjunctions –For more than four decades, Conjunctions has established itself as the preeminent home for writers from around the world who challenge convention with work that is formally innovative, culturally transformative, and ahead of its time. We embrace taking risks and pride ourselves on publishing established masters while debuting unknown writers. Just a few whose work we published first or early in their careers are Nigerian-born Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, Nobel Prize-shortlisted Chinese surrealist Can Xue, Pulitzer Prize winners Richard Powers, Forrest Gander, and Rae Armantrout, National Book Award winners Arthur Sze and William T. Vollmann, MacArthur Fellows David Foster Wallace, Peter Cole, and Karen Russell, Rome Prize winner Mary Caponegro, as well as Isabella Hamad, Vanessa Chan, Brandon Hobson, Shelley Jackson, Colin Channer, and many others.
F(r)iction is a literary anthology carefully curated to evaluate an important cultural topic from vastly different perspectives. From historical origins and nonfiction essays to the wildest reaches of fiction, poetry, comics, and art, each issue inspires us to think differently. F(r)iction is the imprint of the 501(c)(3) literacy and storytelling nonprofit Brink Literacy Project. At the heart of our mission, we use F(r)iction to achieve several of our nonprofit’s key goals: to mentor emerging writers, amplify diverse and underrepresented voices, encourage experimentation and genre-melding, and delve into themes that raise important social issues. In promoting a diversity of storytelling, we publish trailblazing industry legends and new and underrepresented voices alike. Big name authors such as Charlie Jane Anders, Benjamin Percy, Lev Grossman, Stephen Graham Jones, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Faylita Hicks, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeff VanderMeer, and Kwame Dawes have graced our pages, to name but a mere handful! But creating a beautiful book isn’t enough—we want to make sure these collections enchant readers who would not otherwise have access to such works. And so, since 2015, Brink has developed and taught education programs using F(r)iction as the primary teaching tool. With a focus on enhancing “literacy” both in terms of increasing reading/writing skills and fostering a love of literature within the community, these programs have expanded to include women’s prisons, homeless shelters, high schools, and university classrooms. And that’s not all! With the readership for literary journals dwindling every day, we want to reinvigorate the entire reading experience. So, we commission custom full-color illustrations for every single piece published AND use specialty printing techniques on our covers (spot gloss, holographic foil, metallic sheen, you name it!), to create a visual experience that is as mesmerizing as the literature within.
Cosmic Daffodil Journal–This journal celebrates all forms of creative expression: art, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, short stories, paintings, and sculptures. Through writing, painting, and sculpting, we weave worlds and evoke strong emotions, inviting readers to embark on magical journeys. Like the daffodil symbolizing renewal, our art signifies resilience and new beginnings even in the darkest times. We’re drawn to the in-between—the quiet unraveling of night, the slow bloom of morning, the hush before darkness settles in. Show us transitions, thresholds, and transformations. Light slipping into shadow. Endings that feel like beginnings. Beginnings that carry the weight of endings. We welcome work that explores duality, liminality, and the spaces where opposites meet. Meet us at the edge of light.
Sequestrum is a competitive, paying market which publishes high-quality short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts. Recent contributors include Pulitzer Prize nominees, Guggenheim and NEA Fellows, award-winning novelists and poets, as well as many new and emerging voices. We’re committed to publishing the bulk of our publications from unsolicited manuscripts (95%) and are open to all stylistic schools and “isms,” including the occasional genre piece.
Brody’s Corner
Brody on the floor of my office every day behind me. He mostly sleeps unless he has to protect me from a delivery, the gardener, or any dog that happens to walk by our fence. However, when he meets any of these threats on the street he wags his tail and is over the moon excited to see something besides the back of my head.
Paid Subscribers “Pitch Practice” is Friday, June 26th at 11am -12pm PST.
Zoom Link Sent Prior
You have such a great routine! And Brody is adorable!
Here I am trying to type with one hand, holding Sliver with the other. Can't upload photo.