PenWomanShip

• Poetry, Stories and Essays
• Art and Photography

Poetry, Stories and Essays

Please read and follow ALL guidelines carefully and check your manuscript with the Editor's Guide . Submissions that do not follow ALL guidelines will be rejected.

We accept submissions of short stories, poetry and personal essays. We pay up to five contributors' copies. We aspire to be a paying publication and anticipate reaching that goal within two years.

Please follow these guidelines for submitting written material below:

Story length is 5000 words or less. Poetry is any length within reason. (Okay, a 100 stanza poem is a bit much but who has that kind of ambition?) Personal essays are 750 words or less.

If submitting electronically, DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Files with attachments will be deleted unopened. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR TEXT IN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL.

Editor's Guide

Read the guidelines thoroughly for each magazine or publisher.

a. Use the font and font size specified.

b. Make sure your manuscript is within the word counts specified.

Microsoft Word - Tools - Word Count.
Word Perfect - Go to File, Document Information. The word count appears.
Online Word Counter - EClaunchsite: Word Counter

c. If the editor specifies double-spaced, format the documents accordingly.

d. Leave margins as specified. If margin size isn’t specified, leave at least one-inch margins all around.

e. Send the manuscript as specified. If it allows attachments, send attachments. If it specifies sending by mail, then do so with sufficient postage and a return envelope for replies.

f. Always include a cover letter.

g. Be on time. Better - be early.

Let your word processor decide where the end of the line is. Don’t hit “enter” unless you are starting a new paragraph.

Before you submit your manuscript, check it thoroughly. Good rules of thumb: write it, print it, read it, then revise. After you revise, print it again and read it aloud.

Less is more - Wordiness loses the reader. If you can say it in five words don’t use fifteen.

Grammar: If you’re not sure of grammar, there are free guides online to help you. Try these two: Grammar Errors and English Plus .

Spelling: Never trust a spell-checker. The words “Two, too, and to” are all correct to a word processor. Try reading your article backward. Have someone else read your manuscript before submitting.

Unnecessary words: Get rid of as many unnecessary words as possible - look for these common words. ·about ·all ·almost ·always ·anxiously ·eagerly ·even ·ever ·every ·finally ·frequently ·just ·merely ·nearly ·need ·never ·next ·not ·often ·only ·simply ·so ·than ·then ·to ·very ·well ·that

Passive vs. Active Voice

b. Any word with the word “to” in front of it turns into a passive word.

c. Use active voice

Molly was killed by hunters. (If the focus is on Molly, then the passive construction is necessary).
Hunters killed Molly. (The hunters are more important).

Adverbs are usually unnecessary: Adverbs are unnecessary.

Don’t overuse adjectives. Red, bloody-colored water gushed down. We know blood is red, and red is a color. Blood-colored water gushed out of the ground.

Make your manuscript make sense. Pick your points and follow through in a logical manner.

Keep paragraphs short. Use white space and put two double spaces between paragraphs.

Change paragraphs when you change ideas, thoughts or go on to the next point.

Vary your sentence lengths: Short, long, medium then medium, long, short.

Don’t ramble. Keep focused on one or two main points. More points? Write another article.

Try to use real-life examples or anecdotes. Readers relate to real-life and are more likely to read the whole article if it’s relevant to their experience.

If you use dialogue, keep it simple. Use “he said, she said” instead of “he whispered quietly” or “she murmured” or “they shouted.” A short speech tag like “he said” becomes invisible and moves the story along.

Move your characters, but don’t tell about each step: Carole walked slowly toward the door. She opened it and smiled gently at the man standing there. She invited him in and walked back into the living room. Instead: Carole answered the door and smiled at Michael. “Come in,” she said.

Ease into the ending. Don’t leave the reader hanging with an abrupt stop, which doesn’t tie-up loose ends.

Go over the steps again and polish one last time.

Art and Photography

We are also seeking submissions of graphic art and photography for both the printed magazine and the website.

Please keep in mind that it is our goal to offer monetary compensation in the future to both writers and artists.

Graphic contributions may be submitted by email as a .jpg attachment only.

Email

When submitting electronically, material MUST BE E-MAILED TO THE PROPER E-MAIL ADDRESS. Submissions e-mailed to my private email will be DELETED UNREAD. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Submit written material to:

Submit graphic material to:

The subject line should specify the nature of the work - i.e. story, essay, poem, art, or photo.

Be sure to include the title of your work and your contact information. CONTACT INFORMATION WILL NOT BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC FOR ANY REASON (with the exception of the author's / artist's name.)

Include:

• Your name
• COMPLETE mailing address
• e-mail address (yes, we know it is in the e-mail itself, but please include it anyway)
• a contact phone number (in the event of questions, problems or the need for clarification)
• and a pseudonym if you wish to publish under one.

We do accept previously published material under the following conditions:

All authors, artists and photographers published with Penwomanship retain the rights to their work.

Happy Writing!