Ashley, Author at SAND

Click here to read an article on the top reasons SAND editors reject and accept submissions

ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION

Acceptance and rejection: even the words we use to describe how submissions are treated sound like something out of a rom-com. It’s probably not off-base to say submitting to literary journals is a lot like a (sometimes-bad) romance in which we’re constantly evaluating how editors feel about us: Is my writing good enough? Do they like me? What are they thinking? It’s so hard to know what they want!

If you’re a writer trying to puzzle out the mysteries of how literary journals choose the work they publish (and finally seal the deal with your favorite lit mags), our editors are here to help. Because, in the end, the relationship metaphor isn’t much of a stretch: The most important thing writers can do to increase their chances of getting the journal to say yes is to ensure that the writer and the journal are compatible.

In fact, the number one reason our editors reject writing is that the content, style, or aesthetic is not a fit for SAND. The submissions we do consider accepting are the ones from writers who understand us and share our tastes and values.

Below, our poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction editors discuss what convinces them to accept a submission and the top reasons they reject submissions. We’ve also included bonus material, including texts we’ve published and links to readings and “why we chose it” segments.

POETRY

Poetry Editors Crista Siglin and Emma C. Lawson say it’s difficult to generalize about what poetry is looking for in poems because each poem is so unique in the way that it functions. They look for a wide range of aesthetic sensibilities, never relying too heavily on a more limited set of sensibilities. Crista and Emma like to see poems that contain an entrance point that they don’t necessarily encounter often. They also love to see poems that carry them through a particular state of being or carry them through a sense of transformation.

Art by Célestin Krier +”A/nd De Wata Breaks Someone Serious” by Sherese Francis, published in SAND 22

“Breakfast Stars” by Londeka Mdluli + “A Sign” by Stella N’Djoku, translated by Julia Anastasia Pelosi-Thorpe, published in SAND 22

Art by Henry Curchod + “Okazaki Fragments” by Kanika Agrawal (SAND 19). Bonus: Watch Kanika discuss the intersections of science and poetry at Poetic Vision.

In addition to pieces not being a fit for SAND, another top reason for rejecting poems involves language. This usually includes work that is not sensitive to language or is not making good use of language, often by including too many spare words or using cliches without commenting on or engaging with those cliches more deeply. Crista and Emma also receive many poems from very talented writers with an amazing opening or closing line, while the rest of the poem is a bit unformed and is being carried along by the single line. They want poems that hold their attention in every moment.

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Creative Nonfiction Editor Melissa Richer notes that journals may interpret creative nonfiction differently, so it’s important to keep in mind that she’s looking for variety. Her goal is to show myriad examples of what’s possible in creative nonfiction and what’s at the forefront of the genre. That means publishing more traditional long-form prose next to hybrid pieces and other experimental work. The type of work she’s looking for really emphasizes the creative in creative nonfiction: long form pieces, flash, essays (especially layered essays), hybrid forms, autofiction, and imagery or graphic writing.

“A Litany for Stolen Men in Three Attempts” by Keegan Lawler, published in SAND 23

Artwork by Célestin Krier + “How to Kill Your Father” by Carol Claassen, published in SAND 22. Bonus: Watch Carol Claassen read from her piece.

Excerpt from What Once Was by Helena Granström, translated by Saskia Vogel, published in SAND 19

Among the top reasons Melissa rejects work outside of it not being a fit for SAND: Many writers send pieces that are still in first or second draft form and therefore aren’t finished. She also sees writing with a strong central idea that becomes muddled when the author expands the piece to other parts of their lives, so that the story loses focus or is too wide in scope to be contained enough for the length of the piece.

FICTION

Editor in Chief Ashley Moore and Junior Fiction Editor Siena Powers say they’re most interested in risk-taking writing that experiments using intention, internal consistency, and attention to nuance. They want writing with a strong emotional heart and a subtlety that leaves readers with room for reflection on deeper issues. It’s long been important to our fiction team that SAND publish stories representing the full range of experiences and identities in the world, and that these stories are told from a place of lived experience or from a place of deep sensitivity and thorough research.

Art by Célestin Krier +”Cora Pearl’s Magnificent Vanishing Act” by Claire Dodd (SAND 22). Bonus: Watch Claire read from the piece with an intro from Ashley on why we chose it

“The Fun Car” by Gurmeet Singh, published in SAND 23

Art by Célestin Krier +”Losing the Plot” by Tariro Ndoro (SAND 22). Bonus: Watch Tariro read from the piece with an intro from Ashley on why we chose it

Like other sections, fiction rejects most work because it is not a fit for SAND, and like creative nonfiction, because the work is an incomplete first or second draft. Fiction also receives many well-written scenes or well-written ideas that are not complete stories in and of themselves. Ashley and Siena also see a lot of internal monologues. These are often full of interesting ideas but lack attention to form so that they are not complete stories, or, if they have a political or social agenda, read more like lectures.

GET TO KNOW US & SEND US YOUR BEST WORK!

Our editors agree that the best way to ensure work is a fit for SAND is to read the journal or use the many resources available online to find out more about what we publish. (For example, the information above is excerpted from editorial webinars on Secrets to Standout Submissions.)

The newly launched SAND ONLINE features excerpts from the current issue and full pieces from the SAND archives in addition to video readings and articles on writing and art. Our YouTube channel contains multiple readings from SAND contributors, editorial interviews, a preview of our latest issue, and more. We feature artists and excerpts from poetry and prose on our Instagram and Twitter and you can find more featured artists, excerpts, and information on our website. You can also sign up to our mailing list to stay up-to-date on all things SAND.

Our Editors on Acceptance/Rejection Read More »

After a year of digital pandemic launches, we were finally able to gather our Berlin family together for a real, live, in-person launch on 5 Nov 2021 at Prachtwerk in Berlin.

We enjoyed readings and presentations from creative nonfiction writer Nikitta Adjirakor, poet Winifred Wong, fiction writer Gurmeet Singh, artist Tabitha Swanson, and poet/flash fiction writer Lizzy Yarwood. Their work can be found in the latest issues of SAND.

We were excited to see some of our favorite SAND team alums and past contributors in the audience along with other known and new faces. This was extra special on a night when SAND announced an exciting transition: Outgoing Editor in Chief, Jake Schneider, handed over the reins to our new Editor in Chief, Ashley Moore.

Thank you to those of you who made it and who support us through reading, submitting, and being part of our creative community. We hope you enjoy the photos of the night below. All photography by Marlon Schipper.

SAND 23 Launch Read More »

The prose, poetry, and art of SAND 23 are all about coping – from escapism to rituals, dreams, obsessions and prayers. A poet pines for woolly mammoths, obsolete technology and profiteroles. A girl gang drink graveside Jell-o shots. For one grieving narrator, a pet cat proves more of a menace than a comfort. And on the cover, a brilliant bouquet sprouts from unlikely roots.

Cover artwork by Larissa Fantini, “Para não dizer que não esculpi as flores I,” 2021. Design by Déborah-Loïs Séry.

FEATURING
Chelsea Harlan • Miriam McEwen • Yu Müller • Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí • Ian Cappelli • Nikitta Adjirakor • E. Briskin • Gurmeet Singh • Adaeze Onwuelo • William Lessard • Yam Gong • James Shea • Dorothy Tse • Jade Riordan • Mehdi Navid • Zahra Rostamian • Katharina Bendixen • Rachel Farmer • Aoife Lynch • Chloé Savoie-Bernard • April Yee • Austin Miles • Shida Bazyar • Ruth Martin • Yvonne • Hon Lai-chu • Jacqueline Leung • Bryana Joy • Kelly Mullins • Maeve McKenna • Vivian I. Trutzl • Lauren Maltas • Taraka Hamada • William Fargason • Sihle Ntuli • Mackenzie Singh • JW Summerisle • Winifred Wong • Keegan Lawler • Panteha Abareshi • Larissa Fantini • Henry Hu • Bridget Moreen Leslie • Lee Miller • Letta Shtohryn • Tabitha Swanson • Awdhesh Tamrakar

SAND 23 Video Preview Read More »

Click here to read our feature on SAND 23 artist Henry Hu

SAND 23 features two pieces from Henry Hu’s 21, flip series. In Hu’s series statement, he describes the work as “a sparse, cathartic set of visuals,” saying the series “ruminates on the old corners of youth and growth. Began, simply, our inner stream of consciousness; the hushed reflections, the ambient hums, the drifted murmurs — but also, at times, a harsh, roaring buzz.”

“White” from the series 21, flip by Henry Hu

Hu says his “emerging practice commits to an infusion. An exchange. An immediacy. A link between the interior and the exterior – of a self, a being, an identity, a consciousness. Each individual series offers an overarching narrative, steps away from the present for a spell: tasked with casting new perspectives, fresh air to breathe, a spiritual relief. Often juxtaposing the past with the future, differing forms of surrealistic fantasies unfold across his works; along with a recurring structure, the heart of all series rests in harmony.”

“3:day” from the series 21, flip by Henry Hu

Find out more and see additional pieces at henryhu.com. You can find this and other exciting artwork, poetry, fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and translations in SAND 23.

Featured Artist: Henry Hu Read More »

Click here for information about SAND submissions, open December 20 - January 10

SAND 24 Submissions Open December 20, 2021 – January 10, 2022

For SAND’s 24th issue, we’re looking for art, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and translated work that subverts, work that pushes against the boundaries of form, message, and voice in ways that we will feel, physically, in our bodies. We want work that haunts us with its soul, edge, and truth. Show us that fresh can be slow, sensitive can be rough, bold can be quiet.

SAND is a nonprofit journal of literature and art made by a diverse, international team in Berlin. We welcome both emerging and established talents to submit, and we have long been devoted to amplifying the voices of writers and artists who are women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, working class, neurodiverse, international, and/or geographically underrepresented.

SAND is open to submissions of visual art, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and translations from December 20 to January 10, 2021. Fiction, creative nonfiction, flash, and poetry will close once submissions caps are reached, so submit to these genres early since they could close well before January 10.

Most of us editors are also writers and artists, and we know how it goes. That’s why we consider every submission, why we welcome emerging writers and artists, and why we will never charge you fees for submitting. (Donations and subscriptions are of course appreciated, and help us stay weird and independent.) We also pay contributors semi-professional rates.

The best way to get to know if your work is a fit for SAND is by reading SAND, by reading editor interviews, by checking out editor interviews and performances of pieces from past issues on SAND’s YouTube channel, and by visiting our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

More information on our style and approach can be found in these editorial interviews and articles:

Our editors answer readers’ questions (video)
Our editors’ Duotrope interview
Our commitment to diversity (interview with Lambda Literary)
Our poetry style (video for Lyrikmarkt 2020)
Our visual art style (article)
Our fiction style (article at Aerogramme)

We look forward to reading your best work in the submissions pile! Please submit on our Submittable page after reading and following our submissions guidelines: http://sandjournal.com/submit.

SAND 24 Submissions Open Read More »

SAND Winter Webinar Series

We’re excited to announce our winter webinars series, featuring three prose webinars with SAND’s Editor in Chief and former Fiction Editor Ashley Moore and Creative Nonfiction Editor Melissa Richer.

Best Beginnings: Keep Editors Reading With Compelling First Pages | 14 Nov 2021

Editors and agents make critical decisions about you and your prose based on the first page of your work. Some even decide whether to decline your work or keep reading based on the first page alone. So how do you write compelling first pages that grab and maintain editors’ interest?

During this webinar, Ashley and Melissa will discuss the craft of writing first pages, including common mistakes they see in the submissions pile, and do a live evaluation of attendees’ first pages to demonstrate how craft works and how editors read.

Breaking the Rules: Writing Prose Outside the Traditional Norms | 12 Dec 2021

If we’re writing in English, we’ve all heard many of the same “rules” about storytelling: Stories should be plot-driven. Stories should be character-driven. Conflict drives plot. Maybe we’ve even noticed that our own writing is following these “rules,” even though we’re dying to break them.

What if we could tell the story of a failed relationship through photographs? Or use a postpartum depression questionnaire to structure the first chapter of our novel? What if we could drop a modern-day character into a historical situation and let them run wild? What if we could retell the Bible’s biggest moments through the lens of a failed family holiday?

This webinar aims to get writers excited about the many ways their writing can break the rules, subvert norms, and have something important to say.

Keeping Your New Year’s Writing Resolutions | 5 Jan 2022

It’s the end of 2021. Another year of writing. And not just that: Another year of writing during a pandemic that’s often isolated us from the people and experiences that inspire us to tell stories.

We’ve made so many promises to ourselves about our writing, and we’re going to keep them in the new year.

We can find inspiration and focus on our writing in ways we’ve never quite managed before. This webinar will be a kickstart to motivate and inspire our writing practices in 2022.

Details

All of our webinars are held on Crowdcast, so you can attend live or watch the recording afterwards if the time of the live webinar doesn’t work for you. We believe in accessibility, so we make all of our webinars available on a sliding scale. By purchasing entry to our webinars, you are directly supporting hard-working writers and artists. All of the proceeds from these webinars go directly to paying the authors, poets, and artists that we publish in SAND, and we greatly appreciate your support.

SAND Winter Webinar Series Read More »

For SAND’s 23rd issue, we’re looking for art, poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and translated work that subverts, work that pushes against the boundaries of form, message, and voice in ways that we will feel, physically, in our bodies. We want work that haunts us with its soul, edge, and truth. Show us that fresh can be slow, sensitive can be rough, bold can be quiet.

SAND is a nonprofit journal of literature and art made by a diverse international team in Berlin. We have long been devoted to amplifying underrepresented voices and encourage submissions from writers and artists who are women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, working class, international, and/or geographically underrepresented.

SAND is open to submissions of visual art, poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and translations from March 20 to April 10, 2021. (Creative nonfiction is currently closed.) Submit early: Fiction, flash fiction, and poetry will close once submissions caps are reached, meaning these genres might close before April 10.

The best way to get to know if your work is a fit for SAND is by attending webinars with our poetry and prose editors (Secrets to Standout Submissions in Prose and Poetry on March 14, 2021), by reading digital or print issues of SAND, by reading editor interviews, or checking out editor interviews and performances of pieces from past issues on SAND’s YouTube channel.

More information on our style and approach can be found in these editorial interviews and articles:

We look forward to reading your best work in the submissions pile! Please submit on our Submittable page after reading and following our submissions guidelines.

SAND 23 Submissions Open March 20–April 10 Read More »

This event has already happened, but if you register after the fact via the links below, you can still view the full replay at the same place on Crowdcast.

—

Have you ever wanted to listen in as literary journal editors discuss and choose pieces for publication? Do you want to better understand how to get more acceptances and fewer rejections when you are submitting your own work to literary journals?

Then join us on March 14, 2021, for SAND’s first-ever editorial webinars in poetry and prose.

Listen in live and ask questions in real-time as SAND’s prose and poetry editors pull back the curtain on topics like these:

What are editors really looking for in submissions?
Why do certain pieces stand out in a submissions pile and get published?
Why do other pieces never make it on to the next round of consideration?
Are pieces edited before publication, and how does that process even work?
How can I use this knowledge to increase my chances of getting published in literary journals like SAND?
And more…

SAND poetry editors Crista Siglin and Emma C Lawson will lead the poetry edition of our webinars, and fiction editor Ashley Moore and creative nonfiction editor Melissa Richer will lead the prose edition:

Poetry: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. CET, March 14, 2021
Prose: 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. CET, March 14, 2021

Participants writing in multiple genres are invited to attend both live events: each webinar will be specific to the genre with little overlap in content. Can’t make it to the live event? No worries. Everyone who signs up will be sent a link to the recorded replay of the webinar, which can be watched at any time.

Because we believe in accessibility and know that many creatives are hurting thanks to the events of 2020 and 2021, we’re offering tickets on a sliding scale. Pay what you can or pay what you want, whether that’s €5 or €20.

Learn more and register here on Crowdcast:

For more on submitting to SAND, our editorial style, reading issues of SAND, and all the latest news, check us out at sandjournal.com, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

We hope you’ll join us for our editorial webinars on March 14 and look forward to seeing you then.

Webinars: Secrets to Standout Submissions Read More »

Text by Crista Siglin and Natalie Mariko with an Introduction by Ashley Moore

Editorial Note: Crista Siglin is still with SAND as one of our co-poetry editors, and former poetry editor Natalie Mariko left SAND in 2019. We are very excited to have Emma Lawson on as our second poetry editor along with Crista. This article provides insight into SAND’s poetry style, and any future submissions should be sent to Crista and Emma.

AN INTRODUCTION TO AN INTRODUCTION

What do traditional artist’s introductions tell us? Biographical information, starting with current location. A list of publications, and if we’re lucky, an artist’s statement. The partners, dogs, parakeets, and children the artists might be living with in previously-mentioned current location.

When we asked our new poetry editors Natalie Mariko and Crista Siglin to introduce themselves, they agreed that this approach might “flatten” them rather than giving readers a “glimpse into their editing sensibilities,” according to Crista. So the two began with the traditional introductions and set out to “extend poetic abstraction/attention to the very boring, self-referential, wanky realm of artist introductions” by “deconstructing each other’s intros into poems.”

The idea was formed in a Berlin cafe, and the process was honed in a series of emails, during which our editors discussed deconstruction as introduction as well as deadlines and sick cats. As for the process, each editor would send over their traditional introductory “blurbs” and then each would “dissect” the other’s blurb into a poem. The discussion of process continued from there, along with more discussion of cats, and produced three poems that “introduce” each editor.

Natalie says the emails are actually the “better half of the two conceptual parts” since they are “the ghost in the machine made visible,” namely: “The process is all in there, not in me explaining why I moved a word to the next line” of the final poems, which are included at the end. Of the “essential” nature of the inclusion of the emails in this article, our poetry editors say:

“The drudgery of the sick cats, the banter–this is sort of @ the thematic heart of what I love to read. There is a cat vomiting on my carpet. The cat can’t help it. It just vomits, w/out want. An act of pure function. Poetry blames the cat. Or draws a connection btwn the cat retch & why the weather has been unseasonably warm. Or &c. The act of poetry is the attribution of intent to function, especially as it originates in the reader (in my example, Me watching the cat vomit). It blurs the definition btwn cat & weather. A type of willful schizophrenia.” — Natalie

“Poetry blames the cat. This for me has a morphic resonance with ‘Love’s the burning boy.’ An idea inflicting something on a character or object, and through that relationship, the nature of the idea can change alongside the character. ‘Casabianca’ by Elizabeth Bishop (in which the burning boy may be found) is one of my favorite examples of a poem subtly shifting expectation for how one word will defined throughout its course. Love’s meaning constricts and dilates, depending on the perspective and metaphorical highlighting. I always keep this in a corner of my mind. When I am writing or editing, I am looking for some way to expand or sharpen the meaning of a word. Whether it is through spacial means (this is how I approached editing Natalie’s introduction; through erasures and implementing space), repetition, or perspectival shifts.” — Crista

THE EMAILS

Natalie to Crista:

It’s fascinating to read about a colleague in this way–as if the person I will be seeing @ monthly meetings could be artistically reduced to a sort of list of acco.s & fixed opinions. I don’t know about you, but writing artist statements always made me feel rather pompous. Like sending a court clerk before me to announce my arrival. But perhaps even then there’s an artistry to something so seemingly banal as introduction, no? My thought is we limit this to no more than 3 volleys/editor, so as to avoid repetition.

Crista to Natalie:

Yes, I agree about both the banality and pomp of writing about oneself in this way. I had to cut a lot of words I was hiding under from mine…as well as graft different statements from different times together…yet I still feel hidden (but I couldn’t bear to start completely from scratch). It feels like writing about myself in this way misses most of the things for which I am actually proud of myself. But I can scarcely include “Crista can complete Jacob’s Ladder in ten seconds with her eyes closed.” It also misses one’s weaknesses. Like how many times I have to Google search the differences between certain words. Regardless, I am enjoying this exercise. Yours was quite fun to work with.

I hope your cat is okay.

Natalie to Crista:

Well, in terms of meeting that deadline, I’d classify this as ‘better late than never’. Now that we’ve given one another a raw rearrangement of the texts, perhaps it’d be fun to edit what the other’s made of them? And then perhaps thereafter combining them? Or? If you have something in mind, let me know. This is the most enjoyable writing task I’ve had in a solid few weeks.

The cats – Keala & Humus, the poor souls – are my roommate’s & the last I smelled they are quite ill. I have to help her give them two pills each every few hours which is painful for all of us.

Crista to Natalie:

I firmly believe in the better late than never philosophy.

CRISTA SIGLIN
By Natalie Mariko and Crista Siglin

ONE

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in Berlin after having

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TWO

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Natalie Mariko
By Crista Siglin and Natalie Mariko

ONE

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Mathematics & Philosophy

African & English Literature

Film Cape Town,

she forfeited

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Germany. She studied German

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moved Berlin in March

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all roads

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Meet Our Poetry Editors Read More »

Nate McCarthy’s essay “The First Steak of the Rest of My Life” appears in SAND Issue 17, and they will be reading at our Berlin launch on 25 May. SAND Nonfiction Editor Susanna Forrest talked to Nate about the ethics of food writing and the difficulties of tackling chronic illness as a literary subject.

SAND: You were born in Sydney and now live in Berlin. Could you tell us a little about your life and what you’re discovering about your adopted hometown? When did you start writing?

McCarthy: I used to mainly write songs in Sydney and only started writing stories and the odd bit of creative nonfiction in the last couple of years in Berlin. My mother has a way with words and we write letters to each other. She has a beautiful turn of phrase. When I visited Australia earlier this year, instead of saying “Have a safe flight,” she wrote “My thoughts wing their way to you as you are about to wing away.” So that is my inheritance.

Berlin and Sydney are hard and soft in different ways and when you experience the harshness of one you wish for the troubles you had in the other. At the moment it’s the troubles of Sydney that beckon. I’ve always loved to have a chat but you know the old joke: What did one German say to the other German on the street? Nothing!

SAND: Literary food writing tends to focus on sensual experiences, memory or travel. When the ethics of meat-eating are addressed, the result usually seems to be polarised rather than ambiguous, as in your essay. Did it feel like a big topic to undertake? Of which dilemmas were you thinking?

McCarthy: It felt a little delicate. I didn’t want to write as if I was justifying myself, yet I wanted to show that it was anything but a flippant decision and that it was born from sheer physical weakness. I wondered, who would want to know about someone’s excruciatingly complicated diet and how they feel about eating meat? Does drawing attention to physical suffering in an essay – my own or the animals that we eat – come across as indulgent? But I just started with Dave and our friendship; how the steak dinner was an act of care on his part and an act of desperation on mine. That felt right.

SAND: Chronic illness – especially the “invisible” kind – has a growing profile in public discourse even when the realities of dealing with one of these conditions can be frustrating due to a shortfall in research or knowledge among primary carers. Did you always know you wanted to write about your health experiences? What did you want to take into consideration when you tackled the topic?

McCarthy: I have never wanted want to write about my illness and at the same time I couldn’t completely avoid it. I don’t name what ails me in the essay because I didn’t want to commit to educating people about it, to engage with the lack of public understanding and old narratives that hamper research and treatment and that are difficult not, at some point, to internalise. That will be another piece. The thing about invisible illnesses is that there is such a gap between what one experiences day in and day out, and what other people see and wish to understand. If I wrote about my condition in greater detail I would need to reckon with that gap. But in this piece I wanted to just nod at it, and keep a strong line going to the parts of the story that I am most comfortable writing about. I wanted to recall all those lovely nights with my mate, the whole wash of being very sick but making the best of it together and leave a fair bit of the difficult stuff to the imagination.

SAND: And lastly, some questions for all writers. What’s inspiring you now (books, film, music, people, experiences) and what are you working on?

McCarthy: I’m working on a short story – there’s a nurse, Big Trish, who has moved into a small town in Australia. She’s working the night shift in the emergency department and finds out that John, a big man in town (he runs the community gardens and is on the council), is violently abusive to his wife. John ends up in the emergency room himself after treading on a poisonous fish and finds himself in Trish’s capable hands.

Book: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

Music: Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

Susan Sarandon as Reggie Love in The Client

Balls of Balkan string cheese sold at the Turkish supermarkets

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