Books!
This weekend, I am going to be spending time at home, glorious home. Ed will be working both days, so I will have plenty of time to clean up and organize and sew -- and to READ.
I love reading. Always have. When I was a kid, hanging out in the backseat, I read so much that I didn't actually know how to get anywhere.
Including my own school. Which didn't involve any turns off of the long main road we took to get there.Oops.
A whole lot more of my reading these days is done online -- ebooks and blogs and news sites and social media. And, yeah, fan fic. All the fan fic.
Not that my house isn't stuffed with print books. They're everywhere and, well, there's a long-running debate about whether we should use Library of Congress or the old-fashioned Dewey Decimal system to sort everything. (I think we use this debate as our primary procrastination strategy, actually.)
I spend nearly as much time with paper as I do with epaper (or a regular screen), and I'm really happy about that -- for a couple of years, I wasn't reading nearly so much and it ached like the loss of an old friend. I'm just happier when I'm reading.
And I know a bunch of you feel the same way.
That's why we're going to try something new. Well, something new for xoJane -- Sassy Magazine did this back in the day with its regular feature: FICTION.
That's right. Fiction.
Which means this is our first Call For Fiction Submissions. xoWeekenders, this is your notice that I want your stories, please!
What We're Looking For:
I want to emphasize: We're looking for stories from YOU, our readers.
This is YOUR fiction.As such, we're open to any genre. Just keep your audience in mind. You're part of the community, you know this crowd.
Regardless of genre, we're interested in publishing engaging stories that explore the lives of strongly drawn women. We're interested in publishing stories that reflect the diverse communities we live in -- that means we're looking for submissions from writers of all races, genders, sexual identities and orientations, classes, and sizes. We're looking for characters that reflect those lives and experiences as well.
Important, though perhaps boring details: we're only looking for previously unpublished work, and copy should be clean of basic errors. (Everyone makes typos, for sure -- but please do a read-through before submitting.)
Authors will also need to provide supporting images -- arty is great, selfies would be less appropriate.
Stories should be between 2000 and 4000 words.
What We're NOT Looking For:
We are not currently accepting novel excerpts. We're not currently accepting flash fiction or anything shorter than 2000 words. We are not accepting anything with explicit sex (no erotica).
Thematically, if the point of your story is that women are weak and the MRAs are right, your story will probably find a better home elsewhere.
Where And How To Send It:
Are you stoked? I'm totally stoked.
Please email fiction submissions to Marianne@xoJane.com with FICTION SUBMISSION clearly in all caps in the subject line of the email. Please send them as Word (.doc or .docx) or .txt files (no .rtf at the moment, please).
Regarding format: check out this link if you have questions about formatting short story submissions. Scroll down on that page for a visual sample.
Any questions? Leave 'em in the comments.
And welcome to the weekend!
