Lit Mag Acceptance Incoming: I Got Published!

Before we move on to the rest of this blog, I just want to say: I got an acceptance from a lit magazine!

Okay, now back up.

For those of you who’ve been wondering, I’ve been missing for a couple of months. And it’s because University has been quite gruesome. Not because of my studies, even though my courses have gotten harder. But because of the time it takes me to travel between southern and northern Istanbul every other day every week.

And I’ve got work; eight hours of it, five days a week too. And so, as much as I made an entire excel sheet telling myself that I would find the time to update the blog, I just couldn’t do it.

Hopefully, with midterms out of the way, and a whole week off from University (something about a term break I’m sure we’ve never had before), I’ll do something. For now, you have my sincerest apologies.

I spent the last year submitting my short stories, nonfiction retellings and poems to various literary magazines. This consisted of wide range of prestigious and up-and-coming, traditional and indie journals. After many rejections (read: a fifty four), I finally got an acceptance!

And then literally two hours later, and Welter Online sent me an acceptance for a creative nonfiction I wrote. Seriously. Welter Online. I am overwhelmed.

That’s not all- I got three acceptances that week. I know: all good things come in threes.

I am screaming.

Now, I know; most of the magazines on this list will be indie magazines. They’re not the Paris Review, and yes, I know. It’s a very long way to the Paris Review, buuut they’re my first publications. 

It is one of my goals in life to be published in the Paris Review, and I’ve gotten comments from “friends” not to think that I’m all that because some magazine somewhere liked my short story. But honestly, whatever. This isn’t an ego boost.

The point is, I’m just happy, and I know it might come off as pretentious or self-humbling or however else you would like to describe it, but I don’t care about it at this instance. I’m extremely humbled, over the moon, and so, so excited. Because an editor of a magazine looked at my writing and said, “Huh, this could work for us,” and that means the world to me.

It’s easy to forget how amazing it feels when you see your name under a piece of literature- no matter what form it is. I’m lucky to have a great team at work that acknowledges all that goes into writing and appreciates me. But a vast majority of copywriters don’t even get as much as a “thank you” for their work. 

Before this, discounting my work with Femonomic (but that was a volunteer position designed to put my name out there because I can’t link my entire portfolio due to NDAs), my work had never been published under my name. Seriously, I can count this blog and these four pieces of literature as my own work. This is as the most “me” my writing’s ever been.

This little update is completely against every SEO best practice I’ve ever mentioned and will mention in this blog, but I wanted to share it with you.

You can now check out all my short stories, creative nonfiction and poems (when someone accepts them) by clicking on my Publications.

Hope you enjoy my work!

Best,

Sura