Worlds of Possibility
Worlds of Possibility is “a bimonthly ebook magazine of uplifting science fiction and fantasy. For this project, I am especially excited for works that leave the reader feeling hopeful, peaceful, or happy.” And, “Worlds of Possibility loves flash and drabbles and other short short forms as well as short stories!” They are open now for speculative fiction and poetry.
Deadline: 23 March 2023
Length: Fiction up to 5,000 words, poetry of any length
Pay: 0.10/word for fiction, $50 for poems
Details here and here.

(And PodCastle, from the Escape Artists suite of magazines, which publishes fantasy fiction in audio and online format, is also open; pay is $0.08/word for original stories up to 6,000 words. They also accept reprints. The deadline is 31 March 2024. Details here and here.)

MetaStellar
They are accepting flash speculative fiction submissions during March. “We’re looking for your best enthralling, imaginative, or bone-chilling original fiction stories, as long as they’re 1,200 words or fewer.” They pay for flash fiction; they also welcome unpaid submissions and pitches all year round — in the form of reviews, essays, excerpts, and reprints.
Deadline: 31 March 2024 for flash fiction
Length: Up to 1,200 words
Pay: $0.08/word for flash fiction
Details here, here, and here.

The Ex-Puritan
This Canadian magazine publishes fiction, non-fiction, experimental/hybrid work, interviews, reviews, poetry, and poetry in translation. They accept a limited number of fee-free submissions every month. (They also have fee-based submissions and contests.)
Deadline: 1 April 2024, or until filled, for the next issue; reads year-round
Length: 1,000-10,000 words for fiction, up to 4 poems; various for nonfiction (see guidelines)
Pay: CAD200 per essay; CAD150 for fiction; CAD100 per interview or review; CAD50 per poem (capped at CAD100); CAD50+ per experimental or hybrid work, at an increasing scale depending on the nature of the piece
Details here and here.

(– And Gutter, a Scotland-based print magazine, is also open for fiction, essay, and poetry submissions for Issue 30. “We look for work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo; that pushes at the boundaries of form and function; that is striking and beautiful.” Pay is £30, and the deadline is 16 March 2024. Details here.
— Banshee, a journal from Banshee Press, welcomes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from Irish and international writers. They are reading submissions for their 18th issue, for autumn/winter. Pay is €250 for a story/essay up to 5,000 words; €75 for flash fiction; €50/poem. The deadline is 31 March 2024. Details here — also click on ‘We believe in paying writers’ for rates.
— Also, Salamander Magazine, which is affiliated with Suffolk University, is open for submissions. They publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and they pay. The deadline is 1 April 2024. Details here; you can submit by post, or via their online manager here.)

West Branch
They accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and translation. West Branch is affiliated with Bucknell University.
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Length: Up to 30 pages for prose; up to 6 poems
Pay: $100 per submission of poetry, $.10/word for prose up to $200
Details here.

The Threepenny Review
This respected quarterly journal accepts fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and submissions for their ‘Table Talk’ column.
Deadline: 15 April 2024
Length: Up to 4,000 words for stories and memoir, up to 100 lines for poetry, 1,200-2,500 words for critical articles, up to 1,000 words for Table Talk
Pay: $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece
Details here and here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine.

At the time of writing this review they are open to submissions for two of their imprints, Haunted Doll House, their horror imprint, and Kumquat Books, their children’s book imprint.

In terms of Haunted Doll House they are seeking full length books (that they will publish in print editions). They are open to horror, mystery, dark sf/f, genre-resistant writing. They are currently accepting both fiction and memoir and say “We especially want authors who identify as female, femme, enby, LGBTQIA+, disabled, working-class, or authors of color to feel welcome to send us work.”

You can read their full submission details here, and please follow all their instructions carefully, including a 250 or fewer word synopsis in the body of the email along with a 100 or fewer words bio and the manuscript attached as a Word doc and PDF.

You can see the books Haunted Doll House has previously published here.

Kumquat Books has only published one book so far, which you can see here.

You can see Kumquat Books’ submission guidelines by going here and scrolling down, but the main focus is a query letter. Please follow their guidelines carefully.

Like most micropresses they don’t seem to have established distribution outside of Ingram, but the books they publish are widely available online. 

At the time of the most recent updates, only their current anthology appears to be open to submissions. You can learn more here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

The Carried Away began when the four editors met studying literature, and realized they all shared the same dream: to create a community around books. Since then, the project has gone from an idea to a blossoming reality. Although they’re still curating their first issue, they have published seven weekly episodes of their podcast, The Conversation, which “explores the intersections of life and literature.” They’ve covered topics like dystopian franchises, prequels and sequels, book formatting, and the complexities of the writing process.

Submission guidelines for The Carried Away are quite loose. They accept all forms of writing: poetry, short stories, reviews, and essays, as well as unique forms that defy genre classification. They also accept writing on all topics: “Nothing is too taboo or too abstract.”

The Carried Away accepts submissions via email, not online or by post. They only accept submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online, so please read their guidelines in full before submitting.

If you would like to learn more or submit to The Carried Away, please visit their website here. 

Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name for an author, editor, creative writing mentor, and submission consultant. Over the past five years, she’s written hundreds of articles for Authors Publish, and she’s also served as a copywriter and copy editor for a wide range of organizations and individuals. She is the author of The Quick Start Guide to Flash Fiction. She occasionally teaches a course on flash fiction. You can contact her at ellapeary@gmail.com.

Wordsmiths may chafe at writing routines, but many of us embrace (or at least face) routines and rigor, in our quest to improve our work and meet deadlines. The advice to “write everyday” or “make regular writing a habit” is pervasive and for good reasons. There’s even an app for writing every day, as well as trackers, journals and other methods and tools. 

For those who want to write poetry and also desire to maintain a regular diary, keeping a “Haiku Diary” is a doable and practical endeavor. Tasking yourself with writing at least one haiku or senryu each day, and doing it as part of a diary, can help you in various ways. It requires you to devote time to both goals by combining them, but also helps you to think separately about the importance of each. And it may not take up too much of your time each day. (You could even mull over what you will write, while you prep dinner, fold laundry or workout on the exercise bike.)

I have written regular diary and extended journal entries since I was in elementary school, and I have enjoyed writing poems since around that time as well. But it’s only recently that I realized that I could combine them. My primary inspiration came from being a “member” of a Facebook page called The Daily Haiku. It dawned on me that I could sum up my day, or an aspect of my day, in the form of a haiku.

And when I discuss haiku, I am not requiring you to stick rigidly to the 5/7/5 style, nor do I intend for you to focus only on traditional nature themes. (Although I am partial to the 5/7/5 for my own output.) You can take on different syllable counts, or subject matters. You can work with the concept of the senryu, with humor or irony. Basically, I am suggesting that you write a pithy poem that encapsulates your day or something that happened that particular day. It’s an exercise in distilled writing, concise commentary, and regular retrospection. All these are worthwhile in your quest to be a better writer, and you might even create something that is ripe for publication.

Here is an example: recently a friend and I took a short ride on one of the newest trains introduced into our city’s subway system. These trains have been featured in the local media and have created a buzz. When I saw one pull into the platform, I suggested we hop on for a few stops and we did. We both snapped cellphone photos (as did several other riders) and chatted about it. 

Later on, I thought about this experience, and decided that I wanted to take note of it in my diary, and also use the occasion to pen a short poem:

Ride shiny new train

Toast of the town high-tech trek

A New York moment

I could have opened my diary and written “Cheryl and I tried out the new C train that has been featured in the news. It had shiny seats.” That is certainly a worthy thing to write. But by choosing to remark upon the event in the general form of a haiku, I forced myself to make commentary in a poetic pattern. It was a fun challenge and also a way to think about writing assignments. 

Aside from taking note of my day, and practicing my poetry skills, I can also refer back to this poem later for increased inspiration. Perhaps I will expand upon this poem, or on the actual experience. Both can fuel future writing.

I selected a light-hearted experience to turn into a haiku; it may be harder for you to translate a lengthy or painful episode into a brief piece of prose. Each day you can choose what you wish to turn into a poetic exercise. One of the Haiku Daily participants, Diana, told me that she “used to do what I called Haiku weather reports” to describe her days. Another haiku writer named Iny mentioned that she “did (write daily diary haiku) during COVID.” And Kris added that she writes this because “It’s the essence of my day, my experiences in three lines.”

Where should you write and store your haiku diary? You could opt for a journal, a notebook, an actual diary, your smartphone or computer files. Whichever you choose, the process of thinking about your day and how to turn it into a short poem is a very good way to get yourself writing every day. 

The rigor here is not on the level of a scholarly article or a polished short story. But a haiku diary can challenge you in a variety of ways and help you to establish a regular writing habit that may result in publishable material.

Bio: Ellen Levitt is a writer and teacher, and a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn, The Lost Synagogues of the Bronx and Queens, and The Lost Synagogues of Manhattan (www.avotaynu.com) and Walking Manhattan (www.wildernesspress.com). She has also written many freelance articles and essays for online and in-print publications.