Friday, December 30, 2016

The Last Day


Oh my goodness tomorrow is the last day of the year. How on earth did that happen? Seriously. Someone please tell me. Last I knew it was September and I was just leaving for Europe. Can we go back in time and do that over again? I really enjoyed that trip, man…

And like that, I’m off track.

Okay, so there’s one more thing that causes a lot of artists and authors to freak out and not want to submit anything for publication, and that's what we're going to talk about today: 

The selection process.


Reading is the easy part. That takes a few days. But the next part can take a while, for the RAD Editors and Mavguard volunteers to debate which works are going to make it into the next edition. I know, even thinking about someone deliberating over my work can just be insane. For me, that's always the hardest part.

That’s why I’m writing this.

This is the one part of the process where we really can’t tell you what’s going on. We can’t say when we’re discussing your work, because we don’t want you to try to sway us. But I can tell you that we’re usually agreed from the beginning on what will be going in the magazine. We know good work when we see it, and most of us have the same preferences when it comes to what we'd like to see published.

And really, it only takes us about two weeks to decipher everything. Trouble is that we have to find a time when all of us can get together to state our case for every single piece, and that can take a while. Our volunteers all have day jobs, you know.

But we promise that we’ll get back to you as soon as we possibly can!

I’m the one who sends out the submissions responses, the one who’ll talk to you at this point if you have any questions. And if your work isn’t accepted, I’ll be the one to write your rejection letter. I’ll tell you specifically why your work wasn’t chosen, and I’ll let you know what needs to be done to fix it. I’ll even help you with it, if you want. And this only happens if the changes are significant enough to be beyond what our team can do in a short period of time.

Most of the time, if you send in five submissions, we’ll publish at least one of them. At least, that’s statistically been the case.

And it’s pretty great, because even one thing published is better than nothing published, isn’t it?

Woo!

Tomorrow is your last day, so head over to www.MavguardMagazine.com NOW to send in your work!


[love]

{Rani Divine}

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Four Days



The countdown to the end of the year continues! Monday we talked a bit about submitting, and how ridiculously easy it is to send your work in. Today, I’m telling you about the next phase of the submissions process:

The reading period.


For Edition V, it’ll begin on January 1. For Edition VI, it’ll be July 1. It usually lasts under a month, and in this time we read every short story and poem, and view every piece of art under a magnifying glass. Well, okay, I don’t actually use a magnifying glass, but I do zoom in on my computer. Close enough?

I can’t tell you how many creatives I know who haven’t submitted because they’re afraid of this period, this length of time in which they’ll know that someone is looking at their work, but they won’t know whether or not it’s being well received.

I know, it can be a trying thing, especially for those prone to anxiety.

Here’s the thing. You’re more than welcome to email us during the reading period. We’ll have a chat with you. More often than not, you’ll end up talking to RAD Writing’s senior editor, Kristina, and she’s awesome. She’ll do her best to make you feel comfortable with the process, and in some cases she can even tell you what day our editors will be reading your specific piece.

We’re nice like that.

We have two primary goals during this period: keep you comfortable, and get you published.

That means that we’re more than willing to work with you to make your piece publishable (if it’s not there yet), and we’ll do whatever we can to make sure you’re not going stir crazy while we’re in the reading phase.

So send us an email. Talk to us. Let us know if you’re nervous, and we’ll see what we can do to help. We’ve all sent our work places too. We know what it’s like to be in this situation. And we know how to make it easier for you. 

Trust me.

You have nothing to worry about.

Go to www.MavguardMagazine.com now to send something in, and remember, you’ll only have a few days before the reading period begins!


[love]

{Rani Divine}

Monday, December 26, 2016

Six days


Happy Boxing Day, everyone! ...Whatever that is. I hope you all had a great Christmas with your family's, and thank you for your understanding when I thought Friday was Saturday. 

Today though, I want to talk about something other than Christmas. 
 
Today marks the start of the last week of 2016. Some of us are glad, others are saddened to know that this year is coming to a close. But for those of us who call ourselves creatives, those of us who write, who create art, this week marks something else.

You guessed it.

Only a few more days to submit your work for Mavguard Edition V.


It seems so crazy to already be at this point, to have only a few more days before we’ll close the submissions window and start looking over everything you’ve sent in. But that’s what happens for us at RAD Writing, when the end of the year rolls around. We put our heads down and start reading. And it’s such great fun.

Today, I wanted to talk you to a little bit about the submissions process. I know it can be scary for some people, that some of us get so nervous that we can’t even think of sending anything in, and so I want to take a little time to talk to you about it.

All it takes is a simple form.


You go to www.MavguardMagazine.com, click on submit, scroll to the bottom of the page, and select what form you need. If you have art, go to the art form. If you have a short story or poem, click literary.

The form is really easy. We only need some basic information about you: your name, what name you’d like to be published as, your email, address, phone number, the usual stuff. You have to give that every time you order something online anyway. And we don’t give any of your information away for any reason, so you don’t have to worry about getting spammed because you gave us your information. We’ll add your email to our mailing list, but if you don’t want to be on it, all you have to do is let us know.

You can only submit one piece per form, but you can send in up to fifteen forms: five poems, five short stories, and five art.

That means you have fifteen chances at publication, if your a multi-faceted creative. How cool is that?

Honestly, that’s really all there is to it. One of us will send you an email to let you know we’ve received your submission, and if you have any questions you can send us an email. We reply as soon as we can, and we’re very friendly.

I know this, because I read all the emails. I’m a snoop. Don’t judge me. I want to know that everyone’s being nice to you.

Easy peasy. And you’re guaranteed to be emailed by a nice person!

What’s so scary about that?

Seriously though. Whatever you create, I want to see it. I honestly do.

Go on over to www.MavguardMagazine.com now to submit something! Really. Go do it!


[love]

{Rani D.}