April: Hillary Umland’s Letting Go Theme
Letting go is such a magnificent writing prompt that covers so many areas of our lives. I’m particularly excited about April because I can’t wait to show our writers and readers alike the diversity of the pieces we will be publishing.
So, as it turns out, the end of Women’s Month in March turned the whole month around, fantastic work landing in my in-box left and right, plastering a smile to my face as I read your groundbreaking writing.
I am a last-minute gal myself, so I don’t mind last-minute submissions; just know that you may be squeezed in somewhere. And I’m more than okay with that. Hopefully you guys are too. I have come down with some sort of bizarre, fluish illness as of late, that has been making me sluggish and irritable; and, hopefully, understandably slow to respond to your submissions e-mails.
I’m crossing my fingers in the hopes that we will soon have an intern here at SLM to help my weak-immune-systemed self sift through all of the amazing work I’ve received so I can both respond to you in a more timely manner, as well as get your pieces scheduled a bit more quickly.
What a venture this has all turned out to be; I feel like the luckiest editor alive. I can’t tell you the joy it brings to me to get a submission that is just absolutely breathtaking. There’s no experience that can match it. Although this job does not pay, it pays me in a way that nothing else can.
Hillary Umland, one of the very first contributors to Sick Lit Magazine’s open submissions call, has been one of my favorites. Her work is so descriptive, yet in a way that makes the use of “like” and “as,” seem unnecessary. Her writing flows in this effortless way, blowing me away every time I read one of her pieces. She is truly a talented, valued member of this team.
I think we can ALL relate to the process of letting go. Letting go of a loved one, a home, friends, an exciting time in our lives. It hits particularly close to home with me, having been an Air Force *brat.* I’ll never forget when I had an asthma attack at an away football game (I was in the marching band) and I’d had to take off my band uniform because it was so hot outside. I’d forgotten that my friend and I had switched socks on the bus, so there I sat, with one sock up to my knee and the other down to my ankle, with a nebulizer blowing albuterol vapor into my lungs. I wanted to hide my face.
So far I’m thrilled with what I’m reading. Just give my sick-self some time to respond to you with a proper scheduling date for publishing. Thanks, writers, for being patient with me. Know that I appreciate all of you; I appreciate your kindness as well as your overwhelming sense of knowledge when it comes to your craft of writing and art.
I’ll close with this question: What does the concept of letting go mean to you?
Cheers!
Peace and love,
Your Favorite Editor 😉
Kelly Fitzharris Coody
PS: WE ARE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE! ROCK!
(send everything to kelly.fitzharris@gmail.com)
*PS: The photo I used as the header is of my room when I was a senior in high school, living in Niceville, Florida, attending Niceville High School and running at least 5 miles a day. Oh to be young and energetic! I found it fitting; I mourned the loss of that house SO MUCH when I was in college and found out my parents were selling it. So, I finally had to….let go.*
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