Reading submissions

In the midst of reading submissions for our 2011-2012 issue, I have the opportunity to look over comments from my undergraduate crew of Assistant Editors and occasionally to disagree with their sentiments. Sometimes a piece that seems clunky to them is, to me, beautiful for its lack of pretension. What I am finding today is the usefulness of a multi-layered conversation about submissions. The despair of writers, including my own experience in this, is the sense that a piece of carefully wrought writing might be seen by only one pair of eyes. One of the great things about this first year at Dogwood is the ability to say to writers that there is always more than “one pass” being made at a piece of writing and a chance for editors to get feedback from each other.

I am also so grateful to have a chance to sit and review submissions on a Kindle, courtesy of recent fantastic software features at Submittable (formerly Submishmash) that make the processing of submissions even easier. This means I can work where I am, and when I am able, even if I am not able to take a stack of paper submissions with me. It means more energy to read work and less energy spent on ripping open envelopes.

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