Where to Submit Your Writing in February 2021 (and Why You Should)

If you’re reading this blog post, there’s a good chance you’re a writer. And if you’re a writer, then there’s a really good chance that you want to be published one day.

Unless you plan on self-publishing, getting published means that you have to submit your writing to someone, somewhere.

I know. Scary, right?

For a lot of us, the idea of someone actually reading our work is a terrifying thought. We wonder things like: What if people laugh at my writing? What if they think it’s terrible? What if they tell me I’m no good?

Getting over the initial fear of someone reading our work is a requirement for getting published. Starting small and submitting to literary magazines and journals can help you work through that fear and become an even better writer.

• You gain practice writing an entire, finished piece. I am the queen of starting one story, getting stuck, and then moving on to another work until I get stuck again. A lot of writers make this a habit, with the cycle continuing so that we never finish anything. Submitting even one completed writing piece, no matter how short, is like taking a breath of fresh air. You finished something! You’re done!
• You grow a thick(er) skin. Take it from the lady with major (diagnosed) anxiety. I still remember typos I’ve made in Tweets, e-mails, and blog posts that happened YEARS ago. When you commit to just keeping the writing flowing as you submit pieces regularly, you learn to survive typos that seemingly appear out of thin air. You brush rejections off in the same nonchalant manner you brush those Flaming Hot Cheetos crumbs off your t-shirt on a quiet Friday night in front of the TV.
• You might get paid. Getting paid for your first piece of writing is a magical feeling. My first piece earned me a grand total of $40, but you can bet that small amount of money held more value than any 40-hour paycheck I’d ever earned. While in a poetic sense “money shouldn’t matter” since writing is your creative passion, let’s be real. Getting paid for writing is amazing, and it’s a symbol of the investment someone’s willing to make in your craft.
• A submission deadline can move your writing forward. A deadline can help give you the push you need to finish your piece. Knowing you have to finish by midnight on a certain day can motivate you to wrap up the last few pages of that short story, or dust off an old draft you’ve been avoiding since 2012.

To motivate myself and hopefully some of you lovely readers, I’ve compiled a list of publications accepting submissions this February. These deadlines all fall at the end of a different week in February, so you can use them to pace yourself to submit once a week if you like.

All of these publications require writing to be submitted via Submittable. I previously wrote a post about what to expect with using this writing submission platform a while back, in case that’s helpful.

As always, when submitting your work, be sure to familiarize yourself with the publication’s existing content to make sure your piece would be a good fit for their overall style. Doing this will help save you (and editors) time. Also check for specific formatting requirements to know what font, spacing, and page numbering system the publication requires, if any.

Fatal Flaw Magazine

Deadline: February 5, 2021

Genres: Fiction & Nonfiction

Word Count: 1,000 – 7,000 words

Theme: (Un)Confined

Fee: $3.00 (USD)

Submission Link: https://www.fatalflawlit.com/submissions

Notes: On their website, Fatal Flaw states that their selection committee is partial to “absurdism, surrealism, satire, and experimental writing.” So have fun, and get creative!

Multiplicity Literary Magazine

Deadline: February 12, 2021

Genre: Nonfiction

Word Count: 500 – 5,000 words

Theme: Starting Over

Fee: $3.00 (USD)

Submission Link: https://multiplicitymagazine.com/submit-2/

Santa Clara Review

Deadline: February 20, 2021

Genres: Fiction & Nonfiction

Word Count: up to 5,000 they prefer 2,000 – 4,000

Theme: N/A

Fee: None (hooray!)

Submission Link: https://santaclarareview.com/submit

After Happy Hour: A Journal of Literature and Art

Deadline: February 28, 2021

Genres: Fiction & Nonfiction

Word Count:

• Fiction: Up to 5,000 words
• Nonfiction: Up to 6,000 words

Theme: None

Fee: None (woohoo!)

Submission Link: https://afterhappyhourreview.com/submit/

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Do you plan on submitting your writing anywhere next month? Do you have more suggestions for great venues? Leave a comment, and share the word!