Forthcoming Publication in Creative Nonfiction

Last week, just after Thanksgiving, I was filled with gratitude for receiving the following letter from Hattie Fletcher, the Managing Editor at Creative Nonfiction magazine:

Thank you very much for your submission to Creative Nonfiction's "Memoir" issue, and for your patience during our lengthy review process. I'm writing now with both bad news and good news. 

We received more than 1,700 submissions and after much discussion have decided to publish a special double-length issue, which will be published in March. The bad news: unfortunately, "Crisis" is not among the essays we're accepting for the issue. 

The good news: we received so many great submissions that we have decided to accept another issue's worth of essays from among them. This would be issue #57 / Fall 2015, and would be organized loosely around the theme of jobs/occupations. We think "Crisis" will be a great fit for this issue, and hope you're amenable to its being included. I hope that the good news makes up for the bad...

It certainly does! No matter that it took six months to review my essay and will take another 10 months or so to put it in print. I guess that's the reality of the publishing world... the more competitive the lit mag, the lengthier the route from submission to publication can be (or, in this case, postponing for a future issue since they were inundated with entries this year).

According to Clifford Garstang, who voluntarily compiles annual Pushcart Prize rankings of literary journals, CNF has averaged a rank of 21 (out of hundreds of lit mags) to publish in Pushcart Press in the past three years. But aside from that prestige, I'm pleased to have my work accepted in a well-established and visible magazine. From the website:

Creative Nonfiction is the voice of the genre. Every issue is packed with new, long-form essays that blend style with substance; writing that pushes the traditional boundaries of the genre; notes on craft; micro-essays; conversations with writers and editors; insights and commentary from CNF editor Lee Gutkind; and more. Simply put, CNF demonstrates the depth and versatility of the genre it has helped define for almost 20 years.

After nine rejections, my essay about working at a rape crisis center in my '20s has found a home.

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