We had to get this in, our last blog post of the summer, on the last day of summer, where here in NYC it hit 85 degrees. We have been very busy reading submissions (well, more than very busy). And we’ve been reading more than just your submissions. We’ve also been receiving expressions of excitement about LitMag as well as good wishes.
Good wishes go a long way with editors who are reading tirelessly. And we want to thank all of you who’ve been taking the time to cheer us on as we do our labors. Good wishes make us feel good.
Here’s one example: “Thanks for doing what you do – thanks for making author compensation a priority, thanks for not charging submission fees. I’m looking forward to the first issue!”
We’re looking forward to the first issue, too. And it means a lot to be thanked for doing what we do, and to be appreciated for doing something we believe is crucial, for writers and readers – for the literary community of which we’re all a part. It’s a special community. We’re partial; we think it’s the best community. There, we said it. It’s a community full of people who admit they love the smell of printed books and feel as if they’re going to fall down when a writer they never heard of kicks them in the head with a sentence they never imagined followed by a sentence with a fierce rhythm that hits them in the heart in a way that feels unfamiliar.
Here’s another example: “Hooray! I’ve been mourning lately for Antaeus and Story, and now here you come, a literary magazine for grownups.”
Anyone who still mourns a literary magazines founded by Daniel Halpern and Paul Bowles that closed more than twenty years ago is a special soul. That is devotion. Literary magazines have an embracing life force few other inanimate objects develop, probably because they forge personal bonds within the larger community. We can only hope readers will feel that kind of kinship with LitMag. To that goal, we are devoted. And we thank all of you for your good wishes. And we wish you a wonderful fall.