Still Crazy literary magazine has a new blog.

As a first post for the new blog, here are the magazine's guidelines:

Writers’ Guidelines for Still Crazy

           

All submissions must be done via the online Submissions Manager.

Registration for the Submissions Manager is at http://www.crazylitmag.com/app/subm_reg.php

The Login for the Submissions Manager is at http://www.crazylitmag.com/app/subm_login.php

Register with the Submissions Manager with your name, address, and a short bio (give age, or simply “over 50”; representative publications) and choose a user name and password.  Then, follow these steps:  1) Give the title of your work; 2) Select the appropriate genre (poetry, short story, non-fiction); 3) Select your file.  The easiest way to do this is to browse your files.  For example, go to your “C” drive, select “Documents,” then the folder, then the file containing your work (e.g. c:\Documents\My Poetry\name of poem).  Click on the name of the file to upload it.  (Note: The path to your file will probably be different. This is only an example to illustrate general procedure.)

Length of Submissions

Poems 50 lines (Poems of 30 words or less are more likely to be accepted.)

Short stories 3,000 words (Stories of less than 2500 words are more likely to be accepted.)

Non-fiction 2,000 words

Formatting your document

Double space throughout. 

Tab indent your paragraphs five spaces.  (Do not use the space bar to indent          

paragraphs.) 

Place your name, address, telephone number, and email address in the upper left   corner. Number your pages.

For essays and short stories, place an approximate word count in the upper right corner of the first page.  For poetry, a line count is helpful.

The title should be centered.  One double space below your title, center your byline.  Use the name as you wish it to appear in the publication.  (Try to be consistent with the name in all places in the submission process.  For instance, it is confusing to get a middle name or middle initial in one place and none in another.)

           

Preferred file formats are .doc and .rtf.         

Please submit no more than five poems and/or two stories or essays per year.   Submit poems in one document instead of submitting each separately. Place your last name in the subject line, e.g. Poetry Submission Jones. (Don't use special characters, such as the hyphen or ampersand question mark.)

Contributors receive one free copy of the print magazine.

Accepts simultaneous submissions (but please notify immediately if your manuscript is accepted by another publication).

Previously published manuscripts sometimes considered, if they were published some time ago.  Recently published materials will not be considered. At the time of submission, author must make it known if a piece has been previously published.  Prefer materials not previously published. Previously published means both online and paper magazine format.

Fiction (short stories)

Interesting characters in interesting situations

General preference for a sparse style over a wordy style (but, of course, there could be exceptions)

If a story is about romance, the story and writing style should involve unexpected or unpredictable elements.  Generally, the editor does not want romances. The same goes for sports stories.

Take care with grammar and the mechanical aspects of your manuscript.

Poetry

Prefer free verse to rhymed poetry

Preference for poetry that tells a story.  In a poem, of course, the story is brief, elliptical, and told with interesting images. 

Nothing extremely experimental (though always open to fresh approaches).

Nothing too sentimental, e.g. Hallmark sentimentality

Non-fiction

Memoirs (Accepted memoirs usually relate to a broader social theme or movement, e.g. the 60’s.)

Articles that illustrate George Eliot’s quote: ”You’re never too old to be what you might have been.”

Articles about unusual interests or activities told in a winning style