A book floating in the air

Every piece listed here belongs to someone who was once, at some point, unsure. Unsure if the draft was ready. Unsure if it was worth sending. Unsure if there was even a place for it. And still, they kept going. They revised. They opened documents again. They pressed send.

What followed, in these cases, was publication, recognition, or simply a next step on the long, uneven path of making a writing life.

This archive holds 100 of those moments.

And note that what looks like a single acceptance is almost always the visible edge of something much longer: drafting, waiting, returning, trying again.

You don’t need to read this list in order. You don’t need to finish it. Let it be something you move through slowly, or quickly, or not at all. Let it be evidence that writing does not move in a straight line, and that “yes” is rarely the beginning of the story.

If you’re here because you’re building your own submission practice, I hope you find something steady in what follows. (Think of it as a low-pressure recognition of process!)

A sample of twelve pieces

I’ll start with a bite-sized list so you can scan what’s possible in twelve pieces that serve as an appetizer to our 100 list. I chose these to show as many different writers and lit mags as possible, some of which are delightfully niche.

  1. “Three Beats for the Broken Hearted”, Eunoia Review, by Agata Antonow
  2. oracle bone, Augur Magazine Issue 4.2, by Ellen Chang-Richardson
  3. “Nothing to Worry About”, The /t3mz/ Review, by Nicole Chatelain
  4. “Rearview”, JMWW, by Erin Hogarth
  5. “Good Girl”, Longridge Review, by Lina Lau
  6. “A Sudden Gust of Wind”, Cleaver, by Darcy Lohmiller
  7. “The Fragility of Bowls”, Hippocampus, by Gwen Martin (RIP Gwen)
  8. “Fly Past The Sun”, Killer Nashville Magazine, by Denisha Naidoo
  9. “we lifted him”, Five Minute Lit, by Laurel Parry
  10. “Pareidolia”, CRAFT, by Kelly Pedro
  11. “Little Packages”, River Teeth, by Jennifer Robinson
  12. “Grievances of a Young Midwife”, The Deadlands, by Lacey Yong

The Epic 100-Publications List (alphabetical by title)

Here are 100 MORE lit mag and book publications, along with contest placements, all by Lit Mag Love alumni. Many of the links will take you directly to the writer’s work, or to a place where you can order the journal or book. Others lead to contest announcements.

Please know that this list isn’t exhaustive! There are many more publications I could have included here, while I also aimed not to overlook any alum. (If you feel missed, please reach out to update my publication records!) Also, a few of the journals have closed. (Sigh.) In some cases, I was able to find archived issues or links about the publication:

    1. “3 Recipes for Cabbage from My Grandmother”, The Gravity of the Thing, by Agata Antonow
    2. “A CLASSICAL EDUCATION”, JMWW, by Lacey Yong
    3. “A Day With Wawa”, Tangled Locks Journal, by Kate Bird
    4. “Am I Still Bisexual? A Quiz”, Bi Women Quarterly, by Yolande House
    5. “Angakkuq”, Aurora Awards, by Shantell Powell
    6. “The Anxious GERD Diet”, Plenitude, by Yolande House
    7. “Archival Record AN1940s”, The Malahat Review, Constance Rook Prize shortlist, by Kate Bird
    8. “A Song for the Generations”, Syncopation Literary Journal, by Lori Sebastianutti
    9. “A-Beta (Amyloid beta)”, untethered magazine, by Lana Crossman
    10. “Baby Hands”, Poetry Pause, by Terri Gower
    11. “Black Raspberries”, Melted Butter Magazine, by Pamela Mosher
    12. Blood Belies, Buckrider Books (Wolsak & Wynn), by Ellen Chang-Richardson
    13. “The Bouncy Colon Show”, JMWW, by Laurel Parry
    14. “Broken Glass”, Brilliant Flash Fiction, by Agata Antonow
    15. Buoyant, at Last, Rose Garden Press, by Lana Crossman
    16. “Call Me Later”, Alison Wearing (Amy Award), by Hilary Fair
    17. “Cantonese Lessons for a Foreign Daughter-in-Law”, The New Quarterly, by Danica Longair
    18. “Cello Duet”, Lowestoft Chronicle Issue 50, by Kimberly Peterson
    19. “Cherry Roots”, October Hill Magazine, by Agata Antonow
    20. “Coming down from Mt. Kinabalu”, flo. Literary Magazine, by Susan Johnston
    21. “COLOR CODED”, Compressed Journal of Creative Arts, by Mary Kuna
    22. “Crane”, Prairie Fire, by Crystal Randall Barnett
    23. “Current Events”, Funicular Magazine, by Genie MacLeod
    24. “Dancing Little Marionettes”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, by Megan Beadle
    25. “Dear Mx. Ortiz”, Compressed Journal of Creative Arts, by Natalie Schriefer
    26. “Delivering the Tragic”, Understorey Magazine, by Set L. Shuter
    27. “Descansos”, Entropy, by Sabrina Reeves
    28. “The Dingle Peninsula”, Riddle Fence, by Laurel Parry
    29. “Disability Tax”, The Fiddlehead Issue 301, by Yolande House
    30. “Driver”, Scribble, by Agata Antonow
    31. “Duck Duck Duck”, Amazing Stories, by Denisha Naidoo
    32. “The Family Company”, Defenestration, by Agata Antonow
    33. “for my husband on Father’s Day”, The Humber Lit Review, by Catherine Lewis
    34. “Ghabrahat (Nervous)”, Five Minute Lit, by Mridula Morgan
    35. Girl Running, Thistledown Press, by Diana Tegenkamp
    36. “The Ghosts of Forests Past”, ALOCASIA, by Shantell Powell
    37. “Hostage Letters From My Body”, LIGHT4PH, by Agata Antonow
    38. “How a Sex Book Helped Me Overcome Writers’ Block”, Brevity, by Louise Julig
    39. “I began baking Christmas gingerbread in the summer — hoping to unlock my relationship with my parents”, CBC First Person, by Agata Antonow
    40. “In Art as in Life”, Queen’s Quarterly, by Lori Sebastianutti
    41. “In Defence of Grief”, Writer’s Guild of Alberta, by Jessica Waite
    42. “Into Stone”, Weird Lit Magazine, by Agata Antonow
    43. “Invisible Walls: A Decentred Hermit Crab Sticky Note Narrative”, The Fiddlehead, by Shirley Harshenin
    44. “Irregularities”, Held Magazine, by Hege Jakobsen Lepri
    45. “k.d. lang Performing Barefoot”, Poetry Pause, by Pamela Mosher
    46. “Kintsugi”, Sleet Magazine, by Astrid Egger
    47. “The Last Days”, Empty House Press, by Malgosia Halliop
    48. “Lesser phenomena”, FERAL: A Journal of Poetry and Art, by Lana Crossman
    49. “The Lifecycle of a Writer”, Breathing Space Creative Blog, by Lori Sebastianutti
    50. “Liked”, Polar Borealis, by Agata Antonow
    51. “Mariah Carey Was Right”, The Creative Nonfiction Podcast Issue 3: Heroes, by Lori Sebastianutti
    52. “Mooning”, Bywords, by Kimberly Peterson
    53. “Moonlight in the Palm of My Hand”, The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us: New Chinese Canadian Fiction, by Ellen Chang-Richardson
    54. “Mother, Mary”, The New Quarterly, by Lori Sebastianutti
    55. “My Brother and the Bulls”, Levitate Magazine Issue 5, by Julia Laurie
    56. “My Writing Space”, The New Quarterly, by Kerrie Penney
    57. “Newsie”, Hamilton Public Library Short Works Prize, by Agata Antonow
    58. “Nuliajuk and the Birds”, Strange Horizons, by Shantell Powell
    59. “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” (How Teaching Gets in Your Blood), Porcupine Literary, by Karen Zey
    60. “Our Father, Who Art Asleep”, The Writers’ Union of Canada, by A.L. Bishop
    61. “The Passing Game”, National Magazine Awards (Nominees), by Jennifer Robinson
    62. “The Qalupalik”, Flash Fiction Online, by Shantell Powell
    63. “Pony”, ZO Magazine (Decennelia Contest), by Shantell Powell
    64. “Pregnancy Test”, The Headlight Review, by Julia Laurie
    65. “Proof”, Short Story Town, by Alison Gadsby
    66. “Pyrocene”, Emerge Literary Journal, by Shantell Powell
    67. “Recordings of Truths and Facts”, Humber Literary Review, by Kelly S. Thompson
    68. “Red Canna”, The Ekphrastic Review, by Nicole Chatelain
    69. “Ruskalka”, The Icarus Writing Collective, by Agata Antonow
    70. “Salvage”, perhappened (also selected for Best Microfiction 2022), by Lacey Yong
    71. “Shame Catcher”, Spry Literary Magazine, by Kimberly Peterson
    72. “She Leaves”, Reckon Review, by Jennifer Robinson
    73. “The Solitude Booth”, midnight & indigo Issue 12, by Olwen Wilson
    74. “Social Clues”, The Nasiona, by Eve Krakow
    75. “Son of Many Questions; Corn Moon Wanes; and Crackle of Moon”, These Small Hours Chapbook, by Kimberly Peterson
    76. “Spinning on a Fish Hook”, Hippocampus Magazine, by Lina Lau
    77. “Spring comes a garden”, This Might Help, by Kerrie Penney
    78. “St. Lawrence”, Prairie Fire MRB Creative Non-Fiction Contest (third place), by Kate Bird
    79. “(step) Mother’s Day”, untethered magazine, by Andrea Martineau
    80. “Strife”, Dreamers Creative Writing, by Alison Gadsby
    81. “SUNDAY MORNING AT CITY BURGER, 1978”, JMWW, by Michele Genest
    82. “Summer Evenings After Dinner”, The Humber Lit Review, by Eve Krakow
    83. “The Swimming Hole”, Five on the Fifth, by Candace Webb
    84. “Teach Me”, Parentheses Journal Issue 12, by Malgosia Halliop
    85. “THE BIRDS: A POEM”, Entropy, by Kimberly Peterson
    86. “Third Ear Acoustics”, Pinhole Poetry, by Kimberly Peterson
    87. “Things I Did While Amazonia Burned”, Grist Issue 14, by Hege Jakobsen Lepri
    88. “Three Feelings Walk Into a Bar”, The New Quarterly, by Kerrie Penney
    89. “Three Things I Didn’t Pack in My Husband’s Suitcase”, Spotlong Review, by Agata Antonow
    90. “Tongues”, Bywords, by Kimberly Peterson
    91. “Two Dishes”, Voices From the Fold (FOLD 2022 program), by Agata Antonow
    92. “Unmasked”, Five Minute Lit, by Molly Freedenberg
    93. “Vandellia Cirrhosa”, October Hill Magazine, by Julia Laurie
    94. “Wake”, The Shore, by Anna Pele
    95. “Wildfire Season”, Federation of BC Writers, by Shirley Harshenin
    96. “The Weight of Loon”, Mom Egg Review, by Gwen Martin
    97. The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards, Simon & Schuster (Atria), by Jessica Waite
    98. Worldly Girls, Bookhug Press, by Tamara Jong
    99. “Your Contract Will Not Be Renewed (And You Have Two Months to Leave Job/Apartment/Country)”, The Fiddlehead, by Yolande House
    100. Zipless, 845 Press, by Catherine Lewis

Who Am I?

Hello! I’m Rachel Thompson. I am an author and literary magazine editor, here to help you write, publish, and shine! I offer online courses on getting published and crafting your most luminous writing.

Writerly Love Letters from Rachel Thompson

Warm Weekly Writing Advice

My Writerly Love Letters are filled with motivating ideas, prompts, and practice notes. Sent each Wednesday. Subscribe to connect!

How they did it

Read a series of “How I Published in…” articles from several of the writers above, who let you into their writing and submissions process:

If you find yourself thinking, I don’t have any ‘wins’ yet…

Remember: the win is in your writing practice. It’s in the moment you redraft a poem instead of abandoning the piece, or send something out even while you feel unsure. The win happens when you keep going. I’m rooting for you!

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Lit Mag Love

May 13–June 24, 2026

Ready for a big “YES” for your writing from lit mags you love? Learn to submit your writing the right way for you. Join us in this six-week live course session to get results from your submissions and kick-start your writing career.

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