Welcome, Luminous Writers, to the Write, Publish, and Shine podcast. I am your host, author, and literary magazine editor Rachel Thompson. This podcast explores how to write and share your brilliant writing with the world. In each episode, we delve into specifics on how to polish and prepare your writing for publication and the journey from emerging writer to published author.

Welcome to Episode 109, Luminous Writers. Today, we’re diving into another essential strategy for getting published in literary magazines: “Seek (the Right Kind of) Feedback.” This is part of my 10-part mini-series of episodes that draw from my 14 years of experience on Room’s editorial collective.

Let’s start with a fundamental truth: engaging with a supportive writing community is invaluable. Building relationships within this community provides inspiration, encouragement, and crucially, feedback. But not just any feedback—the right kind of feedback.

Before you submit your work, it’s crucial to share it with trusted peers who can offer honest and constructive criticism. If you don’t have those trusted peers yet, make it a priority to find writers who can read your work and offer mutual support. This step is vital in polishing your work to a publishable standard.

Tip: Stand out from the crowd by gathering feedback you trust, then revising your work thoroughly before submission.

I’m saying this as we are doing our workshop month in my writing course community right now, and I’m watching that beautiful magic happen when people who really get it—who are in it with you, who are also writing and submitting their work—spend time considering what is working and what’s not working in your writing. We use really specific parameters in our workshops, and I would have it no other way.

Ensure you’ve received quality feedback from writers and mentors you trust, then take the time to revise your work well before submission. Rushing this process often leads to unnecessary self-doubt. If you submit unpolished pieces, you can end up in a negative feedback loop where you question your writing’s quality—when the real issue is simply that you haven’t revised it enough.

As an editor, I love working closely with writers to improve their work, especially when they’re open to suggestions. I had a great experience working with poet Jennifer Cox, who said of our process, “I have never had a piece of writing that wasn’t improved by someone else’s opinion.” This openness to feedback is crucial for growth as a writer.

However, it’s important to add a caveat here: working with editors who support your vision for your writing is essential. Fortunately, that seems to have been Jennifer’s experience. When I work with writers, I strive to bring this level of care and understanding to the process.

Tip: A caring and attentive editor can help you achieve your goals and improve your work while respecting your creative vision.

Your peers, too, can be a valuable part of the team helping you improve a piece. One thing to keep in mind when receiving feedback is that it’s great to hear about places where readers were confused, where things didn’t seem to land for them. Identifying the problem areas is crucial.

But often, where feedback goes awry is when people start prescribing how to fix those problems. For example, they might say, “Cut this character or this scene,” or “Change it this way.” That kind of prescriptive feedback, in my view, unless it’s coming from an editor who knows you well and understands your vision, can be more harmful than helpful.

You can listen to that kind of feedback, make some notes, and say, “Okay, I’ll think about it,” but focus more on identifying the problems than accepting the solutions others suggest. Every problem could have multiple solutions, and those solutions should come from you, from your vision of the piece.

Especially newer writers tend to onboard too much feedback, trying suggestions from everyone, and in the process, lose sight of their own writing. You can lose confidence this way. That’s why it’s important to ensure the people giving feedback understand what you’re trying to do with your work. If they can’t reflect back to you what is working in your writing or articulate what resonates with them, then they may not be the right people to give you feedback—or, at the very least, weigh their feedback differently.

In the workshops I run as part of my course community, we use an adapted version of Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. Our adaptation is influenced by the interpretations of this process by both Matthew Salesses and Felicia Rose Chavez in their books, Craft in the Real World and The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, respectively. I’ll link to both of these in the show notes, so no need to jot them down now—you can grab them at rachelthompson.co/109.

From both of these books, we’ve gleaned an understanding of the importance of knowing who your reader is. In our workshops, we express our own positionalities—who we are, our identities, and how those intersect with our critiques. This gives the writer the opportunity to weigh feedback appropriately. Sometimes, the person giving feedback might not be your reader, and being upfront about that allows you to consider their feedback more critically. This doesn’t mean their feedback isn’t valid, but it means you need to evaluate it carefully: is this feedback coming from someone who isn’t my reader, or are they identifying a genuine problem?

So, my tip here, whether working with peers in workshops or directly with editors: stay open to suggestions, but also make sure they understand and respect your creative vision. This balance is key to a productive editing relationship.

In this episode, we explored the importance of seeking the right kind of feedback for your writing, especially when aiming to get published in literary magazines. Let’s recap the key takeaways:

• Engage with a supportive writing community to get valuable feedback.
• Share your work with trusted peers who can offer honest and constructive criticism.
• Revise thoroughly based on quality feedback before submitting your work.
• Work with editors who support your vision while being open to suggestions.
• Focus on identifying problem areas in your writing rather than prescriptive solutions.
• Ensure feedback givers understand your work’s intent and can articulate what’s working.
• Consider the reader’s perspective and positionality when weighing feedback.
• Balance openness to suggestions with maintaining your creative vision.

Remember, the goal is to polish your work to a publishable standard while staying true to your unique voice and vision as a writer.

Thank you for tuning in to the Write, Publish, and Shine podcast. If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe and leave a review. Until next time, remember to seek out trusted feedback, revise thoroughly, and stay true to your creative vision. Keep polishing your work to shine in those literary magazines!

The Write, Publish, and Shine podcast is hosted by me, Rachel Thompson, with sound editing by Adam Linder.

To learn more about my work supporting writers, visit rachelthompson.co and sign up for my weekly Writerly Love Letters, packed with encouragement for your writing journey.

Share this episode with other luminous writers by directing them to rachelthompson.co/podcast or by searching for “Write, Publish, and Shine” wherever they get their podcasts.

Lastly, I acknowledge the El Muzina Bedouin lands in South Sinai, Egypt, where I record, and I stand in solidarity with those condemning the ongoing violence against Palestinian people and the invasion of Lebanon. Let’s call for a ceasefire and support the movement against apartheid, genocide, and the flagrant disregard for international law.