As an older poet/translator/writer who has never quite learned to befriend, much less embrace, the submission process, I welcome this generous reflection, and hope we can collectively embrace a word like wellspring & its positive connotations. Many thanks.
I'm wholeheartedly with you on this one! As a writer, I'm not compelled to dig into a "slush" of anything. It's messy, disorganized, hopeless, unmotivating to retrieve and renew. "Wellspring" is a happy word for me!
I love the idea of a submissions wellspring. I opted out of using slush pile a few years back because it’s so demoralizing. Those of us who are writers and editors can decide to call it something better, because we know what submitting feels like. We don’t have to buy into that tiered system with a negative phrase for what is essentially an act of hope. Wellspring is generative and nourishing.
As an older poet/translator/writer who has never quite learned to befriend, much less embrace, the submission process, I welcome this generous reflection, and hope we can collectively embrace a word like wellspring & its positive connotations. Many thanks.
I'm wholeheartedly with you on this one! As a writer, I'm not compelled to dig into a "slush" of anything. It's messy, disorganized, hopeless, unmotivating to retrieve and renew. "Wellspring" is a happy word for me!
Thanks so much Nancy! I feel like the word we use should make us feel good as writers, so I'm glad it does for you :)
I love the idea of a submissions wellspring. I opted out of using slush pile a few years back because it’s so demoralizing. Those of us who are writers and editors can decide to call it something better, because we know what submitting feels like. We don’t have to buy into that tiered system with a negative phrase for what is essentially an act of hope. Wellspring is generative and nourishing.
Totally with you! I like framing it as an act of hope—from both sides. That leap is never guaranteed but in a way that's why it's magic.