'As You Were' Journal Re-opens to Poetry Submissions

Editors at the literary journal "As You Were," published by the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Military Experience & the Arts, have opened the window for submitting poetry until Sept. 1, 2016. Submissions will be considered for the journal's upcoming fifth issue, to be published FREE on-line in November 2016.

Windows for fiction, non-fiction, and visual arts submissions may also soon be reopened, as editors continue to work through a backlog of accepted work.

According to website page describing the organization's publishing history and philosophy:

Our title ["As You Were"] also connotes a hearkening back, an exploration of the self and the past. We’re interested in those words and works of art that are brave enough to cut through rank and time, presenting military experience honestly, free of the white-washing that can appear in today’s war literature and art. We’ve published numerous volumes since 2011, providing each contributor–regardless of whether that contributor has published 25 words or 25 books–with some form of one-on-one consultation if they wanted it.

As previously reviewed on the Red Bull Rising blog, the journal "As You Were" uniquely packages its submissions process as something akin to a virtual writing workshop. Unlike the thumbs-up-or-down approach of other journals, writers of all experience levels may engage in multiple drafts with peer editors and readers, while preparing pieces for publication. Regardless of whether a piece is accepted after one edit or many, however, the objective, however, is always the same: Help writers find new ways to document and communicate the military experience.

Military service members, veterans, and family members can submit from one to three poems here. Poems must be previously unpublished, either in print or on-line, although they may be simultaneously submitted to other journals.

Disclosure: The writer of the Red Bull Rising blog is also the poetry editor of "As You Were" literary journal.