Journal of the Virginia Writers Club 2025

Purpose:

As part of its mission to support the art, craft, and business of writing, as well as advocate the literary arts in the greater Virginia community, the Journal offers its members the opportunity of displaying their excellence in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction via an annual print and a flip book edition. The Journal’s process and content reflect the organization’s mutual respect for individuals and organizations, exhibiting inclusion without discrimination to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, or disability.

Please be aware that non-compliance with the technical and/or the category-specific guidelines may result in rejection.

General Submission guidelines:

Deadline for submissions: March 31, 2025.

Publication: Summer/Fall 2025.

Technical guidelines for submission.

Submissions will be accepted in the categories of fiction, Short Shorts fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

All entrants must be current members in good standing of the Virginia Writers Club.

•         Manuscripts must be the original, unpublished work of the author.
•         Short story fiction and nonfiction submissions must be no longer than 3,500 words, including any notes, bibliographies, or other supporting text. Short Shorts fiction submissions must be no longer than 500 words. For poetry, submit up to 5 poems, or a maximum of 5 pages. For fiction and nonfiction, two submissions may be made in each category.
•         The nonfiction editor reserves the right to move narratives to the fiction editor for consideration if it is not clear that the narrative is indeed nonfiction. The presence of extensive dialogue and omniscient third person with no way to validate the events described suggest a manuscript may in fact be better classified as fiction, even if real events may have inspired the narrative. Narrative submissions that we deem nonfiction may be placed in a category called "creative nonfiction," as opposed to an essay that discusses a subject such as travel, science, history, or is otherwise knowledge-based. Thanks for your understanding.
•         Fiction, Short Shorts fiction, and nonfiction entries (not poetry) should follow the guidelines and template found at this link: Guidelines example.pdf
•         Submissions must be in doc, docx, or rtf format.
•         Manuscripts must be in 12-point Times New Roman font. Page settings must be 8 ½ by 11-inch with one-inch margins.
•         Fiction, Short Shorts fiction, and nonfiction manuscripts must be double-spaced, with a justified right margin.
•         Poetry manuscripts must be single-spaced, double space between stanzas.
•         Submissions not in accord with technical guidelines will be returned to the author to be brought into conformation.
•         No paper submissions will be accepted.

For poetry guidelines, click on:                 Poetry

For nonfiction guidelines, click on:       Nonfiction

For fiction and short shorts guidelines, click on:       Fiction

Please submit entries as attachments as follows.

            Poetry to: Sofia Starnes, smstarnes@cox.net

            Fiction to: Ben East, ben@beneastbooks.com

            Short Shorts fiction (under 500 words) to: Betsy Ashton, betsy_ashton2005@yahoo.com

            Nonfiction (please indicate whether narrative or essay style) to: Paula Weiss, maliajenness@gmail.com

➡️The name of the work should be the title of the attachment.

If you are writing under a pen name, please state so in the body of the email and include your actual name there.

Include a 50-75 word biography with your submission(s). PLEASE NOTE THAT BIOS ARE IN THIRD PERSON, NOT FIRST PERSON!

Include the following assertion: AI was not employed at any stage for this submission.

Include your contact information including your name, email, FULL mailing address, and phone number.

Authors will be notified about the status of their submissions subsequent to the March 31 submission deadline.

Questions?

Contact category editors for questions about your submissions.

If you have general questions about the journal, contact Charles Tabb, ctabb919@gmail.com