Friday, October 27, 2017

The Southampton Review Online Made Me an Offer I Couldn't Refuse

I have a new story in The Southampton Review!

It’s funny that when I submitted this story to this journal, I thought I had put it in consideration for the print journal. When they accepted the story for the online journal I was at first confused and then slightly irritated. But I consulted with the wise minds on Facebook which sparked a long and interesting thread about online vs. print publications. Maybe I have some residual bias toward print…but also, if this story were in print only, I would be begging you to fork out ten bucks to have a journal sent to you a week from  now.

But this is the beauty of online publications, as I was persuaded by FB's hive mind: ALL YOU HAVE TO DO NOW IS CLICK AND READ!

The Speaker claims the Wilson Bridge is his “secret place,” though as a section of I-95 crossing the Potomac (or: the nation’s most crowded highway spanning the river every op-ed reader recognizes as shorthand for out-of-touch politics), the Wilson Bridge is scarcely secret. The secret might be this pedestrian walkway alongside the southbound side of the bridge that is virtually unknown outside Old Town Alexandria (where the Speaker lives). Bridge and walkway link Virginia to Maryland, also not a secret… [Note: It's not Speaker of the House Paul Ryan!]




Fun fact: I now have TWO stories set on this walkway alongside the Wilson Bridge because I started one story that split off into two different stories with different characters, the first time such an odd thing has happened to me. It was rough going for a while, as I tried to wrestle the story into shape...but how happy I am that I gave up on that and accepted my fate! The other Wilson Bridge story will be coming out in Arts & Letters in the next few weeks.

Work-in-Progress

DC-area author Leslie Pietrzyk explores the creative process and all things literary.