Call for Submissions: The Rules

Here at APW, we’ve never considered ourselves “Rules Girls.” We know there’s no such thing as the perfect wedding, the perfect partner, or the perfect family. But the only way to liberate ourselves from the rules (or the WIC, or just society’s pressures at large) is to come up with better ones. So in February, we’re not just breaking the rules; we’re forsaking some altogether and making new ones too.

As always, here are the tips and tricks for submitting your story to APW and getting it published:

• While we don’t exactly have any requirements for post length, essays between 600 and 1800 words are usually the ones that make it to the front page. Exceptions are always made, so don’t let those numbers keep you from writing what you need to write. If something is too long or too short, but we love the concept, we’ll help you edit it into something we can publish.
• One of the primary characteristics we look for in submissions each month is a connection to a universal idea. We’re all writing from our personal experiences here, but if you can take that experience and make it something that other people are going to relate to, then we’ve got magic. But that doesn’t mean every post needs to have a big moral or overarching theme. Sometimes the most universal stories are the simplest ones.
• As always, our themes are meant to serve as a guideline for submissions, but they aren’t rigid. Do with them what you will! For example, if next month’s theme is “The Rules,” but you really need to talk about how you didn’t exactly love your wedding (for example), then we want to hear what you have to say. We’re always after diversity of experience, so the most important thing is that you write something that is authentic to you (particularly if it’s a perspective we haven’t heard from in a while or at all).
• Also, when you’re submitting for the monthly theme, we don’t want you to feel as though you have to frame your story around the theme itself (i.e., “We wrote our own rules when…”). Heck, you don’t even have to include the name of the theme in your writing at all. Just write what you would normally write, and we’ll figure out if it’s a good fit for the month, or if maybe it would be a better fit for a future month.
• Lastly, if you have something you just have to get out there into the world, but it doesn’t fit with the theme for the next month, please send it in anyway. Our top priority is always strong content, regardless of the topic.