Born in WITD

A Big, Beautiful, Growing Directory of Published Work by WITD Writers. An incomplete list of essays, stories, and poems that began with a Writing in the Dark exercise!

Hello, friends!

This directory is a (very!) incomplete list of works published in journals and magazines by writers who began their writing process with a Writing in the Dark exercise—either one they found here on Substack or one received in a synchronous, live workshop with me starting in 2020 when I launched the first tiny Writing in the Dark cohort on Zoom.

This list focuses on work that is accepted by a journal/magazine that uses a curated editorial process, and therefore does not include work published by the writers themselves on blogs, websites, or your own Substack. Why would I set that convention, when I myself publish so much here on my own Substack—and when I love so much of what I read elsewhere on Substack?! Because, I also publish my work prolifically in outside journals, magazines, anthologies, and books that use an editorial process, and I teach in such a way that those who want to do the same can improve their odds.

To note: Not everyone needs to want to publish their work! There are so many benefits to a devoted practice of creative writing that have nothing to do with publication. That said, I have found that the more we are willing to wrangle with our words, shape and reshape them, toward this aim of something outside of ourself—that is, toward mattering and making meaning for someone(s) outside of ourself—the more the writing changes us and our lives. In other words, writing in a way that aims toward publication has real benefits, whether or not we ever hit the “submit” button.

Also to note: I know this list is just a fraction of what’s out there, so if you are reading this and see that I missed something of yours, please know it was only because I didn’t have a record of it—so, let me know and I will add you right away!

There’s so much to celebrate here, and so much more to come.

Love,

Jeannine

Born in WITD: A Big, Beautiful, Growing (& Very Incomplete) Directory of Published Work by WITD Writers

*if you have something that should be on this list, email writing@writinginthedark.org—we just started building this & we know it’s very incomplete!

• Accidental Thief, New York Times (Tiny Love Story), Mesa Fema

• American Crow, Fourth Genre, Tyler Lewke

• BEARING WEIGHT, Doctor T J Eckleburg Review, Tamara DeLand

• BENT, Calyx, 2019 Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing First Runner-Up, Billie Oh with Jeannine Ouellette

• Beneath The Break, So To Speak, nominated for Pushcart Prize, Billie Oh

• Beyond Words Literary, Angie Wright

• By The Way, Now That I Think Of It, I Do Have One Or Two Things To Say To You, SmokeLong Quarterly, nominated for Pushcart Prize, Karen Kao

• Centipedes, etc., Sweet, Heidi Fettig Parton

• Chipping Sparrows Tell Tales of Joy and Sorrow, Does It Have Pockets, Billie Hinton

• Colored Pencils, Longridge Review, Melissa Greenwood

• Contours, A Literary Landscape (anthology), Kristine Kopperud

• Creative Work, Glass Mountain, Catherine Babikian

• Dog Adoption Application, Identity Theory, Natalie Mead

• Everything You Hold Onto In Your Body Lets Go, Riverteeth Journal’s Beautiful Things column, Billie Hinton

• extra tofu, Cosmic Double, Billie Oh

• The Game Was To Guess The Words, Writing in the Dark’s Lit Salon, Jocelyn Lovelle

• I Didn't Know If I Was Ready For Kids. Then I Became A Single Foster Dad At 27, Huffington Post, Billie Oh

• Jaw Wiring: What You Need to Know, Sweet Lit, by Kristine Kopperud

• Journey, NC Jung Society’s Annual Poetry Contest (3rd place) , later published in Streetlight Mag, Billie Hinton

• Kitchen, Fully Updated, Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities, Kristine Kopperud

• Kitchen Instincts, Hippocampus Magazine, Suzanne Orrell, nominated for Best of the Net

• Help, Please, Longridge Review, Melissa Greenwood

• HOLDING HANDS, Matter Press, Amy Goldmacher

• Homebound, Wanderlust, Tamara DeLand

• Hue and Cry, Barely South Review, Angie Wright

• It Would Have Been Easier if He’d Handed Me a Drink, Sober App Substack, Jocelyn Lovelle

• Lip Service, Awakenings Anthology, Melody Greenfield

• Longing Is Not Regret, Citron Review, Billie Hinton

• Losing Your Identity, "Heartbeat, and dis·so·lu·tion, Fevers of the Mind, Miri Gould

• Lunar Blue, Lumina, Krystyna Sznurkowski

• madame slant, Cosmic Double, Billie Oh

• Moon, Book of Matches, Katie Vinson, nominated for Best of the Net

• Miscalculating the Gravity of My Situation, Tell Your Story, nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Price, Phyllis Unterschuetz

• My Renter, My Friend, New York Times, Amy Stonestrom

• My Pessary, Anodyne, Kresha Warnock

• My Orange Earrings, Judith Magazine, Kresha Warnock

• On Injustice (For My Sister-In-Law), Writing in the Dark’s Lit Salon, Sarah Orman

• On The Morning Of A Massacre Of American Schoolchildren, Dorothy Parker's Ashes, Rita Ramstad

• One Wedding and a Funeral, Dorothy Parkers Ashes, Kresha Warnock

• The Once Wife, Brevity, Heidi Fettig Parton, nominated for Best American Essays

• Passing the Torch, Yellow Arrow Journal, Michelle Levy

• Pacemaker of the Heart, failbetter, nominated for Pushcart Prize, Billie Hinton

• Places I Went With My Dad, LongRidge Review, Billie Hinton

• Remedy For An Excited Amygdala, Streetlight Mag’s Street Talk column, Billie Hinton

• Rock Star, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Heidi Fettig Parton

• She Wants To Swim With Narwhals, Permafrost, Billie Hinton

• Stealing Light, Streetlight Mag’s 2020 Essay Contest 3rd Place, Billie Hinton

• Swallows, JMWW, Billie Hinton

• Threads, Minerva Rising’s Keeping Room, Billie Hinton

• To The Grassy Bald We Named Sweet Bay, The Hopper, nominated for Pushcart Prize, Billie Hinton

• An Unraveling, fugue, Heidi Fettig Parton

• Unmoored, Fevers of the Mind, Miri Gould

• Uses for a Mouth,  Gold Man Review, nominated for Pushcart Prize, Melody Greenfield

• View from the Backseat, Mutha Magazine, Kristine Kopperud

• We Are The Charm, Riverfeet Press’ Awake In The World print anthology v. 3, Billie Hinton

• Why Life Is Crazy But Manages Also To Be Beautiful, Door Is A Jar, Summer 2024 print journal, Billie Hinton

• We Were Married? Dorothy Parker's Ashes, Angie Wright

• What If? League of Minnesota Poets (forthcoming), Rachel Netwal Guvenc

• Why...Because, The Ravens Perch, Miri Gould

• When Wishes Turn Real, Hippocampus Magazine, Melissa Greenwood

• The Weekend Breakfast, Zoetic Press, Melissa Greenwood

• Yielding, The Citron Review, Angie Wright

• 8 LESSONS I’VE LEARNED FROM YOU, MOTHER, A Moon of One's Own, Miri Gould