Pearl Diving Column

December 2019

by Ingrid Bruck

Who Publishes Inspirational Writing?

Does your writing style express positive values? Are you a truth seeker? Do you write with the goal to heal? Are you informed by formal religion, Eastern or Western? Are you inspired by the wonders of nature? The supernatural? By beauty. Or meditation? The mystical?

If your writing is inspirational, you may feel outnumbered and obsolete. You don’t fit into the post-modern mainstream. A post-modern worldview — one that’s existential— predominates current art, music and literature. Post-mod is the elephant in the room.  

I am comforted by the thought that the ‘elefant’ has a positive counterpart in “hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul,” offered up by Emily Dickinson. It’s good news for inspirational writers that Emily’s abstract bird has living brothers and sisters. Some publishers value the positive and support inspirational writers who build on the positive and act as change agents with words in the world.  

Yes, despite the popularity of post-modern writing, interest in spiritual writing and inspiration continues. Some literary publications and presses seek inspirational writing. They may be small in number compared to the post-mod crowd but they produce high quality literature and art.  

Positive value publishers are difficult to locate because they are scattered, small candles on corner shelfs and under bushel baskets. This is because they tend to come “slant” toward the positive (per E. Dickinson). They are outsiders and don’t gather in a group. 

If you are a positive value writer, you have to negotiate between two inspirational camps to find publishers in your venue. The camps come in two divisions: formal and general. The formal religion division covers spirituality that emanates from a traditional religion. The generalist division sets claim to all other spiritual alternatives outside organized religion: nature, healing, beauty, supernatural and mystical-spirituality… 

Writers who adhere to a formal religion maintain their roots in their organized religion. A writer from inside the fold tend to stick with their own and search for publishers within their religious tradition. For writing within a spiritual tradition, the search for publication is two-pronged: 1- search the specific religion (EX: Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism…), 2- extend the search beyond dogma to “inspirational writing”.   

I’m in the second camp which contains a cross-disciplinary group of inspirational generalists. I (and spiritual writer peeps like me) flock to literary journals that are prophets of positivity. Our writing champions positivity in all races, creeds and colors. Disclosure: the resource list below of “Inspirational Writing (Secular)” is highly subjective— I list my current personal favorites; it reflective of my alignment with the Generalist Division.  

In my experience, formal religions tend to address insiders and exclude outsiders. Why? Because organized religion inclines to circle the wagons and address their chosen. For this reason, ‘formal religion’ publishers may not make a suitable writing match for an inspirational writer with a renaissance appetite for diversity (like me). But also consider that there is much overlapping. Some journals and presses belong to both camps.  

I already confessed that formal religion is not my camp. My bias alines with the generalist camp. I think that an inspirational writer may (or not) believe in God, that spirituality is what matters most to an inspirational writer. I champion spiritual writing that is positive, inspirational and life-changing. These are the reasons I prefer a broad reading audience of more than one religious group and multiple cultural orientations.

The point of this column was to crack open the door to possibilities for publication of inspirational writing. Unfortunately, the more you broaden a search for inspirational literary publishers, the narrower the field becomes. Each individual writer has to decide what works best. Below are some links to good online journals and presses to check out. Good luck!  

INSPIRATIONAL WRITING (SECULAR) 

Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal - family friendly,  a magazine promoting inspirational and uplifting poetry no matter the topic.  https://abpoetryjournal.com/submissions/

Ginosko Literary Journal: Grace Spirit Vision - between literary vision and spiritual reality, the recognition of truth from experience.  http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/guidelines.htm

Halcyon Days: Promoting the peaceful things in life- online/print magazine. Editor Monique Berry (Canada) seeks poetry and fiction that is peaceful.  http://halcyondaysmagazine.blogspot.com

Not Your Mother’s Breast Milk- inspirational literature and art that nurtures the spirit http://www.notyourmothersbreastmilk.com/about-us

Parabola: The Magazine of Myth And Tradition - explore quest for meaning.  https://parabola.org

Peacock Journal - online & print. Devoted to all things beautiful. Poem/fic/non-fiction.  http://peacockjournal.com/guidelines/

Poppy Road Review - poems and flash fiction between the cracks that linger and haunt  https://poppyroadreview.blogspot.com/p/about-editor.html

Ruminate: A Contemplative Magazine Chewing the Mysteries of Life.  A contemplative magazine for spiritual travelers.  https://www.ruminatemagazine.com/pages/about-ruminate

Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing - accepts new and previously published work on the theme of healing (emotional, physical, spiritual, community. https://www.snapdragonjournal.com/submit.html

Soul-Lit: A Journal of Spiritual Poetry - the Soul-Lit team created this online journal to counter the scarcity of venues for spiritual poetry.  http://www.soul-lit.com/spiritualPoetry.html

Tikkum: The Prophetic Jewish, Interfaith & Secular Voice - to heal, repair and transform the world. interfaith art and literature for social change guided by spiritual and ethical values. https://www.tikkun.org/about-tikkun

Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature - non-sectarian, non-dogmatic poetry, prose, and art. Bi-annual. Fostering Peace Through Literature & Art.  http://tiferetjournal.com/submit-your-writings/

INSPIRATIONAL WRITING (RELIGIOUS)

Image Journal: Art, Faith, Mystery - quarterly journal. Grapples with religious faith in Western tradition (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) https://imagejournal.org/journal/submit/

Labyrinthine Passages - prose and poetry. faith inspired work. raw emotion that cries out to God.  https://labyrinthinepassages.weebly.com/submissions.html

Letters Journal - creative writing that connects belief, faith and spirituality with art.  http://www.lettersjournal.com/submit/

My Macberet - Weekly Blog by Erika Dreifus - contains Jewish literary news and commentary. Free to subscribe.  https://www.erikadreifus.com/blogs/my-machberet/

The Other Journal - faith and spirituality in the Christian tradition https://theotherjournal.com/submissions/

The review review: View on Publishing Flesh Made Word: Five Lit Magazines Defined by Christian Faith~ by Chris Wiewiora.  http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/flesh-made-word-five-lit-mags-defined-christ

The Uncertainty Club: A Magazine of Zen & the Arts - Zen koans embrace our vital unsteadiness in the boundary space between Zen and creative process  https://uncertainty.club/about/

INSPIRATIONAL PRESSES

Chicken Soup for the Soul - open for submission of inspirational, true stories and books about ordinary people having extraordinary experiences that open the heart and rekindle the spirit. https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/submit-your-story

Inspiritus Press - Canadian. Inspiritus, means “breathe” and contains the word for “spirit”—to be filled with the Muses, to be filled with the gods or God. The logo represents a breath of air, a gust of wind, the winds of change, and a spirit, a force, that carves its way forward. https://www.facebook.com/inspirituspress/

Orison Books - spiritually engaged poetry, fiction and non-fiction. They seek to publish work that has a transcendent aesthetic effect on the reader, and reading it can itself be a spiritual experience. https://orisonbooks.com/submission-guidelines/

The Christian Science Monitor  -  nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition.  Daily newspaper was established in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Inspirational writers may wish to check out The Home Forum and People Making a Difference paper sections which consider unsolicited submissions. https://www.csmonitor.com/About/Contributor-guidelines

https://www.betweentheseshoresbooks.com/contact-us

Date Published: December 1, 2019