submit to we were so small
Please read and follow the submission guidelines. Submissions are open and currently rolling, so send us your small!
categories: what counts as small?
We warmly welcome work engaging any of the following for inclusion in each issue of WWSS:
- Small 1.0: Of a size that is less than normal or usual
- Small 1.1: Not great in amount, number, strength, or power
- Small 1.2 Not fully grown or developed; young
- Small 1.3 (of a voice) lacking strength and confidence
- Microscopic: so small as to be visible only with a microscope (we love work engaging science for this category)
- Cozy: warm, comfortable and safe, especially because of being small or confined
- Insignificant: Too small or unimportant to be worth consideration
- Piece: A portion of an object or of material, produced by cutting, tearing, or breaking the whole
submission guidelines
Genre: We Were So Small is open to fiction, poetry, nonfiction, hybrid, and open-form work.
Length: We warmly welcome pieces 2,000 words or fewer. Micro, flash, and short forms are particularly welcome.
Number: Please submit no more than 3-5 poems or micro pieces, 3 flash pieces, or 1 longer story per issue.
Simultaneous: We welcome simultaneous submissions, but ask that you notify us immediately at weweresosmalljournal@gmail.com if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Content: Please read the Content Guidelines Statement below before submitting to We Were So Small.
Rights: We Were So Small welcomes work previously-unpublished in print or online, and receives first serial rights to the work it publishes. Reprint rights revert to the author three months after the first day of publication in We Were So Small.
Art: If you would like to be a featured artist in an upcoming issue, please contact us directly at weweresosmalljournal@gmail.com with a bio, brief artist statement, and samples of your work.
Length: We warmly welcome pieces 2,000 words or fewer. Micro, flash, and short forms are particularly welcome.
Number: Please submit no more than 3-5 poems or micro pieces, 3 flash pieces, or 1 longer story per issue.
Simultaneous: We welcome simultaneous submissions, but ask that you notify us immediately at weweresosmalljournal@gmail.com if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Content: Please read the Content Guidelines Statement below before submitting to We Were So Small.
Rights: We Were So Small welcomes work previously-unpublished in print or online, and receives first serial rights to the work it publishes. Reprint rights revert to the author three months after the first day of publication in We Were So Small.
Art: If you would like to be a featured artist in an upcoming issue, please contact us directly at weweresosmalljournal@gmail.com with a bio, brief artist statement, and samples of your work.
Content Guideline Statement
Insignificance can be beautiful—it can also be painful. Childhood can be full of struggle—things we had to live when We Were So Small. While negotiating these moments is a core goal of the project, above all our goal is to celebrate humanity. As a public writing project, we all share responsibility for creating and maintaining a positive and caring environment.
Hateful and inappropriate content will not be included in the project. This includes any contributions that could be interpreted as hate speech. The project is run by volunteers, and we do not have the resources—or inclination—to negotiate material representing ideas and goals of hate and violence.
Reflecting on and owning your own experience of small, coming to terms with your life in the world, is encouraged. Interpretations of “small” as a negative or goal of harm and contributions that seek to inflict that harm on others are not welcome here.
Hateful and inappropriate content will not be included in the project. This includes any contributions that could be interpreted as hate speech. The project is run by volunteers, and we do not have the resources—or inclination—to negotiate material representing ideas and goals of hate and violence.
Reflecting on and owning your own experience of small, coming to terms with your life in the world, is encouraged. Interpretations of “small” as a negative or goal of harm and contributions that seek to inflict that harm on others are not welcome here.