Because as nifty as “aspiring writer” sounds, doesn’t “published author” roll just a tad more nicely off the tongue?

It’s up to you to make the transition. Sadly, I can’t wave a literary wand and transform your long suffering, coffee-stained manuscript into the masterwork that makes Ulysses look like child’s play. What I can do is point you in the direction of a small press with big ambitions.

(Painted Bride Quarterly, of course, is always nosing out the best of the best, so check out our guidelines and hit us with your best shot of poetry or prose.)

But why stop with PBQ? As a poetry editor at First Step Press — remember the small press with big ambitions I mentioned earlier? — I’m calling YOU, Mr. or Mrs. Up-And-Comer, to submit your original work to Stepping Stones Magazine, an electronic journal that features innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and artwork.

So what are you waiting for?