Monday, July 20th was the release party for the latest (not the last) issue of local lit-mag The Lincoln Underground. I got to meet the editors, Amy and Jeff, who put the whole thing together in between working full-time, writing themselves, and raising their 6-year-old daughter. They were terrific hosts, happy to talk even though they were very busy setting up and dealing with customers.
Amy shared with the audience (about 30 people) a bit of the history of Lincoln Underground, the vibrant local writing scene, and how they came to the heartbreaking decision to shut the magazine down. In the end, the decision was made to keep the lit-mag going because of all the support they received from the local art/writing/poetry community.
The Lincoln Underground is, in fact, NOT going to cease production. They will be going from a quarterly magazine to releasing one issue per year. (Hey, one issue a year is better than none.)
I completely understood their reasons behind the decision. I just had to tell Amy & Jeff that my wife and I made the same decision late last year, when our Summer Issue was nearly a month late (because of final proof issues), and before we could breathe a sigh of relief, it was already time to start putting the Halloween issue together. It was a LOT of work, and it began to feel like work, which was wrong. We publish Stinkwaves because it's FUN, and because we enjoy getting submissions, reading through them, deciding which ones to accept, communicating with contributors, then putting it all together. It's always exciting to get that final proof in the mail and actually see what the new issue will look like.
The event was held at Crescent Moon Café, an intimate coffee shop here in downtown Lincoln.
It was wonderful to see so many of the actual authors and poets show up for the release party. It was even cooler when the authors & poets actually got up on stage to read their own works!
I wish I could have stayed longer, but my 4-year-old begged me to come along, despite the event starting at 7 p.m. Even though things didn't get going until well after 7 p.m., in that short amount of time my daughter and Amy & Jeff's 6-year-old daughter had become BFF's. Not only that, but the two of them also discovered that sitting quietly at a table and listening to grownups read out loud is not very exciting—especially when they’re not even reading kid’s books. Running around the coffee shop, weaving through tables (and patrons) was way more fun.
I purchased my copy of the newest issue, told Amy and Jeff I hope they sold every last one, exchanged email addresses, then took my over-the-edge 4-year old home before the she had a coffeehouse meltdown.
I'm VERY happy that they decided to keep The Lincoln Underground running. They have a great product, which you can check out here: http://www.thelincolnunderground.com/
Lit-mags are a great way to get your work out there.
Let people see it, read it, and enjoy it.
Happy submitting!
Tevin & Nicki.
Amy shared with the audience (about 30 people) a bit of the history of Lincoln Underground, the vibrant local writing scene, and how they came to the heartbreaking decision to shut the magazine down. In the end, the decision was made to keep the lit-mag going because of all the support they received from the local art/writing/poetry community.
The Lincoln Underground is, in fact, NOT going to cease production. They will be going from a quarterly magazine to releasing one issue per year. (Hey, one issue a year is better than none.)
I completely understood their reasons behind the decision. I just had to tell Amy & Jeff that my wife and I made the same decision late last year, when our Summer Issue was nearly a month late (because of final proof issues), and before we could breathe a sigh of relief, it was already time to start putting the Halloween issue together. It was a LOT of work, and it began to feel like work, which was wrong. We publish Stinkwaves because it's FUN, and because we enjoy getting submissions, reading through them, deciding which ones to accept, communicating with contributors, then putting it all together. It's always exciting to get that final proof in the mail and actually see what the new issue will look like.
The event was held at Crescent Moon Café, an intimate coffee shop here in downtown Lincoln.
It was wonderful to see so many of the actual authors and poets show up for the release party. It was even cooler when the authors & poets actually got up on stage to read their own works!
I wish I could have stayed longer, but my 4-year-old begged me to come along, despite the event starting at 7 p.m. Even though things didn't get going until well after 7 p.m., in that short amount of time my daughter and Amy & Jeff's 6-year-old daughter had become BFF's. Not only that, but the two of them also discovered that sitting quietly at a table and listening to grownups read out loud is not very exciting—especially when they’re not even reading kid’s books. Running around the coffee shop, weaving through tables (and patrons) was way more fun.
I purchased my copy of the newest issue, told Amy and Jeff I hope they sold every last one, exchanged email addresses, then took my over-the-edge 4-year old home before the she had a coffeehouse meltdown.
I'm VERY happy that they decided to keep The Lincoln Underground running. They have a great product, which you can check out here: http://www.thelincolnunderground.com/
Lit-mags are a great way to get your work out there.
Let people see it, read it, and enjoy it.
Happy submitting!
Tevin & Nicki.