Submissions*
*On May 1, 2024, we will open for SUBMISSIONS.
Send us a story only YOU can tell. (no previously published stories)
1000 words or fewer. Please follow submission guidelines
“I've been listening to Writing Class Radio since its onset. Well, a little later than that if I'm being honest, but I truly feel that we've been journeying together. When my twelve year old strides into the kitchen when I'm listening, I yell at her to be quiet because I'm hanging out with my friends Allison and Andrea. She rolls her eyes and points out that I'm "sooooooo weird" (Ahh, tweens).”
— Kristen Anderson
Guidelines
Submissions DOs:
Listen to our podcast so you know what kinds of stories we’re looking for. Here are some episodes we love. Click to listen: Episode 144: When Is a Gift More Than a Gift? Episode 142: Beginnings and Endings. Episode 139: This is What Mania Looks Like.
Submit your story in a Word document attached to your email pitch to info@writingclassradio.com
In your email pitch, tell us in two sentences what your story is about.
Write Submission in the subject line of your email.
Send a story that is 1,000 words or fewer. (A story only you can tell)
Use Times New Roman, 12 point font, and double space.
Put your name and word count at the top of your story.
Title the story.
Send us a true story that has NOT been previously published. (We no longer accept previously published essays.)
Write a story about YOU.
Write about something eventful, the kind of thing that happened where you rushed home to tell someone. But it’s not just enough to have a remarkable situation; your submission should also be a story, which means, you have to find meaning to the thing that happened.
Write about something different. Don’t tell us the story about how your lover cheated on you. Tell us about how you were the cheater.
Be vulnerable. Be evil. Be real. Sometimes the main character is the villain.
Take us inside a world we don’t know or haven’t seen.
Be yourself. Let us hear your voice in the piece. Show us your personality—sarcastic, sweet, jerk. However you are in your story, own it.
Be casual. Writing Class Radio is not a reading, it’s storytelling. Tell the story the way you would tell it to a friend.
Figure out what your story is about.
Read Media Release (attached at bottom). Your submission is confirmation that you accept the terms of the media release.
Submission DON’Ts:
Don’t send us your first draft, or your fifth. Make sure you’ve read and re-read your story, given it to a friend to read, then made sure you know what your story is about.
Don’t send us a pitch. We only accept full stories.
Don’t sweat the grammar. Still, do a spell and grammar check prior to sending. We judge submissions based on the quality of the story, more than the quality of the grammar.
Don’t be overly literary. Storytelling is a humble art. Of course, a good story will have metaphors and lyrical writing, but remember that people will be listening to your story out loud, not reading it. Subtlety does not work out loud as well as it does on the page. The ear can only retain so much information, and you want to be clear so the audience can follow your story.
Don’t write too broadly. Less is more. You only have 1,000 words (less is more). Zeroing in on a moment can help focus your story.
Don’t write a rant! We want stories, not political commentary.
Don’t send an excerpt from your book. EVEN if your book is a memoir.
Don’t send us a previously published essay. Your essay MUST be original and never published even on your blog or social.
Don’t send us a link to your essay, multiple essays, or website.
Don’t send us an anecdote (this crazy thing happened to me). You need to bring meaning to the situation and show a change in the narrator.
