Dear reader,

Welcome to Off Season, a new literary journal celebrating the rough patches of a creative life. While we may be a new journal, we aren't new to the world of literary journals and small presses. Our co-founders, Sophia Ross Eckert and Susan Muth, are former editors at Phoebe, a 50-year-old literary journal run out of the MFA program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. After graduating and moving on from Phoebe, Sophia and Susan missed the work of producing a literary journal, and the artistic community that literary journals cultivate. Together, they came up with the idea for Off Season.

Our goal at Off Season is to create a new online literary space that is a respite from the rejection, writer's block, and self-doubt that follows us as creatives. This project begins with a literary journal, but we have some cool ideas for the future, so stay tuned.

What are we looking for? Right now, we're seeking short fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry that makes us excited about great writing. For more specifics, you can check out our submission guidelines.

There's just one catch.

You can only submit to Off Season if you have NOT received a literary journal acceptance in the last three months.

Let's read that again.

You can only submit to Off Season if you have NOT received a literary journal acceptance in the last three months.

Why do we have this requirement? Because we're writers, too. We love the high of receiving an acceptance, but more often than not, we're getting rejections, or worse, nothing at all, just silence. So, we thought, what if there was a literary journal that made us excited about rejections? Or, excited that we haven't heard back from that one contest/ dream publication/ favorite editor?

Off Season is that journal. We open for our first cycle of submissions on June 1st, and we close on August 1st. Submissions are free. While you prepare your submission, make sure to follow us on Instagram @offseasonmag, and check out our listing on Chill Subs. Any questions can be sent to us directly at offseasonmag@gmail.com.

We can't wait to read your work. See you in June!