3 Ways to Join the ‘Compose’ Community

Our warmest welcome from the editorial team here at Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing!

Putting together the Spring 2013 issue has been both rewarding and challenging, and we look forward to sharing it with you in just a few weeks.

Our inaugural issue features work by Barbara Abercrombie (A Year of Writing Dangerously), Marion Agnew (“All I Can Say,” Best Canadian Essays 2012), Anne R Allen (Food of Love), Amanda Shayne Aszman, Sarah Baughman (Growing in Seasons), Carol Carpenter, Glen Chamberlain (Conjugations of the Verb To Be), Christi Craig, Lisa Cron (Wired for Story), Aliza Einhorn, Stefanie Freele (Feeding Strays), Jeff Goins (Wrecked), Cathi Grandfield, Josh Hanagarne (The World’s Strongest Librarian), Rebecca Hazelton (Fair Copy), Em Howard, Eva Langston, Randall Mann (Complaint in the Garden), Jael McHenry (The Kitchen Daughter), Jennie Nash (The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming) and an interview with Catherine Ryan Hyde (Pay It Forward).

Often, a literary journal is something we think of as simply something to read, but we hope Compose will be more to you. We want to establish and foster a community of readers and writers.

Between our spring and fall issues, our blog will feed you with quality literary sustenance! This includes:

• Q&A and author profiles
• the stories behind stories/poems/essays featured in our journal
• articles about the craft of writing
• book reviews and recommendations
• what goes on behind the scenes of a literary journal
• the personal triumphs and struggles of writers like you.

Here’s how you can join us:

1. Connect

Plug your details into the sign-up form to the right (or the form on our home page) to receive email notifications when new issues of Compose become available, and to receive blog articles and important news such as contests, special offers, and online workshops.

Follow Compose on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+ to keep up with our news and what’s going on in the literary world.

If you’re not already a reader of Write It Sideways (the blog that founded Compose) you’ll also find a wealth of advice and inspiration there, along with a supportive and diverse community of writers.

2. Share

Help spread the word about Compose by sharing your favourite pieces from our biannual issues—and linking to our blog posts—on social media.

Have a blog? You can also help by reviewing and/or linking to your favourite pieces from our journal, hosting a interview with one of our editors (contact us if you’d like to interview one of us!), and adding Compose to your blogroll.

3. Contribute

If you’re reading this, we bet you’re not only an avid reader, but a writer too. Compose is not only a journal for readers—we hope our issues and blog will also continually inspire you as a writer.

Our submissions page is live, and we are now actively seeking work for our second issue (Fall 2013). We accept submissions year-round, but you’ll want to get your submissions in sooner rather than later. We already have a few pieces lined up for fall.

Stay Tuned

Thanks so much for your support! To get to know us a little better, be sure to read the Q&A with our editors we’ll be rolling out in the weeks leading up to the launch of our inaugural issue.

Photo courtesy of Lohan Gunaweera at Flickr