Dear Reader,
I'm excited to share the first issue of Cleaning up Glitter, a literary journal with you! This has been something I've been brewing for awhile, and decided to take a chance on this year. The name of this literary journal came to me one day as I stood at the top of our basement stairs and tried to make sense of what I was seeing. Sequins and glitter were scattered on each step, smooshed into the carpet, and my daughter was calling from the basement, "isn't it BEAUTIFUL, Mom!!!"
In a moment when, not-so-long-ago I would have lost my shit, I laughed. The stairs were beautiful. They were beautiful, and messy, and I knew we would be picking glitter out of those stairs for years. In that moment I realized, isn't that what life is about - it's beautiful, messy, and you may feel like you'll never stop cleaning up after other people, but if you can pause for a moment, you may find some joy in the mess. This is the premise of our mission statement: we empower new and emerging writers to share their perspective of the human experience with us, so we can learn from each other and grow together.
I am incredibly grateful to the nearly 80 (80!) writers who sent in a submission for this edition. When I was contemplating this endeavor, someone said to me, “there are a lot of literary journals, but even more writers waiting to publish their work.” And while it was impossible to accept every submission, I'm honored that they took a chance on this venture.
Looking ahead, our June issue will be a celebration of Pride, and we are excited to feature writers who identify as LGBTQ+. Submissions will be accepted until May 22nd!
On behalf of our authors and artists, thank you for reading and sharing their work.
With thanks,
Amy Walsh, Founder
Cleaning up Glitter, Inc.
PS - I did intentionally leave my own writing out of this first edition: The piece I was planning on using is being entirely reworked (as writers, I am sure you can understand and appreciate this phenomenon), and I didn't want to hold everything up because of me! We are living real life over here :)