TRANSGENDER
Calling for Submissions — We Want Your Happy Times!
#19 The Quintessentials
Queerly Trans: Because trans does not equal straight!
In this Update (click on links):
From the Editor
THIS MONTH, WE WANT 10 MOMENTS OF JOY
This month, we are calling for Top 10 Favorite Life Moments. After having a good old RantFest in September, let’s make October about reflecting on the good times. We’re asking our writers to share with you ten moments in their lives that stand out the most — those moments that left them filled with joy, speechless, or overwhelmed in the best way. Ten moments of happiness. If you haven’t already, make sure you follow and subscribe to be notified when the Quintessentials is live!
How to Be Included:
So, writers, share with us your Top 10 Favorite Life Moments. Let’s share our happiest moments from the epic to the minuscule. But here’s the catch — they have to be ALL ABOUT YOU! What the hell do I mean by that? This theme was prompted by my own challenge — to write a list of moments in which I was absolutely happy, but when it was 100% my own experience and the joy was for myself rather than feeling it FOR someone else. At first, it was a HUGE challenge. And so, I offer you the same challenge to focus on YOUR moments and joy and what makes you truly you at your core. In your top 10 (and hey, if you want to do more or less, go for it), avoid including too many events (if any) where your joy was FOR someone else’s joy. Or where you were happy because of another's success. Share with us a post you wrote long ago that needs to be revived if it meets the brief, or share a new post prompted by this month’s showcase focus.
You may wish to theme your post.
If Top 10 life moments is a bit too huge of a bite to take, maybe consider chunking it down by creating a theme. What about the 10 times you felt extreme gender euphoria? Or 10 times you laughed so hard you cried? How ever you choose to gather your Top 10 moments, the point is — YOU WERE HAPPY! And remember, these are YOUR moments. Some may be big, some may be small. A walk in a park is just as valid as skydiving if YOU WERE HAPPY. You see what I’m getting at here, right?
OH! BUT… Let’s not clickbait this!
No clickbaity titles like, Top 10 Reasons blah blah etc. Need I say more? Lol.
How I came up with my list…
It might assist you to know how I came up with my own list, so here goes. I thought back to a moment of joy. I felt myself smile at the thought so I knew I was on to something. I scanned it to check it was MY joy rather than just feeling pride or joy on behalf of someone else. The first few didn’t pass — my niece's wedding (joy FOR her), my own wedding (I didn’t feel it, lol). Then, I thought about my first book launch. I was really disappointed to realize that it didn’t pass because the launch was for others and I didn’t feel it, BUT… what was for ME and I DID feel was having actors there bringing my characters to life. So I wrote that down. And then that prompted another thought… and another one, and I was on a roll.
Hope this helps if you are stuck :)
It’s not just about writing a list
This showcase is something special because it’s about you, the writer, first. And then, you get to invite the reader along. We so often forget to put ourselves first. So, this list you create is NOT just another post. This will be something you can revisit whenever you want. Just as revisiting a painful moment can bring back that pain as if we were living it all over again, so too a happy memory can let us feel the joy. That’s why one of my parameters is that I smile at the memory. The smile is something I am feeling as I remember — the joy is not lost.
ADVANCED LEVEL: Do you notice themes in your list? I found themes in mine and those themes are powerful tools for self care!
Note: I am NOT suggesting using this list to pick you up when you are feeling down. In fact, I’m a firm believer in feeling whatever the hell you feel when you feel it. If I’m feeling like shit, I WON’T look at my list. But, when I’m bored, or restless, or just feeling slightly overwhelmed or confused, I can draw on this list to direct me to a quick action based on my themes. For example (for me), a quick walk. So easy yet it gives me a raging happy.
Remember:
- Your post DOES NOT need to be published with Queerly Trans.
- Your post DOES NOT need to meet the full QT guidelines but DOES need to meet Medium’s guidelines (of course).
- Drop the link to your showcase piece in the comments ON THIS POST. Remember, if you are going to write a new post, you will still need to come back HERE and drop the link in the comments, even if you do publish on Queerly Trans. As the showcase is SELF-NOMINATION only, if your link isn’t in the comments, it won’t be in the showcase.
We look forward to your submissions!
Submissions close STRICTLY September 30th at midnight in YOUR timezone.
Please note: though your post does not need to be published on QT, you must be a QT writer to be included in our Quintessentials Showcase. CLICK HERE to apply to write for us.
If you haven’t already, make sure you check out our previous Quintessentials Writers Showcases:
2022:
May Showcase: Our First Writer’s Showcase June Showcase: Queerly Trans Representation July Showcase: All the Fiction August Showcase: Shameless Self-Promotion September Showcase: RantFest 2022
-KP
Queerly Trans Writing Prompts:
How to Write for Us
Are you Queerly Trans? Then you have a story to share and this is the platform where we invite you to do just that.
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