Contribute to The Writing Prof

Submission Guidelines — October 2022

1. Introduction
2. Topic Categories
3. Style Guide & Requirements
4. Improving Your Chances of Acceptance
5. Becoming a writer for The Writing Prof
6. Questions and Pitches
7. Support The Writing Prof

1. Introduction

Welcome to The Writing Prof (TWP). Whether you are a writing professional, a writing professor, or just starting your writing journey, you are a writer.

We offer an inviting place to share your thoughts about writing. Keeping with a desire to allow room for your creativity, there are few rules. We only ask that your subject be somehow connected to the idea of writing.

My background is in English language studies, literature, and linguistics. As much as I love reading about speech and oral forms of language, essays for The Writing Prof must have a connection to written language.

Everyone is on an individual writing path, and we encourage both professional and beginning writers to contribute. Not everything will be accepted. But I’m willing to work with writers who have enthusiasm and passion for their subjects, even if their writing needs some work. Publication is reserved for submissions that have a high level of quality and polish required of published writing.

2. Topic Categories

Writing Tips: Offering tips to other writers about anything writing-related. We’re interested in writing in general, not succeeding as a writer on Medium in particular. However, if your Medium-focused article has an application beyond just writing for Medium, we will consider it. Use tag #writingtips.

The Writing Process: Essays about any part or the whole of the writing process, from prewriting and planning and outlining to drafting to revising and editing and publishing. The focus is on process. Bring your experience in your domain of writing to bear on the process. What works, what doesn’t? Use tag #thewritingprocess

Grammar & Punctuation: English language grammar and punctuation has a fascinating history and is ever-evolving. It’s notoriously difficult for second-language learners and even leads to stumbling among native English speakers. We welcome essays about English language grammar and punctuation. Have a strong opinion about the Oxford comma, written dialects, semi-colons, use of the subjunctive? Submit your essays. Use tag #grammar.

Language & Literature: The history of the English language and the vast amount of literature in English worthy of study could take lifetimes to survey. If you have a passion for language and a desire to discuss literature, whether classic or contemporary, we have a place for you here. Remember to focus on writing, not the story itself. The literature portion of this section can be used to write about your favorite books. Bonus points if your books are about writing. Use tag #literature.

Personal Essays: The personal essay has a long history from Michel de Montaigne in the 16th century to Joan Didion and our contemporary essayists today. Writers like to write about writing: how they became writers, how they write daily, how they journal, how other writers inspire them. Personal writing journeys, writing struggles and successes, writing inspirations, all manner of personal essays about writing will be considered. Use tag #personalessay.

3. Style Guide & Requirements

• You must be a Medium Partner Program member to contribute.
• You must follow Medium’s Rules and Medium’s Distribution Standards.
• The Writing Prof only accepts unpublished drafts.
• Use at least one of the following tags: Writing tips, The Writing Process, Grammar, Literature, Personal Essay.
• Use title case for titles, sentence case for subtitles, and then an image.
• Cite your image appropriately and have the legal right to use the image.
• Use sentence case for headings within articles.
• Edit well. The Writing Prof encourages you to use an editing tool. Stories with an abundance of errors will be rejected.
• We will not publish any Medium-specific content or work that promotes violence, hate, or discrimination of any kind, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, antisemitism, or glorification of conspiracy theories.
• The Writing Prof reserves the right to edit your content and image of your submission without notice. If needed, we will edit lightly for grammar, mechanics, and spelling. For titles, we will do our best to contact you about title changes prior to publication.
• What happens at The Writing Prof stays at The Writing Prof. Works published at The Writing Prof are expected to stay at The Writing Prof.
• You may silently correct errors in your story after publication, though keep changes to a minimum.
• You may include a succinct CTA in the signature of your submission.
• You may include up to three ‘link cards’ (embedded links) at the end of your submission.

4. Improving Your Chances of Acceptance

Writing is hard work. Good writing requires extraordinary inner strength, skill, and attention to detail. Not every submission will be accepted. The quality standards are quite high. However, The Writing Prof is a place for beginning as well as professional writers. We all started somewhere.

• Your submission must be about writing, even if in a roundabout way.
• Submit high quality articles — well-structured, edited, polished prose.
• Be creative, stretch boundaries, be original, try something new.
• Play with language.
• Keep your audience in mind. Your submission should elucidate, illuminate, or highlight writing in some way for your audience.
• Edit. Edit. Edit. Eliminate the majority of errors. If I have to take out my red pen, your submission will probably not be accepted.
• Have patience after submitting your work. Don’t pester the editors. It will take 3 to 7 days to review your submission. If your work is rejected, I will let you know in a private note. If it needs editing or work, we will discuss it.
• There are no length requirements, though the 5–8 minute article is the sweet spot on Medium.

5. Becoming a Writer for The Writing Prof

If, after all that, you want to become a writer for The Writing Prof and join a community of writers dedicated to exploring writing in all of its creative glory, here’s what you need to do:

1. Join the Medium Partners Program
2. Prepare a draft submission.
3. Fill out this form.

6. Questions & Pitches

If you have a question or wish to pitch a story, please contact The Writing Prof via email.

The Writing Prof will review your application and contact your soon.

Thank you for your interest in The Writing Prof. Just keep writing!

7. Support The Writing Prof

If you enjoy The Writing Prof and find value, please help keep the lights on and help us grow. You can do that buy donating at ko-fi.com/leehornbrookwriter Thank you so much for your support.