MEDIUM PUBLICATIONS BY ILLUMINATION WRITERS

Introduction to the Virtual Hostel, “The Wander Years”

A publication by Liv Mello

The Wander Years is a virtual hostel for sharing stories and meeting people from around the world. “Transient times & travel confessions,” this publication started as a place to reflect on my own thoughts and experiences. Now, I’m inviting writers to submit and share their stories too.

I desperately miss making new friends in the common rooms and shared spaces of hostels. It’s here that I find people to be the most open, honest, and real. I figure, one thing we could all use a little more of these days is community. The pandemic can impact our freedom to travel but it can’t take away our ability to connect. A publication will have to do until we can physically meet and drink and sing and dance together again.

We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.

—Robyn Yong

Submission Guidelines

The Wander Years is a publication for all ages, ethnicities, genders, and personality types. Recollections can be recent or dug up from a distant past. They can be funny, sad, insightful, or inspiring. They can express fear, love, transformation, self-discovery, or education, as long as there’s a takeaway. What did you learn? How did you change? These questions should drive your narrative.

Traveling doesn’t always mean flying overseas. Maybe something crazy happened to you on your commute to work one day. In my eyes, that counts. We don’t all have the opportunity to travel long distances, especially right now. So don’t be afraid to get a little creative.

I’m not looking for research-based, how-to articles, or even advice pieces. These stories should read like a journal entry. I’m looking for first-hand, true events. Stories can be of any length, but I’d prefer them to be at least three minutes of reading time each.

Here are a few examples from the publication:

Submission Instructions

Step 1. Request to be a writer of the publication.

You can send your writer request by leaving a comment on this article or sending me an email, [email protected].

If you have an idea you’d like to run by me first or want to bounce thoughts off each other before you dive in, give me a shout! Once we catch up, I’ll add you as a writer of the publication. This will allow you to follow step two.

Step 2. Submit your finalized, unpublished draft through the Medium editor.

Once you’ve finished your draft, click “Add to Publication,” as shown in the GIF on the left. This will give me access to the story and allow me to publish it on the platform.

Once I’ve read and reviewed your story, making sure it meets editorial standards, I’ll publish your story on the platform!

If I need to make any grammatical or formatting changes, I will approve with you before hitting publish. And that’s it, you’ve joined The Wander Years!

Submitting old, self-published articles

Have you self-published a story on Medium that you think might be a good fit for the publication? It’s not too late. You can easily submit your article to a publication long after it’s been published. Once you’ve been added as a writer for the publication, simply go to your “Stories” and click on the “Published” tab. Find the article you want to submit and click “Edit Story.”

Once you’re in the editor, you can follow the same instructions outlined in the GIF above. If the story is published in another publication but hasn’t performed well, you can even “Remove story from publication” and then re-submit it to “The Wander Years.”

About the Editor

I forgot to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Liv! If you’re interested, you can learn a little more about me and my travels in the article below.

Welcome to The Wander Years

I’m so incredibly excited to create this virtual hostel with you! Don’t have a story to share? That’s OK too. Be sure to follow the publication for nomadic experiences from your fellow Medium writers. Maybe they’ll inspire your own travels in the future! See you soon.