*Updated for clarity on 2/12/16 by Sarah*

We want to hear from YOU! So, dust off your .docx files and finish those short stories!

Once a month, we will open submissions for short story and non-fiction pieces that meet the following guidelines. Sarah and Amber will each pick one, and will post one winning entry on the second Friday of the month, and one winning entry on the fourth Friday of the month. If you are selected, you will be contacted to provide an author’s profile and picture to post along with your piece. The selected pieces for the month will be published on this website.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1 – All pieces (fiction and non-fiction) must be original, unpublished work written by the author who is submitting it and between 500 and 2,500 words. (No fanfiction, sorry!) All authors must be women 18 years old or older. While you must submit under your real name for verification purposes, we can publish it using a pseudonym if requested.

2- All submissions must be in a Word document and e-mailed to Upwriteladies@gmail.com by the closing of that month’s submission period to be considered. Please indicate in the subject line if the piece is a fiction or a non-fiction submission.

3 – We will not censor language or subject matter, but material of a graphic sexual or exceedingly violent nature will not be considered.

4- The author will retain all rights, and no money will be accepted or given for any submission. This is free and is meant to foster creativity and encourage women to write.

5 – If your piece is not published for the month you submitted, you may re-submit it again a different month if you wish. Submissions are only considered for the submission period in which they are initially received.

6 – The submission period will vary from month to month, but will be announced on our website in advance, as well as on our various social media platforms. Stay tuned so you don’t miss out!

7 – All submissions should have proper spelling and grammar. We will not edit for content or for grammar, but will post the winning entry as it was given to us. We do reserve the right to fix any glaring typos we might see, but this will be kept to a minimum. In general, if you want to win, make sure it’s ready to be published before you submit it!

8 – Ideally, we will post one fiction and one non-fiction piece on this website per month, but we can alter this based on the quality and quantity we receive in a given period. Basically, we reserve the right to post more or less than that as we see fit. We will always alert the author via e-mail prior to posting their story that they have been selected.

9 – Submissions are limited to three pieces per category per submission period.

10 – By submitting to UpWriteLadies, you are agreeing to all of the terms and conditions listed, and you are giving us permission to post your piece if it is selected.