The SOU Art Building, credit to SOU
Lots of students at Southern Oregon University are interested in publishing their writing, have writing they’re ready to publish, and are technically skilled enough to compete in the real world. However, lots of students here still just don’t know how to actually get it out for publication, and until pretty recently I was one of them.
The purpose of the Submittathon is to get those students out in the arena. The event, which has been well received in the past and is held every quarter, is a two-hour four to six workshop exclusively focused on getting student work out into the real world. It was hosted by the Southern Oregon University Creative Writing club on Monday, May 5th, in the Art Building, which is located on the far east fringe of campus, sandwiched between Indiana Street and the Schneider Museum of Art. The club is confident there will be more to come in the 2025-2026 academic year.
Most classes offered by the University, even in the Creative Writing Department, are focused on production rather than publication. Publication is daunting, both from a psychological and practical standpoint. Even a lot of the platforms writers are supposed to submit on are mysterious to the people who need them most, like chillsubs.com and submittable.com (how I’ve gotten published).
This term’s Submittathon was even more successful than last term’s. Turnout must’ve been twice what it was last time, and the total number of submissions knocked out in the two hour period must have been in the dozens.
Any seasoned writer will tell you rejections are part of the experience, and the overwhelming majority of your submissions will not be published. That’s why maximizing output is so important to realistic, long-term success. If you really intend to publish work as a career, Professors in the Department generally recommend taking a set amount of time out of your week and using it to send stuff out. This orientation from producing work to getting it out there is why the club is putting such an emphasis on publication this year.
“It’s easy to forget there’s another side of writing,” outgoing club President Desiree Remick told me. “And that’s making sure your words are reaching readers. I’m so proud of what we accomplished with the Submittathons! People are engaged and it really shows.”
Creative Writing Club plans to offer another Submittathon in fall term of 2025.
