Mothers Always Write

Full details

Published bi-monthly online, our mission is twofold: 1) to offer parents beautiful and insightful reading that will elevate and deepen the parenting experience, and 2) to offer mother/father readers and writers a place to congregate during the sometimes isolating years (both early and late) of parenthood.
We publish literary essays and poetry that are intended to honor parenting as one of life’s greatest callings. MAW reads the way motherhood is, not as someone is telling you it should be. Our pieces fall into three categories: (1) Early Years: mothering the younger years (from birth to age 12), (2) Middle Years: mothering the middle school and teenage years, and (3) Adult Children: mothers facing the empty nest.
Please send your submissions through Submittable only. Please also tell us in your cover letter where you heard of us and include your Twitter handle and a 2-4 sentence 3rd person bio. Please also include a one-sentence “grabber” telling us what your piece is about. We also ask that you “Like” our Mothers Always Write FB page and follow us on Twitter (@mothersalways) when you make your submission.
Great News!  MAW is now a paying site (for specified pieces only). MAW pays $25.00 for essays published in our once per month big issue released on the third Monday of the month. Blog pieces (pieces published on days other than our monthly issue release date), columns, and poems are not paid. We reserve the right to decide in which category a piece is published in order to produce the most cohesive issue. We are working toward the important goal of being able to pay all of our writers at some point in the future.
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and work hard to promote your writing on our social media. We also offer our contributors the opportunity to participate in writers groups through our very active FB Contributors Group.
Suggested Themes: (Please specify theme in cover letter)
For May/June, the theme is “never say never.”
We interpret our suggested themes loosely (although they must have strong ties to motherhood) and continue to accept general submissions for all issues as well.
Please note:
We do not accept previously published material (published online or in print).
We do accept simultaneous submissions but respectfully request that you notify us if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
We ask for first serial rights. All other rights revert back to the author after publication.
We ask that authors mention that work was first published in MAW for future reprints.
By submitting your piece, you are verifying that MAW has the right to publish this submission and to use the piece to promote the magazine on social media.  
We do not publish anything profane, political, or anything that degrades faith.

Types of Submissions:

Personal Essays:  Submit entire essay (up to 2,000 words). Please cover topics of parenting children of any age (don’t forget adult children) consistent with our mission statement. We are not looking for “how to” articles or lists but for essays about parenting issues written with literary merit and offering moving insight.

Poetry:  Submit up to three poems about the parenting experience. We prefer non-rhyming, free verse poetry that uses unique imagery, that offers thoughtful insight into the parenting experience, and that tugs a bit at the heartstrings. Poems will be published justified left (we cannot accommodate specialized spacing). Shorter poems are preferred.

For our Blog:  Submit (unpublished) post (up to 2,000 words) about parenting. Posts should be essay about a particular parenting experience or insight or about being a mother writer and are more relaxed in style than personal essays. Posts are published more often than once per month and are not paid. Share your wisdom.

Book Reviews:  Submit book reviews (unpublished) of books relating to motherhood. Address your submission to Book Review Editor and submit through Submittable. Please include with your submission: a photo of the book cover, contact email for the book author, and a 2-4 sentence bio for yourself. 

Writing Column: “The 25th Hour”:  Submit the first only in a series of column pieces on writing (instructional or inspirational–almost anything goes). In your cover letter, let us know how many you intend to offer in the series (2-4 preferred).

Please note: By submitting your piece, you are representing that you control the copyright for the piece and are granting MAW the right to edit and to publish your piece. You are also warranting that publication of the piece will not violate the rights of privacy of any person or entity or libel or slander any person or entity. We reserve the right to edit your piece before we publish it. We will get your approval if the edits are other than minor, grammar-type revisions.

Thank you for sharing your writing with us. (Guidelines revised effective 06/05/19).