Troy University’s student literary journal, the Rubicon, is now accepting student-written original prose and poetry works for the publication’s fall 2017 collection.
“It’s a really good chance to get your work out there, and it’s a good chance to get published by other companies,” said Melanie McGilberry, a sophomore English major from Sweet Water and the Rubicon’s editor-in-chief.
According to McGilberry, several students have been contacted by outside publishers who saw the students’ works appear in the recent editions of the Rubicon.
“One always hopes that that first small publication may whet a student’s appetite to go further along that journey in creative expression,” said Michael Orlofsky, director of the creative writing program at Troy.
Orlofsky was the Rubicon’s first faculty judge of prose last year, and as such, selected his favorite work of the 2016-2017 collection. The “Professor’s Pick” award for prose went to “See You Tomorrow,” a fantasy piece by Alaina Hornberger, a senior graphic design major from Prattville.
Hornberger said seeing her work in print felt “surreal.”
“Like, ‘No way, I actually did this! This is amazing! It can’t possibly be my writing!’ ” Hornberger said. “It’s really cool.
“I’ve been writing forever, and now it’s actually published.”
Hornberger is also the Rubicon’s first art director. She sought out student artwork for the publication and put together its final look.
According to McGilberry, the Rubicon’s selection process is completely anonymous, as only the editor-in-chief controls the journal’s inbox. The editor-in-chief takes out all identifying elements from the submitted files before sending them to the group of student editors who discuss them and select the best ones.
This means that if a work by one of the editors appears in the discussion, the author must remain silent and uphold the anonymity.
The cap on submissions is 10 in total: students can submit a maximum of six poems and four short stories per semester.
“If you are looking to submit, it’s litjournal@troy.edu, and you must submit it by Nov. 6,” McGilberry said — “although we are kind of lenient on that.”
Hornberger asked to be contacted directly at ahornberger@troy.edu with any questions about artwork submissions or when sending the submissions.
After the publication is complete, the Rubicon hosts its launch party, which provides a platform for showcasing other student artists.
“The launch party is a celebration of the writing in the magazine — which is a collection of fiction, nonfiction and poetry — but it also highlights the artwork that’s in Rubicon,” Orlofskky said. “It’s been a celebration of many of the avenues of art that we have at the university: writing, painting and drawing and music.”
McGilberry said writers who submit consistently will be able to track their progress and, if selected, add it to their resumes or application packages to graduate programs.
“Believe in yourself!” McGilberry said. “Even if you don’t get accepted, it is a good way to get people’s opinions on your work because we do send back feedback on your work on what you can change to make it better and how to make it grammatically correct and things as such.”
Applicants can expect response on their submissions after three weeks.
For any other questions or submissions, email litjournal@troy.edu. The deadline for sending in submissions is Monday, Nov. 6.
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