Issue 4: “Love, Surrendered.”

Writing submissions

Love is the inimitable, ineffable force that moves us, creates us, and evolves us.

However, it is not only a simplistic “love” that we wish to explore in Issue 4 of our publication. It is love’s varying and multidimensional forms — desire, lust, self-love, self-preservation, orgasm of many varieties, empathy, compassion, grace, rage, sorrow, and more — that we wish to explore.

And deeper, it is not only forms of love, but the surrendering to these forms explored, that we wish to exhibit. What is it to surrender, and surrender to love? What are the visceral, subtle, and lived challenges of surrendering? What does love teach you as you surrender deeper and deeper into its alluring force?

Allow the following prompts to guide you in your reflection and creation:

Poeticize your self-forgiveness and process extending forgiveness.

Write on cultural evolution as a demonstration of choosing love.

What does it mean to learn (& live) the language of true love?

Poeticize the consequences of love at the intersection of love, rage, and sorrow.

Write about your experience of an expanding or opening heart.

Write of the texture and flavors of grace as you have experienced it.

We joyfully welcome poetry, personal narrative, fiction, and experimental writing, on the theme of “Love, Surrendered.” Let your writing be soulful; let it be deep. Write from a deeper place within your body, psyche, and heart. Let your mind rest and allow language to flow from a messier, more intelligent, purer, and most honest place within your multidimensional being.

As you prepare to share your written artwork with us, if you desire to fortify and nourish this soulful writing quality, please engage in any part of our Creative Enrichment Studio — 1-1 coaching, online immersions, self-paced courses, and A Writer’s Paradise. We are here to support you beyond this publication.

In the end, we’ll choose a few pieces from each genre to publish in Issue 4, our Autumn/Winter 2025 issue.

Details about Issue 4:

  • Submission window: August 1 - September 30, 2025, at 11:59 pm PST

  • Writers will be notified if their submission is selected by November 1, 2025.

  • Issue 4 will launch in November 2025.

There is a USD $5 fee for each submission, and USD $10 fee for each submission requesting editorial feedback. All submission fees support the costs and maintenance of this publication and platform.

General Guidelines

  • Maximum word count for prose: 3,000; you may submit 1 piece for consideration. Please ensure your piece has a title.

  • Maximum word count for poetry: 500; you may submit up to 2 poems for consideration. Each poem may be up to 500 words. Ensure all poems are in one document, each with its own title.

  • Themes to keep in mind + heart while considering your submission: Love, Body, Spirituality, Wellness, Identity

  • Translations from any language into English are welcome. Please note if your submission is a translation, what language it is translated from, and who it is translated by.

  • You are welcome to submit your writing if you identify as a woman of color. If you do not, but are passionate about this platform and opportunity, please extend your passion by sharing this opportunity with a special woman of color writer in your life.

  • All submissions must be original and unpublished; we do not accept previously published submissions, either in print or digitally. We ask for First Electronic and Archival Rights: your selected submission will first be shared through our digital Literary Anthology before it is published elsewhere. We will then archive your work to be accessed for future purposes/inspiration/teaching. You retain copyright of your original work. By submitting your work, you agree to this.

  • As the mission of this platform is to amplify the expressions of women of color, any references/external quotes you consider using should be representative of that.

  • The contents of your submission are original and your sole creation — no AI involved. We embrace your authentic creative intelligence.

  • There is a USD $5 fee for each submission, and USD $10 fee for each submission requesting editorial feedback. All submission fees support the costs and maintenance of this publication and platform.

  • Submissions requesting editorial feedback will undergo an intimate and trauma-informed editorial process that includes developmental feedback, intending to support the writer in deepening and refining their authentic voice.

  • We hold your submissions in strict confidence and privacy, whether or not they are published. Your submission will only be seen by the Wellspringwords® editorial team.

  • We do not offer monetary compensation at this time. If you desire to support our initiative of empowering writers, you may contact us to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

As you prepare to join us, please take some time to read our About page and to enjoy the many published pieces by other talented women of color, found here.

More about contributing to the Wellspringwords® Literary Anthology:

  • Explore your authentic Self, your wisdom within, and your creative expression through writing.

  • Opt to receive editorial feedback from an experienced editorial team as you develop as a writer.

  • Add to your portfolio of published work.

  • Contributors are eligible to become a Guest Editor for future Issues of the publication.

  • Join the Wellspringwords® community of writers and artists from around the world.

  • Must identify as a woman of color/woman of the global majority.

  • Writing must align with the essence of Wellspringwords® — connecting to your deep, authentic Self, and expressing that creatively through words.