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Editor Interview: Pink Plastic House: a tiny journal

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: poems that fit in rooms

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Meow Meow Pow Pow, Sword and Kettle, Daily Drunk, Yes Poetry, Drunk Monkeys, Rising Phoenix Review, Horror Sleaze Trash, Ghost City Press, Chantarelle’s Notebook, 13 Myna Birds, Beir Bua, One Art Poetry, Sledgehammer Lit, Alien Buddha Press, The Confessionalist, Vulnerary, Revue Post, Impossible Task, Crown and Pen Zine, Rejection Letters, 8 Poems, Be About It Press, Giallo Lit, The Cabinet of Heed

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: As a writer I read as much as I can though the busier I am with writing the lesser I read. I just reread a book called Beasts I love by Joyce Carol Oates. I love Shirley Jackson and Mary Shelley and Shakespeare. My favorite poem is called How To Like It by Stephen Dobyns who is also a novelist I admire. He wrote a book called The Church of the Dead Girls I love.

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: I call myself the Dollhouse Architect in lieu of Editor in Chief. I wrote a book called Pink Plastic House that was my first published poetry book. It put the poems in rooms in which they belong. This is how i arrange the poems in the journal. The difference between my journal and others is probably my womanchildishness. I am perpetually both a woman and child who still plays with dollhouses the way she did when she was 10 and when she was a 25 year old topless dancer claiming her autonomy after abuse. I am still playing with dollhouses and poems and both give me such comfort.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Write something visceral that sings and I’ll find a room for it.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: If you think of the largest house in which a person is privileged to give room to everything from pains and memorials to accessories and candy, this is a Pink Plastic House. There is not room for racism, misogyny or hate but otherwise it is a large house that has highlighted many pleasures and problems that take up room in our souls.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: Don’t tell me in which room your poem belongs. I’m the architect and the interior decorator. I figure that part out. :)

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: Cover letters are fine but I choose work that speaks to me.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: I always read all the piece before making a decision. Some pieces I have offered edits when I notice something that takes me out of the work.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: I am a one-woman journal so honestly I’m the only person who reads your work. A lot of times this means I have a very quick response time unless I am especially slammed with submissions.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: Being an editor of a one-woman literary magazine is a lot of work. Right now it’s even more so because I’m in the middle of a Halloween countdown of poetry which means I publish someone every day leading up to Halloween on top of my regular poetry publishing. So every day I’m soliciting work for that countdown and getting poems on Instagram and my website and promote them on Twitter. Then I do my own writing, too.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: I am not tech savvy at all but I have done my best to embrace technology, learn how to maintain my website, learn Instagram. I feel I have a good presence on Twitter and I think all of these things help me spotlight the writers on my site. I’m also very consistent and a hard worker who doesn’t take a lot of breaks so I think that is very important in this kind of enterprise. A lot of journals come and go in the small press literary world

Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?

A: I don’t provide substantial editing. If I feel a piece needs that, I would decline it and tell the writer that. If there is a line that stands out in a bad way, a subpar word choice or a typo, I am happy to correct it and select the piece. But I’m not here to rework a piece for a poet. If it is a draft, it is a draft and should be worked on by the poet before resubmitting.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: I nominate for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.