COVID-19 has brought about many changes to our lives. One positive addition: The WEIGHT Journal, a new literary journal that publishes teen writers. The online publication, whose title stems from a King Lear quote, "is a literary blog for high school students who may similarly find themselves in need of a creative outlet, about the pandemic or anything else. Everyone has something heavy to get off their chest." A nonpaying market, they publish a wide variety of writing, including poetry, slam, flash fiction, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. Writers must be in grades nine through twelve, and international high school students are welcome to submit if their entries are in English. The blog aims to publish "writing that has something honest to say. Something that releases the WEIGHT." Although this was a pandemic-inspired initiative, they plan to continue indefinitely.
In an interview with editor-in-chief Matthew E. Henry, he offered the following guidance:
"The foundational advice I give to my own students and anyone who would submit to The Weight Journal is to be honest. It seems trite, but in my experience, being honest is one of the most difficult things people can be asked to do. In The Blind Assassin, Margret Atwood said, 'the only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.'
Writing is a supreme act of vulnerability. We place words on a page and then lose all control over them as they enter the hands and minds of other people. I think writers should seek to express the truth of their topic, especially when it is personal. Radically analyzing and reanalyzing the moment or emotion they are trying to capture, and then putting it all on the page with as much honesty as possible, seeking to protect the truth of the story more than the people involved. After the rawness of memory and emotion has been captured, then the writer can be more concerned with the art of composition. Finding the right metaphors, images, and turns of phrase to best express the truth they have uncovered, forcing the reader to confront that truth as if it were our own."
"The foundational advice I give to my own students and anyone who would submit to The Weight Journal is to be honest. It seems trite, but in my experience, being honest is one of the most difficult things people can be asked to do. In The Blind Assassin, Margret Atwood said, 'the only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.'
Writing is a supreme act of vulnerability. We place words on a page and then lose all control over them as they enter the hands and minds of other people. I think writers should seek to express the truth of their topic, especially when it is personal. Radically analyzing and reanalyzing the moment or emotion they are trying to capture, and then putting it all on the page with as much honesty as possible, seeking to protect the truth of the story more than the people involved. After the rawness of memory and emotion has been captured, then the writer can be more concerned with the art of composition. Finding the right metaphors, images, and turns of phrase to best express the truth they have uncovered, forcing the reader to confront that truth as if it were our own."
The website states that "No topic is off-limits. This is not about being 'school appropriate.'" Check The Weight Journal's submission guidelines for further details.
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