THE LIT MUG seeks fresh flash fiction, micromemoir, and prose poetry to enjoy with morning cups of coffee or with tea in the afternoon. We want steaming stories to cup in our palms and press to our hearts—bright, nostalgic, whimsical, or eerie—we want to read work that lingers inside our chests. Our end goal? To publish creative work on the side of a mug.

 

Please submit your piece as a .doc or .docx file in a legible font. While our hard word limit is 500 words, we value the potency of brevity. The more meaning packed within fewer words, the better.

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We only accept prose in paragraph form. No lined poetry, please.

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We accept simultaneous submissions but request that you identify the piece as such in your cover letter, and withdraw it immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.

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Additionally, while we do accept multiple submissions per submission cycle, we request that if you are going to submit more than one piece in the same document, that all pieces have a combined word count of 500 words or less. The only exception is as follows:

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SECRET MICRO-PROSE PROJECT: In addition to each submission, The Lit Mug would like to allow each author to attach one (1) piece of micro-prose (150 words or less) for a special Issue 2 project to be announced at a later date. In short, you may submit one piece up to 500 words to be featured on our mug, and you have the opportunity to submit an additional 150-word piece for consideration for this project.

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Try as we might to keep costs down, we at THE LIT MUG realize that mugs are a "hella" expensive medium on which to print things. As a result, we do require a modest $3 reading fee to accompany the submission. Due to budget limitations, we are unable to publish more than one author's work. We at THE LIT MUG are therefore committed to providing thorough feedback to each piece that is submitted to us. The accepted author will also receive two free contributor copies in mug form: One of your own piece, and one additional mug of your choosing from our store.

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The winning mugs will be sold on our website for you, your friends, and your family to own!

 

Submissions are open from March 15 through May 15.

 

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