While the colloquial phrase to turn over a new leaf essentially means to seek out a fresh start, something new, for The Turning Leaf Journal, “change” is both a theme for the journal’s content as well as a publishing philosophy.
Offering two, open access issues each year (June, December), The Turning Leaf Journal publishes creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid works, and art “that explore the turning over of a new leaf through life’s entrances, exits, seasons, formation, and destruction. This journal is a space to explore the uncomfortable, the things most usually run away from.”
“Change is the prompt for all of the work submitted to us,” says Editor-in-Chief Megan Eralie-Henriques, “but it is also the reason we started The Turning Leaf. As an undergrad, I felt disenchanted by the idea of publishing because of all the secrecy I saw. There was so much I didn’t understand, and I felt like no one was willing to talk about what it was really like to get involved with a journal. I wanted to know how competitive a journal is – show me the numbers! Tell me what a 3% acceptance rate really means. Were there a thousand submissions, or fifty? Transparency is something we really value at TTLJ and strive to always practice because we think you deserve to know. In my early attempts to publish my own work it would have completely altered my confidence to know just how many submissions my work was competing against.”
Transparency Builds Community
“Since our beginning,” Eralie-Henriques emphasizes, “we’ve shared our numbers publicly. On our social media, all the statistics from each of our submission rounds are there to look at. Before sending us work, I like to imagine someone with interest looking at those numbers and imagining how to make their packet stand out amongst the hundreds. I think it encourages folks to learn more about the kind of work we publish, stylistically and thematically, and invites an invigorating spirit of competition rather than building a wall between the submitter and editor. I also hope it helps them feel more confident when sending us work, because there really is a strong chance we’ll accept it.
“When starting this journal, I thought very intentionally about my previous masthead experiences, what I see other journals doing, and how I want TTLJ to compare. More than anything, I want our journal to feel like a community. I believe that goal is best accomplished first by fostering an environment of connectivity and inclusion within the masthead. The work we publish frequently leans into the darker, heavier moments of life. It’s essential for the rest of our space to feel warm, so that the folks reading or sending us work know we’ll take care of them — I want folks to see us as a soft place to land but at the same time recognize that we aren’t afraid of the darkness.
“We hope that in doing so, relief is found. Confronting the growing pains makes room for new life, and we think this is worth celebrating.”
Experienced Masthead
This thoughtful approach comes from a variety of experiences for Eralie-Henriques, a graduate of Utah State University’s Master of English program entering her second year of an MFA program at Minnesota State University as well as her fifth year of teaching university-level English courses. “I love experimenting across genres in my writing,” she says, “but feel most in my element with creative nonfiction,” with works published in Phoebe, Rust & Moth, Hearth & Coffin, among others, as well as having been featured in art galleries. Eralie-Henriques has read for Exponent II for several years now, and also does editorial work for The Blue Earth Review. She learned to critique and provide feedback on creative work while getting a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in creative writing, “but just talking about writing with other creatives has been the best way to gain experience,” she shares. “My community of writers and artists have helped me to understand my style and taste, as well as broaden my perspectives and introduce me to work I may have otherwise never found.”
Joining her on the masthead are Editor Lauren McKinnon, a professional editor and writer for the University of Utah, and Editor K.M. Hanslik who studied at Kent State University and currently works in home healthcare services, having published poetry in journals such as Bleating Thing Magazine, 3Elements Review, and Black Glass Pages.
Connection Not Perfection
For writers looking to contribute works, Eralie-Henriques explains, “Our submissions are received via email, and are then uploaded onto a highly-detailed spreadsheet. Here our readers and editors will leave comments on each piece — comments which focus on 1) emotional reactions to the work, and 2) craftsmanship — and categorize a decision for the piece: accept, reject, or revise and resubmit. We do not use a ranking system. Instead, we hold a series of meetings during a reading period in which we’ll discuss each of the pieces up for consideration. I find that real-time conversations allow us to more easily identify the piece we resonate with most. We discuss how each piece fits together in an issue, valuing the found themes and topics that naturally arise in any given set of submissions. In short, we’re looking for connection — not perfection.
“It’s not uncommon for us to accept something that isn’t ‘perfect’ because it resonates deeply on both a craft and thematic level. Because there is so much discussion surrounding each piece, we’ve created the opportunity to say ‘yes’ to a piece that may have been rejected elsewhere. Sure, we’re looking for pieces that feel complete, but more importantly we want pieces that feel genuine. It brings us a lot of joy when we accept something on the basis of connection. It’s like discovering something hidden and beautiful and imperfect but still deserving of recognition and full of talent and time.”
Creating a ‘Home’ for Works
“We’ve heard many of our contributors share how difficult it’s been to publish work, that they’ve sent a piece out twenty plus times, revised it even more than that, before we accepted it. It’s a massive honor to finally give that piece a home and very special to take part in the process of a writer finding their footing in publishing. We’re always celebrating with you!
“Our readers are responsible for certain genres, but they have access to everything and are encouraged to read beyond their genre. We set reading goals to help us stay on track while still giving our readers lots of flexibility to contribute only what they have the capacity to do. On the editorial side, all three of us read everything. Every submission gets at least four sets of eyes on it before a final decision is made, and every submission gets a response. We average eighteen days for responses — we’re impatient, too. Our responses do follow a form, but we go off-script to tell folks when we want to see more work from them.
“We occasionally send feedback, most typically for pieces that were on our shortlist before ultimately being passed on. When a piece is so close to an acceptance, we want to encourage that final round of revision. Our feedback almost always is sent with an invitation to resend that piece to us, either during the current reading period or the next one. When that’s the case, we’ll categorize that piece as a revise and resubmit.
“I think we owe it to our submitters to be as organized as possible and to do everything we can to streamline our decision-making process. At the close of every reading period, I re-evaluate our process and look for ways to improve, then immediately implement those changes. I never want our process to get stagnant. That’s how errors get made.”
Tough Subjects & Glimmers of Hope
With such a careful curation process, readers can be assured the works selected are worthy of their consideration as well, both for their craftmanship as well as their emotional impact. “Our focus being on moments of change tends to mean that the work we publish deals with themes of death, religion, trauma, illness, and strained relationships,” Eralie-Henriques explains. “In every issue, we intentionally look for a few pieces we call ‘glimmers of hope.’ These are the sweet ones. A poem you might read then think about sending your grandma flowers or kissing your cat on the head. We strive to find a balance between the heavy, lingering pieces and ones that remind us there’s love still to be found.
“Alongside the prose is artwork paired uniquely to each piece. I’d describe our aesthetic as being ‘the dusty artwork found in your favorite kooky aunt’s attic.’ There’s a little bit of everything, but something about it all feels cohesive — like there’s a dialogue happening between them, even if you can’t quite name it. Collages, abstractions, still life, photographs, we love it all. I tend to pick whimsically haunted portraits for our Instagram posts, so we love those, too.
“We commission one unique piece of art in every issue from an artist in our community. Outside of this commission, I spend weeks looking for perfect fits from artwork submitted to us. When there aren’t enough art submissions — and there never are! — I’ll source artwork from the public domain. It really makes my day when someone leaves a comment or sends us an email complementing the artwork in the issues.
Recent contributors include Glenn Pape, Maria Geisbrecht, William Bortz, Millie Tullis, Angela Townsend, DW Baker, Tamiko Dooley, Ewen Glass, Grace Black, Mariann Lynch, James Diaz, Amy Flyntz, Kelsy Bellah, Jenny Chu, and Suze Kay.
Honor and Equity: Lesson Learned
New ventures offer new learning opportunities, and Eralie-Henriques comments that, in starting The Turning Leaf Journal, “My greatest lesson learned is equity. We’ve been pleased with the number of submissions received and the high rate at which our journal is growing. With the large number of submissions, I’ve tweaked my process in reading and editing to make more room for mindfulness. It is a privilege to read another person’s work. Our submissions are open to anyone, and we receive poems, art, and essays from across the entire world. I love reading the works of students, professionals, authors, and people who’ve felt a whisper to write their whole lives and are finally hitting ‘submit!’ Reading another person’s writing is sacred, and I try to honor each entry with a fresh mind. On a literal level, this means a designated spot in my office with calm lighting, tea, and lots of time for snack breaks. On an intellectual level, this is reminding myself how beautiful it is to witness another person’s creativity, and I make sure to honor each submission with the same time and attention.
Continued Strengthening
Such a strong start influences future growth, as Eralie-Henriques details, “Our immediate goals are to continue expanding our new quarterly zine project, The Turning Leaflets. The focus of this project is to strengthen our community by collaborating with them to lead discussions about craft and creativity. Our regular issues allow us to connect on a human-level, in the leaflets we get to have deeper conversations as creatives.”
Take a moment from your day to visit The Turning Leaf Journal where you will enjoy work that is beautiful and honest, work that might have otherwise been overlooked, wrapped in a unique, cohesive aesthetic. All, Eralie-Henriques says, “to offer the home for work that’s deeply evocative and creates space for someone else to feel seen, or that could possibly serve as a step towards healing.”
