Pregnancy Loss
It has been a while since we let this theme sit on its own. It could be lumped into the motherhood category or even into grief, but it is such a common experience and time and time again we hear folks who have experienced the loss of a pregnancy say how alone they felt, or unmoored and untethered because our healthcare system is not set up to serve people who have lost a pregnancy. And our society doesn’t want to talk about it. And so those going through it have to do so in silence. In October we want to help bridge the silence just a little bit. To give voice to those who have experienced it and comfort to those who are going through it.
** HerStry is always happy to share stories anonymously—if your story is selected for publication, simply let your editor know you would not like your name shared **
THE RULES:
All stories must be true and about you.
Stories must follow the theme in some way, interpretations can be wide.
Stories must stay between 500–3,000 words.
Documents should be double spaced, 12Pt font with 1 inch margins.
Submissions must be in .doc or .docx form—we do not accept PDFs.
Stories are read blind. Please DO NOT put any identifying material on your manuscript. Manuscripts that don’t follow this rule will be automatically disqualified without being read. We realize personal essays may contain your name; a first name is fine.
Please include a third person bio. Cover letters are fine, but not necessary (we don’t read them, we’re more interested in what you’ve written).
Please submit only once per theme.
We do not accept previously published stories.
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, nonbinary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting.
WANT PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK?
You can now receive helpful feedback by selecting the “personalized critique” option on our submissions page. While getting your work critiqued does not guarantee publication, we can help make it great for your next submissions, whether it’s to us or someone else.
$3 submission fee goes toward keeping HerStry sustainable. All accepted pieces receive $20 payment.
