🎉 Raising Mothers Turns 9! Join the Celebration! 🎉
Help us grow by becoming a paid subscriber! More details inside. Plus everything we've got going on all August long!
Welcome to Mom’s the Word! This is where we let our hair down, or off, or up and out. It’s not just for parents, but also aunties, play cousins, best friends & all the beautiful beings that make up our communities. We’ll catch up with our favorite people and they’ll share their favorite reads and hangs, and more. The first four issues of Mom’s the Word will remain free. To read future editions, become a paid subscriber.
If you want alternate ways to pay for a subscription, feel free to use PayPal. Just reply to this email and you’ll be added to the paid list!
Happy Black August! Happy Birthday, Raising Mothers!!
As we usher in August, we are celebrating Raising Mothers turning 9 all month long! What does that mean? We plan to have some special posts ready for you. We’re formatting all of our posts (over 400 of them) for you to enjoy here. We’ll highlight some great work from our archives and all of our events.
Reminder that this the fourth and final completely free newsletter. If you’ve enjoyed these posts and want to continue receiving them in full, plus a host of other tidbits and if you want to support the writing and art of our community, become a paid subscriber.
Centering the narratives of the Global majority is essential. Especially, especially in 2024. We live in a time where our rights are being openly stripped away, our voices and histories are being forcibly silenced. I believe those of us with more access always have a personal responsibility to actively aide in the dismantling of any system that seek to oppress the marginalized. Touting the importance of the work without any tangible support doesn’t feed families or keep lights on.
Become a member of Raising Mothers and help us reach our 1st mini goal of 100 annual members. By joining, you are helping us build a sustainable future AND getting some exclusive content, early access, and special deals.
Here’s some of what your membership helps create & secure:
Our aim is to pay up to $50 per essay. When we break down each paid membership via Substack, monthly subscribers cover around one paid essay per year; annual subscribers cover two essays; VIPs cover three essays per year.
When we break down each paid membership via Patreon, annual subscribers at the $5 level (Angela) help pay for one essay a year, while monthly subscribers at our $50/month level (Nikki) help pay for one essay per month, or 12 essays a year.
Of course that's not how money works, and our needs evolve over time as we grow best into ourselves. We still need to cover overhead/tech costs, various membership fees, create a small stipend for myself and our editors, create mutual aid funds for writers and plenty more.
We're not sustainable and I want to turn that around, especially since our focus is on the historically silenced among us. Especially as we near our tenth year of existence. Help us make this platform not only grow, but be competitive. I want to remain ad-free at all costs and reader support is the only way to get there for now.
If you’d like to share a good word with us to include in our campaign, send me a message below or reply to this email.
It’s been difficult for me to get to this point of determining what “perks” a paid vs free subscriber gets, because I deeply believe that everyone should have equal access to everything. I like to think that the community I’ve built and continue to nurture share those values. So the perks I’ve come up with do help to reflect my values in a way that does not promote hierarchy or deemed exclusionary, I think.
First 10 founding members (VIPs) on Substack get 6 months of paid access to Literary Liberation.
Annual members: opportunity to dedicate a column to someone special.
Newsletter mentions: Paid members will be acknowledged in our newsletters; annual and VIPs will be featured on a dedicated page.
Submission calls: Paid members will be notified before everyone else.
Newsletter access: Full access to our newsletter, Mom’s the Word.
Event discounts: Reduced prices on events and workshops.
SEND US YOUR WORK!
I think I should add a quick reminder here that Raising Mothers only publishes work by writers of the Global majority. All diasporic Black, Brown and Indigenous communities are welcome to submit. Everyone is welcome to read and support.
FLASH FRIDAY | Fairytale & Folklore
Genre: Micro & Flash fiction and nonfiction
Open JULY 15 — SEPTEMBER 1
Editor: Monique Quintana
The fairy tales and folklore we hear as children often shape our paradigms about the family unit. We seek flash fiction and flash nonfiction inspired by these narratives, which merge the real with the surreal, the domestic with the fantastical. How can we reimagine tropes and archetypes like the dutiful daughter, the crone, or the absent mother? What do these experiences mean under the lens of BIPOC parenting/childhood and the experience of difference?
"I am intrigued by work that takes tropes and archetypes and subverts expectations. Whether the narratives are curious, bittersweet, humorous, or haunting, I want to understand more about the intimate and political ramifications of the familiar bond."
ALWAYS OPEN:
All of our columns are typically open year round, so start sending in your work! Click the link below to head over to our submissions page. You can also pitch columns and send interview pitches.
LITERARY LIBERATION
We have a bunch going on over at Literary Liberation as well! Here’s some links to sign up for what interests you most!
AUG 11 Drop in for our new monthly writing session with Tiffany B. Grantham. It’s free to join, but there’s a sliding scale for those who can pay to help build our scholarship fund. [SIGN UP HERE]
AUG 17 Down for a daytime reading series? Our first KIN KEEPERS Live Storytelling event, hosted by Lisa "Rubi G." Ventura kicks off at 10AM EST. Registration is required and there’s also a sliding scale. [SIGN UP HERE]
AUG 31 LIT LIB PEN PAL CLUB sign up closes! You have all month to join us for our first pen pal crew at Literary Liberation. I’ve been hosting pen pal swaps since 2011 and they are always a good time. It’s $20 for paid members and $25 for free members. It’s open to anyone from AHWM, Raising Mothers and Literary Liberation.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Click on the images below to register for the workshops!
Raising Mothers is an independent literary magazine, run by a single person—me. Join us as a monthly or annual sustaining member & keep Raising Mothers ad-free. Paid memberships allow us to pay our contributors and create a sustainable future. Help us reach our first goal of 100 paid annual members. Invest in amplifying the parenting & personal narratives of Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous and other voices from the global majority at our many intersections.
Before you go, leave us some love by tapping the ❤️. Also, restack & share! Help others find us. We’re @litlib all over social media.