August 28, 2025
Baltimore Review News: Almost all the contributor copies have been ordered. I should have this wrapped up tomorrow.
Something I’ve seen in cover notes a lot lately: Writers often mention that they’re using a pen name or would like a pen name to be used if we accept their work. I confess that I often wonder why. Is the writer uncomfortable with the idea of an employer or family member reading the work? Why? Does the writer simply want a more interesting name? Is the writer hiding something? I’m always curious. (I don’t want to be curious.) Note that we always include author photos and bios with all writers’ poems, fiction, and creative nonfiction. This could result in an odd mismatch. We also use contracts, and I want to know that the contract includes the correct name. And considering issues that publishers have encountered with plagiarism, writers misrepresenting themselves in various ways, and other situations I’d rather not deal with—well, I’d prefer that the face match the name and that the writer can be confirmed as a real person. To clarify, by pen name, I don’t mean some variation of the real name like using initials for the first and middle names or using a nickname. If my own name was the same as some wildly famous author, I’d probably use some variation of it. And I understand that some writers are so well known by their pen names that it’s not a problem; no one would blink at the photo that accompanies the bio. But most of the time, I’d like to see writers use their real names—to proudly own what they write.
On a personal note: I continue to generate drafts, mostly prose poems, and work on some longer stories that aren’t quite there yet. A group of poems I had organized into a chapbook did make the Black Lawrence contest semifinalist group. That was encouraging. Still hoping to have a book of my poems and/or short stories published as a collection someday. But I’m always grateful to have my work in journals. I know how many submissions many journals receive (thousands), and how much time and effort editors devote to this work, so I’m especially appreciative.