Dear Reader,
It's hard to believe that just a year ago, Sophia and I were discussing (conspiring) our goals and vision for Off Season. Though there were many ~vibes~ we hoped to capture in this publication—your literary big sisters, non-threatening, vibrant, super bisexual—a main priority was, and remains, prioritizing and celebrating rest in the creative process. The outpouring of love and appreciation for our first issue, combined with the interest we gauged at AWP 2026 in Baltimore, confirmed that this was a gap in the creative writing world that needs to be filled, and we hope our efforts are helping to close that gap.
This issue contains phenomenal work from Cecilia Beard, Micah Petyt, Elizabeth Shanaz, Harley Nguyen, John Leonard, Salina Jane Vanderhorn, and Thomas Malinovsky. A poem involving an inside joke at the zoo with Wicked blasting through the speakers? We've got it. A story entitled "There's Pasta Salad in Heaven?" We've got it! A lyric essay where the author unwinds her grief after her father's death? We've. Got. It. We are so honored to offer these pieces a home.
To me, Off Season is the text message I send to our Editor-in-Chief Sophia Ross and Fiction reader Katy Mullins in our group chat named "Sucks to Suck" whenever I receive a rejection (very often), and their enthusiastic reply: "Their loss!!"
To me, Off Season is the month, or two, or six, where I cannot read or write a single poem.
To me, Off Season is the lost way I (even currently) feel about my manuscript that can't seem to find a home, and wondering every day if I should just scrap the entire project (but will never do).
These things are normal! These things are common! This is being a writer!
Sometimes, you just gotta say "sucks to suck" and move on, write when you can, and try not to give up completely. Some giving up is okay. Take a nap. Cuddle your fur babies and your human babies. Touch grass! Writing will always be there. I think we need to trust ourselves enough to know when we can show up for it too, and when we need to rest.
All my love and whimsy,
Susie Muth, Executive Editor
Susan Muth is a Best of the Net and Pushcart-nominated writer from Virginia. She recently earned her MFA in poetry from George Mason University. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ocean State Review, Pinch, West Trade Review, Breakwater Review, Chaotic Merge Magazine, Ucity Review, Rejection Letters, The Northern Virginia Review, and others. She is the former poetry editor for phoebe and immediately looks up the IMDB page of any film she is watching.