I wrote about my (un)cool lit mag when the first submission period opened, and now I’m thrilled to announce that Issue 1 is LIVE!

We’ve posted some stats about the submissions received, and let’s just say it was amazing to know that 72 writers liked this idea enough to send us their work (some wrote pieces just for us!) and also trusted us with that work. We read 207 pieces and had to narrow it down to 42… I can’t even explain how difficult that was, and how much it sucked to have to reject work that was soooo good. Otherwise, Issue 1 would have taken over the entire internet.

Melissa Fite Johnson and I are so proud of this project, and personally I can’t thank her enough for being my partner in this. We met just over a year ago thanks to March Xness, and after bonding personally and creatively, this project has come to life!

We’ll open for the next reading period November 15th, and would love to read your work! Until then, check out all of the goodies in Issue 1!

It might not be cool of me to act this excited but Forget Cool!

Melissa Fite Johnson and I are launching an online pop culture magazine called… Forget Cool!

We’ll publish two issues a year, September 1 (ala Back to School) and March 1 (ala Spring Fling). It all harks back to issues of Bop and Teen Beat during our tween and teen years – we want to capture that sense of fun, escape, and total pop culture immersion!

We’re open for submissions for our first issue now, so check out the guidelines and send something our way if it strikes your fancy!