Interview with Nancy Kay Clark

In this post, we’ll be learning more about Nancy Kay Clark, Toronto-based Writer & Editor, and Editor-in-Chief of CommuterLit.com. Nancy tells us about the beginnings of CommuterLit, gives poignant advice to new writers, and shares resources for writers such as the CommuterLit Writing Circle.

Nancy, you have a lot of editing experience. Can you share your number one tip for budding writers looking to get published?

I have three top tips: 1. Cultivate resilience because you are going to get rejected most of the time; 2. Never give up; and 3. Find a community of writers and beta-readers who love talking about literature and the writing process as much as you do. Your community will be your support system in the face of all that rejection and will stop you from giving up.

What was the main driving factor that motivated you to launch CommuterLit.com?

When I started CommuterLit over a decade ago, I had just started writing fiction myself and everybody was telling me that I had to self-promote and establish an online following. Well, I didn’t think I could maintain a daily blog — I thought I’d run out of material fast — so I decided to share my daily blog with other writers I knew and admired. I thought we could each take a day of the week and post a story. I wanted the stories and poems to be short enough that someone could pull them up on their screens and read them during their twenty-minute commute to work each day. Very soon after I started, I opened the submission process to a wider group of writers and CommuterLit just grew from there.

Your ezine is unique in that you release one short story or poem per day during the work week plus a weekly newsletter. That must take a lot of time to curate. Tell us what has been the most challenging thing about managing CommuterLit.com?

Finding time for my own writing projects.

Your ezine has now been able to host contests. Being able to pay contributors is an exciting development! What can members of the literary community do to help support CommuterLit.com to ensure this continues?

Enter the contests (there are three more coming up); sign up for the CommuterLit Writing Circle or an editorial critique (all are priced affordably), or donate to the ezine. The proceeds go towards paying the contest winners, and, hopefully, eventually paying all the contributors on a regular basis. We also run advertising on the site and on the newsletter, at a ridiculously low fee, for those contributors who wish to promote their titles.

Other ways to support CL include signing up for the newsletter on our home page, sending us feedback and suggestions to admin-at-commuterlit-dot-com, or, perhaps, purchasing a book from our Book Store listing, which features titles published by CL contributors.

You also run a series of virtual writing circles. Please tell us about those.

Every writer, be they beginner or veteran, needs a close circle of fellow writers to act as sounding boards, mentors, beta-readers and emotional support. And it’s even better to have a direct line to an experienced editor to answer their questions and give feedback on their works-in-progress. For a small annual membership fee you can get that type of support from CL editor Nancy Kay Clark and fellow circle members on an ongoing basis by joining the CommuterLit Writing Circle. There are two annual membership subscription levels: Silver CA$65; Gold CA$85. Member benefits include free editorial critiques (4,000 words max.), and discounts on critiques for manuscripts over 4,000 words, plus the opportunity to join monthly virtual writers group meetings and one-on-one workshops with Nancy to discuss your work. 

What can we expect to see from you in the near future?

We’ll be highlighting contributors’ titles in our gift giving guide for the holiday season. Our Valentine Week love story/poetry contest will be open for submissions in January 2024.

But really, the best way to find out about what’s coming up on CommuterLit is to sign up for our weekly newsletter, which is delivered to your inbox on Monday mornings. People can sign up from our home page.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

From the start, my goal has always been to find a sustainable way to pay all the contributors on an on-going basis. The contests are just one step towards that goal. I’m open to suggestions and feedback about how to do so going forward. Email me at admin-at-commuterlit-dot-com.

Check out the CommuterLit website: https://commuterlit.com/

Find Nancy Kay Clark on X (twitter): @commuterlit

Cover Image: Photo by Monica Silvestre on Pexels.com