Publishing Diaries: Cate Gallivan

On her sci-fi story “Free Karen Reed,” published in Corner Bar Magazine

Welcome to Publishing Diaries! In each diary, you’ll meet a writer who has had a piece published in a literary magazine in the last year or so. They’ll share insights about writing, revising, submitting, and ultimately getting the piece published. Interested in sharing your journey? Let me know by filling out this form.

👋 Meet Cate Gallivan, born in Massachusetts in the late 20th Century. After formal studies in film scoring, classical piano, and piano technology, she received her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College in 2019. Through both sound and the written word, she seeks to tell stories. Her works have been published in literary magazines such as Nunum, Zig Zag Lit Mag, and Bewildering Stories. She writes The Serial Box on Substack.

Cate has 5 publications and would rate her experience level with submitting as Intermediate.

This Q&A with Cate will focus on her sci-fi story “Free Karen Reed,” (read it here) published in Corner Bar Magazine in January 2025.

How did this piece start?

I belong to a sci-fi writing group that has a fantastic balance between accountability and loosey-goosey freedom to write whatever strikes our fancy. We share a story with each other at the beginning of every month and give each other feedback. We rotate giving each other prompts but also remain open to not follow the prompt.

The idea for this piece came from my brother. He was out for a run and kept seeing “Free Karen Read” signs on people’s lawns but then got in an internet tangle looking up who this person was. It seemed like there might have been two Karen Reads who needed freeing—very confusing. This set us off on a rollicking discussion of timelines, parallel Karen Read universes, and other fancies.

*Note on Reed/Read: I heard the name but didn’t see it written down until after I finished the story. I just stuck to “Reed” because I was committed to the way it looked at that point.

When did you start writing it?

I started the first draft at the beginning of November 2023.

How long did you work on this piece for?

I worked for about 3 weeks off-and-on, then submitted it to my group in December 2023. From there, I made tweaks based on their feedback, and wrote two more stories with these characters, each from a different character’s perspective. Writing more in that world sent me back to the original to continue making edits and adjustments until July 2024.

How many drafts did you do?

I did 7 total drafts.

What was your revision process like?

I revise a lot before submitting to my writing group. The first few times through, I’m really telling the story to myself. Then I sit down and try to read it in a nuts-and-bolts frame of mind: do these sentences make sense? Are there dum-dum typos to fix? Grammatical errors? With each pass, I’m seeing prose I can clean up and ways to make the story smoother.

How did you know it was ready to submit?

It’s only a due date that prevents me from turning into a forever-tweaker. I know the members of my writing group well enough to know that if they say they are confused about something, that’s my problem and I need to fix it. If the feedback is positive, then that is good enough for me to submit it to the wider world.

How did you decide which publications to submit to?

I decided since no one was knocking on my door asking for stories that I would have to be my own agent. So, I made a spreadsheet to keep track of publications. I made a list of lit mags, their websites, editor info if I could find it, whether or not they pay, word-count limits, submission windows, and response times.

For the stories themselves, I use Submittable to track submissions and responses.

How many rejections did you get before the piece was accepted?

The story was rejected 2 times before it was accepted by Corner Bar Magazine.

What’s your dream journal to be published in?

It’s a thrill to be published. I’d love to see my stories in paying sci-fi publications, no lie, but I’ve had really great exchanges with editors who are doing this out of sheer love of the written word.

What are some journals you recommend other writers check out?

• Corner Bar Magazine: I love the way the stories look on the screen, very nice layout.

• Bewildering Stories: yes, the name really does say it all, definitely not stories you’ve read before.

• Zig Zag Lit Mag: super local (Vermont, Addison County, specifically), well-crafted print publication. My impression is that the editor, rather than going Hollywood on his lit mag, is trying to create and support a really cool, eclectic local community.

What advice do you have for other writers submitting their work?

Don’t wait! There are many places to submit to, just make submitting part of your writing groove. I have a folder on my desktop called “Submission Bling,” which has some generic submission cover letters and versions of my author bio that I can use to get over the submission hurdle. I adjust the patter to better fit the lit mag submission requirements, but don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time I want to submit a story.

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You Could Be Next!

Thanks for reading the latest installment of Publishing Diaries! I’m currently looking for more writers who want to share their publishing journeys. If you’ve had a piece published in a literary journal within the last year or so, and it’s available online for people to read for free, please fill out this form and I’ll be in touch!