Publishing Diaries: Craig M. Foster

On his fiction story “Vultures, American Vulture,” published in Quarterly West

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 writer Craig M. Foster. His work has appeared in TriQuarterly, Quarterly West, The Masters Review, J Journal, and Blue Mesa Review, among others. He has received The Masters Review Reprint Prize, the Nancy D. Hargrove Editors’ Prize for Fiction, and an Honorable Mention in the Pangyrus Fiction Contest. He lives in North Texas with his wife and sons. Find him at craigmfoster.com

Craig has 8 publications and would rate his experience level with submitting as Advanced.

This Q&A with Craig will focus on his fiction story “Vultures, American Vulture,” (read it here) published in Quarterly West in October 2025.

How did this piece start?

I heard a story about a friend who had adopted a small family of vultures that were living in her shed and returned yearly to roost there. I was surprised to learn that they were very gentle with humans, which is contrary to the dark and menacing perception that most of us have of vultures. This got me thinking about how we humans also do this with each other–we latch on to fears or misperceptions about entire groups of people, which can cause us to do pretty terrible things to one another.

When did you start writing it?

Winter of 2023

How long did you work on this piece for?

About 4 months

How many drafts did you do?

My process involves constant editing and tweaking from the very beginning, so it’s impossible to nail down a number of drafts.

What was your revision process like?

I usually write my stories from beginning to end, without jumping around to different parts of the story. I am in constant revision mode, so it can take me a really long time to complete even a single paragraph. But I usually have a pretty polished paragraph once I’m through. I know the conventional wisdom is to “just get something on the page,” and I’ve tried to do this. I just find it very difficult to move on to the next scene before I’m somewhat content with the previous one.

How did you know it was ready to submit?

I always had a good idea about how the story was going to end, and once I started writing it, it came together pretty quickly. I shared it with a few people that I trust, made some tweaks based on their comments, and then felt pretty confident with what I had.

How did you decide which publications to submit to?

I have a spreadsheet with a rough ranking of the publications that I’d be most excited to be accepted by. I started at the top and worked my way down.

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

42

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

Submit widely and don’t self-reject just because you think a certain publication is out of your league. You can actually learn a lot from the no’s. For this story, I received numerous rejections, but many of them were higher tiered from dream publications. I started to sense that an exciting acceptance might come, and I’m honored to say that it did.

---

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!