Publishing Diaries: Richard Leis

On his horror poem “Phantom Taste of Apricot on My Tongue,” published in Nightmare

Welcome to the first post in a new series called Publishing Diaries! In each diary, you’ll meet a writer who has had a piece published in the last year. They’ll share insights about writing, revising, submitting, and ultimately getting the piece published. Interested in sharing your journey? Check out the link at the end of this post.

Meet writer Richard Leis. Richard writes literary, horror, and speculative poems and stories that have been published in The Deadlands, F&SF, Nightmare, other literary and speculative journals, and anthologies from Crone Girls Press, House of Zolo, Weird Fiction Quarterly, and Wising Up Press. He was runner-up for The Paulann Petersen Award for Poetry in 2024 and a finalist for the 2025 Rhysling Awards.

Richard has approximately 40 publications and would rate his experience level with submitting as Advanced.

This Q&A with Richard will focus on his horror poem “Phantom Taste of Apricot on My Tongue,” published in Nightmare in July 2024.

How did this piece start?

I remembered my mom canning fruit from when I was young, and she'd fill up these little squat thermoses with cherries or peaches from the Mason jars as dessert for school lunches. In particular, I remembered how I pretended cherry juice was cough syrup. I was a weird little kid. As I describe in the poem, I accidentally choked on juice one time in the lunchroom and sprayed it all over my friends. I wanted to write about this moment, how it felt, and how my friends reacted.

When did you start writing it?

I keep first drafts and fragments of poems handwritten in notebooks or typed in digital notes. I wrote the first draft of "Phantom Taste of Apricot on My Tongue" in a notes app on February 28, 2019. That day appears to have been a productive one of writing new poems.

How long did you work on this piece for?

I worked on this poem on and off for nearly 5 years.

How many drafts did you do?

11.

What was your revision process like?

I go through my notebooks and files, looking at first drafts, seeing which ones interest me again, which ones suggest edits. I copy and paste or type the old draft into a new file and play with it. I rewrite lines, add new images and thoughts, try out stanzas and lines of different lengths, look for unexpected line enjambments, and see where playing leads me. I revisit these poems periodically over the following months and years to reshape them.

With this poem, I ended up adding many new lines and images and ideas. The poem transformed from something short and silly to something more serious and horrific. I interviewed my mom at one point and asked her about her canning process and the nomenclature of canning. I added this to my online research, where I searched for canning-related words and language to bring into the poem.

How did you know it was ready to submit?

While I was still making radical changes and adding new details, I kept editing the poem, though I also submitted it several times before it was ready. I've learned to be more patient before I submit. Eventually, the changes I was making were minor, and the poem felt ready to go.

How did you decide which publications to submit to?

Nightmare is my favorite horror magazine. I was looking for poems to submit to Nightmare's call at the time. "Phantom Taste of Apricot on My Tongue" stood out as mature enough and nearly ready. I got it ready and then submitted it.

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

The poem was rejected six times, mostly in 2019 and 2020, when I submitted the poem before it was ready.

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

Be patient with the revision process before you submit, and keep writing new poems. Some poems may take years before they are ready to submit.

Try to be patient with the submission process, too. I'm trying to get to the point where I am writing regularly, finishing projects, and collecting a few poems in packets that feel ready to send out to appropriate markets for consideration, rather than hastily putting together packets for a call. Let the poem lead you, not the submission call.

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You Could Be Next!

Thanks for reading the first installment of Publishing Diaries. I’m currently looking for more writers who want to share their publishing journeys. The only requirements are that your piece:

1. Must have been published in a literary journal within the last year

2. Should be publicly available online for people to read for free

If you’re interested, please fill out this form.

👋 Hi there, and thanks for reading! I’m Janelle Drumwright, a writer, teacher at The Writers Studio, instructor at Chill Subs, and reader at The Masters Review. I help writers strengthen their work and teach them how to submit to literary journals. Find me at janellewrites.com.