Hello dear friends, supportive relatives, curious clickers, and Internet passers-by brought here by the almighty forces of SEO.
A few weeks ago, the two of us (Bea & Isa) decided to start a website about writing. The momentous occasion went a bit like this:
“It’d be cool if we started a magazine, you know?”
“Totally. Like what?”
The Real Story
Actually, what we envisioned was an online extension of our many writing sessions together. In some, we would discuss everything we possibly could about writing as our brains became steadily more caffeinated. In others, we would basically ignore each other and just write. Either way, we would always leave these meeting with our spirits fortified and minds inspired – and our notebooks just a little bit fuller.
We enable each other.
Though writing is a solitary act, writers need a community, a group with shared interests. So, we planned this new venture to be geared towards young women writers. Writers who write for passion, profession, or vocation. Writers who have yet to start, writers who are deep in the thick of it, and well-established writers reporting back from the front lines. Writers who believe their WHOLE ENTIRE BEING is to be a writer, and writers who consider it a nice way to pass the time.
(Please excuse us when we wax poetic: as both of us are INFPs, it’s in our blood to be easily overcome by feels, but we’re trying to minimize this as much as we can.)
Why a site “for women”?
While this isn’t a “no boys allowed!” environment, we still see the necessity of building a digital space that is “safe” for female writers. We try to be independent of genre and have no aspirations of being a literary magazine. Isa writes creative nonfiction and teaches writing; Bea freelances and loves YA. We write completely different things but always find common ground in the act of writing itself.
Obviously, our own editorial preferences will shape the content, but we don’t care if you write chick lit or movie reviews or Ayn Rand pastiche. [Ed note: But we would probably not read your Ayn Rand pastiche.] In fact, one of our goals is to feature diverse experiences of writers of all types, from all over the world.
Get on with it!
This is how The Galvanizers came to be! It’s a magazine aimed at young women writers, and it’ll be launching in just a couple of weeks! Nothing too crazy – this is still a passion project for both of us. We’re working on getting our first issue together and are so excited about it!
Technically, a galvanizer is someone who coats metal with zinc (hurrah!). Not very much to do with writing.
OTW to galvanize the crap out of you. Source
However, a galvanizer is also someone who not only inspires people, but spurs them into action. It’s not enough to simply be inspired. For our first issue, we’re tapping some of the women who have galvanized us in one way or another to be contributors. We are honored to be able to share their words, stories, and experiences with more people!
Here are some facts:
- Our first issue will go up in early July.
- Our first issue’s theme is “You are the Sun”
- We publish on a monthly schedule.
- Our mascot is a hedgehog, who is currently nameless. Suggestions are welcome!
The site is a bit bare at the moment, so please bear with us! We can’t really make any promises yet as to what you might gain from the site, but if our stories help just one person, we’ll have succeeded. Best case scenario: what we do actually works, and we can keep this going for a long time 🙂
BE INVOLVED!
If you would like to be the first to know when our first issue drops (and get future updates on The Galvanizers) please subscribe to our newsletter. We promise not to spam you.
In each feature we like to recommend good reads and share reader progress updates – what are you working on? Please consider submitting a good book or progress update: details on our Contribute page.
If you would like to pitch a piece for the magazine, please check out our Contribute page.
You can also follow us on Twitter, where we will share bits and bobbles that have very little to do with our personal lives.
Any questions? Want to say hi? Drop a comment or shoot us an email at thegalvanizersmag@gmail.com. See you in a couple of weeks!
Love,
Bea & Isa
(Featured Image by Andr.V.S. [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
