Submissions Coordinator

Where Are They Now?: Michaela Stephens

Superstition Review

Michaela Stephens was a Senior majoring in Literature, Writing, and Film with a Creative Writing concentration and an intern for Superstition Review.

Superstition Review: Which issue did you work on with Superstition Review and what was your position?

Michaela Stephens: I helped with issue 5. I was the Submissions Coordinator.

SR: What skills did you take away from the experience?

MS: I learned how to better structure my workflow and how to motivate myself with a long-term schedule by producing weekly reports.

SR: Creatively, what are you currently working on?

MS: In terms of large projects, I’m sort of in between. As for small projects, I’m still writing for my blog, Scriptorium Blogorium.

SR: What are some of your career highlights after leaving SR?

MS: Submitting my senior project to a publisher and starting a seminary pre-service class. Oh, and getting hired at Chandler Gilbert Community College as a substitute writing tutor.

Meet the Interns: Michaela Stephens, Submissions Coordinator

Superstition Review

Michaela Stephens is a senior majoring in Literature, Writing, and Film with a Creative Writing concentration.

Superstition Review: What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

Michaela Stephens: I am the Submissions Coordinator. My job is to log in to our submissions and contributor spreadsheets information about…surprise, submissions and contributions! I post the work to the correct discussion board for the editors to read and then log their verdicts into the spreadsheet. I also notify submitters if their submissions did not conform to our guidelines. (Yes, I’m the bad guy who sends form letters.)

SR: How did you hear about Superstition Review and what made you decide to get involved?

MS: One of my coworkers in the Writing Center was interning with Superstition Review and she talked about what she was doing a fair amount. I decided I wanted to get involved because it sounded like it would be good experience and a very helpful addition to my resume. Also, I thought it might be very interesting.

SR: What are you hoping to take away from your Superstition Review experience?

MS: I want to take away a thorough knowledge of how the publishing world works and why things are done the way they are.

SR: Describe one of your favorite literary or artistic works.

MS: Only one? You want to ask a bibliophile to describe just one of her favorite literary works? Impossible! I cannot do it! I cannot choose only one!

Bible, Book of Mormon, Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, L. M. Montgomery, Mark Twain, George Elliot, Orson Scott Card, etc.

SR: What are you currently reading?

MS: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I haven’t had enough exposure to Dickens.

SR: Who would be the Superstition Review contributor of your dreams?

MS: Orson Scott Card. His stories are very psychological, but also very accessible.

SR: Do you write or create art? What are you currently working on?

MS: For the last few years I’ve been predominately a writer, but I do have an artistic strain as well. I did pretty well in a sculpture class I took in Austin, Texas, and I still have a mask project hanging on my wall that I made for that.

Right now, I am working on a piece of genre fiction about a spoiled prince who has to marry someone from a specific town or he won’t inherit the kingdom.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

MS: Doing homework, working at the Polytechnic Writing Center, blogging, reading, reading, reading. Throw in weekly cub scout den meetings, a visit to the temple, church attendance, church choir, and you’ve gotten a picture of most of my time.

SR: What is your favorite mode of relaxation?

MS: Undoubtedly reading, but after sitting down at the computer all day it is hard to sit and read some more, so then I either go running or I go for a walk with my husband.

SR: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

MS: I see myself as a published author of several novels, and a professional organizer. If children don’t come. If children come, I’ll be a stay-at-home mom who scribbles away in the early morning hours.

Meet the Interns: Megan Kiwor, Submissions Coordinator

Superstition Review

megankiwor_0Megan Kiwor, Submissions Coordinator, is a member of the Content Team here at SR. She is a sophomore of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, majoring in English: Creative Writing.

Superstition Review: What do you do for SR?

Megan Kiwor: I receive the submissions sent to SR, organize all the information into a spreadsheet, then post the works for the respective editors to review.

SR: How did you hear about or get involved with Superstition Review?

MK: I received an email about Superstition Review having an internship program and really wanted to be a part of it.

SR: What is your favorite section of SR?

MK: I think it would have to be the Poetry section because I love poetry, I’m always writing myself so it’s interesting to read other people’s thoughts and ideas made into poetry.

SR: What job, other than your own, would you like to try out in the journal?

MK: I think I would like to try, of course, a job in the poetry group but also maybe something with events for SR.

SR: What are you most excited for in the upcoming issue?

MK: I think that I was a part of it–that’s a pretty cool thing knowing you worked on getting a literary magazine going, especially when being involved with writing is what you’d like to do with your life.

SR: What was the first book you remember falling in love with and what made it so special?

MK: Among the Hidden was the first novel I read that I loved. It was about society controlling the population rate and food supplies by only allowing families to have two children. I read it in 4th grade, and I think even then I found “what if” stories fascinating. I liked it because it wasn’t too far out of the realm of possibility but it wasn’t going to happen tomorrow either.

SR: What are you currently reading?

MK: Currently I’m re-reading Canterbury Tales for an English class and I’m starting the next book, a teen girl read, called Private. I started it when I went to private high school and it was interesting comparing it to my high school, and then I just started loving the series.

SR: What artist have you really connected with, either in subject matter, work, or motto?

MK: Emily Dickinson was the first poet I ever read, I think in 5th grade. Her work really inspired me and got me interested in writing. I can still remember the poem I memorized in 5th grade for a class.

SR: Do you write? Tell us about a project you’re working on.

MK: I write every free moment I have. I started writing poetry in 7th grade and since then I haven’t been able to stop. This last summer I put all my poems and short stories together in a journal so I can keep them in one place, my collective of poems and stories I hope to one day publish.