Call for Submissions: Moments of Change guest contributor series

New! Moments of Change series is now open for submissions.

We are constantly changing—with tiny course corrections and no-turning-back-now awakenings. Amid Life is about reinvention, tenacity, and self-discovery—the hard work of becoming who we are.

I invite you to share your stories using a simple prompt:

Tell us about a moment when everything changed.

It could be a career pivot, a realization, a heartbreak, a liberation, a reckoning. Whatever it is, however you want to tell it (personal essay, flash CNF, poetry, art, or photography), I want to hear about it. More than that, I want to feel it in my bones.

I want to learn from your story, and I want to shout it from the rooftops!

Each month, I’ll feature one complete essay in the Moment of Change series and send it to my subscribers without a paywall. From time to time, I may also share short excerpts from other submissions—always with your name attached, so more voices are heard (especially women and other marginalized people).

What to send (and not to send)

• Honest essays, stories, and poetry up to 1,200 words.

• Include your name and email address.

• Please do not include a bio or photo—yet! I like to read as blind as possible to keep the focus on the story. If your piece is selected for publication, we’ll connect, because of course, I want the world to see and know who you are!

How to send

• Email your work to amidlife.moments@gmail.com

• Paste text into the body of the email or attach an MS Word doc for prose/poetry.

• Preferred formats for image files: JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png), >1000 px wide and under 2MB, please.

Then what happens?

• I will try to respond to every submission within a month, but no promises!

• If your essay is a good fit, I’ll reach out via email at least one month prior to a scheduled publication date.

• We might do one round of edits together, then I’ll ask for a headshot, short bio, and one link (in addition to your Substack) where readers can find and follow you.

Rights and reach

• You keep the rights to your work. By submitting, you give me permission to publish it on my Substack first.

• After publication, you can post and cross-post to your heart’s content. I’d be grateful for credit and links to catherinehpalmer.substack.com

• While this is an unpaid series, I’ll share the social media assets with you and promote your work on Notes and other social channels.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

Work hard. Be brave. Believe.

Catherine

Sensitive topics are welcome—please flag if any part of your work may be triggering (suicide, grief, violence, etc.). Submissions that demean or target others won’t be considered and may be reported if in violation of Substack’s content guidelines.