Here at Inkblots, we’re always on the lookout for submissions from aspiring writers looking to be published. If you’ve written a poem or a piece of short fiction and you’d like our editors to take a look at your submission, then send us an email to theinkwellwriting@gmail.com.

We’re currently particularly interested in works that use the following themes as part of their main inspiration. Closing dates for submitting pieces are on the last day of the previous month, as detailed below.

• October
  Theme: Inkblots’ Hallowe’en Scare Fest
  Closes September 30
• The Winter Issue; November & December
  Theme: Magic in the Moonlight
  Closes November 30

We have a few guidelines if you are looking to submit, though, so make sure you check them out.

• We welcome any length of submissions, as well as any genre.
• If you’re submitting a piece that’s longer than 1,000 words it may be split into separate posts and published over a numbers of days, weeks or months depending on our scheduling. Generally we prefer to publish shorter pieces, as it works better for our blog format as well as our readers.
• When emailing your submission please send it as an attachment and not in the body of the email.
• We expect pieces to be formatted correctly prior to submission as it gives the editor more scope to focus on your work.
  1.5 line inch spacing
  Any speech in your piece should be separated by one full line.
  Poetry does not need to be formatted.
• In the body of your email please let us know the following:
  Your name and your chosen online alias (if you wish to be known as such).
  What inspired you to write the piece.
  The genre – so we can categorise it correctly.
• Those familiar with the blog will understand we use large pictures as a featured image. If you have an image you’d like us to use that you have the rights to, then send it as an attachment in the email. If not, please be aware that we will source a suitable image for publication.
• Once you’ve submitted your piece to us, it should take us no longer than a few working days to get back to you. If we like your piece and agree to publish it, we will let you know when you should expect it to be published. On the first correspondence, you will most likely receive the publication month, but on the second correspondence you will receive a firm date.
• All authors retain their rights to their original work and can resubmit their piece to other publications.
• Inkblots does not currently offer any payment for submissions.

Rules Regarding Half Hour Challenge / Fiction Frenzy  Submissions

Both the Half Hour Challenge and Fiction Frenzy are run by Inkblots in order to inspire our contributors to write on a regular basis.

For the HHC in particular, there will be a new theme each month which could be an image, a single word, phrase or song lyric. But here’s the tricky part: we want you to write this in exactly half an hour! Themes will be posted in our monthly editorials, (and on Twitter, if we remember) so keep an eye out for them. We publish the best HHCs each month and we’ll notify you by email if we’ve chosen yours.

For the Fiction Frenzy, external Inkblots contributors (so those who are not members of our writing forum) may email them across to us, where we’ll then add them into a specific entry folder. For specific details on how to submit for both challenges, see the bullet points below.

• If you’re looking to submit a piece for the Half Hour Challenge / Fiction Frenzy to us, then make sure you title the email: Half Hour Challenge Submission / Fiction Frenzy Submission.
• Submit as an attachment or in the body of the email, we’re not fussy.
• If this is your first submission to us, just let us know your name and online alias, as well as any other contact information you’d like us to know.
• As this is a Half Hour Challenge / Fiction Frenzy and devised solely for Inkblots, we do reserve the first digital publication rights to this piece, but writers will retain their original rights.