Our inaugural issue attracted a wide audience and prompted readers to reach out via email and social media to share their experience with WCC, which they reported so unlike their engagement with typical journals. Readers described getting lost in the pages, devouring every article, essay and word. They described the journal as “a breath of fresh air,” expressing gratitude for a new publishing, knowledge-making space that “create[s] and nurture[s] hope.” Two pieces, “We Read Your Letter” and “Still Christmas,” were nominated for Best of Rhetoric and Composition Journals as representative of the alternative kinds of writing academic writers (and readers) engage with and value.

We try to communicate the spirit captured in the inaugural issue when we visit with writers and reviewers about the journal; we reiterate our desire for writing that engages “the human,” that grapples with multiple subjectivities, that opens space for writers and readers to bring their entire selves to the diverse acts of collaborative meaning-making writing invites. We regularly witness embodied reactions to our vision.  We see eyes widen and tear up, smiles spread and lips tremble, hands cover hearts, heads bow. Academics and intellectuals crave the connection that happens when we stop hiding behind “objectivity,” “data analysis,” the structure of IMRAD. We hope all writers feel welcome to tell, and honored to receive, the stories behind the performances and products within traditional academic contexts and publication venues. 

For many, writing in this way can feel unfamiliar and scary. To support the process, we invest in mentoring all kinds of writers in all parts of the process. Our reviewers read rigorously and generously with a commitment to work with writers to accomplish their own goals for their manuscripts, whether that means publishing with Writers: Craft & Context, or finding a more fitting home for the work. So if you feel hesitant to submit your writing, if you can’t shake the feeling that it’s “not ready,” send it anyway.  We are eager to be in community with you as you develop your ideas and drafts.  And if you, like us, are sustained and invigorated when you are in conversation with courageous writers taking risks and pushing limits, send us a note so we can add you to our growing community of reviewers.