From sharing jobs to paying writers.

500+ pitches, a growing vision, and the work ahead.

I’m currently making my way through 500+ pitches and I don’t think I have the words to fully express what it means to be entrusted with the weight of your stories.

I’ve read enough to know how much thought and heart has been poured into these submissions. I’m genuinely moved and at times a little emotional because every pitch represents the result of someone’s lived experience, hard-earned perspective, and the hope that their words might find a home here and I feel the responsibility of that.

When I announced this in-house publication I was carrying the memory of more failed launches than successful ones simply because the vision was often bigger than the resources I had available to build it. I believed deeply in the idea of not just pointing writers toward opportunity but becoming a paying market myself. Even after commissioning the first story part of me wondered whether it would truly become the kind of place writers wanted to be part of.

These pitches have answered that question.

Seeing more than 500 of you raise your hands and say, “I’d like to write for RWJ” has made something feel real that for a long time existed only as a vision.

I’m doing my best to give every submission the attention it deserves. It may take me a little while to work through them all but I want you to know this means far more to me than simply receiving your work. It means you’ve trusted me with your ideas, believed in this publication, and helped transform what began as a dream into a living editorial home for writers.

If you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you. Your support is what allows these pitches to become commissioned stories and writers to be paid fairly for their work. If you’d like to support in other ways, there are a few additional options below:

And if you’ve been considering upgrading, this is exactly what your subscription makes possible.

There are hundreds of ideas waiting in my inbox and every new paid subscription expands my ability to say yes more often, commission more pieces, and put more money directly into writers’ pockets.

Thank you for believing in RWJ.

With deep gratitude,

Melissa Tripp, Founder of RWJ