There's this internal consensus that teen writers are only awesome if they have work published in really selective and hard-to-get-into litmags as a teen. And as someone who does...not have those awesome publication credits, I'm tired of that mentality and I want it to change.

I think it’s really sick that someone can be published at such a young age, but I don't think it should matter where you get that work published. A small indie zine or friggin AGNI. Both are great homes and labours of love. One just publishes more established writers than teens.

Call me crazy but you don't have to be published in litmags with 0.0000000001% acceptances rates to be considered a great writer or even just a writer, point blank

I've been submitting my poems for three years now and I really only have publications in a couple "big/emerging places". KD I guess, Ghost City, Mineral, Four Way. There's probably a few more. I think the rest are either small litmags ran by or contests for...youth.

We gotta acknowledge the gatekeeping found in today's literary world. We rank literary journals based on who they publish and how many writers they publish. Who decides which litmags have merit? Who decides which writers are published? Who gets book deals? Whose stories get told?

I don't want to detract from the achievements of some brilliant young writers who are getting published in some really top-tier litmags. Yet we have to ask: why are these litmags...top-tier?

We have to acknowledge the pyramid scheme. Who built the pyramid? Who's on top of it?

Also if I'm making some terrible points feel free to tell me. I say stupid things sometimes and maybe this thread is one of those things.