Meg Toth

Fiction writer. 2024 & 2025 Pushcart Prize nominee. Professional Editor at Birchwood Editing. Reader at Conjunctions. Lover of birds, books, films, and games.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

So excited to be a part of @PitheadChapel’s new issue! If you’re a fan of the Gothic genre, you might like my story, “You Will Not Choose Your Own Adventure.” Can’t wait to read all the other pieces!

[Pithead Chapel @PitheadChapel]

Our September issue is live! Read here: https://t.co/Ri63vaFSWl

Words:
CAROLINE PLASKET
@adam_mcomber
CAMERON MACKENZIE
@MegTothWrites
@MrBrianBenson
@MikeCopperman
@fowleriter
MRITYUNJAY MOHAN
JAMES KING

Cover art: JULES FENNELL

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@MariaA6557 Thank you for the shout out! 💕

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp We are living parallel lives! (Except I haven't actually taken the leap with the nonfiction yet... just keep dreaming.)

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp Already got one today and am anticipating more.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp @bronwengwriter I only have three stories on sub, but the agent queries definitely help. (Last year I had six stories and started querying around April and still made it.) You can do it! Haha.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp @bronwengwriter (And if anyone wants to see my rejection boards, I'm happy to share them! I actually made my goal of 100 last year. And, at 36 already this year, I'm poised to hit it again.)

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp UGH. I'm so sorry. Some of them just feel worse than others, right? And if it makes you feel better, last week I got a rejection from an agent who'd requested my full manuscript, and I cried. In public.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@MonsterGarou @SheenaH33 Identifying AI writing is less about vocabulary (though that can be a factor) and more about grammar and syntax.

[Jane Schoenbrun @sapphicspielbrg]

Solidarity to cinema workers!!

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@timgill924 And this is why I left academia after staying a way-too-long 16 years.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp I mean, these are kind of amazing. I say they each are celebration-worthy. (I got a tiered rejection from One Story and felt like I deserved champagne.)

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp Get an agent for the novel I’m currently querying and finish the first draft of the one I’m currently working on. I’m dreaming big! 🤞

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp I don't usually ask, but I'm tempted right now. I have a goal of hitting 100 rejections a year--I have a poster with (themed) stickers and everything--and I'm currently at 99. 99! Surely one more person can reject me before the year ends.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

So this happened! So grateful to have a published with the amazing Pithead Chapel.

[Pithead Chapel @PitheadChapel]

Congratulations to our 2024 Pushcart nominees:

Carrie Grinstead
@MegTothWrites
@CleoLeero
@tngmsp
Naana Eyikuma Hutchful
Leslie Harrison
Ace Chu

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@AHowroyd @Stephen_Ronson My guess is that the mass exodus has less to do with content (mine is also fine) and more to do with who owns this site.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp 🤣

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

In case anyone wants to check out the story I just published in the Saturday Evening Post!
The Birds of 2020 https://t.co/eD90irVqP7

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp Also useful that you have most of the mags I’ve appeared in in your top 100. 🤣

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@brecht_dp Awww. Thank you so much! This story is much more traditional than my usual speculative fare, so this means a lot. ☺️ Also, I’ve been obsessively going through your new ranking. Thank you for all your work!

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@andrea_wagner__ @celinehenne Do we? Why? I left in May and haven't looked back since.

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@CAKitchener And we can tell ourselves all sorts of stories about why it’s ok to stick around. (In my case, about the students I could support and in yours about the reporting you could do.) But at what cost?

[Meg Toth @MegTothWrites]

@CAKitchener My advice to you/your colleagues: resist. And if that doesn’t work: quit. Might sound overly simplistic, but I write from the perspective of someone who gave up a tenured full professorship when my institution became corrupt. Don’t stick around. It’s not worth your soul.