As writers on this platform, we invest lots of time creating pieces that will appeal to our readers. One of the best ways to achieve that goal is submitting to successful publications.

What comes next is a list of the steps you should take before sending your work to a publication in the hopes of getting the coveted yes. This information comes from my experiences submitting to publications and working with writers as an editor.

Study the publication’s homepage.

You should do this before writing your piece or in the earliest stages of your draft. I like to call it the getting-in-the-mood phase.

Pay attention to the titles other writers use. Even better: read a ton of those articles, especially those on the “Trending” or “Editor’s Picks” sections. This will give you a better idea of what this publication is looking for. …

David Brooks once gave a speech at the University of Pennsylvania. He started cracking a few jokes and then, once the crowd was warm, got to business.

He discussed the importance of committing to the important stuff in life. Here’s what he said.

You have to surrender some freedom of choice to taste a higher freedom, the freedom that comes after you’ve settled on a direction, chained yourself to a cause and enlarged your capacities.

I’m someone who constantly half-asses the things I care the most about. It requires great effort to decide it has been enough, and I should just go all in. So, yeah, thank you, Mr. …

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

I do my usual scrolling down the interweb and find people who complain about the ginormous amount of snow piled up at their door. Show-offs! I look at the time on my cellphone: 2 pm. And the temperature? 84°F.

Yeah, that’s right! It’s the middle of January, but someone clearly forgot to tell my city because she keeps on being a hottie all year around.

Come sunset, things chilled out a bit. We reached 79°F. Wow.

I know what some of you will say. “Wow, wish I was there. The cold is really bad for my joints!” I hear you. Besides, you are probably right. Excessive amounts of snow make people’s lives more difficult. …

In this little song of us,
the one we wrote out of lust
and despair,
you always were the music

You were a tune that floated
near my heart and made me forget
I used to be alone and hungry

Me? Dear, I was the lyrics

I gave you lines that filled up
every crevice in your soul you had assumed
would forever remain empty

I gifted you words such as adoration, warmth
and tenderness, and I made sure the rhymes
landed in all of the right places

We played this ballad for ourselves,
we learned it by heart
until it became our number one…

My dear, you should know
I think of you every morning,
even though we must stay away

I picture my hands on you,
sending back the message,
“He is here!”
and my lips responding
with the widest smile

I feel you everywhere I go,
and in everything I do

I’m consumed in the urge to make this distance
disappear, to bend time to our will
and have the eternity we wish
we could enjoy every night

There’s a treasure I keep
deep into my heart, just for you —
my bare essence, nothing left to hide
and no secrets to hold me…

FICTION

Baby, I drove around town all day long. I sat on endless red lights, next to idiots swearing at their fellow drivers. Me? You know I prefer to bottle up my anger.

Oh! And I’m so tired.

I got home and set everything in its place. The meat in the fridge, the ice cream in the freezer, a few cans in the pantry. Let me start cooking now; let me do the dishes after.

I’m exhausted.

I devoted some time to work, a screen staring back at me with foolish tasks I never manage to finish. I drank more coffee than medically recommended and realized that I would not meet my ten thousand steps goal after four straight hours of sitting there. …

Oh, hello! Feeling exhausted again? You don’t even remember the last time you felt like you really rested, do you?

You washed all of the dishes, you helped the kids with their homework, and you are already planning next week’s meals. Then, you make a list of all of the errands you need to run tomorrow.

You do most of the cooking because your partner doesn’t have time or is just not good at it. You do all of the dishes because he doesn’t have time or can’t figure out how to use the dishwasher. …