Our featured client Griff Foxley was originally drawn to the Beat poets, but then fell hard for the poetry of William Blake. The diversity of his poetic inspiration shows in the experimental nature of some of his work and the varied selection of literary journals that have accepted his poems, including The Alembic, Burningword, Crack the Spine, Evening Street Review, The Penmen Review, Red Savina Review, and Rougarou.

Watch Griff’s video and read on to learn how Writer’s Relief made a big difference in his writing life.

For almost twenty years, I was passionate about writing and would pursue it off and on through my personal practice and through writing groups and classes. But I never submitted and rarely shared my writing with anyone outside of workshops. Call it perfectionism, or fear of putting my work out there, or some combination of the two. But, while for the better of those two decades, keeping my work to myself felt crucial to my craft—something shifted two years ago. I realized that sharing my work, stepping wholeheartedly into that vulnerability, and integrating that beautiful part of my identity were crucial elements of my creative self and artistic process.

And yet, this drive to submit and share was met with the incredible friction of “Where do I start?” With so many journals and opportunities, and an already full life—family, job, writing, activism—the prospect of wading through the marketplace with any circumspection or diligence felt daunting, to say the least.

And that’s where Writer’s Relief came in. My dear friend recommended I submit to Writer’s Relief, and I was thrilled to be accepted by the Review Board. Since that fateful day, I’ve followed their outstanding process and enjoyed their encouragement. I learned about and submitted to over two hundred journals at their direction. I received (mostly with love) the droves of rejections, until gradually finding seven journals thus far that have aligned and accepted my pieces for publication.

More About Griff Foxley

Griff is a member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective, and is currently attending the Jack Grapes’ Method Writing Workshop.

A New York City native, Griff has lived in Los Angeles since 2005 and works as a food business entrepreneur, social justice activist, and writer. He holds a bachelor of arts in English literature from Vassar College and an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. He enjoys cooking, listening to music, bike riding through the city, and spending time with his wife and two young kids.

Find out more about Griff at his website.