Thanks so much for being a reader! Readers have two main responsibilities: giving feedback on the reflections for accepted pieces and helping determine which pieces The Orange Couch will be publishing in Issue 5. As The Orange Couch will only be accepting 20 pieces for publication, readers are encouraged to let the managing editor know if any piece resonates with them by reaching out via Slack or in one-on-one meetings (scheduled by the managing editor)!
Since each submitter has already sought out feedback for their piece, The Orange Couch board will work on the assumption that writer work aligns with The Orange Couch mission and qualifies them to be published in the Writing Center’s literary magazine. To get a sense of last year’s submissions, please check them out here.
For both the reading and the reflection categories below, readers will be sent an email to their DePaul email address with the Google Doc link to the assigned piece(s).
Round 1 consists of selecting the 20 pieces we will be publishing for the issue and will take place over [period of time, TBD]. Each piece will be assigned two readers who will be blocked off for 30 minutes on WCOnline to read three poetry pieces. Readers will be blocked off for 30 minutes to read prose for pieces 8 pages or less. For pieces more than 8 pages, readers will be blocked off for an hour.
During round 1, it is not necessary to take notes (unless the reader would like to!) or turn anything in. The reader will have a check-in via Slack or Face-to-Face (schedule permitting) to share their thoughts with the managing editor on whether or not a piece should be accepted.
Each piece and its assigned reader will be noted on the last section of this document. This document will be updated to include what piece and time each reader is blocked off to read during their placeholder (see TOC Reading Placeholders).
Readers should contact the managing editor via Slack to note whether any additional time is needed to finish reading the piece(s) during a different shift or if the piece(s) need to be reassigned due to a time conflict.
Round 2 consists of reviewing the reflections submitted alongside the 20 accepted pieces. Readers will be blocked off for 30 minutes to read two sets of reflections (4 reflections total). Each writer is asked to respond to two reflections upon the submitting. Once the pieces are selected, the managing editor will include the two reflections on the first page of the Google Doc. Similar to our Written Feedback modalities, readers will include feedback on the first page of the document (see the “Reflections” section of “What Should Readers Look For?”)
Here are some questions to think about while considering which pieces TOC should publish: