| December 5, 2024
Lit Mag Sub Club Coach Eileen Toomey applies the Serenity Prayer's wisdom to literary magazine submissions, offering strategies for success in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Writers
Writers
Eileen Toomey
Biography
Eileen Toomey is the author of How to Make an Espresso Martini (Bottlecap Press, 2026). Her poems and essays appear in The Rumpus, Does It Have Pockets, Flash the Court, Contemporary Haibun Online, and elsewhere. “Immunotherapy/American Ghazal Helix” won second place in Cleaver Magazine‘s Form and Form-Breaking contest, judged by Diane Seuss, and earned nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She teaches at Project Write Now in Red Bank, NJ, and is a book inc writer.
Facebook: @eileen.toomey.16
Instagram: @eileentoomey
Journal Entries
| October 24, 2024
In her essay published in "Cleaver Magazine," book inc writer Eileen Toomey breaks down how she crafted her award-winning helix poem.
| October 17, 2024
Using actual examples of her bio and cover letters, book inc writer Eileen Toomey presents a practical guide to submitting to literary magazines.
| March 21, 2024
Eileen Toomey reflects on how her mother taught her to enjoy the small joyful moments during challenging times and how she gets to revisit those "glimmers" as she writes and revises her memoir.
| December 14, 2023
Memoir writer Eileen Toomey, whose poem was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Cleaver Magazine, gives us starter tips for submitting to literary magazines.
Publications
Debut Chapbook
- How to Make an Espresso Martini, Bottlecap Press March 2026
Hybrid
- November 2025 | “Widow Training [Field Notes]” | Flash the Court
- October 2025 | “How to Make an Espresso Martini” | Does It Have Pockets
Poetry
- April 2026 | “Our Dining Room Table,” | Contemporary Haibun Online
- September 2023 | “IMMUNOTHERAPY” | Cleaver Magazine, Second Prize, Form & Form-Breaking Poetry Competition
- Received a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nomination
- December 2022 | “At the Sip and Save, 1978” | Oyster River Pages
- October 2016 | “Cattle Trucks” | The Museum of Americana: A Literary Review
Nonfiction
- Fall 2024 | “Canaryville Girls” | Cleaver Magazine, Second Place, Duality Creative Nonfiction Contest, 2024
- March 2018 | “In Defense of Sinead O’Connor” | The Rumpus
- June 2017 | “You Were All Average” | Eastern Iowa Review
Craft Essays & Writing Tips
- March 2026 | “Prep Work” | Cleaver Magazine
- October 2024 | “It Started with a List: CRAFTING A HELIX POEM” | Cleaver Magazine
- September 2024 | “FIND THE CONTRAST: A Writing Tip” | Cleaver Magazine
- October 2023 | “DEADHEADING: A Writing Tip” | Cleaver Magazine
Newspaper Articles
- March 2023 | “Project Write Now: Prompting and Pivoting Writers in a Post-COVID World” | Two River Times
- June 2017 | “The Writers’ Tale: A Room of Their Own” | Two River Times
Blog
- June 2018 | “Embracing Rejection” | The Writers Institute