My Experience Working with WBS

by Aldrin Badiola (he/him)

Working with everyone this summer on the Young Writers’ WBS literary magazine made me realize how much fun the process of editing and publishing is when you aren’t doing it alone.

I run Artists from Maryland, a literary magazine I started up earlier in the year. Taking everything into consideration, editing for Artists from Maryland is an enjoyable and rewarding experience, and publishing our first issue was proof that it was possible; that what I wanted to do was possible.

But working with WBS YouthWorks this summer showed me how fun it can be to culminate a literary magazine with a larger editorial staff. I had many complications with Artists from Maryland’s inaugural issue—mainly that I was always busy with school, so it was difficult to also complete the editorial work necessary in a timely manner. In comparison, going to Impact Hub to work on the Young Writers’ WBS literary magazine with some of the most creative people I have met made the sometimes mundane process of publication work less mundane. 

I don’t doubt that I will choose to work with WBS on their Young Writers’ literary magazine for as many summers as I can. Reading work from young writers, as a young writer myself, is rewarding in its own way. 

My poetic voice is always changing, and that requires constant reading—constant intentional reading. In a sense, editing a literary magazine is the same way. Edit more issues to get accustomed to the publishing world, and edit those issues intentionally. If you’re an editor, you are editing something for the world to see, so edit with care.

Aldrin Badiola (he/him) is a Filipino poet. A Best of the Net nominee, his works can be found in Cutbow Quarterly, Fleeting Daze Magazine, and elsewhere. He is the editor-in-chief of Artists from Maryland. He can be found at aldrinbadiola.carrd.co.