Spotlight: Connecting the Literary World with samfiftyfour
samfiftyfour Open Mic during artoberVA 2022 at Restored Cup in Petersburg, VA
The literary community is a powerful, global network with the ability to connect writers through their words and shared experiences from all corners of the world. We spoke with Adam Bechtold, editor of the local literary magazine, samfiftyfour, on the story of how the publication came to be and discoveries in creative writing since. Read Adam’s words below:
CultureWorks: Who are you and what’s your story?
Adam Bechtold: My name is Adam Bechtold, I am the founder and managing editor of samfiftyfour. I’ve been a lover of literature for as long as I can remember. If you ask my mom she might tell you that I could read before I was able to speak. I studied English and Creative writing at Washington College where I met Dylan Hogan, the other main editor. We stayed friends since; he went on to get his MFA from the University of Washington and I joined the Merchant Marine and went to sea. In March 2020, I flew to the Persian Gulf to join a ship, and shortly afterward we were not allowed to leave. It was a particularly international crew on that ship and the only thing to do was to talk to one another. It was a unique time and everybody had a different context to how we all came to be together, so it inspired me to host an essay contest with Covid-19 being the topic. Once the contest was finished, I opened up the submissions to any topic with the intention of maybe posting a few on a website. The massive influx of submissions for our first issue was quite a shock. Due to the volume and my spotty internet connection on the ship, I brought Dylan into the loop to help sort through them and decide which ones would be accepted. After our first issue, the decision to make it a recurring print and digital magazine was an easy one.
CW: Tell me a bit about your relationship to your work in the literary arts. Do you personally gravitate towards particular themes/genres?
AB: I’m a reader first and foremost. I will read a little bit of anything here and there and I try not to be too preferential towards literary fiction.
CW: What do you value most about providing a publication that is submission-based?
AB: Really the beauty of the open submission process is that you never know what you’re going to get. For a while, we hosted various essay contests on different social issues. They were always a success so we may go back to that at some point, but even that seemed too limiting. We have no theme or topic requirements for any of our issues, and I love getting to see what people come up with when given a blank slate to say whatever they feel is important. It’s really eye-opening sometimes too to see that all of a sudden ten different people from all over the globe all decided to write about very similar things. You get a little sneak peek into the collective consciousness of the global community that otherwise we can only see looking back.
CW: How have you felt your work through samfiftyfour connect to the community around you? Have you discovered anything new since you started the magazine?
AB: It’s been very cool to get to read so much work from countries we otherwise don’t often think about in the literary world. We’ve published people from over thirty countries and have gotten submissions from many, many more than that. Before starting this project I probably wouldn’t have read more than a handful of writing from outside the US/UK, but now I get to open my laptop every day and read a dozen or more from every continent. In the age of the internet, we truly do live in a global community and it’s been a really great experience to connect with that community more.
CW: You have hosted poetry & open mic nights in the past. Is there a favorite memory or takeaway that has come out of these events?
AB: We did a reading in Louisville, Kentucky that was maybe a bit too soon after the height of Covid-19. It was after our second issue had come out and our pool of contributors who we asked to read was still fairly small. We had one reader drop out and another decide to read virtually; it was not shaping up to be a great event, but at the last minute we got a submission for Issue III that blew us away. It happened to come from not far outside Louisville. I remember Dylan messaging me saying, “We need to accept this right now and ask him to come read.” We did exactly that the day before the reading and the next day Devin Dettman showed up. Between his stage presence and his body of work, he stole the show and the event turned out great. It was such a lucky and unexpected way to welcome a new writer into our community.
samfiftyfour Open Mic during artoberVA 2022 at Restored Cup in Petersburg, VA
CW: Do you have creative processes for getting through writer’s block?
AB: Short answer is no. Sometimes you get it and sometimes you don’t. The important thing to remember is that writing is a skill that needs to be practiced and honed continually no matter what. Even on those days when you’re uninspired and you know nothing you write will be worthwhile if you force yourself to get something out its like putting a little bit in the bank for tomorrow. Eventually, you’re going to hit on something and you’ll be a lot more prepared for it than if you had just sat around waiting for inspiration. Other than that, a little bit of exercise goes a long way in getting your brain to work.
CW: For someone reading this who has never submitted creative writing to a publication such as samfiftyfour or may be feeling insecure about sharing their work for the first time in a public setting, do you have any advice for dipping your toes into that territory?
AB: I think people really underestimate the importance of submitting to journals to the creative process. So many people think of writing as a solitary art and that may be true up to a point, but if you ever want to release your work into the world then you are going to need to be able to view it from an outside perspective. Submitting makes it a lot easier to put your intended audience in focus and understand how you want them to react to your work. There is a big difference between a poem that is done and a poem that is submitted. The sense of finality that comes with submitting can really change how you’re able to look at your own writing.
CW: What do arts and culture mean to you? Why does it matter?
AB: We all have a sense of beauty whether we know it or not. From the way you arrange your furniture to the color of the car you drive, whether you listen to classical music or hip hop or birdsong or silence. Art is such an intrinsic piece of the world that it can be easy to overlook in the same way that you forget you’re constantly cycling air in and out of your lungs.
CW: What’s been inspiring you lately?
Well, it’s spring so my favorite thing right now is my garden. The cover photo for our upcoming issue is a bare plot of dirt with footprints and grass just starting to grow into it. It’s a reminder to really stop and look and appreciate the abundance of life in every square inch of the world that we often overlook. I feel the same way about writing and about the creative process. Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Find out more about samfiftyfour & purchase issues: https://samfiftyfour.com/
Keep up with samfiftyfour: https://www.instagram.com/samfiftyfour_literary/