In the past, for jack-of-all trades junior Natalie Sizemore, getting her work published has been — for lack of a better word — tedious.

Sizemore would submit an original photograph she took here and send e-mails of poems there, but the deadlines would scatter over days and the junior would end up feeling spread too thin.

Since joining New Literati, all of that has changed.

“Submitting to New Literati was, I guess you could say, a one stop shop,” Sizemore said. “I’m studying english writing, creative writing specifically, and I enjoy taking photos. Other than that I like art a lot. It’s just something I like to do and participate in.”

In the past Sizemore has submitted to Sorin Oak, but unlike Sorin Oak, New Literati is an online and print literary magazine that accepts a variety of content such as poetry, screenplays, videos, music and photography. Sizemore decided to give it a try.

“It’s always exciting to have work published,” Sizemore said. “I saw New Literati posted on social media that they were accepting submissions and I thought, why not?”

To reach a wider audience and receive more submissions from students like Sizemore, Editor-in-Chief Jasmine Kim, who will also be Life and Arts editor for Hilltop Views next semester, and senior Sydney Clarkson have been overhauling the entire New Literati literary magazine. The publication, which used to only be for new college and masters students, has since moved its focus towards undergraduate students.

“Our main goal is to reach a wider audience and get our name out there so that we can be a safe place for students to express themselves and have opportunities to be acknowledged and praised for their creativity,” Kim said. 

Run entirely by students without faculty involvement, the club publishes two online issues a year, one for fall and one for spring, and updates content on the website in between issues, while also publishing a single print issue for the school year.

Staffer for New Literati, Oliver Davis peer-reviews new submissions and discusses the future of the magazine, while also submitting his own individual pieces of work, most of which are creative-writing based.

“In the past I’ve done a lot of creative writing, but I always like to experiment with new types of work,” Davis said. “All of my works have a little piece of myself in them. One of my favorite pieces is actually this funny poem I wrote about waffles and how much I love them.”

Davis’ free-form writing is exactly what leading member of New Literati, Sydney Clarkson says, makes New Literati one-of-a-kind.

“Go with what feels natural,” Clarkson said. “Sometimes when we are writing or creating anything, we can get hung up on wanting sound like Jane Austen or e.e cummings. That isn’t necessary, your voice and your perspective is what makes your work unique.”

For potential new members or those interested in joining New Literati, meetings are in John Brooks Williams North every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Although the deadline for fall semester 2015 was Nov. 19, avid writers are encouraged to become a staff writer or photographer and produce regular content for the website.

As for Sizemore, she’s awaiting Dec. 4 when her work is officially published. In the meantime, she encourages others to publish their work with New Literati when the next deadline rolls around in April 2016.

“It’s a good way to force yourself to produce content, or refine previous work,” Sizemore said.

“It’s great for your portfolio and resume to publish work with New Literati. You have nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is your work doesn’t end up making it in the publication, but hey, at least you still put yourself out there and attempted to do something.”