by newsletter writer Jenna Duxbury

We’re accepting submissions for our final issue of the year now through August 15th! If you’re playing with a new piece or two, how do you know when a piece is “done”? I asked the Carolina Muse editorial team for their own takes on this question, and here’s what they said:

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Amanda Conover, poetry editor

For me personally, I classify a poem as finished when I comb through each stanza and feel confident that every word is meant to be that specific word. I like to give myself time & space away from each piece initially to create distance for when I revisit the poem. When I’ve gotten external feedback and rearranged any element that didn’t feel fully aligned with the poem, I can usually sense when it feels complete. Or, sometimes a poem still won’t feel done after this, and that’s okay too. That’s when I shelf it and either come back to it later, get more feedback from others, or use pieces of the poem to create something new.

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Aidan Melinson, stories editor

I like to approach it more as "am I done with this piece (for now)?" instead of "this piece is done," since I also try to think about the piece as a living thing that people engage with. So, I think "is this piece ready to keep changing, not from me editing it, but from an audience engaging with and interpreting it?" For me, I know a piece is done when I think I have nothing more to give it, but maybe a reader/viewer/listener will.

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Jacob Shores, music editor

When you find a pause in your workflow, take a step back and look at your piece. Don't overwork your piece – you can get so caught up in the details that you lose sight of the overall picture. Get out of your own way, and the work will tell you when it’s done. (This is true for visual arts as well as music, dance, written word, and others!)

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Madison Foster, editor-in-chief

I know I'm done with the creation process when new ideas start to feel like they take away from the piece more than they contribute to it. I often start small, with one line or sequence of words, and then I build out from there. So, at a certain point, adding more is just over-explaining or causing unintentional repetition. My editing process always involves plenty of cutting, and I know a piece is ready to share once it's cut down to the essentials.

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Misbah Chhotani, outreach coordinator

I think it’s something a lot of people wrestle with. For me, I know a piece is “done” when I stop trying to perfect it and start feeling like it’s honest. If it captures what I wanted to express, even imperfectly… if it makes me feel something, that’s usually the sign to let it go and share it.

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Jenna Duxbury, newsletter writer

I sense a piece is "done" when I feel that I've learned something new in the process of working on the piece, or succeeded in meeting some kind of challenge, or answered a question.

This is an oil study I did in 2020. I felt this study did what I wanted it to do when I saw how the light played with the subject's hair, when I was happy with the shape of her facial features and the blend of hues,

and when I was satisfied with the shape of the highlight on the apple.

How do you decide when a piece is ready to be shared with the world? Reflect on your own prior works, and look at what you're creating now. Send us your finished pieces in any art form by August 15th to be considered for publication in V.III!

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Muse: A Carolina Creatives Juried Art Competition

We had an incredible opening reception for the MUSE art competition on June 6th at The Artistry Gallery in Greenville, SC! See highlights from the event on our Instagram. Thank you to all our creators who submitted pieces for display and to our supporters who attended the event!

If you missed the opening reception, no worries! The gallery has viewing hours on Friday, July 4th, noon–5pm, and Friday, July 11th, 6pm–9pm.

Pieces will remain on display at The Artistry Gallery through July 25th. 

V.II is available now!

Our second issue of 2025 is available now in digital form! Visit our website at https://www.carolina-muse.com to read the latest from our creative community. The Greenville Center for Creative Arts carries extra print copies of various editions at their shop in Greenville, SC. All previous issues can be viewed for FREE in our archives.

Open for submissions now through August 15th

As mentioned at the top, Carolina Muse Literary & Arts Magazine is open for submissions now through August 15th! We’re looking for polished & thought-provoking pieces in any medium—visual art, poetry, short stories, photography, drawings, dance, original music, textiles, sculpture, woodworking, you name it.

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Please send us your pieces through Duosuma—we are no longer accepting any submissions via email. Full submission guidelines (along with a handy-dandy instruction video for Duosuma) can be found here.​