Interview…with moonshine editor, Robin Fay

How did moonshine evolve?

"It started out as Southerncreativitiy Journal, but that was a little bit boring," says Robin Fay, editor of moonshine, an online journal of art, literature and creativity. Southerncreativity.com is the parent site, which began with five friends batting around the idea of creating a collaborative space where artists could meet.

"A virtual studio where we could meet and get feedback, talk about art and somehow keep our creativity stoked," she explains, but the concept didn't really work out like they planned and they had the domain name paid up for two more years. Fay suggested they find another use for the space, a magazine. The group selected moonshine because it represented so much to them - glimmer of hope, the waxing and waning of creativity, the forbidden.

"At some point, most every artist has turned to their art at night only after toiling away the daylight working a day job."

So the year-old moonshine's vision is to support those creative artists, particularly southern artists, be they visual artist or writers or a combination of both, giving light to their artistic vision and creativity. The latest issue boasts contributors from across the south and from many walks of life, such as students, professors, journalists, librarians and photographers, among others.

What kind of submissions does Fay want for moonshine?

"Storytelling that creates a visual image and interesting art," she states. "The biggest reasons I reject a writer are that (1) I don't sense how it will fit in with the other pieces, (2) there is no connection to art or the South, or (3) the writer/artist isn't really looking for a collaborative effort."

Currently, Fay receives about 40 submissions for each bimonthly issue. She rejects about half of them. From writers, she looks for short stories, poetry, essays about art, nonfiction, and reviews (book, movie and art). She also seeks podcasts and videocasts and one of her favorite features is "writings from the studio" by artists, discussing the art process. She tries to balance each issue between creative writing, writings from the studio, essays and articles. Prior to each issue, she'll send out to regular contributors quotations, word associations and other prompts.

"I'm not necessarily looking for professional writers," Fay adds. The magazine does not pay at this time. However, moonshine's readership grows every month with the June issue bringing in approximately 3200 readers.

How much work goes into producing an online arts journal?

"Surprisingly enough, it is not a full time job." Fay is an artist, writer and web designer when she's not editing moonshine. She says the schedule is set, there's a stable of regular contributors and she is part of the development project, PacerCMS, that developed the software that drives the magazine so she's firmly in control.

"The magazine combines all of my interests," she says. "It is putting together bits and pieces to create a whole, it is both writing and visual arts, and it lets me continue to do some web design."

At just over one year old, moonshine is in its infancy. Still it is an innovative and stylish journal with a steady growth pattern. In short, it's a lot to be proud of, and Fay is, but she's not satisfied. She already has a plan for the magazine's second year, such as broadening the coverage of the performing arts and increasing multimedia content.

"My goals for next year are to continue to strengthen the core contributors and to move moonshine toward financial independence, either through a grant or individual donations," Fay says, adding, "(and) to continue to grow and to succeed and to be a project that we all can be proud of."




You can explore moonshine here and you can learn more about editor Robin Fay on her website.