The cat's name is Ruby. She's in charge of brush maintenance.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
What You Are Doing Right
We are reading submissions now, trying to select not just good poems, but poems that really take us forward, that would work together in an issue that will, we already know, be very eclectic. It’s not as if we’ve asked for poems on a theme. That’s a possibility to explore for later.
We publish two issues a year, but we get submissions year-round. What’s great is when the exact right poems arrive just about when we are putting together the issue. Then we can accept them instantly: we know how they’ll fit, and the poets get letters from us very quickly.
But when good poems arrive just after we’ve published an issue and we aren’t sure what the next issue is going to look like, we tend to hold those poems until the next issue gels. This means that when we find some of the poems will not work, and we have to reject them, the rejection has been so delayed that the person who submitted them must be wondering what on earth has happened—or else has forgotten about them completely. We have not forgotten, though we may be looking frantically for those poems when an editor has taken them home to go through one final time, or when our office has been packed up and moved to another building, both of which just happened between December and January.
What you are doing right, when you are doing it right, is just amazing to think about.
First, you are sending your work out. That takes organization (especially with the constant changes in postage) and courage, or possibly enthusiasm. When I send work out, I am at that moment so pleased with what I have written that I cannot imagine anyone would reject it. The next day, however, or even the second after it goes out, I am certain it is all horrible and will be returned as soon as someone has read it (after it has been sitting around for months waiting to be read). I am impressed by your sheer bravery in putting poems (or fiction or non-fiction) in the mail.
Second, you are writing. I don’t know where you find the time to write or the ideas—life is busy!—, but I am happy you have managed to do so.
When you send your work out, I recommend a few practical considerations: 1) use the Forever stamps; 2) make sure your SASE is fully addressed and included; 3) make sure your bio is included, with some means of contacting you if by any chance you are to move before the issue comes out.
Finally, you keep writing. You keep sending work out regardless of rejections and delays and rejections. Because as you keep writing, and as you keep thinking about writing, you are getting better at doing it. Eventually everything will all come together: the poem sent to the right place at the right time, the acceptance that lifts you until you are walking on air instead of ground.
We publish two issues a year, but we get submissions year-round. What’s great is when the exact right poems arrive just about when we are putting together the issue. Then we can accept them instantly: we know how they’ll fit, and the poets get letters from us very quickly.
But when good poems arrive just after we’ve published an issue and we aren’t sure what the next issue is going to look like, we tend to hold those poems until the next issue gels. This means that when we find some of the poems will not work, and we have to reject them, the rejection has been so delayed that the person who submitted them must be wondering what on earth has happened—or else has forgotten about them completely. We have not forgotten, though we may be looking frantically for those poems when an editor has taken them home to go through one final time, or when our office has been packed up and moved to another building, both of which just happened between December and January.
What you are doing right, when you are doing it right, is just amazing to think about.
First, you are sending your work out. That takes organization (especially with the constant changes in postage) and courage, or possibly enthusiasm. When I send work out, I am at that moment so pleased with what I have written that I cannot imagine anyone would reject it. The next day, however, or even the second after it goes out, I am certain it is all horrible and will be returned as soon as someone has read it (after it has been sitting around for months waiting to be read). I am impressed by your sheer bravery in putting poems (or fiction or non-fiction) in the mail.
Second, you are writing. I don’t know where you find the time to write or the ideas—life is busy!—, but I am happy you have managed to do so.
When you send your work out, I recommend a few practical considerations: 1) use the Forever stamps; 2) make sure your SASE is fully addressed and included; 3) make sure your bio is included, with some means of contacting you if by any chance you are to move before the issue comes out.
Finally, you keep writing. You keep sending work out regardless of rejections and delays and rejections. Because as you keep writing, and as you keep thinking about writing, you are getting better at doing it. Eventually everything will all come together: the poem sent to the right place at the right time, the acceptance that lifts you until you are walking on air instead of ground.
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