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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Submissions or Bust!

80º ~ seriously cannot believe how lucky we have been with the weather these past weeks, all sun, breezes, and green today, windows open, open, open!


Monday, I took the day off from reading/writing and spent time with C.  We aren't really holiday type of people, so this meant going out to lunch and running a few errands.  I ended the day with drinks with a good friend.  Perfection.

Sadly, this all translated to yesterday being a total disaster work-wise.  I couldn't concentrate on any one thing.  I was fragmented.  The time at the desk was near to torture, but I kept my BIC (butt in chair) and muddled through.

The pay off?  Today was great.  I already knew my goal when I sat down: Submissions or Bust!  I did manage to get three submission packets put together and sent out to three journals.  I've definitely scaled back on the number of poems I send out, and I'm okay with that.  Slowly, slowly I've learned which journals are the best fit for me and which journals I really want to see my poems appear in.  All that accrued knowledge means I'm more apt to shake off a journal I once might have submitted to because I now know my chances are slim to none, my work simply not matching the work of the journal.  I'm also always open to submitting to a new journal if the mission statement/call for submissions seems to fit.  I know a lot of folks like to re-submit to journals that have published them in the past, and I do some of that; however, I like the broadness of being in many different types of journals, scholarly & independent, online & in print, magazines & anthologies, etc.

After I ran out of steam on submissions, I turned to book #2, which has languished in semi-finalist, finalist, "great manuscript but we have to pass" purgatory.  One of my missions for the summer is to split the manuscript into two chapbooks.  This morning was my first pass.  I approached it with this attitude:  I'm not going to labor over this.  I'm going on pure instinct.  With that in mind, I flipped through the pages and pulled (yes, I have to use hard copy for this!) all the poems that fit the fairy tale & saints profile.  Then, I did one more pass, asking myself if any others felt like they belonged with the tales.  Now, I have two stacks of 20 and 30 poems each.  Next, I'll re-read and re-order before creating new computer files.  Luckily, I've already done a lot of research into chapbook publishers, so I should be ready to send soon.

As for the fever book (book #3), it's out there.  I've sent it to a dozen publishers.  Now, we wait.  And wait.  And wait.

And the angry sisters lurk, scuttle, and plot on the sidelines.

4 comments:

Wendy Bourke said...

I'm going to have to go back through your posts and start reading. I'm only now "getting" the nuances of where your poetry ends up and how to get it to where you want it to be.(I find it very complicated. Almost a whole new field of study . . . and I thought writing a good poem was the hard part!) Your front-row seat offers a fascinating perspective and the posts are written in a charming yet proactive and positive manner. Thanks for blogging.

Sandy Longhorn said...

Hello, Wendy,
So glad to meet you here and glad you find the post intriguing. Hope your visits to the Kangaroo provide some insight into your own process.
All best!

Martha Silano said...

Thanks for inspiring me as always with your posts on the writing life - I have been sending out slowly too (after a bit of a hiatus as I was focusing on creating new work). Good luck with getting two chapbooks out of what was your 2nd book, and with getting book #3 published!

Sandy Longhorn said...

Thanks, Martha! Hope our poems cross paths in a journal or two or three!