Having just emerged from a book-writing marathon I’m now fighting a cold and the urge to feel pathetically sorry for myself! Not helped by the submissions doldrums – what on earth will it take for things to start moving? I have so many poems ‘out there’ and it must be easily 6 months since the last rejection. Is anyone else in this slump? It’s hard to summon up the motivation to send anything else out, EVER! Oh well maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. “Worse things happen at sea” as my mum used to say.
At least I have a number of exciting other projects in the pipeline, such as Telltale Press, which is finally preparing to poke its head above the parapet. I’ve discussed it over and over with poet and publisher friends, plus people who know about arts funding, (not to mention my solicitor and accountant!) trying to nail down the ethos of the whole thing, how it will work in practice, and I think it’s kind of there. The time has come to try it out! So we have 3 autumn launch events coming up, basically to launch Peter’s pamphlet and also to introduce Telltale. (If you’re interested, I’ve tweaked the ‘about’ page to better reflect the direction it’s going in).
Plus two other lovely events to look forward to – the Poetry Prom at Snape Maltings with Ian McMillan and John Hegley, and on September 6th it’s the Free Verse Poetry Book Fair at Conway Hall in London. I was a ‘helper’ there last year and this year I’m looking forward to taking in a few more of the readings, of which there are plenty. If you’re going too, let me know and let’s at least say hello.
you are prominent in my ‘conversations’ about rejections. I so sympathise, I do, I do. I haven’t sent anything out to a magazine for over six months but have used as an excuse that I am working on a pamphlet. Now that that is sorted I wont have it as an excuse and will just have to get down to it. But it’s not just the rejections is it – it’s the complications and worry of it all, some like this – some like that, which of my poems are eligible, have I sent to that mag before, do they have to be snail mail and a SAE, if on line must they be ‘Word’. Oh well, it could be worse……
Hi Meg and thank you – yes, you’re right, it’s all the admin as well, and even when the poet follows the submissions instructions to the letter, one still doesn’t have the ‘right’ to be the teensiest bit critical if it’s not reciprocated, for fear of offending someone, so there’s nothing to do but bottle it up – aaagh!!
As my MA tutor says – rejections are the water we swim in. I have a spreadsheet to keep track of what’s where. You have to become very thick-skinned and just persist. Someone, somewhere, will become your devoted fan (in addition to me, that is). Very exciting about Telltale Press, and I’ve put 17 Sept in the diary. I’m hoping to get to the Free Verse Poetry Book Fair too so may see you there then.
Ah thank you Antony, I appreciate your ever-present support … you’re right, a thick skin is necessary, and unending patience! It’ll be fantastic to see you at the Lewes Telltale launch, and if you’re going to the Poetry Book Fair then definitely let’s meet there and compare notes.
I am in a submission slump because I haven’t submitted a thing in I don’t know how many months. I just keep letting weeks go by and I need to find my way out of this. *sigh*
In other news, I love the Telltale project. It sounds like an awesome way to cooperatively work together and promote each other. I really dig the covers for both pamphlets you have up so far. Very cool.
Hi Andrea and thanks – yes, I really like Hannah Clare’s illustrations, I think they work well. Sorry to hear you’re also in a slump – here’s to finding our way out of it soon!
Good luck with Telltale Press, it sounds brilliant. The Free Verse Poetry Book Fair is in my diary. I’ve not been before and want to see what it’s all about.I am still submitting but mainly to competitions. I do get slumps from time to time. At present what I think of as my best work is out there and I seem to waiting for results in the next couple of months. I can’t seem to get beyond this at the moment!
Hi Heather, the Poetry Book Fair is definitely worth getting to if you can, there are even more readings this year so it should be great.Maybe see you there – and good luck with your submissions 🙂