First of all a huge thank you to Matthew Stewart of Rogue Strands who has once again mentioned my blog in his ‘Best UK Poetry Blogs of the Year’ roundup. It’s exciting to be in there with such great company, and always very nice to know this blog is read and enjoyed. I think allRead more ⟶
Tag: submissions
Dealing with Literary Rejections: Six Viewpoints
I was asked yesterday ‘how’s the writing going?’ which is always an interesting one to answer. First you have to gauge if it’s a genuine enquiry, or a generic ‘how’s things?’ A non-writer friend probably doesn’t want to hear a long moan about rejections. But submissions, and in particular rejections, is one of the unavoidable andRead more ⟶
Bring up the poems (are they dead or sleeping?)
As part of my autumn poetry reactivation plan (sounds good, eh?) I’ve signed up for an online course from the Poetry’s School with Karen McCarthy Woolf. It’s a feedback course for the ‘general improvement of left-for-dead poems in need of resuscitation’. This premise really appealed to me – having quite a few poems languishing atRead more ⟶
Mammoth list of literary journals
Worth bookmarking – the Poets & Writers database of lit mags (litmagz?) Salivate over this if you dare – “listings for 977 journals, providing details about the kind of work sought, authors previously published, submission guidelines, payment policies, tips from the editors, and more” WOW – nearly a thousand mags?? Why does this kind of listRead more ⟶
Audio poem (an experiment)
I was inspired by Mark Hewitt’s performance of ‘expiry tbc‘ the other evening here in Lewes. It was actually a 3-person production featuring Peter Copley on live (and looped) cello, and wonderful lighting effects by Kristina Hjelm. I’d had the privilege of being in Mark’s workshopping group led by Mimi Khalvati earlier in the year,Read more ⟶
Would you pay to submit your poetry to a magazine? (Poll)
Here’s a thing. Poetry presses and magazines exist on a shoestring. Sometimes half a shoestring. I’m sure we’d all love to support them by subscribing to them all, but it does get a tad expensive. So what’s the answer? Charging for submissions seems relatively unusual in this country but it’s not in the US. TheRead more ⟶
How’s your filing? And what’s in a (folder) name?
Here’s a pressing question – what sort of filing system do you favour? I love my lever arch files, with their colour-coded dividers and lovingly decided section names. But if you leave the filing for a while the ‘unclassified’ section at the front becomes unwieldy, and it’s impossible to find anything. But (for me) atRead more ⟶
Snail mail
Just when you thought it was safe to post that letter…
Writing musings/ submissions etc
I’ve been grabbing the odd hour here and there to write while my other half watches the cricket highlights each day. I need to submit some new stuff, so I need to write some new stuff. I’ve tentatively been trying to come up with something ‘humorous’ for the Moss Rich Prize. Yes I know I’veRead more ⟶
Writing again after a setback
A few weeks ago I was feeling a bit ‘stuck’ and decided to pay for another ‘Poetry Prescription’ from the Poetry Society. I got the feedback last week and it was less than motivating. Basically my work got sent to the same poet who looked at it last time (I did a ‘PP’ back inRead more ⟶