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Writing for Publication
I write almost exclusively for publication. Granted, I do self-publishing of between 30 - 40 poems a volume and I've only begun this in 2008. Prior to 2008 I wrote a lot but had not submitted anything for consideration in 20 or so years.
But in 2007 while at the SCA event Pennsic I was part of a show where I recited Enderal and as part of the rehearsal process the people who were holding the workshop that would become the show challenged us to set a goal for the next year. I set a goal of publishing my poetry and in 2008 I made it happen.
Prior to 2007 I wrote as the mood struck and although I wrote well enough, I was not always happy with the finished product. Once i began to consider that everything I wrote would potentially be published, i became a lot more serious and critical and less willing to excuse sloppy writing on my part.
And my work became markedly better and more consistent.
At one point in my life I had begun to think that my best work was nearly accidental and only the barest of coincidences would allow me the opportunity to match the quality I had occasionally found previously.
So when I try to explain to people the absolute joy I have in crafting a bit of words and punctuation into a poem of which I am proud and believe worthy of publication, well, at times I know I am not successful. But it does not discourage me because I know and feel the passion and trepidation of each new write, exploring it as you might a new love and the joy I feel when everything clicks and I know I have managed to convey my initial inspiration, it is so deeply satisfying and comforting.
For while this may come as a surprise to some, I am an extremely emotional person. It is just that, for me, a sip of emotion is as heady as a barrel and I prefer to enjoy and indulge continuously rather than binge and repent.
Because when I collect those 30 - 40 poems and publish them and release them into the world, I know they are poems of which I will be proud today, tomorrow, and in 100 years. Some may be better but none will be a source of regret, none will, to use a word, suck.
Which explains the title of the series.
But in 2007 while at the SCA event Pennsic I was part of a show where I recited Enderal and as part of the rehearsal process the people who were holding the workshop that would become the show challenged us to set a goal for the next year. I set a goal of publishing my poetry and in 2008 I made it happen.
Prior to 2007 I wrote as the mood struck and although I wrote well enough, I was not always happy with the finished product. Once i began to consider that everything I wrote would potentially be published, i became a lot more serious and critical and less willing to excuse sloppy writing on my part.
And my work became markedly better and more consistent.
At one point in my life I had begun to think that my best work was nearly accidental and only the barest of coincidences would allow me the opportunity to match the quality I had occasionally found previously.
So when I try to explain to people the absolute joy I have in crafting a bit of words and punctuation into a poem of which I am proud and believe worthy of publication, well, at times I know I am not successful. But it does not discourage me because I know and feel the passion and trepidation of each new write, exploring it as you might a new love and the joy I feel when everything clicks and I know I have managed to convey my initial inspiration, it is so deeply satisfying and comforting.
For while this may come as a surprise to some, I am an extremely emotional person. It is just that, for me, a sip of emotion is as heady as a barrel and I prefer to enjoy and indulge continuously rather than binge and repent.
Because when I collect those 30 - 40 poems and publish them and release them into the world, I know they are poems of which I will be proud today, tomorrow, and in 100 years. Some may be better but none will be a source of regret, none will, to use a word, suck.
Which explains the title of the series.