Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer
Revision Strategy?
Several days ago, a rejection came in for one of my poems, one that I didn’t happen to have out (currently) elsewhere. This is a poem that I thought might also match well with a venue that doesn’t seem to take simultaneous submissions. So when I considered “next steps” for the poem, I went to revisit the “new” venue’s guidelines.
Which is where I saw that said venue also prefers poems no longer than 18 lines.
I’d already figured that it might be time to apply additional revision to this poem. And the fact that the poem exceeded the 18-line limit helped jump-start the process in this case.
Next time I need to revise a poem and can’t quite begin to envision how to go about it, I may use a similar approach—even if the guidelines don’t compel me to do so.
Oh—I did, then, submit the poem anew. Stay tuned for the outcome!
Event Attendance: Emily Books Symposium
Very much enjoyed my foray to the Emily Books Symposium last Saturday. Themed “What Is Women’s Writing?”, the event began late afternoon with an all-star panel. Moderated by Emily Gould, it featured editors Caroline Casey (Coffee House Press), Laia Garcia (Lenny Letter), and Megan Lynch (Ecco); agent Mel Flashman; and National Book Foundation executive director Lisa Lucas. (It was especially cool to open The New York Times Magazine Sunday morning and find this interview with Lisa Lucas there.)
The panel was followed by readings from Eileen Myles, Elisa Albert, Ariana Reines, Barbara Browning, Charlotte Shane and Natasha Stagg. (I cashed in my free drink ticket between the panel and the readings, since I didn’t stay for the party that followed.)
Bonus: the chance to catch up with a writer-pal who was also in attendance.
Unwieldy/Overwhelming Essay-in-Progress Grows Still More Unwieldy/Overwhelming
Perhaps the less said about this, the better!
Cheers, everyone.