Necessary Evil or Opportunity?

Thoughts on submitting writing

During times when I’m not producing a lot of new writing, I have a tendency to do one of two things: revise current draft work or submit work that I feel is ready for other eyes. Submission preparations take a long time, and they require a sort of concentration and attention that is completely different than writing or revising. Some call it the “business” part of poetry, a necessary evil in getting your work into the world.

But, with the right lens, the submissions process can bring with it several opportunities for growth.

1. It requires reading widely. Before I send submissions to a journal, I read one or two issues (if it’s online) or at least read the sample poems provided. If there are no sample poems, I look at the recent Table of Contents to see which poets have published with that journal. This not only exposes me to new writers, but also lets me know right away if my work is not a fit. (For example, I do not write language poetry or highly experimental work—if that is the direction of the journal, I don’t send there.)

2. It helps reveal which completed poems have similar themes or speak to one another in some way. Although journals don’t require that submission packets hold similar pieces (unless you are sending to a themed issue, of course), it is always interesting to note which pieces currently ready to send out have a kinship with one another when putting together a packet of four to six poems.

3. Conversely, it helps in noticing the different styles and themes in completed work.

   I am often surprised at how different (in form, tone, shape, language) my own poems can be from one another. If I don’t see these differences, then I know I am in a bit of a rut and need to perhaps try something in revision that may force a change.

4. It requires a leap of faith. One of my first and most important writing teachers told me that writers should pour all their focus, attention, and energy into the work itself. Then, once it’s sent off into the world, to not use any of that precious energy worrying about what others will think of it. Still, it requires a little risk and a little faith in yourself to put that work in front of editors that, let’s face it, 90% of the time will reject it.

So, the next time you have some work that’s ready to send into the world, don’t think of it as business. Think of it as a way to get some good reading done, to evaluate the styles and themes in your latest work, and to be brave enough to show others what you’ve done.

PROMPT (If you want to write)

1. Look up the definition of submission. Parts of the definitions have mainly negative connotations: compliant, submitting to authority, humbling oneself, legal arbitration.

2. Try to use the word submission or one of the words in its meaning that are viewed as negative in a word bank for a piece that celebrates confidence and risk-taking, one that takes control of those words.

3. OR…for something completely different: Read some poems in the public domain (1926 and earlier)—poems by Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Carl Sandburg, T.S. Eliot and many others apply—and take lines from each one to create a cento of new work. This can lead you to new ideas and themes for your own new lines

   

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