Getting Published, or Not…

Getting Published, or Not . . .

Merely putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard, we’re writers. We write for ourselves and often for others, whether it’s memoir, fantasy, poetry, historical fiction, or essay doesn’t matter. Whether we’re published or not, we’re writers.

We admire famous authors and their ability to put words together that change us in some way. And, they are famous!

Many of us write just for ourselves, the sheer joy or urgency of it all. We’re happy and satisfied with our notebooks and journals and have no desire to share them with the world.

Lots of us want to get published. It’s a way to present our work to a larger audience. It’s also validation of our writing if someone, besides the folks who love us, deems our writing good enough to grace the pages of their publication.

I’m no different. I was ecstatic when I recently read the email subject line “Acceptance” and then read further that my poems were online that very day. The RavensPerch, an online literary journal published all four of the poems I included in my submission packet!

This endorsement of my work encourages me to keep learning by taking classes and workshops, practicing my craft, and to keep writing. It also helps me appreciate even more my circles of poetry practitioners, the Red Ferns and the WOK Poets, who encourage me and provide helpful insights about my early drafts.

To all of you, with or without publication ambitions, sit down and write. You’ll find it satisfying. You’ll see in future times, coming back to read what your wrote is amazing. And you’ll recognize that you’re a writer.

~ xoA ~

And the Winner Is

And the Winner Is

Six-thirty on a frosty May morning, after
nearly 22 hours of teams walking the track
at Relay for Life. The much-too-cheery 
announcer, our local news anchor Jim,
plunges us sleepyheads into a river 
of words, forces us out of cozy sleeping 
bags and from our temporary shelters
with the promise of breakfast 
and the guarantee of fun and prizes. 
The Bed Head Contest is about to begin.
Swathed in blankets and quilts, 
contestants pour forth, some young,
some adults. All wear pride on their faces.
There’s something about a Good Cause
that makes ordinary people rise, sends
them off uncaring about the disarray
they’d never display any other time.

Co-founder of Creative Roots Foundation, Joan Raymond, kindly inspired today’s poetry with her brave photo.

You Gotta Read Poems Aloud

When I want to understand complicated text – a letter from the IRS or my insurance company—I slow down and read it out loud. Both senses, sight and hearing, work on comprehension.

The same with love letters. When I read them aloud, I hear my beloved’s voice. And, I often read them more than once, just for the enjoyment.

The same with poetry. Read aloud and more than once. Often there’s a slight shift when reading aloud. Phrasing, accenting, or cadence may change on a second or third read. Small differences show up that could lend more meaning for the reader. Plus, our voices bring the words to life.

In my writing workshops, I ask for several readings of the same poem by different people. Participants have said they gained new understanding after having heard the poem repeated.

I have first-hand knowledge of that. Once when I participated in a program with Don Thompson, then Poet Laureate of Kern County, I was to talk about San Joaquin Valley poet Sherley Anne Williams and read some of her work. I reread the chosen poem aloud many times.

But it was on the 10^th reading when I realized the poem had two speakers, was written in two voices. That changed my reading, my interpretation of the poem, and my presentation! And I was so glad to be able to represent the poem as the poet intended.

Poetry is musical and that musicality boosts one’s enjoyment of poetry. Remember the repetitions of alliteration and assonance? And onomatopoeia—words that mimic the actual sounds we hear? We miss those sounds when we read silently.

This month I am a featured poet online on DM Quarterly Review’s Virtual Salon, where there is a 7-minute video in which you can hear me read five poems from What the Country Wrought. Tune in and witness how reading aloud enhances poetry.

Then you try it, and let me know what you think.

~ xoA ~