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 ~

I Call Them “Poemoirs”

Like many poets, some of my pieces are family stories, real things that happened I set down in poetic form. Poemoirs are a way of sharing life experiences without writing a 500-page memoir.

Poemoirs can tell a bit of history or make a point from events in the author’s life. They can demonstrate what the poet has observed and learned about the world. They can grieve or celebrate an event or person. They often help the poet come to grips with an issue and resolve it in her mind. 

But the reader cannot assume a poem is about the author’s real life experience. Poets can mix and match truth and fiction, exaggerate with word choice and imagery. We do have “poetic license”, you know.

Unlike memoirists, we poets have the leeway to turn things around, to write any poem in first person, using the I, me, my forms whether or not they are truly our own stories. Like experimenting with different stanza lengths or line breaks, we try out the different points of view and decide on the one that best brings the reader into the poem.

Inspired by a painting that reminded me of a religious gathering, I wrote “Welcome Into the Fold” in first person. I recently read it aloud to a group of friends. When I finished, one said, “Wow. Tell me more about that!” The sorrowful look on her face told me she was right there inside the poem with “me”.

All writers bring themselves into their work. Even if a poem is not a true account of the poet’s life, we can and do learn about her. Her attitudes and thoughts about the subject of the poem are out front and center.

At their best, poemoirs make the personal universal. Readers relate to the happenings or feelings expressed in the poem as they are reminded of similar experiences or have discovered the same truths in their own lives.

Or readers may be confronted with actualities they didn’t recognize or understand before. As one friend commented about “Asterisk”, a poem that chronicles my first encounter with segregation, “A world foreign to me, but through you, I learn.”

Poemoirs lead to discovery and change for both the poet and the reader.

~ xoA ~

Annis Cassells, What the Country Wrought, 2023

A Little More Memoir Encouragement

It was my great pleasure to discuss memoir writing in an recent interview with writer, teacher, writer coach, and friend Joan Raymond. Joan features an interview with an author each week on her YouTube Channel and covers all genres and aspects of writing.

For many years I have conducted memoir writing workshops and classes, and those who know me outside of those events have heard me say, “That’s a great story. You need to write that down.” They often smile and nod–or get a nervous look on their faces. Sometimes they say, “Some day.” Sometimes they say, “Nobody wants to read my stories. I’ve just had an ordinary life.”

Well, folks, I’m here to tell you no life is “ordinary.” We all have our trials to deal with and overcome and our triumphs to celebrate. Writing some of those shines a light that allows others who read our stories to get to know us better or to share in our memories. How many of us wish we had asked our parents about their lives while they were still around?

Writing our stories also provides us with a life review and validation. It brings back long-ago experiences and allows us to marvel at what we’ve accomplished and/or to be amazed we survived.

No matter what or how we write them, our stories will be precious to our families and future generations who may not have the privilege of getting to know us any other way. Our stories leave a legacy that can be passed down.

Photo by Sofia Shultz on Pexels.com

For a little more encouragement, and some memoir writing tips and secrets, check out Joan Raymond’s YouTube Channel to see my interview with her. And if you feel even the tiniest inkling of desire to write one story, get started! Your family will thank you.

~ xoA ~