Published after 15 years
Trace
Wow. That's hard to admit, but it's true. I got out of my MFA program, and like most of us, expected my thesis to roll right on down the highway to a publisher. It didn't work that way. I kept writing, getting poems published. I won some grants for my work, I won some prizes and did readings. I got involved in the local arts community. I didn't teach in academia...I built a good life writing for a living by being a grant writer for a lot of cool nonprofits. I negotiated every job I had down to a 4-day work week so that I had 1 day for poetry. I kept poetry a part of my week, and my identity. I was a poet, whether I had a book out yet or not.
I kept sending out my manuscript to first book prizes. I knew for sure that I wanted to be published with a legit, small independent press. (I know many people--including many of my book clients--who choose to self-publish, and it's the perfect choice for them; but I didn't want to go that route.) I pulled out poems, put new poems in, rearranged the order (god! one of the toughest things about building a book is the order!) I probably sent out a dozen versions of my manuscript over the years.
Like I tell my students and private clients, submitting your work--whatever genre--is just part of being a writer. If you want to share your work, you've got to publish. That's the business. (Sure! You can write for pleasure/yourself, but that's a different blog post.) As a poet, there's no money to be had in publishing for the vast majority of us. That "bad" news can also be "good" news - as it frees us from economizing our work and weighing down our creativity with more hangups than already exist. Haha, but seriously. We're not going to get rich with a poetry collection, or even break even, frankly, but ooh la la....to finally hold my book, and sign the title page for dear friends, and see it on the shelf at the bookstore...that is so juicy and satisfying.
I had been on the fence about confessing how long it too my book to land with a publisher, but my embarrassment doesn't do anyone any good. But my tenacity, my stubborn stand to get my work out in the world how I wanted - that is something to share, and be proud about. If I can get there, so can you.
Wow. That's hard to admit, but it's true. I got out of my MFA program, and like most of us, expected my thesis to roll right on down the highway to a publisher. It didn't work that way. I kept writing, getting poems published. I won some grants for my work, I won some prizes and did readings. I got involved in the local arts community. I didn't teach in academia...I built a good life writing for a living by being a grant writer for a lot of cool nonprofits. I negotiated every job I had down to a 4-day work week so that I had 1 day for poetry. I kept poetry a part of my week, and my identity. I was a poet, whether I had a book out yet or not.
I kept sending out my manuscript to first book prizes. I knew for sure that I wanted to be published with a legit, small independent press. (I know many people--including many of my book clients--who choose to self-publish, and it's the perfect choice for them; but I didn't want to go that route.) I pulled out poems, put new poems in, rearranged the order (god! one of the toughest things about building a book is the order!) I probably sent out a dozen versions of my manuscript over the years.
Like I tell my students and private clients, submitting your work--whatever genre--is just part of being a writer. If you want to share your work, you've got to publish. That's the business. (Sure! You can write for pleasure/yourself, but that's a different blog post.) As a poet, there's no money to be had in publishing for the vast majority of us. That "bad" news can also be "good" news - as it frees us from economizing our work and weighing down our creativity with more hangups than already exist. Haha, but seriously. We're not going to get rich with a poetry collection, or even break even, frankly, but ooh la la....to finally hold my book, and sign the title page for dear friends, and see it on the shelf at the bookstore...that is so juicy and satisfying.
I had been on the fence about confessing how long it too my book to land with a publisher, but my embarrassment doesn't do anyone any good. But my tenacity, my stubborn stand to get my work out in the world how I wanted - that is something to share, and be proud about. If I can get there, so can you.
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