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Video Tuesday

February 9, 2010 by jessiecarty

First up is Me where I discuss Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud a terrific graphic novel that discusses the history of comics as well as the artistry. There is a lot in here that can be applied across the genres.

Next up on Video Tuesday is John Hartness. John has his own website, his own YouTube site now and has started The Red Dirt Review. Bask in his awesomeness:

Had a lot of videos that could have fit into the third spot this week, but I think I want to pull a fond memory from Shape of a Box and share a poem that, I hope, honors our African American fellow citizens:

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Monday Shout Outs

February 8, 2010 by jessiecarty

Who else has a busy week?

  • Tuesday February 9th, I’ll be reading as part of the Open Mike at Poetry Hickory. Open Mike starts at 6:30 (this is an open mike where you sign up to be a reader a month before) with featured readers to follow. Taste Full Beans Coffee House. Usually lasts till about 8. Before the event you can meet up with other writers at 5pm in the coffee house for networking and sometimes sharing writing. Lasts till about 6. Sponsorship of readings in part by Main Street Rag and the writer’s night by NCWN.
  • Thursday February 11th, I hope to read as part of the Open Mike at Jackson’s Java in North Charlotte near UNCC. We usually get started at about 8 and are done by about 10. Sign up should really be in by about 7:45. Sponsored by Iodine Poetry Journal.
  • Bryan Borland is hosting a poetry contest for his (and ML’s) FAG/HAG series. Stop by and take a look.
  • Can’t recall if I had given a shout out to Tell Before but he certainly deserves one at his blog Geography of Life. Poetry and discussion of poetics is always a treat for me.
  • Cati Porter is a poet and low-res MFA student who is finishing up her degree. Check out her blogs and then consider picking up some of her books! Links on her site.

Hoping everyone has a terrific week! I’m doing a final run through of my 2nd manuscript (well final for now) and I hope to send it out to a publisher or contest this week. Busy week but I am game for you! Even though I’m trying to give up eating meat again. Why did I stop before? Because it is hard to be around other people and avoid meat but since I’m by myself most of the time, I think I can do it :)

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So You Want to Publish a Chapbook

February 7, 2010 by jessiecarty

Two different people have asked me variations of a question regarding creating/making a manuscript, but most pointedly a chapbook manuscript.

When I typed chapbook into my search engine, I had to go back through quite a few posts to narrow down some of the posts I’ve already done on the topic, but I want to point this discussion in a new direction, more towards the actual process of putting a chapbook together.

The oldest post I had specifically about chapbook construction was from February of 2008. In that post, and in several others, I note that I never even knew about chapbooks until I came back to writing in 2006. It didn’t take me long, however, to want to publish one of my own. If you want to read more about my history of putting together and sending out chapbooks I have a whole post from May of 2009 or in October of 2009 when I discussed the process in more detail now that I had a chapbook out and another one getting ready to come out. There are specific tips in that post.

For this post I’d like to ask you, the poet or fiction writer (there are fiction chapbooks), some questions.

  1. Like yesterday’s posts. Do you read chapbooks? If you don’t, why would you want one published? There are too many good ones out there to read (mine of course haha) and if you would like suggestions on publishers to get chapbooks from just let me know and I’ll post a bundle.
  2. Ok, so you are reading chapbooks and you love the format. Next thought is – is this something I want to just give away to my family and friends or do I attend readings and poetry events where it would be good to have something to sell and/or to showcase my work? If you are just looking to give one away to your friends you can actually make a chapbook on your computer pretty easily and have it printed somewhere like OfficeMax. If you want specific advise on that let me know. The rest of these tips are geared more towards you wanting something to sell and/or to serve as a mini-writing resume.
  3. The best way I have found to put together a chapbook is to go through you work and look for one of 2 things 1 – a theme 2 – poems already published. If you have a specific theme see if you have 15-30 poems. You just might have a chapbook. I caution, however, that if this is a topic you are still writing a lot on, you might want to wait and see if you have a full length collection in process. If you have quite a few poems published say around 10 is a good number for a chapbook then look to see if they, along with a few others, would work together as a chapbook.
  4. Another way to do this, would be to have a trusted reader go through your poems and to give you advise on what poems might work together in a mini-collection. I say trusted reader because I see far too many poetry sites online where all there is is praise like – you’re awesome – instead of any actual discussion of the poetry. Instead of awesome what about looking at whether or not the poem sets itself apart and SAYS something that takes your head off – to paraphrase the ever present Emily Dickinson.
  5. Biggest question of all – Why do you want to publish a chapbook? There is no perfect answer for this but would love to hear some of the debate from those who have published chapbooks (self and traditional) and those who are thinking about it.

Hope some of this can help. Always love getting questions for you guys. I’d also love to hear about what you guys are looking for with a chapbook. Where do you buy them? Etc

Hope everyone is having a good day. Is it time for the commercials that come in between the football plays? :)

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The Puzzle: Which Poems Go Where?

February 6, 2010 by jessiecarty

You guys have been posing some good questions to me. One of the latest wanted to know more about how to choose poems for submission. I have done a few other posts about this but not specifically on that topic. The other posts were more involved that this will be. The first was a How to Guide and the second chronicles Where I Sent My Work, or the early history of places that first published me.

Now, I don’t think writing poetry is about getting published but I do enjoy the process of getting my work out there. I like to organize things so the process of revising and submitting work for publication keeps me going. You certainly don’t have to seek publication but this is just something I enjoy.

With that out of the way, so you are thinking of trying to get your poems published.

  1. Do you read literary magazines – print and/or online? If you answered No to this then you should stop reading this and instead start reading some magazines. Places like New Pages provide links to online and print journals. Why would you send work out if you were not a reader?
  2. OK. So you came back after reading some magazines or you have magazines you already read. Good. Which ones do you like the most? Chances are if you admire the work there, it is because you connected with it on some level. This is a potential market for you to send your work to.
  3. When I was just starting out Poet’s Market was essential. I specifically mention Poet’s Market because it labels publications in a variety of ways but most notably by the openness of the market to beginners. You can make a list of all the markets you are interested in and say once a week or month go through and send some work. See more on what to send below. I’ll use an example from my early publication history: The Storyteller.  They really like to publish writers starting out. Granted when I go back and read the poem I have in there, I cringe just a little bit but we all have to start somewhere and our idea of what is “good” changes over time. As for online, I found The Houston Literary Review as a nice venue where editors are more receptive to offering editorial suggestion if your piece is close to being done.
  4. Now, the big question. How do you decide what to send? There really isn’t a guide that can tell you specifically how to do that because it is such a subjective process. You should send your work that you feel is done ( Is Your Poem Done?). When I started sending work out again in 2006, I started with haiku. It seemed easier to work with shorter material and a more limited market. If a journal only publishes a specific type of poetry then you are limited but otherwise just send the work you like best and follow their guidelines. I usually send either 3 or 5 poems depending on the publication.
  5. And finally, more specifically on how I pick what I sent, is that I keep a document called New/Idea where I work on new poems. When I feel they are ready, I make the title bold. I then send them out the next week. When poems are rejected, I add them to the New/Idea document and read them again to see if they need to be revised before sending out or if I no longer “feel” them and put them in a “retired” document where I can revisit them in the future if I want.

There can be, of course, a lot more to this but I’d love to toss it now over to discussion. How do you choose where to send your poems? How do you choose which poems to send? I hope this helps the writer who asked for further discussion on this. If not, please let me know if there are other questions I need to address. Thanks everyone! Hope your weekend is going well.

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Friday Wrap-Up

February 5, 2010 by jessiecarty

Friday already and I’m happy to say that my to do list is pretty much to-done except for the need to go to the grocery store which I’m going to try to avoid given the 33 degree weather and rain outside. There isn’t anything I desperately need to have. I will need cat food and litter before Monday, but there are many hours between now and Monday.

  • Subbed – 8. Wow, I think that is my biggest week of sending work out, if not ever, than in a while. 5 flash fiction pieces and 3 sets of poems.
  • Accepted – Nada for this week.
  • Rejected – 4 sets of poems but one with a handwritten comment that someone there at least liked two of the poems.

Had kind of an off week on the weight front because I started slipping back into diet behaviors of mentally counting calories and weighing myself everyday. I was down like .2 or .4 for the messed up week. Just want to get back to eating when hungry and moving more. Hate when the diet culture starts sneaking back in on me! But, I digress.

Successfully put a version of 2nd manuscript together and then read it through once with reorganizing a few poems and removing a few. 77 poems right now and i’m getting ready to go back through it again. I have a better idea of how I want the final product to be after reading these poems so many times in the last few weeks. Some of my favorite poems may be pulled but the finished project will be stronger for it, I think.

Not much on the writing front. Doing little exercises to keep me writing but seems I still have a bit of the fiction bug. Once I had this 2nd manuscript really “done” (as if it is ever done), I think I’ll be ready to move on to other projects. I hope, in the new few weeks, to email it to a few readers for feedback.

Also lined up a talk with a book club 5 hours away in my old home town where a lot of poems in Paper House are roughly set. Hoping to also line up a reading at the local small indie bookstore for the same day or day before or after. Hard to decide, sometimes, how far I will travel. Guess it depends on who invites me :)

Hope everyone has had a good writing week. Did you send work out this week? Anything accepted? I list my most current publications under the Publications tab. Speaking of which, do you guys think I should combine the Books and Publications tab? Hoping to blog this weekend about picking work for submissions and such so post any questions you might have about that process.

Have a great weekend!

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Is it Done?

February 3, 2010 by jessiecarty

One of the loyal readers of this blog posed a question to me: How do you know when the poem is done?

Well, right off the bat I have to say that many poets say a poem is never done (and most of these statements can apply to other genres as well), simply abandoned. There are a variety of opinions on the topic and some especially good interviews and discussions at the How a Poem Happens blog.

Writers like to tinker. Many of us would fool around with the same piece forever if we could. Some writers even revise poems after they are published. There are also writers who believe in “first word, best word” who say they never revise at all. And, I’m sure, there are even more variations on this theme.

I’ve been one of the above people at different points in my writing life as well as in reference to different poems. I’d have to say, however, that for me a poem is finished once I read it out loud and I don’t want to move anything. That means I don’t want to add or delete words; that I like the way the line breaks sound. Everything just feels right.

Granted, I’ve felt that and sent a poem out and then 6 months later when it is rejected I read it again and find a few tweaks. See, I primarily revise by submitting my work to magazines. I work on a poem until it sounds right and then I send it out. If it is accepted than HOORAY an editor was able to feel as good about the poem as I did when I sent it out. If it isn’t accepted then I keep working on it. That doesn’t mean I change anything. If I read it again and I still like the way it sounds, I just try a new editor.

I think I chose to have editors, or other readers via critique groups and this blog, help me make the decision because we are not always objective about our own work. What sounds wonderful to us, what seems perfectly clear may be muddy and dull to another reader. I’m not saying you have to seek publication or even that you should write for publication. I still write for myself but ultimately I do want someone to read most of my work because I want to share in the writing community.

So, key for me in knowing when a piece is done is 1 – when I read it out loud and it sounds right 2 – when someone else reads it and truly connects with that piece.

What do you guys think? How do you know when your poems are done? What kind of tinkering writer are you?

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