Sunday, July 24, 2011

Preparing Your Poems for Submission

The Mslexia poetry competition has now closed, but you can still send your poems to the magazine as part of their rolling submission themes, or just subscribe. Mslexia is a fantastic resource for writers, both male and female, though it is of course primarily aimed at women writers.

Meanwhile, the third part of my poetry workshop is up on the site.

It's about Preparing your Poems for Submission, and is intended for those getting ready to submit a new batch of work to a magazine or publishing house.

I hope it's useful, and many thanks to Mslexia for the opportunity to run this new series of workshops on their website, which you must visit if you're a writer of any kind. It has fabulous resources which are absolutely free. 

"Try not to revise your poetry where reading aloud is impossible (in an office environment, for instance, or on public transport).

Reading aloud is about more than the sound of your voice. It impacts on your body too, your facial expression and gestures, the way you hold yourself.

When reading a poem silently, it’s easy to ignore the sounds and rhythms, and make changes based purely on line length or other cosmetic considerations. That's not to say these are unimportant. But the two should work in tandem."

3 comments:

Poetry Pleases! said...

Dear Jane

The way I prepare my poems for submission is by handing them to Rusty to read. If she awards me less than five out of ten I either bin them myself or allow her the honour!

Best wishes from Simon

Jane Holland said...

Dear Simon, that's certainly one way of dealing with the submission process. It has its limitations though, despite my wish not to suggest that Rusty might occasionally be wrong. I would always advise people to seek the opinion of one or two experienced editors at least before la poubelle beckons.

Best, Jane x

Poetry Pleases! said...

Dear Jane

In my experience, experienced editors won't touch me with a bargepole. Luckily I feel exactly the same way about them - present company excluded!

Best wishes from Simon