Writers Unbound

In the interest of fairness to all my readers (yes, I am a freelancer, but yes I will try to diversify more!) I’d like to impart some advice to emerging/wannabe poets.

In college I read for a literary journal, and although I judged in Long Fiction, I often did backup for Poetry, so please keep in mind the following is based on solely that (with a smattering of backgroud from an undergrad degree in English).

1. Read the journal first. You’d never guess how many inappropriate, too edgy, too ….whatever….. submissions we received. I know it can get expensive, but I’d recommend reading more than one copy. Perhaps you could put a day aside to set up camp in the library, instead of purchasing your own copies.
2. Make the first poem the best. Although we were instructed to read all the submissions, it was difficult to give the 2nd, 3rd, 4th poems a fair read if the first one left a bad taste.
3. Let it sit. And then let it sit again. Get some distance from your poems. I have 3 or 4 pieces that I’ve been working on for months. They get filed away, and then I drown myself in “good” poetry before I reread them. After filling my head with decent poetry, I can then go back and read my own pieces, and more readily notice glaring differences. 
4. Follow the directions! I know, you see this specific piece of advice on every “How To Get Published” column, but seriously, it needs to be said.
5. Don’t.Stop.Submitting. Whatever you do, keep going. It’s ambition that’s going to get you published.

Best of luck!

poetry, getting published