Poetry
People have been kind to me about my poetry… reading it and giving me some good feedback on how to improve, plus many kind words of encouragement to keep on creating. I’m deeply thankful for all of these. There have even been a number of friends that have urged me to try to get some if it published.
So, with that in mind, I delved into the morass of the www on publishing poetry and found some interesting things.
One… you seldom, if ever, get any sort of monetary gain from poetry. There are too many poets and not enough readers, if I understand the information correctly. Actually, this isn’t a bad thing for me - I write because I need to… I must… and not for gain (besides a pat on the back now and again I suppose since I do share some of what I do with other people). In fact, the poet laureate for the United States (last time I heard) works as an insurance adjustor. So… this lesson is…
You ain’t gonna get rich writing poetry… unless yer dead!!!
Two… there are a number of contests out there for poetry but you have to be careful… too many of them want you cough up cash to enter. Sounds like spam to me. I have entered a couple of contests with Soul Fire and at Poetry.com I’m in the finals. But… I’m not going to buy the book that will have my poem included in it (like they offer) and I’m debating about letting them include it in the CD they will release (again, I’m not buying anything) - they say something about it reads well… This just makes me wonder if they actually sell any of the books or CD’s to anyone besides the ones that submit the poems. Guess I’m just the sort of person that won’t believe unless I actually win a prize. I don’t mind people making a little money off me once in a while but I’m sure not gonna spend money to read MY stuff *laugh*
Third… I stopped at a poetry site and found out that I know nothing about poetry!! I submitted a poem on Poets.com in the hopes I might get a critique and discovered I don’t even know what kind of poetry I write. They have a laundry list of kinds and the more I read, the 'confusder' I got! I never knew how many types of poems there were.
Fourth and final… I’m simply not prolific enough to do much with my poems… so, I guess I’ll continue sharing with the few I think might enjoy my offerings and keep on doing what I gotta… and that’s using words to draw pictures in my mind.
So, with that in mind, I delved into the morass of the www on publishing poetry and found some interesting things.
One… you seldom, if ever, get any sort of monetary gain from poetry. There are too many poets and not enough readers, if I understand the information correctly. Actually, this isn’t a bad thing for me - I write because I need to… I must… and not for gain (besides a pat on the back now and again I suppose since I do share some of what I do with other people). In fact, the poet laureate for the United States (last time I heard) works as an insurance adjustor. So… this lesson is…
You ain’t gonna get rich writing poetry… unless yer dead!!!
Two… there are a number of contests out there for poetry but you have to be careful… too many of them want you cough up cash to enter. Sounds like spam to me. I have entered a couple of contests with Soul Fire and at Poetry.com I’m in the finals. But… I’m not going to buy the book that will have my poem included in it (like they offer) and I’m debating about letting them include it in the CD they will release (again, I’m not buying anything) - they say something about it reads well… This just makes me wonder if they actually sell any of the books or CD’s to anyone besides the ones that submit the poems. Guess I’m just the sort of person that won’t believe unless I actually win a prize. I don’t mind people making a little money off me once in a while but I’m sure not gonna spend money to read MY stuff *laugh*
Third… I stopped at a poetry site and found out that I know nothing about poetry!! I submitted a poem on Poets.com in the hopes I might get a critique and discovered I don’t even know what kind of poetry I write. They have a laundry list of kinds and the more I read, the 'confusder' I got! I never knew how many types of poems there were.
Fourth and final… I’m simply not prolific enough to do much with my poems… so, I guess I’ll continue sharing with the few I think might enjoy my offerings and keep on doing what I gotta… and that’s using words to draw pictures in my mind.