A poem is a body of words, not a body of thoughts and feelings. Before you keep reading, check in with your own perspective: Agree? Disagree? A useless distinction? A valuable aha? "Both," you think? After all, who among us hasn't had poetic language spill from our heart, […]
A poem is a body of words, not a body of thoughts and feelings. Before you keep reading, check in with your own perspective: Agree? Disagree? A useless distinction? A valuable aha? "Both," you think? After all, who among us hasn't had poetic language spill from our heart, […]
Welcome back. If you haven't read my first post, The Art of Reframing Your Poetry Manuscript, you may want to start there. Today, let's lean into unifying your manuscript through theme. You've arrived at a place where you'd like to re-engage with your poetry. Maybe you've worked your […]
At some point, every writer reaches a stale mate. You scan your growing stack of contributor copies and don't feel that flutter anymore. You reread your manuscript that has made it so close to being accepted by several excellent presses and yet, it remains unpublished. Friends keep asking, […]
Josh Medsker created a project about four years ago called Medskerpedia, and now he has started a new version of this pretty amazing poem-a-day practice–Medskerpedia Mark II. I wanted to know more about this new project, so I interviewed Medsker to find out what he is up to […]
Guilty pleasure confession: I love classic KISS. Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and Paul Stanley. Yeah, the whole make-up, pyrotechnics, costumes, stunts, and usually loud songs KISS. They were my first rock band and they will always have a special place in my overly-nostalgic heart. This week I've been […]
I’m pleased to announce I’ll be presenting a session at the upcoming International Women’s Writing Guild conference coming up this October in New York City! In preparation for the event, they recently published a new article I wrote about submission strategies on their blog: Do I need a […]
As most of us poets know, it's rarely cheap to enter your poems into contests or even submit them to literary magazines. Many contests come with sizable entry fees -- and unfortunately, those contests often end up feeling more like scams when the prize isn't quite worth the […]
You've been writing poetry for a while, perhaps as a student or for your own pleasure and eventually you decided (or been encouraged) to submit somewhere for publication, and with some trepidation, you did. Lo and behold, your poem was accepted for publication and you saw your name […]
Contrary to popular opinion, there are many ways to earn an income for today's resourceful writer, particularly in the digital age. The "starving artist" image is so '80's! Trust me; I should know. In my long and colorful career as a professional scribe, I've pursued darn near all […]
