Finally feeling human again – and able to eat solid food – so I’ve finally gotten back to my neglected poetry work.
The leaves on the hills around Napa are starting to change, though it was still a sunny eighty degrees yesterday. Autumn means school starting, apple-related baking, and oh yes…a million and one poetry book contest deadlines. I was thinking about Eduardo’s recent post – about which book contests are worth sending to. One comment on his post – Anne Haines’ – talked about how she didn’t want to be published with a press who can’t get her book into academic libraries, which is an interesting condition that I really don’t know anything about. I’d assume that would be most big university presses? (Feel free to comment here, Anne!)
But it is a useful, pertinent question, as you print out your manuscript and write the check and fix the stamps – what criteria do you use to decide where to send your work to be published? For me, it would have to be a press I admired, a press at which I already liked the editor’s taste and the books they’ve done in the past. That’s my main criteria. Do you balance the number of contest entries versus open submissions? Because I’m sending out a second book, the answer is yes, first, because I admire and want to support presses who do open submissions, and secondly, because there just aren’t that many contests for second books. (On that note, here’s a great list of publishers with open submissions, thanks Rachel Dacus!)
It’s been three years since Becoming the Villainess came out, and I admit to feeling antsy, like I need to make the next step or I’ll feel stale, mired, bored. I’ve written a ton of work, work I still like and am proud of, and would like to get the work out into the world soon. (Can you say three manuscripts stacking up?) I’m not a super-patient person – to me, I’d rather have the book out there so I can quit obsessing and start working on the next one than wait six years to be taken by the “right” prestigious contest. The important thing for me is to get my work into people’s hands, working with an editor/publisher who is enthusiastic about my poems. I know that in some ways Eduardo is right – without a “big” publisher/contest win, without ads and reviews in the “right” places, it can be hard to get any attention for your book. It’s definitely an upstream swim. Promoting poetry is hard work. I still marvel at some of my students who will happily fork over xxxx number of dollars for my class to have their poems workshopped, but resist spending the $75 for books of contemporary poetry. And that’s MFA students, who should be interested in the stuff, right? Anyway, I know where Eduardo’s coming from, but I think there are a plethora of good publishers out there, and sometimes, whether you make a big splash or not, the poetry will fight for itself over time.

Besides book submissions, I’m trying to get back in the swing of regular poetry subs as well – something I’ve neglected for months, something about knowing I’m moving keeps me from sending out for fear it will get lost in the mail confusion. I know I write less when I teach and in the months around moving, but I want to write some new work soon, too – it’s been over a month since the last poem…

On top of that, I need to do some exploration of my new locale. Sunday we drove around Sonoma a bit. Yesterday we went to my new doc in Yountville and kicked around that charming area (Bouchon Bakery next door has discus-sized macarons in twenty flavors!) Today I want to drive out to St. Helena, since I haven’t been there yet. Hoping to meet some poets out here soon too. Already plotting my escape over to San Fran, though husband G says the city will be difficult to navigate on crutches…