Collection! / 2

I have struggled a lot in the last week or so to return to a consistent writing routine. A lot of this has to do with a concerted effort on my path to improve areas of my physical wellbeing before I hit 60 (which is in real terms just over two months away). I am very much mindful of how hard it will be to do this as easily or to my liking as I continue to age.

Therefore, to have someone offer me something last week that I am currently largely incapable of completing myself was, it has to be said, an absolute joy. I suspect this will be the case for a lot of other poets, especially when we’re in the midst of a bad attack of real-life: that moment when someone else pops up and says ‘would you like me to take a look at your work and tell you what I think?’

Collection! has found itself an unexpected third-party editor.

It is becoming increasingly apparent in the poetry world that having work that needs little or no extra ‘polish’ to publish is the norm, and not the exception. I have spent a long time having to unpick what I considered would be intractables in this process: editing was always front and centre. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes we can all get lost inside the minutiae of our own work.

I have begun offering this process (for free) to certain people whose short-form work I have enjoyed in the reading, and who have mentioned they are attempting longer-length manuscripts (we spoke about one last time). This is looking increasingly viable as a paid service going forward, which is something I am now actively considering. A girl needs boxing lessons after all.

So, what does this mean for me in practical terms?

I have a ‘proposal’ for Collection! sent to two publishers: both have only requested a sample of my work. This means that I intentionally presented the strongest pieces, because DUH. However there will come a point, if successful, where a cohesive, narratively consistent sequence is required to move forward. So, I need to be ready, and know full well that Collection! can still improve.

This is the biggest single change from this time last year, when it was apparent to me that a longer sequence existed in my brain, but I’d struggled to make it cohesive. This is why extensive reading ends up being its own reward. You have to be aware of the landscape around you, what’s popular and what isn’t, and how you can create for yourself an identity which is simultaneously cohesive and unique.

Nobody said any of this shit was going to be easy or painless either.

Right now, getting back to this habit of ‘writing as therapy’ is probably the most important thing I can do for my own long-term progress. After that, I am looking at taking some of Collection!’s unpublished pieces and submitting them elsewhere. This will serve as an important, secondary litmus test as to their quality. Then, there is nothing else to do but wait…