Collection / Evolution / Introduction

Over the last two and a bit weeks I've found myself asking questions of myself that could not be answered. Pushing your psyche out of established comfort zones and into the unknown can always be perilous, especially if you already know both your heart and mind are exposed. At this point in my life, however, it was necessary to prove that I could survive such an experience and emerge stronger.

Whilst all this has been going on, two significant collection windows have opened in the poetry world which has served up to this point as my proving ground. I am painfully aware from the experiences of friends and fellow poets how difficult it is to make inroads into certain directions at present. That means, starting today, attempting to start building a community on my own terms, again.

It will be the sixth time I've tried to do this in ten years.

The key difference this time is that I will begin from foundations I alone have built, not exclusively reliant on a third party platform to collect income. This is my space, which will only have me as an editor and a publisher and a content creator. The chaos of the last decade on-line has taught me a lot about what you are expected to do as a poet and what has been left seriously wanting.

What has also become apparent in the last twelve months is that it is possible to engage with people across multiple platforms and be successful. What remains stubbornly intractable is the opportunities to be taken seriously in an industry totally awash with material yet painfully lacking in publication opportunities at certain levels. I may be about to take matters into my own hands over the latter.

Watch this Space, people, stuff will begin to happen in September.

This work is a direct part of my existence. I don't 'do poetry' as a hobby, it's a lifestyle choice that has become totally inextricable from feelings and beliefs. It's why when other poets are quick and easy to dismiss certain styles of poetry and particular approaches to publication that I reach for the imaginary accelerants. It is also why certain actions around my work are now necessary.

A decision about one path for formal submission is already done and dusted. The other will be complete by the end of this week. I'll be honest with you, little hope is held for either, because of A Bunch of Reasons that we may choose to discuss in the future but are more likely to leave very much alone so we can remain happy and feel comfortable. The lay of the land has never been clearer.

Nobody said progress was ever going to be easy.

If you are interested in unpacking how you can create compelling bodies of work, without having to drop huge amounts of money on courses and online events, I'll be doing just that in the months that follow. I feel certain knowledge must never be gatekept behind a paywall, and this is something that matters enough to me that I need to ensure that information is accessible to everyone.

However, I can also see what happens when everything is accessible with no means of protecting your own intellectual property, so some of this information will require you to subscribe to this site. No, you won't ever get charged to do so, and that will remain the case for the rest of time. There are other ways of creating income that do not rely on subscription models.

If you'd still like to support me financially? Stay tuned.