Writing the Perfect Beast #33

Starting in October 2025, I decided to talk honestly about the business of how I write poetry. There are people who teach how to create poetry, how to format it, how to submit and how publishing in general, works. I am not seeing that many people shining a light on what you need to do with your brain and mental attitudes to make all of that knowledge stick, grow and then evolve. HI THERE.

On what now becomes a new, regular on Sunday post, LET'S GET SERIOUS.

I am involved in the Process of Facilitating Something right now. I can be no more detailed than that, and because this is not me directly doing this (I am simply assisting another organisation in the process) we do have to be this vague as a result. The 'process' involves a lot of bureaucracy, and there is undoubtedly a bit of politics thrown in there too for good measure.

As a result, getting myself to be taken seriously is a bit of a tough ask. I don't have a job within an established organisation, I am the most free of freelancers. So, I was forced this week to reach out to someone else for help. This does not come easily to me: there are countless reasons, which include trust and self worth issues we'll not get into here, but in the end the Big Girl Pants were put on and I did it.

The result is still making me smile as I write this.

Validation happens in lots of different ways, I accept now. I'd love every piece I write to be published, of course I would, but we all know the impracticality of this in the real world. What then leaves me with is the connections, the people and a legacy of cultivating what happens when you place kindness above all else. I am however not perfect, and no amount of clever wordplay will ever fix that.

What I try to do, knowing my own shortcomings, is balance that with a strong, positive energy. It clearly does work, as the entirety of this letter of recommendation demonstrates. It is the kind of unexpected beauty that you should never expect, and always be hugely grateful for. This person has gone far beyond what I ever anticipated, and is an absolute smasher.

Now we will see if this has any effect on the outcome of the project.

I have realised (I’m writing this on Thursday morning) that my own energy is not being as valued as much as it ought to be. Progress should not be about needing other people to validate your work, but more often than not this is how I am programmed to respond. Unpicking decades of trauma and belief systems is HARD WORK KIDS and sometimes, you inevitably lapse back into the Dark Ages.

Then, there are days when you finally finish the puzzle you’ve been trying to find the last piece of, for forever. When a much-needed lie in lets you stretch for ten minutes before anything else of value takes place, and the quiet of your house is the reminder that the only way progress is cemented, is when you allow the space for that process to set correctly. It makes sense. You have to have hope.

No distractions, no arguments and only your requirements at the centre.

That means after I've written this we are ploughing through the set number of poems for today's Art Trail and possibly a bit extra as well. It would be helpful to get ahead at this point, and I am in the right mindset to make this happen. The house does not need me to do much to it today either, so that is a bonus, and the work is far less stressful than it would normally be as well.

We should be finished with the first draft by the end of next week. It has been a really remarkable process for me, a LOT which has been learnt, the main thing being that it is possible to undertake something this huge and still come out the other end in a better state than was begun.We will break it down a bit more once the process proper is complete but needless to say this has been a HUGE week.

Validation comes in many ways and the smart poet learns to embrace them all.