The End of 2021 Draws Nigh

The end of the year rolls near and I am just lifting my head towards my blog. It's been forgotten in the shuffle of working life and as that end-of-year-in-review feeling rolls in I have to be honest with myself about several things. 

Where I am at geographically, career-wise, with a view to my family and my energy levels means I cannot place much focus on my writing. And 2022 will be even more difficult. I'm starting my teacher training course in January while working full-time at a school and raising my kids. I'm currently fitting writing in at the weekends, but soon that will be taken over by my course. I will continue to try and do a bit of writing, but compromises will be made. 

And it hurts to think I will have to put it aside or squeeze it into the cracks. I would love to be working as a writer even part-time, but I need to focus on a career that I know will give some financial security. I'm finishing off a commission for some poetry this week and coming to the end of an editing job. I hope other small opportunities present themselves, but I will have to protect what little time I have to study and spend with my kids as much as I can.

My book will obviously not be published in 2021. I knew this was the case from early summer as nothing seemed to be moving forward, including communication. Maybe something will happen next year, but I no longer hold out much hope. My book was accepted about the time my decades-long relationship fell apart, so it felt a positive part of my renewal, a reason to look forward and celebrate my hard work. Then Covid and Brexit and Time bulldozed on through and here I am, still waiting, trying to be patient. 

It's not all negative, I have earned more money for my actual poems than ever before with a few commissions and projects I've had on my own and through the Helsinki Writers Group. My group is so uplifting and fun. I'm glad we've managed to find things we could do together and to keep things going in the uncertainty of the last two years. 

I've also had lots of work accepted. I'll do a proper numbers and thank yous post later, but here are a few that I've missed posting about. Sorry for no personal shout-outs. 

Fahmidan Journal, in their language issue.

Fevers of the Mind Poetry Showcase.

Haar, a Scottish poetry zine. 

Hecate, the 'Decay' issue, is available for digital download. 

Product, a Scottish arts journal.

The Poetry Archive, a video of my poem included in their World View exhibit.

The Wild Word, their education issue. 

morphog

Thanks to all the editors and staff who have worked hard in difficult times to get these issues out. I am in awe of their dedication and thankful to be included in their publications. 

So 2022 awaits and should be an interesting year. 

End of Summer Slump

Back to school this week, but I'm not sure how long I'm going to last among the germ-ridden first graders when the schools all have a strict policy of no attendance if you're ill. I took a girl to the nurse yesterday for a runny nose which was shared with me I'm sure as she wept over me to be sent home in the first week of school.  I'm sure I won't last long either. 

I had my interview and I'm not sure where I stand. I doubt I'll get it, they really want someone with different skill set than me. And I'm not really bothered if I don't get it because it's less editing and more managing which isn't really what I want to get into. Though earning real money would be nice for a change.

I've enjoyed working as a teaching assistant this week, much more than I was as a middle school teacher last year. I'm not sure if it's the age group or being able to actually work one on one with kids a bit more rather than trying to speak to the masses. We'll see how things go. I wish I knew what I want to be when I'm grown up. Substituting has been a good option to try things out though.

I'm struggling with motivation this week with my writing. I see so many writers being awarded this and that, publishers and art bodies offering opportunities I can't take advantage of because of where I live, so I feel I'm just spinning my wheels, wondering why am I bothering. I'm sure it's just a blip and I will get a burst of enthusiasm again. My writing group stayed up late chatting online last night and that helped. I'm happy to have their life line. 

It's raining today after several really hot days. I need an indoor day just to relax, but I really want to get out to my allotment and start sorting it for winter. I can see hints of autumn everywhere, heard the ghostly calls the Barnacle Geese flying overhead last night through a dark, opened window. That sound always makes me want to run away myself, but since I can't I want to prepare for what is coming. 

I've had a poem appear in ang(st) for their Distanced 2.0 issue. They've got a call out for Distanced 3.0 and their Hair issue, if you're looking for somewhere to submit. Their quick response and turn around time is a major plus. 

So if you want me I'll be curled up under a blanket on the couch with a cup of tea. Enjoy

Gearing up and Down Sizing

The schools have started back and we're in that transition period where the scheduling begins, the afternoons fill with hobbies and lessons and we shuffle them around until we can manage. My morning are quieter, but without a flow yet. I am still running around and catching up on errands, so haven't found a rhythm to fit my poetry in regularly. And being a substitute I'm always slightly on edge waiting for the phone to break into the silence. My interview is also coming up this week, so it's nipping at the edge of my mind as well. 

One thing I've started this week is reviewing my poems in consideration of an A5 page size. Suna Afshan at Poetry Birmingham Journal made an off-the-cuff remark on Twitter asking those  submitting to stop formatting poems in A4 docs. It caused a flurry of tweets of confusion, ah ha moments, discussion and it got me thinking. Print magazines and collections do mostly print in A5 or a similar size, so it makes sense. Though most also seem to ask for submissions in A4 (even PBJ), so maybe the industry needs to rethink things as well. 

I do often look at potential collections from that format, but I have never considered using that size to type my poems from the beginning. So it's thrown my work in disarray. I've changed all my potential collections and my rough draft files to A5 and am looking at how it changes the lay-out of the poems. I'm not rewriting many yet, but it is making me see things differently. 

I've noticed my newer poems do run shorter and fit in A5 comfortably for the most part, but my upcoming collection is mostly older poems and is sitting at over the page limit at the moment. I need to find out what size and style of font my publisher uses. I don't mind splitting a poem over two pages if necessary, but three or four lines dangling over looks wrong. I'm unsure what to do about those extra 5 pages I've suddenly gained.

Of course, for online magazines it's less of an issue. Magazines and competitions usually specify A4 and around a 40 line limit, but my lay-out is running about 28 lines to a page (2cm margins top and bottom, 11pt Arial font for text and a 16pt title.) One of the benefits of being trained in editing at a small magazine is I learned little tricks to make a poem fit on a page, how to lay out a book so it looks good, but I won't be able to do that with my collection being published.  

It's a small thing really, but I feel better using the A5 format from now on. I'll still write my poems first in my notebook, not caring about length or format, but it will be a consideration when editing and designing collections. And, of course, I'm definitely not suggesting that poets should write to please editors and to fit publications, but it helps to know how a poem will look on the page and if we're using A4 as our template the printed product may not look how we imagined. 

I'm also trying to get back into reviewing and reading poetry collections, so I read a few poems every night before bed, the one time I can be sure I have time. I have turned back to Fiona Benson's Vertigo and Ghost which I started last year. This is one of those collections I wish I had written, but not lived. Such beautiful writing that tears me apart emotionally. Even the more gentle ones about parenthood and the poet's fears connected with raising her girls in this difficult world when other mothers are leading their children through unimaginable dangers in the hope of finding safety and shelter dig into all my tender places. But Part One which is considers the mythology of Zeus in modern terms, as a serial rapist, is more of a punch to the throat. Benson plays with the words on the page, mixing modern language with ancient stories and uses a kind of interview format to give voices to the victims, Io, Callisto and others, as well as bragging, bravado-puffed Zeus. It goes much further than Yeats' 'Leda and the Swan'. Difficult to read as it doesn't shy from blunt emotion and descriptions, it is an important voice in these times when 'Me Too' is not a thing you wish to say, but it needs to be heard. 

I've been commissioned to write a review for a poetry collection late in the autumn, but more about that later. 

I'm off to edit and later enjoy some late summer sun. 

Pondering Literary Magazine Submissions

I'm not sure where this week went or what I've actually accomplished, so might list it here to get this started as I've come to my blog with a huge blank. I only worked one day, but I secured teaching work for several sessions dotted over the next few weeks, even added a new school to my list. I got my computer back which seems like a huge deal, so I had to spend time sorting that, transferring files, finding things I couldn't do when it was away. 

Writing-wise, I finished a poem I was trying to write for the Book of Kells writing and art competition, the deadline is 30/10. This makes me wonder if I should have links to calls for submissions, etc on this blog, but that requires a lot of research, so probably won't happen. I did enjoy researching the Book of Kells and its art and got a poem out of it, so that was a bit of fun work. 

I also submitted a bunch of poems to magazines I've been trying to get in for donkeys' years, as they say in Scotland. Solid UK magazines like Envoi, Acumen, Agenda that I've been sending poems to since the late 90s. It's frustrating, but I always maintain there's hope that someday I will write a poem or two they like. But I have to admit, I do submit to them much less often than I did in the early days, partially because that sense of hope is small, but also because there are so many more magazines to submit to now. I've gotten over my fear of internet magazines and submit to them as much as I do print journals though I do like print publication more, holding an issue in my hands, over seeing it on a screen. 

I'd be interested to see what the rise of internet publishing opportunities has done to the subscription and submission rates of these long-standing print magazines. There are a few that still refuse to take electronic submissions, only posted ones, which frankly because of the costs of posting from Finland I can no longer submit to even though I'd like to be published by them. 

That will have dropped their submission rates a bit, I'm sure, but from having worked for a literary magazine, reading submissions, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I constantly get rejection letters saying 'we received over 500 submission for this issue, but could only accept 50 authors'. Weeding that down through charging for electronic submissions as one magazine I used to submit to started doing or by accepting only posted submissions will mean it's only the die-hards, who have money to spare, who love the magazine and still hold them in high regard in this faster paced modern publishing culture or those who know they have a good chance to be published through previous publications or connections will still submit. Am I a cynic? Probably, but I'm probably not far wrong. 

This year I've submitted to over twice as many magazines than previous years and this has mostly to do with the increase in online journals. They often have a higher accept rate, due to publishing more often for less money and often have a quicker turn around time. 

I don't know how much being published in online magazines is helping me, but it's all I can do in my current position. Some days I'm not sure if any of this is worth it, some days I feel I can conquer the world with just the right break. Most days I just keep ploughing on. 

Happy Holidays from Thistle Wren.

Not much to report as we've been busy with Christmas stuff.

I have two poems appear in Three Drops from a Cauldron's Midwinter Issue. Please check it out. They are a lovely online magazine focusing on pagan and mythical writings. They have a quick response time which is always appreciated as well. 

I'm also enjoying writing a poem based on this prompt from Trish Hopkinson's guest blogger of looking up words in a dictionary and using the words before and after to make a poem. 

Have a lovely holiday season. 

Slow Week

I'm still here. 

I haven't written in days, things have been chaotic, my brain hasn't been able to stay focussed on anything. 

I've signed up for Wendy Pratt's new poetry course which should get me back on track in October. Autumn is my favourite season, so hopefully I will find some inspiration in her prompts again this time. 

In the meantime, I'm taking it slow. Working on my fiction for the writing group, submitting work to magazines.

Hopefully I can turn this down time around soon. 

In the meantime, here's a magazine that's included my work in their first issue, Nitrogen House.

My Work Featured in Online Magazines

As I've mentioned before I've only in the past few years really began submitting work regularly to online magazines. It still feels slightly odd to me. 

There are many benefits for the publishers to create virtual magazines rather than print and, of course, the biggest issue is money. Finding the income to pay for printing hundreds of copies on top any costs for posting, stationary, computer equipment, staff or premises costs is a constant battle. My editor worked herself to the bone trying to secure funding from arts organisations, advertisers, subscribers on top of editing, producing and promoting the magazine. Print on demand or online only magazines mean less initial outlay and no more large postage costs. 

Less time spent chasing funding means there's more time to create and edit the magazine. That includes playing with format. With printing costs what they are, you have to cut back in lots of different ways with real paper magazines. Size and number of pages, numbers of illustrations, using colour inside or on the cover. Online you can go wild with colours, illustrations, hyper-text. Your imagination is, or more truthfully, your computer skills are your limit. Some online blog zines also can even add new pieces everyday, so they have a need for a larger amount of submissions which can be good for the writer.  

You can reach a much wider audience. No more lugging boxes of magazines to bookstores to try and get them to take up copies. Or picking up the unsold ones. Someone with decent internet connection and a PayPal account in Outer Mongolia can download your magazine with a click.

I've recently had some poems published in some online magazines, so I thought I'd share links so you can check out my work, the magazines themselves and also consider sending your own work. Four very different magazines from Canada, Croatia, Ireland and the US.

Canada Quarterly

The Light Ekphrastic

A New Ulster

Zvonainari

I enjoyed working with The Light Ekphrastic because I had a chance to work with a visual artist and respond to her work and see her response to mine. See my post about working with other artists.

A New Ulster has a more traditional style but online. Hard copies can be ordered as print on demand.

Canada Quarterly is a new magazine, but is working up to an exciting find. They are currently just posting the work they accepted but will eventually bring it together as an anthology/ magazine issue.

Zvonainari is a multi-lingual magazine based in Croatia. They publish poetry, fiction and essays daily in a host of different languages and have a local outreach programme that includes a library, residencies and events.

Thanks to all the magazines, editors and hard working staff for accepting my work and publishing exciting work from other poets and artist as well. Best of luck to your future endeavours.

Get out there and explore the world of online literary magazines. 

Submission Carpet Bombing

I recently read an article about the advice a writer would give to herself after she finished her MFA in writing. It was pretty unconnected to my own circumstances because I have never done a creative writing degree. I did some creative writing courses in college as electives for my English BA. I've considered going back and getting a PhD or Master's in creative writing, but that's for another post. Mainly I've been self-taught and motivated.

Back to the article, the phrase that caught me was 'carpet bomb lit mags for years'. The article's author was saying it wasn't a good idea - though I'm not sure if she considered it a bad idea overall or just right after you've graduated with your MFA. Her alternative suggestion was to take your time, do lots of writing and lots of research to find what magazines you love and then submit to them, rather than just sending your work to anybody and everybody in the hope that you'll get published more often.

It made me re-examine my 100 rejections experiment I've been trying over the past year. The idea of 100 rejections is to submit to as many magazines as possible in order to get as many publications as possible. It is essentially carpet-bombing the literary scene with your submissions.

I agree with the author to a point. There is a time to start submitting your work and the early days is not it. Build up a stable of well-written, well-worked, ready-to-be-published poems, essays, stories or at least one totally finished and edited novel. Put in the time learning the techniques, hone your writing and then be brave and face the slush pile of literary magazines, the harsh gaze of the readers and editors.

Am I devaluing my work by sending it to as many journals as I can? As much as I would love to spend time reading tons of the best literary magazines, picking my favourites and then submitting only to them, it would achieve limited results and have a lot of problems en route.

First of all, I live in Finland, I can't pop down to the local bookstore or library and spend time researching literary magazines, there just aren't many available here. I can't show up at lots of English language literary events and get known that way, at least not outside Finland which is where I have to focus my visibility because of my lack of Finnish. I also can't afford to subscribe or even buy sample copies of every magazine I'm interested in or even a select few.

Instead, I do as much online research as I can about the magazine. Sometimes they have a sample from recent issues and online magazines usually have everything archived, but often print magazines don't offer any suggestions of what they publish besides a few contributors' names. Do check those out though, are there names you recognise and like, aspire to write like? Often I'm left reading the information the editors put on the submission guidelines, the About page, the Masthead, etc for an inkling of what they like. I also go from suggestions from other writers I like and know, where have they been published, and what magazines would they recommend.

I have a lot of poems I'd like to see published and most magazines only accept between 1-5 poems from each contributor. When the magazines I'm most interested in reject me, which they most likely will as the demand of prospective writers is always larger than the space they have in the magazine, what am I to do then, sit on my poems? Submission windows can be short and often only once a year and many magazines have rules about how often writers can submit. I remember writers who used to pester the magazine I worked at with constant submissions, not a great technique to win over an editor, so best avoided.

I think it's most beneficial to cover a wide range of magazines, from online to print, from the middle-of-the-road to the prestige. Aim high but be realistic. I could submit to Granta until I'm blue in the face, but chances are I'm never going to get published there, so why shouldn't I try magazines that aren't my favourites or the best, but are good magazines in their own right?

And while it is important to put the majority of your focus into writing and building up your talent there, you do need to get your name out into the public eye, especially in poetry, in order to get a book or collection published. Novelists can come out of the shadows with their first novel and make a big name for themselves, but this is almost impossible for a poet. Before an editor would really consider a first collection, they want to see some sort of publication record for these poems. Poetry is such a big risk, low-gain occupation that publishers want to see that other editors have seen the talent in this author before taking a chance on their work.

I don't write to please a particular magazine or editor. I write what I want to write, and how I want to write it and hope that I find a magazine that likes my style and subject. It's hard, I've been sending my poems about being an immigrant to magazines that have calls for such and I'm not being accepted, most likely because I am not the kind of immigrant that is in the news just now, that needs increased awareness. I realise this and accept it, but I'm not going to change what I'm writing about, I'll just continue to look for different venues for my work. Write for yourself, but don't give up with the first rejections. Re-examine the piece and move on. 

I took such a long time out away from trying to get published while I was still writing poems that I ended up with a backlog of unpublished work. Even with the flurry of the past year or two (30 poems published), I still have over 80 unpublished poems. I'm not expecting that they'll all find a magazine to call their first home, but the more I get my poetry out there, the better chance I have of finding a publisher for my collection.

So I'm going to keep carpet bombing magazines with my poems with no guilt. I still put as much time and effort into writing my poems as I did before starting my 100 rejections project, if not more. It has helped motivate me to write more and to strive harder to bring my poems up to 'publication ready' status.

Find what works for you in terms of motivation, time, effort and readiness. Don't spend more time researching and submitting to magazines than you do writing. Don't send out articles or stories that are not ready. If you find you're taking rejection too hard, take a step back and focus on improving your work rather than publication. Writing a piece you can be proud of is always the first goal.

Good luck.

Submission Etiquette

I'm still madly sending out submissions of my poetry and have hit a few bumps this year, so I thought I'd quickly go over some basic rules for submitting your work to magazines and some problems that might come up and how to solve or avoid them. Competitions and manuscript submissions to publishers follow slightly different rules which I won't touch on here.

Research:

If you're not familiar with the magazine, do some research. If you can't get a copy, go to their website, read their mission statement, the masthead, the About section, have a squint at any samples or online issues they have available. Learn what the editors are looking for and what their aims are for the magazine. Does your work fall into the style, genre, theme they're hoping for? If not, is it worth sending them that piece?

Then check out the Submission Guidelines. Read these very carefully. Some magazines are super picky about how they want the poems or stories formatted. They might have a limit for a word count or number of lines. Some want your name and address on every page, some don't want your name anywhere. Follow them to the letter, it's a shame when a submission is rejected just because you didn't follow a simple instruction. I've had one magazine reject my submission twice already because when they say don't put your name on the cover letter, they mean the cover letter, the title of the submission, the file name, everything. It has been returned to them with my name removed from everything, so fingers crossed third times the charm. If you have any questions about what the guidelines mean, contact the magazine.

It's always nice if you can find out the Editor's name and use that, but I've often found that magazines can have guest editors for certain issues, don't update their websites as often as they should, so I do just use the bland Dear Editor for most letters unless I know the editor specifically or they've contacted me previously about resubmitting work. Which some editors are nice enough to do - a short note of 'these poems don't quite make it, but I like your writing, please send me some more to consider'. And when they do take the time to say that they mean it. I had one editor say this and I thought they were just being nice. The next week they wrote me again and said 'really, I'm going to press soon, I want to include some of your poems, send something today if you can'. So I did. If you're not sure again, ask when they would be ready to see more, when the next submission window is, etc?

If you're doing a simultaneous submission (sending to more than one magazine, journal, competition at a time), double check their rules regarding this. I didn't submit work to more than one magazine for a long time, but have been recently quite a bit. I tend to only submit to 2 at a time unless something comes up that a poem would be perfect for while it's already out at two mags. Usually I haven't had a problem, I get so many rejections that there isn't much cross-over, but yesterday, I had to inform 3 different magazines that I was removing poems from my submission because they had been accepted by another journal. Luckily, they all said they encourage simultaneous submissions, so there should be no problem.

Picking and prepping your work:

This often takes the most time, finding poems that fit the magazine's remit, setting up the file to the guidelines and then having another look over just to make sure the poems are as good as possible. If there's no font recommended in the guidelines, use a 12-point nice clear font like Times New Roman or Arial. One poem per page, stories double spaced. Remember editors and their readers go through hundreds of submissions a week sometimes, so make it easy for them. Take the time to make your submission as good as possible.

Keep records:

If you only use Submittable, it keeps note of what is happening to your submission, but if you submit by snail mail or by email address or if the magazine has their own submission portal, it's important you keep track of when and where you sent it. I've had problems where I've used the wrong email, an old one for example, or where an email has gone astray somewhere between me and the editor so it's very helpful if you can say when you sent it, what poems and how you sent it, so they can check their records carefully.

I haven't used Duotrope, but I've seen it referenced on several blogs and sites. It seems to allow you to keep track of your submissions, but also helps you find magazines and read and write reviews on the magazines and their submission process. There is a charge of about 5 dollars a month which is why I haven't bothered.

I have two files, one Excel for the non-Submittable submissions and one just a general Word File about each poem, where it's been submitted, where it is currently which keeps me on top of things.

Chasing up late responses:

With the advent of electronic submissions the response time of most magazines has sped up exponentially, sometimes you get a response within the week. However, it's still not unusual for some to take months or longer to respond. I tend to chase up after 6 months, to make sure the submission hasn't gone astray or if I missed a response. I've had one magazines forget to tell me they were publishing my work this year, one that told me they were rejecting it and then sent me publishers' proofs, one that had gotten lost somewhere. Before chasing them up it's worth going back to their website and see if they've listed an update of why they're delayed. Sometimes magazines decide to fold, sometimes they need to take a break, sometimes they don't respond to rejections, so if you haven't heard within several months it's a reject. 

Don't trust Submittable either, form letters are easy to mix up, technology glitches. I also have 3 poems sitting with In-Progress listed when I know they've been accepted for publication and I think the anthology has already gone out.

Be polite and include details of what was sent, how and when. If I get no response after a couple of weeks, I assume the piece was rejected though I've sometimes had magazines get back in touch after months to say they're still considering my work.

Remember: magazines are often inundated with hopeful writers' work and most are understaffed and underfunded. They do their best to stay on top of things, but it isn't easy and even with all the new technology they are human and make mistakes. Always be polite. I remember the huge pile of submissions to be read that came in every day in the post when I worked at a literary magazine in Scotland. I'm sure the full email/Submittable inboxes are equally daunting.

If you make a mistake: be honest and own up. Contact the magazine as soon as you notice and explain. I have sent emails without attachments (don't send submissions when you're tired) or to the wrong address. They're usually understanding. 

I have also sent poems with mistakes or without saving changes I've made. Those are my fault and I don't ask to have the poems replaced or reconsidered. I accept I've messed up and that they will probably be rejected just for my own incompetence. I learn from it and move on. 

Always proof your work even if you just sent it out and it was fine. Check again, spell check, save and update. Your work is your representative, if it's a mess with typos and silly mistakes, the editors are right to reject it on that basis alone. 

Accept rejections gracefully and don't get into a debate with the editor about the merits of your work. I once accidently started a cover letter email with the Finnish word for hello 'Hei' as I had been writing Finnish emails that morning and hadn't totally switched my brain over to English. The editor then basically mocked my 'poor spelling' and apparent lack of formal writing style with his response. It was poor behaviour from the editor, but I left it. Yes, I made a mistake and yes, he was a jerk, but what was I going to gain by pulling him up on it? I've been on the end of an endless reading pile and used to get fed up with the poor spelling and inappropriate or impolite cover letters, so I can understand his frustration, but I always managed to maintain a civil facade, I hope. I probably won't submit to that magazine for a long time, but there's plenty of others out there who deserve my writing. Editors have their own opinions and ideas of what is good writing. They may not gel with what you think, but it's their little kingdom so sometimes you must back away respectfully and head off somewhere else. 

Keep writing and keep sending things out. Somewhere there is a magazine editor that will love your stuff. Good luck with finding them. 

100 Rejections

School has started back up here in Finland so the kids are all out of the house for at least a few hours a day, so I'm back to the grind. 

I read an interesting article by Kim Liao recently about aiming for 100 rejections from magazines and competitions in a year. It sounds negative and maybe a bit masochistic, but it is actually quite motivating. Once you learn that rejection is not the end of the writing process. 

The idea is that in order to get 100 rejections you have to make at least 100 submissions and by making that many you will have a better chance of getting some acceptances. 

Without knowing there was a trend, I've been following the same idea. I try to submit to everything I can. I scroll the sites that call for submissions as found on this post and I make a list of magazines, grants, competitions I'm interested in and their deadlines. It's on my computer's desktop so I see it everytime I turn it on, so hopefully I won't miss a deadline. And as poems come in, I take note if they will suit certain themed issues, so I don't make too many simultaneous submissions. I reread my work carefully, make any changes I feel necessary and then send them out into the world again.

I've had 20 rejections so far this year for both my novel and my poetry. But I've also had 5 acceptances. That's one/fifth of my total submissions that have been decided upon. Not bad really. 

Over halfway through the year and I realise I'm no way near getting to my 100 rejection goal. I have 19 submissions still out there pending decision for chapbook and novel competitions, awards and regular poetry submissions. As soon as one comes in rejected, I send it back out again. The hard bit is the waiting while everything's out, but I try to fill that time by writing new poems.

Which I'm happy to say I'm getting back into the flow of after the long summer break. I've done lots of journal writing and note taking, but now I am able to focus on some poems that were in progress and start a few new ones. 

So how are you doing after the summer lag?

Publishing Your Writing Online

I have to admit I'm old school when it comes to books and publishing. I love paper. I want to read from it, write on it and I want to be published on it. 

There is something most satisfying about the experience of reading a paper book, though when I was breastfeeding my youngest in the wee hours of the night I did reread the Sherlock Holmes stories on my phone as it was easier in that situation. I couldn't turn on a light, I was lying in an uncomfortable position and I didn't want to make much noise turning pages, ect. It was a stop gap and I have gone back to paper since. 

I also ideally want to see my work published on paper: in magazines, anthologies and books rather than online. While I still tend to focus on sending my work to printed magazines, I no longer avoid online journals. They have established their place in the world of publishing over the past decade and I am happy to see my work online from time to time. It's a double-edged sword; it widens the potential pool for finding a place for your poem or story but also means that you can be lost in an even bigger crowd of wanna-be-writers. 

I am not a total technophobe, sitting here writing my blog on my laptop, but I'm still wading out into these new-for-me waters. Looking at my Writing CV, I have been published on 6 online sites since 2004, four of them in the past 4 years with another one accepting 3 poems today - Writing in a Women's Voice. Thank you, Beate. Your blog is inspiring reading. 

Online magazines can come and go as fast as printed ones, but often their virtual presence exists long after the editors have downed tools which has its good and bad points: your poems are out there for everyone to see, even the ones you may have fallen out of love with. 

Publishing your work online means you have an immediate presence that prospective publishers can check up on. Getting your work into magazines and journals can be an important stepping stone to getting a book published, especially with short stories and poetry, but unless they subscribe to the magazines listed on your bio or they have somehow come across your work it's hard for editors to know if you really have the publishing record you claim.

I'm not going to go further and talk about self-publishing online here. I really don't have enough experience in the subject to offer any advice, but there are plenty of opportunities out there. Just tred cautiously, there are also a lot of scams out there.

Finding homes for your work online offers more chances to get that 'published' tick after a poem, but I still prefer to get that copy in the post and flip through to find my pages. It feels more real, I feel published, but while building up my CV, I will continue to take advantage of all opportunities to give my work a small showcase.