Book (a work in progress)
I am in the process of sending my first poetry manuscript out to contests for publication! Many thanks to Judy Thompson (my mom) for her watercolor image, “On the Edge,” that just might grace the cover.
I wrote my book over the course of the year 2023 during my time with the Loft Literary Center’s Poetry Apprenticeship. I spent the first part of the year generating dozens of poems. The last half of the year was spent revising and organizing them into a book. By the end of the year, I have a complete book containing 56 poems and totaling 75 pages. It is ready to send out to contests!
The publication process in the poetry world for a first book is unpredictable. In general, poets submit their books to various contests run by poetry presses. Winning books are awarded with publication. For some poets, this happens right away. Others, submit their books for years, or decades (gulp!) before getting picked up. So much depends on the subjectivity of the judges, and the best thing a poet can do is to just keep submitting. I am at the very brink of this process and am curious to see how it goes.