Category: writing process
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Sink the Shot and Save the Poem
Let’s talk about ending poems. Reading through slush I’m always looking for a kick-ass ending to a poem. It’s like watching a close basketball game. Last quarter, 2 seconds on the clock, poet racing down the page. Here’s the throw at the buzzer and Ohh…..it bounces off the rim. I hate that. I want the…
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THE WRITING LIFE: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY
Being a writer and editor means spending a lot of time in front of a computer. When there’s an opportunity to take these skills out into the community, far away from the familiarity of one’s own desk, it’s important to take it. I’ve been lucky to have had three such opportunities this fall, all very…
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Looking for a Few Good Revision Tips?
Today’s blog post is brought to you by our Assistant Editor, Joshua Colwell. You’ve just written a poem. It might be the best poem you’ve ever written. It has imagery, voice, theme, all the right line breaks. You might think you don’t need to revise, but here are some tips on what to do before…
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A Second Helping of Pie Before I Get Back to Work
The holidays are the time of year to gather around the table with loved ones, eat belly-bursting meals, and . . . write? As writers, we often like to find routines, whether that be waking up an hour early every day to work on our next best seller or typing a few lines of a…
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Telling Little Stories
Now it’s time for another pass through your poem, the final pass if you’re confident, one of many final passes if you’re an incessant tinkerer. (Not that I would know anything about that ….) If you find yourself skimming through the poem, or feel sick of…
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Graduate From Unpublished to Published Poet
One of the hardest jobs an editor has to do is say no to the majority of submissions that cross their desk. Yes, that’s right: the majority. There are a lot of reasons for this, many of which we include in our responses to hopeful poets whose work we decline: poem is not in a…
